On Jan 10, 1:48 pm, Alan Gomes wrote:
druid wrote:
On Jan 10, 8:59 am, wrote:
On Thu, 10 Jan 2008 08:50:30 -0800 (PST), "

wrote:
My wife and I are still looking for a 27 foot used boat, for summer
cruising north from Port Townsend, WA, where we live, mainly if not
entirely on the inside of Vancouver Island. Our price range is $8,000
- 12,000
We want a boat which has
- solid construction
- good stability - not too much heeling
- adequate performance upwind
- moves in light air
We're narrowing our search down to boats within a reasonable distance,
and I wonder if anyone has opinions on the relative merits of the
following for this type of use
Catalina 27 - 1987
San Juan 28 - 1978
O'Day 272LE -1987
Ericson 25+ -1976
Morgan 27 -1971
I mention the age as I think construction quality has varied
over the years with some of these makers.
Thanks in advance for any comments
Richard
The canadian built CS27 (Canadian Sailcraft) fits your criteria and is
considerably better built than most, or all, of the boats on your
list.

The CS is an eastern boat, hard to find out West, and rarely if ever
for under $12K. Much better to look at the Cal line: you could
probably find a Cal 27 in your range, and I bought a Crown 28 for $12K
last fall. They're WAY better built than the Catalina/Oday/Newport,
sail very well especially in heavier weather (but still good in light
air: after all, they're West-coast boats!)

Ericsons are strange: the 26, 28, 29, etc are FAST, but the 27 is a
slow full-keel boat.

Another one to check out is the C&Cs: I don't personally like them for
some unknown reason, but they're quite well-built and very fast. Be
careful when comparing them though: the C&C 27 came in about 5
"marks" (Mk I, Mk II, etc) and they're quite different from each
other. Also most have been raced, as in "run hard and put away wet"
and they show it.

Also: plan on spending at least $5K or so on ANY boat that age -
there's just things that go wrong that need fixing...

Finally, I'll say a Catalina 27 would probably do you just fine, just
as it has for thousands of couples and families over the last 30
years.

druid
http://www.bcboatnet.org

I think Cal boats are very nice (having owned a few of them), and they
sail quite well. I would NOT say, though, that they are "WAY better
built" than a Catalina. Both are mass production boats, built to a
price, decent but not amazing in quality. ...

A few case-in-points: the V-berth in my Catalina 36 was 1/4"
fibreglass - on my Cal 25 it was 3/4" ply with fg over. The mast-step
on my Crown 28 is 6" laminated hardwood (teak?) 4 ft long
athwartships. On the Catalina it was a 6" x 6" chunk of fg. The
Catalina (even the 36) had quite a bit of chopper-gun fg in the
lockers, etc. - the Crown is all woven hand-laid fg.

We chartered a Catalina 27 last summer, before I bought the Crown. The
difference was phenomenal. But of course you're right that at that
age, the overall condition of the boat is much more dependent of how
it was treated for its lifetime than construction quality. But the
point is, most 30-year-old Catalinas are, well, "fixer-uppers", where
most Crown 28's are still going strong, and probably will for another
30 years.

As for the other comments: The Cascade seems like a good boat, but
hard to find data on it. The Albin Vega is too slow for this area, and
a McGreggor is WAY too lightly-built (having owned a Venture 22 many
years ago...). As for the C&C's - I think it's their lack of soul, I
donno...

A couple other GTE ("get there eventually") boats that are popular
around here are the Columbia and the Grampian (the 28 is nice if you
can find one) They're well-built, comfortable, and, well, will get you
there... eventually

druid
http://www.bcboatnet.org