druid wrote:

OK,

First it was a Catalina 27. Then, an Ericson 27. Now, I'm considering
Islander 28 or Crown 28. Here's my Take so far:

Catalina 27: kinda cheaply made, but fast, especially upwind in light air
like we get a lot around here. AND it's kinda a Mini-me of my Catalina 36,
and although I love it, I think I'd like something different. One
advantage is that they're VERY common around here - would be easy to find
what I want locally.

Ericson 27: looked good until I looked up PHRF ratings - they sound SLOW!
Same or slower than a Columbia 26, slower than a Cal 25...

Islander 28: Fast and well-built, lots of room inside, sea-kindly... but
hard to find, especially in "fixer-upper" shape, which is all I can afford

Crown 28: not quite as nice inside as an Islander, but still good - don't
know how fast they are, though.

C&C 27: a bit faster than a Catalina, maybe better built, but usually
thrashed. Not high on my list...

Oday 27, Mirage 27, Hunter 27.... basically carbon cutouts of a Catalina
27.

So... any thoughts? Anybody own/sail an Ericson 27? An Islander 28? Crown
28? How fast are they? Not looking for cutthroat racing, just getting to
my destination faster, or sailing in light air instead of having to motor.

druid


Didn't really say what kind of conditions except for light air. Nothing
about water depth, open seas, any need for overnighting (or longer), etc.

Cat 27s are OK. There are a lot of them so its easy to find one that is
in good shape and fits your budget.

I've yet to see a C&C 27 that doesn't have significant deck delamination
problems. They sail great but IMO have too many moisture problems. C&C
26 seem like great boats (except for the eggine).

I'd keep my eyes open for an O'Day 30. They sail well in a wide variety
of conditions and seem to me to be undervalued used boats. BIG
interior, don't need a lot of maintenance (just keep the fuel clean and
the oil changed). I've seen then go for the price of a Cat 27 or a
Hunter 27. But there aren't as many out there as the Cats and Hunters.

I never gained an appreciation for the O'Day 27.

Hunters 27s aren't Catalina 27s. IMO the Cats are a lot quicker and
better sailing boats. The Hunter 27s seem like they're trying to be
bigger boats than th4ey actually are. The one-lung Yannie is nice. I
looked closely at several Hunter 27s. But IMO they don't do very well
in light air.

We liked the smaller Hunter 25.5 a LOT better, enough to buy one.

Don't know much about the rest.