A 1976 vintage boat should have seen many improvements over the years.
ENGINE The most important thing a good sailboat needs is a reliable engine.!! In the required category: 1. Upgrade the lower shroud chainplates. There are two options, one is to replace the eye bolt with a U bolt with a big backing plate, the other is a larger eye bolt which is designed so it cannot turn once bedded down. Look at www.catalinadirect.com to see what the parts look like. 2. Standing rigging should have been replaced at some time and turnbuckles should now be the open style turnbuckle common on most boats. 3. The bracket that holds the spreaders to the mast should be a shiny stainless fitting. If it isn't shiny then it isn't the right thing and is original. 4. Navigation lights were very dim on these old boats and should be upgraded to new. 5. Thru hulls were fitted with gate valves back in the day. The design of the thru hull was to glass a pipe nipple into the hull and then attach a gate valve. It is not a huge job to change these to real thru hull fittings with either ball valves or real sea cocks. To be on the lookout for: 1. Water leaking through the main shroud chain plates into the main cabin bulkhead and rotting out the bulkhead. Not a deal killer but work to fix. 2. Original keel bolts were mild steel. Expect them to be ugly but most likely they will be ok. Many people have sistered the old bolts with new threaded rod bolts to add to the comfort level. 3. If the stove may be great and work well, may be easily fixed or only good for the dumpster. 4. Water may have got into the core of the side deck and cabin top. This may be a problem or not depending on your view. So long as you stop the problem from getting worse then that is likely all you will need to do. 5. Sails. What conditions are the sails in. Sails are expensive. If the boat has a roller furler then make sure it works and the sail is good. The condition of the genoa is much more important to haow the boat sails than the main sail. 6. The traveler in the back of the cockpit should have been upgraded. If it is a short piece of sail track with no purchase on either end then it has not been upgraded. No doubt I missed something obvious. The Catalina 27 is a great starter boat. It sails very easily and is capable of dealing with most anything you could throw at her short of open ocean passages. And even that has been done with some modifications. Regards Mark Tamblyn Ex 1976 C27 owner From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of chet.orton Sent: Tuesday, April 14, 2009 9:28 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [IC27A] Advice wanted on buying a 76 Hi, All. I just joined the group because I'm considering buying a 1976 Catalina 27 that's for sale locally and I'm hoping that some of you experienced owners could fill me in on problem areas that I should be on the lookout for. I'm kinda new to sailboats but I'm good at understanding and fixing mechanical stuff. I don't want to find out a month from now that I bought someone else's big problem. Thanks. -Chet
