For the money you are considering you should be able to find a much newer 27 then a 70's boat. If you watch all the classifieds such as Craigslist, Ebay, class association pages, fleet pages, etc.. they show up from time to time. You can also pay a transport company if you think the boat is farther away then you want to attempt on water. I started with a Catalina22. It was really too small to even think of overnighting on. The wife back then also thought it was too small. Upgraded to a C27 (1986 diesel with wheel steering), had it for 2 years and had to get rid of it when the wife went. I think it is near ideal size for singlehanding and comfortable enough to stay on a few days. It's size is easy to get in and out of the docks and it's not difficult to run up and down the boat to get docklines singlehanded. My dad about the same time bought a new Catalina310. I've done several week trips on it. It's beam makes it very difficult to singlehand going in and out of the docks. I wouldn't go that big if it was something I was going to singlehand the majority of the time. The then wife, really liked the inside and it was comfortable. My last boat was an Oday25 which is similar in size to a C25 and similar in the interior. I always find it cramped wishing for something larger. It's not any easier to singlehand then the C27 was. It is outboard power. I thought outboard would be easier to dock since you can swivel the motor. It's really not since you are then sitting in the back corner of the boat to throttle and shift and I actually think quite a bit more difficult to dock then my C27 was because of this even thought it's a little smaller. It's a much farther run to jump up from seated in the back corner then it was from standing at the pedestal. If you are planning on singlehanding a lot. Things that make things much easier that you should look for are the following:Roller furling, If it doesn't have it plan on adding it.Halyards led aft.Autopilot. When by yourself the ability to have the boat keep steering into the wind while you do something is very useful. Otherwise it's a steer into the wind and rush to get the sail up or down before the boat spins out of the wind. I just bought another C27 and am trying to sell my Oday25 now. After trying a larger boat and smaller boat I've realized it's what I liked the best and came back again. Ryan
--- On Tue, 7/27/10, alanrothenbush <[email protected]> wrote: From: alanrothenbush <[email protected]> Subject: [IC27A] Which Catalina To: [email protected] Date: Tuesday, July 27, 2010, 10:29 PM I'm getting back into sailing after 30 years away. I'm hoping my wife will get into it as well, but it occurs to me that even if she doesn't, I'M GOING SAILING. It also occurs to me that the ability to single hand may turn out to be pretty important. The intended usage is day sailing in coastal waters most of the time, a short sail to an overnight once a month and a 10 day excursion once a season. After a bit of time spent looking, the best options seem to come down to three. 1. A LOADED 1988 Catalina 25 with 6 hours on it after a SERIOUS refit. I have all the receipts for $28,000 worth of "stuff". He plunked 6 self-tailing winches on the thing! Spent $500 on custom carpet. More electronic goodies than a Best Buy store. New standing rigging, new running rigging with everything running back to the cockpit. Stainless steel framed dodger, biminis for front and rear, you get the idea. Loaded. And a Yamaha 9.9 outboard; brand new, but an outboard. $16,000 2. A 1978 Catalina 27. Standard dual settee interior (which I prefer), dodger but no roller furling, which I really want but can of course add. Atomic 4 gasoline inboard. Otherwise completely stock. $9,700 3. A 1977 Catalina 27. Dinette arrangement, which I can live with. Dodger, roller furling and self tailing winches. Inboard diesel (not sure what make). Inconveniently located. (LONG sail home .. longer really than this rookie would like to make) $12,500 For a whole number of reasons, it's these three, really. I REALLY like the 25, being COMPLETELY ready to go, but am a bit leery of the outboard and leerier still of falling victim to "2 foot itis" within days of buying it. I like the big engine in #2, JUST in case, and being a mechanic and electronics guy, am not at all put off by a gas engine. I like the fact that #3 comes with the "stuff" already there, making it pretty much ready to go. So I'm looking for opinions, and feel confident that asking 10 different sailors will result in 15 different opinions. <G> Thanks for any thoughts. Alan
