Whether an outboard is good or not depends a lot on the particular outboard. I've had both a 15hp 2 stroke and currently have a 9.9 4stroke. The 4 stroke wins hands down for general pleasantness and power. With the 2 stroke you can barely talk over it and there is no chance you will hear a stereo over it. At normal cruise power the 4 stroke is quiet enough you can easily listen to a stereo over it. The 4 stroke does however vibrate more and you will feel it sitting near it. The 4 stroke at lower hp seems to be a better match to the sailboat because it has more low end torque. The outboard depends a lot on the individual engine.
The outboard will leave the water while running when the boat is riling a lot or with stern waves. The C27 may be better off for this since the engine is mounted on centerline instead of outboard of the rudder as on the C25. What part of the world are you in? Keep in mind that just because someone put a lot of money into the boat doesn't necarily mean the boat is really worth that much more. It may very well be a better bargain to buy a boat farther away and get it shipped rather then buying local. If buying a C25 if it has a trailer you can rent a uhaul truck to tow it back with for a reasonable rate if you don't have a large tow vehicle and don't want one. You can google search things like craigslist to quickly search all the for sale ads to see what boats are listed for everywhere. It's useful info for bargaining the price down. C27's have a lot of changes in them from year to year. A 70's boat is quite different from an 80's boat. The layouts changed and they added things such as the anchor locker and gate valves changing to real thru-hulls. Doing some research is good to figure out what year range you want or what needs to be upgraded depending on what year it was built. Ryan On Jul 28, 2010, at 4:28 PM, "Alan Rothenbush" <[email protected]> wrote: Many thanks to all who responded to my question about the 25 and the 27s! Here's kind of a blanket followup on a few things, and another question at the end. 1. I must live in the wrong part of the world, based upon what Catalina 27s sell for here and what it's been suggested I pay for one. I have done my homework and the very cheapest Catalina 27 available anywhere in the area is $8,000, and that's for a right out of the factory boat with nothing extra and nothing but routine maintenance over the years. Perhaps it's local price point thing, but "recreational" 27s from the 70s or early 80s sell for 10k to 12k or so .. all of them. 2. I take the point about sails, and never really thought about it before. Yeah, just because they're not torn doesn't necessarily mean they're good for anything, and replacing them is a significant cost. Sadly, the 25 comes with a brand new spinnaker, never used, a brand new Dacron genoa cut for a furling setup never installed!, and a new multi-reef main with 6 hours on it. I say "sadly", because I'm really trying to find reasons to talk myself out of the 25 and buy a 27, but it's proving difficult. I got a bit more of the story on the 25. The current owner is the second owner, who bought it in 2003 from a fellow who almost never sailed it. He then did a complete refit, money apparently not being an object. (We'll leave aside the question of why he would do so to a 25) There's all new running rigging, all new standing rigging. Since he was going to this expense, he brought all lines back to the cockpit. He had the upholstery done. He had custom carpets done. He put in a new toilet with holding tank and a macerator pump. He added darn near every electronic gizmo of the day. The hull was stripped and repainted with two coats of epoxy paint. The list goes one and on. What he didn't do was sail it. He claims the boat has 6 hours on it since the refit and I have no reason to doubt him. It is SO clean it looks new. But it's still a 25 with an outboard. And that leads to the questions about motors, really the point of my original post. 1. Are outboards really that bad for extended motoring periods ? 2. Are outboards really that bad in rough weather? 3. Inboard or outboard, is 10 HP enough if you "get into trouble", or is the big bad gas engine really what you need? Thanks again for any thoughts. Alan -- Alan Rothenbush Client and Research Services IT Services Simon Fraser University
