Hi Alan,
I'm going to ask you to take a bit of a leap here. You've asked us to help you choose a boat for coastal cruising and then offered up 3 choices of boats manufactured before the creation of a standardized boat rating system. If they were the newest offerings from Catalina the choice would clear. Actually before I make a technical argument I should tell you when faced with a similar dilemma I selected three boats that I would have been happy to sail and showed them to my wife. I let her choose based on any criteria she wished, her choice the new style 22 (similar in generation to the '88 25). It turned out it was heavier and less competitive when raced one design but my wife really took to sailing. A late '70s Catalina 27 successfully circumnavigated the globe but it had undergone roughly 40 modifications (it's my brain that rough on this I have the list in the book the Seaworthy Offshore Sailboat by John Vigor) of which a great number were structural. If you take the addendum with Patrick Childress's modifications you can find each one of them addressed in the Catalina 270 design. Even with all of that the C270 is a CE category B Offshore vessel. I believe it fails because the companionway open is too generous versus the interior hull volume, otherwise it might have made category A. Nevertheless for a C27 to be considered a seaworthy coastal (now called Offshore) cruiser it needs to be in better than new condition. The C250, the follow on to the C25, is a category C Inshore vessel. Not rated for offshore or coastal service. Catalina's website has the CE rating definitions posted. All that said, if you are a smart skipper about only sailing as far as your weather horizon allows from a safe haven then any of the three might do. We've been a lot of places sailing along side couple on an inboard diesel '88 C25. They were smart about the seasons and where they ventured and I remember because a storm was due to hit in the middle of a three day cruise once they were one of the boats wise enough to take the wife sightseeing ashore that day. I was a C22 owner at the time and I left my C22 in port and did the next leg on a friend's race version C22 that was beefed up far beyond stock. We actually planed his C22 that afternoon in the Carquinez Straights. Cool stuff but I do qualify as certifiable when it comes to sailing in tough conditions. So the short answer is none of the three meet the generic definition for a coastal cruiser as represented. The two Catalina 27s have the potential to be beefed up to meet coastal service requirements but they will need to be better than new in many ways. The C25 on the other hand sounds like a wonderful boat but you will need to be much more reserved about what you under taken sailing wise. Cheers, Phil Agur <http://www.catalina27.org/public_pages/profile270.htm> s/v Wing Tip C270 LE #184 MMSI 366901790 From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of alanrothenbush Sent: Tuesday, July 27, 2010 7:29 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [IC27A] Which Catalina 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
