Are Catalina 27's good liveaboards?

[Fog Bank]

This blog might answer a few questions for the OP.

KATIE & JESSIE on a boat | aboard lovely Louise…

They went with a Cal, but close enough.

[Steadman Uhlich]

Howdy!

I admire your goals.

Other members have already given you a lot of good advice, but as always, it is mixed. Some of the members here have much more experience in areas I don't have, so take my comments below with a splash of saltwater. I only offer them as a different POV, based on what I would do in your boat shoes.

I agree with the comment by Trentepieds who has sailed many times on the Catalina 27. His comments are generally what my impression has been, though my time on that boat is much more limited. In general, I consider the Catalina 27 to be good for learning, good for lakes, good for a weekender, and good for a relatively inexpensive boat for a couple or young family who will do limited "living" on it for only limited time or distance.

Of course some have "lived aboard" for longer, and I would listen to them too.

But, if it were ME and a friend and I had the same long distance goals you have, I would look for a different boat. Taking into consideration the $10K max budget, I still think there are other ( a little larger) boats on the market that would be much more comfortable for two guys (and possibly new friends) to live on for a year while cruising.

Here is a link to a thread that has many different types of boats, all under the $30K budget (in the title) but for your purposes it also contains several that are UNDER $10K too.

I have seen some VERY nice looking boats (via online listings) that I think would be much more fun or nicer or more comfortable (roomy, storage, headroom, etc.) than the Catalina 27.

As far as using the boat for one year (then selling it), I see that is a good idea. The key thing I would look for in your boat is a dependable engine (outboard or inboard), because your budget will not be large enough to do any big repairs on a diesel or if you had to purchase a used outboard you might be spending $1500 or more of your budget on that.

One thing: make sure you get an epirb or a PLB if you are going to Bahamas or beyond.

Good luck on your boat search and bon voyage!

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ds-147098.html

[Steadman Uhlich]

Here is another tip for you, since you plan to start in New England and go down the ICW to the Bahamas etc.

The man in this video purchased a small sailboat (about 26 feet and $4K if I recall) on ebay and made a nice video showing his solo trip down the ICW to Miami.

The Best Video of a Small Sailboat Trip on the ICW I have found so far.

Here is a video I recommend watching too, if you want to see what it was like for a single sailor to sail or motor a small old sail boat (he bought for a few thousand on Ebay) from New England to Miami using the ICW. It is a very interesting video. It starts a little slow with some background on the sailor/narrator's experience, but then shows what it was like on his boat, including some waiting for bridges, scenes along the way, etc. It is not just a travel video, it also shows what he as a sailor saw as important during the voyage. It is the best "virtual" "sailing" video ICW trip I have seen so far. The trip is covered in TWO videos on youtube. Here are the links.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8Y35...hnepjX&index=6

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oemHHgr-bJM

[donradcliffe]

Having sailed on both boats, I would choose the 30. In addition to having a lot less living space, The 27 has a HUGE main hatchway which is a liability in rougher weather.

[David Sandowich]

I have owned and sailed extensively both C 27 and C 30... Did coastal cruising in C 30 not C 27. Good advice on previous posts. That said the only main similarity in my opinion between the two is the builder and and general Catalina look. After that the C 30 is a ton more boat in every category and as others said ...the more boat there is makes more boat to handle and eat at your budget.
My opinion.. go with the C 30. The increased space for storage , room to move about below and being able to handle larger seas more comfortably alone is worthy it. If your worried about diesels they both have em and if you go with a C 27 with an outboard I'm not sure I'd cross the Gulf stream with it although many have.
There are many solid older boats in the 10,000 range if you want to put some time and money in them.
Go for it

[hsi88]

I have a 76 Catalina 27 named Zanadu that I'd sell for $1000. She's in the water now and although it has a new four stroke 5HP long shaft outboard on it (for $500 more), I'd recommend a motor with electric start, alternator and remote gearshift and throttle. She has a hank on std. jib, main and genoa (not sure what %). The boat also has a small Bimini, mainsail cover and headsail bag, which allows you to keep the jib hanked on without removal.

She's a nice old boat. No bottom leaks although I fixed my share of topside leaks around the windows and genoa tracks. I recently oiled the teak and it looks pretty good. The fiberglass could use painting, top and bottom, but is in pretty good shape otherwise. Some chips to fix, but had planned on doing that when I painted the topside. I have the cushions out and have been steam cleaning them (one at a time). Has a two burner stove and I added a new (never used) port-a-potty, as the previous owner had removed the original toilet (plumbing still intact). Overall, not too bad. I'm putting pictures together now as I wanted to sell it before the winter really got going. I'd be willing to leave it in the slip until spring. It was in the water last winter. The boat is kept at a Marina between Baltimore and Annapolis.

I only sailed her a few times this year as I spent most of my time working on the boat. I also have a GPS that I'd hook up and include for $500. A CPF190i with recently loaded C-maps that include Canada, Mexico, Bahamas, Cuba and the Caribbean. The GPS has a depth gauge/fish finder built in, but you would need a matching transducer. Not sure if the transducer on the boat would work (although never tried it). I also have a AIS receiver although I have not hooked it up to the GPS yet.

Contact me if interested. I will be listing it soon.

[Straycat]

Well, both topside height and displacement are relevant to safety. As is relative comfort over time. We cruised for months on a 30 Catalina in a variety of conditions. We may have made the same trip in a 27' but more slowly, and with much more effort. At this range of length, size matters.

[Compactorguy]

My wife and I spend lots of time on our Morgan 27 which has less headroom than the cat 27. we've done multiple 10 day trips with the kids, that gets crowded but most of our time is spent outside not inside. Once anchored or moored the dive gear goes out side, if we have an ice chest with us it's up on the foredeck usually with dry ice keeping meat frozen and spare ice frozen ( last about 6 days) We have a refrigerator and built in ice chest, stove with small propane bottle plus an adapter to use the small gas bottles that are use for the barbecue so they will work with the stove. Honda 2000 used for charging batteries (over 500 amp hours) is outside. We even have satellite dish for when we are in our slip. V birth is storage we sleep on a quarter birth that I've modified to be turned into twice as large.
I would suggest having your standing rigging inspected. Just had mine done $2000 and netting around the life lines, it adds storage without the fear of losing it overboard

People have done a lot more with smaller boats and a lot less with bigger



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[Compactorguy]

My wife and I spend lots of time on our Morgan 27 which has less headroom than the cat 27. we've done multiple 10 day trips with the kids, that gets crowded but most of our time is spent outside not inside. Once anchored or moored the dive gear goes out side, if we have an ice chest with us it's up on the foredeck usually with dry ice keeping meat frozen and spare ice frozen ( last about 6 days) We have a refrigerator and built in ice chest, stove with small propane bottle plus an adapter to use the small gas bottles that are use for the barbecue so they will work with the stove. Honda 2000 used for charging batteries (over 500 amp hours) is outside. We even have satellite dish for when we are in our slip. V birth is storage we sleep on a quarter birth that I've modified to be turned into twice as large.
I would suggest having your standing rigging inspected. Just had mine done $2000 and netting around the life lines, it adds storage without the fear of losing it overboard

People have done a lot more with smaller boats and a lot less with bigger



Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[420sailor]

With regards to Jessie and Katie's blog do you think a cal 27 would be a better choice than the Catalina 27? From what I've read they see to be similar boats. Also, there's been talk about the Tartan 27. It seems like a nice boat that's in our price range. Are there any big flaws in this boat? What about the cal 27?

[Fog Bank]

Originally Posted by 420sailor

With regards to Jessie and Katie's blog do you think a cal 27 would be a better choice than the Catalina 27? From what I've read they see to be similar boats. Also, there's been talk about the Tartan 27. It seems like a nice boat that's in our price range. Are there any big flaws in this boat? What about the cal 27?

I will happily cast a vote in favor of a Cal. That being said, I'm biased due to our boat being a Cal 2-27. The Cal is comparable to the Cat. Ours is built like a tank. Last year, Ronnie Simpson took an engineless 2-27 from California to New Zealand. Not saying I would do it, but it has been done.

On the Cal, places to pay extra attention are the spreaders, and backing plates for rigging and other deck hardware. One issue you will run into, much like on the Cat, is storage space.

I can't speak for the Tartan as I've never so much as been aboard one.

[Don C L]

There were at least two Cal 27s. I think the Cal 2-27 was more like a Catalina 27. Tartans have a good design and build reputation + shoal draft. But if you are in that vintage and size check Pearson Tritons and Columbia 29s, Alberg 29s and 30s (They are drawing a little more than 4'), Albin Vegas: all proven designs.

[jeepbluetj]

As has been said, don't limit yourself to a specific manuf of boat.

But if it does come down between a C-30 and a C-27, go with the 30. It's twice the boat. An outboard powered C-27 is a great, cheap, "I wanna get into sailing" boat. But I'd go nuts living on one.

As to the bigass compainionway? The C-30's have it too. You better have the boards in if you get pooped.

They both were available in shoal keel versions. The C-30 was around 4 1/2 feet or so with the shoal keel IIRC.

[reed1v]

Catalinas have more beam compared to similar sized boats. The cat 32 is humongous compared to almost any other 32 foot sailboats. The 36 is humongous plus; and so on. What is weird, they even sail well, not as tender, and faster than similar cals, tartans, and columbias(well anyone can outsail a columbia).

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by reed1v

Catalinas have more beam compared to similar sized boats. The cat 32 is humongous compared to almost any other 32 foot sailboats. The 36 is humongous plus; and so on. What is weird, they even sail well, not as tender, and faster than similar cals, tartans, and columbias(well anyone can outsail a columbia).

Faster?

For the vintages involved in this discussion:

New England PHRF ratings

Catalina 30 shoal:189
Catalina 310 (much newer model):177

Cal 30-3:162
Columbia 30:174
Tartan 30: 171

For those not familiar with PHRF, the lower the number, the faster the boat.

Looks like they are pretty similar, but with the Catalina 30 actually being a bit slower than the marques that you referenced.

Not that this really impacts the decision process for the OP. IMO the critical factors for him are what sort of condition any specific vessel might be in, not minuscule differences in racing performance.

And I too would recommend the 30 over the 27 for the proposed usage.

Jim