So it’s 2023 and a new year. For some of us, it comes with some musing over the state of things. As far as sailing and cruising goes, my musings seemed to be along the lines of that Dickens quote and I spent a couple of hours thinking about the good/bad reality after the ball …
Here’s a boat I’ve always liked. It’s the Chris Craft Pawnee and it is a very cool little cruising boat. Sadly they only built them for a year so did not make a lot of the excellent Sparkman & Stephens design. As it happens there’s one for sale in Hawaii if anyone’s interested.
Every once in a while I’ll see a Bristol 26 (aka Sailstar 26) for sale for a good price and it gets me thinking. Back when I was in Paris looking for a boat to buy. The sailboat in my head that I was looking for was a European facsimile of the Halsey Herreshoff Bristol …
One of my favorite CAL Lapworth designs is the CAL T2-27 one of the CAL 27 variations. I’ve written about the design before. Anyway, I mention this because there’s a T2 for sale that I’ve been keeping my eye on and the price just went from 1.5K to $1000. Well worth a look if you …
Sadly, it’s a simple answer… Not enough. Which, for me at least, is the big downside of every 27-foot boat you’re likely to come across in that they just don’t have a lot of space or weight carrying ability. Which is not to say you can’t live and cruise on a 27-foot sailboat but with …
How many guitars can you fit on a 27-foot sailboat… Read More »
The thing to keep in mind when thinking about boats in this particular size niche is that, for the most part, they all fulfill the same needs. Which is hardly surprising when confronted with a 27ish by 9ish foot envelope. Take the Catalina 27 for instance. It pretty much sets the norm for what you …
Apparently, some folks don’t agree that a bog standard 27-foot production boat can be a capable cruising conveyance. I get the fact that a boat in this size range is not everyone’s cup of tea but they are capable and well within most peoples means. Sure a 44-foot Swan might be better but it also …
As someone who’s managed to survive three category 5 storms at anchor with minimal damage, I’ll be the first person to say that the only safe/sane way to deal with a major storm is to be somewhere else when it’s happening. Which has a lot to do with always having at least a sketchy plan …
Whenever a hurricane looks like it might ruin my day/week/month/year I do a quick CraigList search of possible boats to buy because, you know, shit happens. Call it my plan B but in the event of losing the boat in a serious storm my plan is to get out of Dodge on the first available …
OK, I’ll admit that I’ve never been a fan of Catalina sailboats. Don’t really know why but I’ve always preferred the design work of Lapworth and Tripp and nothing in the Catalina lineup grabbed my attention. Hell, maybe it’s just the “Catalina” smile issue… That said, Catalina made a shitload of boats, they all floated …
Maybe the VolksCruiser you should be looking for… Read More »
