A blank canvas

[Fog Bank]

Our Cal 2-27 is a blank canvas. A previous owner invested in a number of upgrades, to include a Lectrasan head and a Solidnav electric drive to replace the inboard diesel. We find ourselves at the beginning of a journey that will put our mark on this boat. Our desire is to turn her into a comfortable and capable pocket cruiser that we can enjoy for several years before upgrading to a larger boat.

What would you do with this blank canvas? We have ideas of our own, but would love to hear yours as well. The vast depth of knowledge here might point us in directions not yet considered.

[psk125]

Before getting out a paintbrush, I'd go sailing in her for a bit and see what YOU think she needs. You're likely to get plenty of suggestions, but what you think is what's important.

[Fog Bank]

Originally Posted by psk125

Before getting out a paintbrush, I'd go sailing in her for a bit and see what YOU think she needs. You're likely to get plenty of suggestions, but what you think is what's important.

After a few weekends great sailing, we quickly agreed that a roller furling was top of the list.

[GILow]

See how you feel after a few months of sailing the boat.

In our case practically every personal touch so far has been to REMOVE stuff from the boat rather than add anything.

And she sails SO much faster now.

Matt

[RainDog]

Any money you spend you will not get back when you sell. Don't do much if you plan to sell in a few years.

If you are going to spend some $$, for sure I would use it for new sails. You will enjoy the hell out of them, and when it comes time to sell it will make the boat sell faster.

[Fog Bank]

Originally Posted by GILow

See how you feel after a few months of sailing the boat.

In our case practically every personal touch so far has been to REMOVE stuff from the boat rather than add anything.

And she sails SO much faster now.

Matt

Ours doesn't have much to remove lol.

Originally Posted by RainDog

Any money you spend you will not get back when you sell. Don't do much if you plan to sell in a few years.

If you are going to spend some $$, for sure I would use it for new sails. You will enjoy the hell out of them, and when it comes time to sell it will make the boat sell faster.

Luckily, she had a new set of Quantum sails when we purchased her.

[Stu Jackson]

Pretty open ended question without knowing more about you and your desires/wants/needs. Most smart folks do a WAIT period as suggested.

Have you Googled your boat to see if there are owners groups available. Why reinvent the wheel?

Good luck.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by Fog Bank

Ours doesn't have much to remove lol.

Luckily, she had a new set of Quantum sails when we purchased her.

Ha ha, well, you are two up on us. Ours looked like a floating St Vincent de Paul opportunity shop, and the sails are pretty discraceful.

But, I will relay a conversation I had with the original owner: After a year of pleasant back and forth email and phone conversations, swapping photos ect, he finally blurted out that he really did overload the boat and that I should probably throw out most of what was inside. I didn't know what to say... I already had.

Matt

[Fog Bank]

Originally Posted by Stu Jackson

Pretty open ended question without knowing more about you and your desires/wants/needs. Most smart folks do a WAIT period as suggested.

Have you Googled your boat to see if there are owners groups available. Why reinvent the wheel?

Good luck.

My intention wasn't to put forth an admittedly open ended question, but more of a mental exercise. The creativity, opinions, and depth of experience found on this forum are the prime reasons we joined. I simply wanted to see what this community of ours could come up with, and then take those ideas into consideration. Reinventing the wheel would make my head hurt.

Originally Posted by GILow

Ha ha, well, you are two up on us. Ours looked like a floating St Vincent de Paul opportunity shop, and the sails are pretty discraceful.

But, I will relay a conversation I had with the original owner: After a year of pleasant back and forth email and phone conversations, swapping photos ect, he finally blurted out that he really did overload the boat and that I should probably throw out most of what was inside. I didn't know what to say... I already had.

Matt

A previous owner opted to remove the cabin door and dinette table from ours. Surprisingly, I did find the medicine cabinet door which I reattached.

I thank you for the laugh provided by your conversation with the previous owner lol.

[CoastalEddie]

1) If your boat has the sink on the stb side of the head compartment, I would move it to the port side and install some lockers on the stb side. If I ever work up the courage and energy, I'm going to do this to my 2-27. If and when I get around to it I think I'll put a hanging locker on the forward end of the space and some drawers aft.

2) I built a little "sail loft" over the forward end of the V-berth. It's about three feet deep and rests on the existing little shelves. Essentially, you wind up with a sort of foot well in the narrow end of the V-berth and enough storage space for sails and extra PFDs. The one I made basically has 3x2 sides that rest just outboard of the lips of the shelves, 1/2 x 3 slats running athwart, and a vertical slat running athwart on the aft end to act as a lip. The whole thing weights maybe 10 lbs, and I only stow relatively light stuff up there.

3) If your salon in really bare, I would consider adding a bigger galley. If you really want to spend some time on the boat, extra galley space would come in really handy. My 2-27 has the L-shaped galley, which adds a bit more space than the one running straight across. But it's still pretty small when trying to prepare anything more than the most minimal of meals. Of course, with only the room provided on a 27 foot boat you're going to have to get creative. One thing to consider is to install some folding shelves (counter tops) against the ends of the galley counters. I sometimes fold the back of the stb settee up, remove the cushion, and use this for extra counter space.

4) Consider installing some dividers in the lazarette to partition the space into "bins". I'm in the process of doing this on my 2-27. I'm just using 1/4 inch ply screwed into some blocks epoxied to the interior of the hull and under the deck molding. The idea is to keep things from moving around and help with organization a bit (I always need help with organization). Otherwise it's just a "black hole" for whatever gets tossed in there.

[Azul]

What is your solar and battery bank situation? With new sails, a fancy head and electric propulsion the boat is already a bit of a white elephant in terms of upgrades to intrinsic value. As others have said, any more money put into this boat will possibly not result in it being worth more when it comes time to sell. Keep it barebones with little clutter and enjoy it the way it is! Try to find ways to upgrade the boat that you can easily remove later. You could spend a lot of money on portable safety gear and electronics for example, such as personal Epirbs.

Do you have a bow roller and manual winch for your ground tackle?

If you need more solar, a bimini supporting two large solar panels would be nice. You can take the panels with you later.

Is there a way to fashion a pullman type bed in the salon? The V berth is probably a little cramped.

Women usually like to have nice bathroom facilities with some sort of hot shower, which is a challenge in a 27 foot boat. Maybe an on-demand water heater you can remove when you move up.

[gjordan]

Get your ground tackle sorted out and anchor as often as possible. Good ground tackle and the ability to use it, is the best insurance any cruising boat can have. ______Grant.

[CoastalEddie]

Originally Posted by Azul

...
Is there a way to fashion a pullman type bed in the salon? The V berth is probably a little cramped.
...

My 2-27 has "Pullman" settees --- I wouldn't recommend them, at least not for most of us over the age of 25 or so. The problem is that there just isn't enough vertical room on the boat to have two bunks stacked on top of one another, and still have a comfortable berth for those of us who are a bit --shall we say-- circumferencally challenged. For kids and even teenagers they seem to work. But for most me they just feel too claustrophobic. You're probably better off making some sort of extension to make the port berth into a "double".

The V-berth on the 2-27 is actually pretty roomy. It will accommodate two adults comfortably. When my daughter was a toddler there was even room for my wife, the kid, and myself.

Originally Posted by Azul

Women usually like to have nice bathroom facilities with some sort of hot shower, which is a challenge in a 27 foot boat.Maybe an on-demand water heater you can remove when you move up.

Fortunately, the head compartment on the 2-27 runs completely athwart ships. So it's pretty spacious for a 27 foot boat. The difficulty would be to have enough water capacity for a shower. A little solar shower hung above the forward hatch is probably your best bet.

[CoastalEddie]

Originally Posted by gjordan

Get your ground tackle sorted out and anchor as often as possible. Good ground tackle and the ability to use it, is the best insurance any cruising boat can have. ______Grant.

Good point. Fifty feet of chain and an anchor that is slightly over-sized should let you sleep soundly. However, be careful about how much weight you put in that little forepeak anchor locker, and/or hanging off the bow. The 2-27 is just too small and light to keep her trim with too much weight that far forward. I stow my ground tackle in a plastic "milk crate" in the lazarette.

[Cheechako]

ground tackle, roller furling headsail, decent autopilot, nice big GPS/Plotter, good dingy/OB. We really don't know what you already have.
Maintenance issues: Fuel Tank condition, rudder, rigging and chainplates.