Plan to do some blue water sailing with my 1984 Catalina 27 tall rig. In solid and very excellent condition; many factory upgrades includign chain plates, spreader tanks, new keel bolts Recently istalled all new standing rigging including a 135 furling jib and an A symettrif. I' considering the addition of an additional removable forestay for extra strngth and more option for sail condfiguration. Any suggestions/actuall experience in having it done. Much appreciated. Les
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required reading...
...for your project should be John Vigor's "20 small sailboats that will take you anywhere" One of the 20 boats is the cat 27 tall rig.... I repeat... this is must reading for you. Vigor describes mods made by a sailor who circumnavigated his C27 TR. They included strenthening the hull by glassing in additional stringers and thwarts, closing off the outboard motor mount hole, oversizing the rigging and reinforcing the chainplates. Another important mod you might not have thought of ivolves the cockpit... the drains are woefully small and there is no bridge deck, so getting "pooped" could lead to some major flooding problems in the cabin. So in Vigor's example the C27 owner added four oversize cockpit scuppers draining directly overboard and created a watertight hatchboard system to act as a bridgedeck. Regarding the removable forestay, there was no comment on that in the book, but I like the idea myself. I ran the concept past a few of the old salts at Downwind Marine in Pt Loma, and got some good feed back. There's two considerations.. foredeck strength and mid mast support. One suggestion was to glass in an underdeck crosspiece below the folding padeye, tabbed to each side of the hull to relieve upward stress on the foredeck. This may be overkill, perhaps a large backing plate would be adequate. Regarding the mast, I thought installing running backstays to counteract the innerforestay might be necessary, but one of the guys mentioned that the reefed main and aft lower shrouds should be enough. Finally, you might consider being able to rig some type of boom gallows so you can stow the boom securely when you set your trysail. A lot to consider, I know. I share your dreams but am realistic about my boat's limitations. I will be making many of these modifications to my C27 when I'm ready to do some extended cruising just to make the boat stronger and safer.
...for your project should be John Vigor's "20 small sailboats that will take you anywhere" One of the 20 boats is the cat 27 tall rig.... I repeat... this is must reading for you. Vigor describes mods made by a sailor who circumnavigated his C27 TR. They included strenthening the hull by glassing in additional stringers and thwarts, closing off the outboard motor mount hole, oversizing the rigging and reinforcing the chainplates. Another important mod you might not have thought of ivolves the cockpit... the drains are woefully small and there is no bridge deck, so getting "pooped" could lead to some major flooding problems in the cabin. So in Vigor's example the C27 owner added four oversize cockpit scuppers draining directly overboard and created a watertight hatchboard system to act as a bridgedeck. Regarding the removable forestay, there was no comment on that in the book, but I like the idea myself. I ran the concept past a few of the old salts at Downwind Marine in Pt Loma, and got some good feed back. There's two considerations.. foredeck strength and mid mast support. One suggestion was to glass in an underdeck crosspiece below the folding padeye, tabbed to each side of the hull to relieve upward stress on the foredeck. This may be overkill, perhaps a large backing plate would be adequate. Regarding the mast, I thought installing running backstays to counteract the innerforestay might be necessary, but one of the guys mentioned that the reefed main and aft lower shrouds should be enough. Finally, you might consider being able to rig some type of boom gallows so you can stow the boom securely when you set your trysail. A lot to consider, I know. I share your dreams but am realistic about my boat's limitations. I will be making many of these modifications to my C27 when I'm ready to do some extended cruising just to make the boat stronger and safer.
Here's the list
In the early 80s, Patrick Childress circumnavigated in a Cat27 "Juggernaut". Here's the list of what mods he made to Juggernaut (the list that Joe refers to, and that Vigor uses in the book). Good luck, & good sailing!
In the early 80s, Patrick Childress circumnavigated in a Cat27 "Juggernaut". Here's the list of what mods he made to Juggernaut (the list that Joe refers to, and that Vigor uses in the book). Good luck, & good sailing!
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