I have just aquired a lancer 28, (havent sailed it yet) I swapped a porsche I had sitting in my garden gathering dust for it. It wouldnt have been my first choice of boat, my last boat was in Irwin Citation, 35, well no, my last boat was a bayliner, my last sail boat was the Irwin. I took the Irwin to Bermuda from Jacksonville florida, via charlestone, in december, and on that trip, it was the first time i ever got the spreader to touch the water, i also tore the vang off the boom, as well as flooded the engine with sea water, found i had no oil transfer pump onboard, and to change the oil, i had to take the filter off, open the compression leavers, then manually crank the engine, until all the water and oil was pumped out. Wrapped the main sheet round the prop, (took some amount of diving to get that untangled) spent every sleeping moment in a wet bunk, as the toe rails leaked so much, but spent christmas day at sea, and reached bermuda in time for new year celebrations.
Now to the lancer, why do people say the 28 is not a good boat, i have stripped the one i bought, and apart from the keel, cant really find anything wrong with it. I dont know how much of the one i have is original, but, i do know the stantchions are original, and they bolt into the deck with four bolts, i have seen sail boat, seen as more sea worthy, with stanchions that bolted in with two bolts. The hull apears to be broken up into various compartments, and if the hull was holed, like under the quarter berth, as far as i can tell, it wouldnt be able to spread to the rest of the boat. I cant say much about the thickness of fiberglass, as i never really took an interest in it, on my previous boats, one of which was a grampian 26, which was well known for its strength, but to me, the lancer seems like a decent boat, a boat that i would almost be happy to go to sea in, i say almost because my one doubt is the keel. The Keel seems like a bag, with the ballast in it, and that bag is fine as long as gravity is pulling it down, what i wonder about, is what would happen, if that boat was on its side, and the 2200 pounds of ballast was pulling at fiberglass upper keel, stretching one side, and compressing the other. Another thing i notice, is their is absolutely no reinforcing behind any deck fittings, not even a bit of ply, nothing, not under the winches, not under the cleats, also i have found few bolts on the boat, nearly everything being screwed together with self tapers, at present i am taking off the toe rails, glassing the hull deck joint, and intend to bolt the toe rail back into place.
I would be confident of taking this boat to bermuda, but I would do some mods first, i would double up the back stays, put chain plates in either corner of the transom, and i would (which i intend to do) glass in some plywood under every deck fitting on the boat, and bolt everything down, not screw it. I would also have some way of covering a broken window, but i think the boat, with a bit of conversion, and some carefull handeling, could easily go offshore. Their are some really good components on it, mine was built in 76, and the cabiin lights (i dont know if they are original but are very old type lights) are reallly good quality, when you put your finger up against the cabin lights on the 82 irwin, the cover just fell apart. For the condition, i just cant believe its a 76 boat, it just looks really good.
So why is it people are so aprehensive to go off shore in these boats, I think if i knew and understood the keel better, and if that was positive, i would happily single hand it to bermuda, in december.
Now to the lancer, why do people say the 28 is not a good boat, i have stripped the one i bought, and apart from the keel, cant really find anything wrong with it. I dont know how much of the one i have is original, but, i do know the stantchions are original, and they bolt into the deck with four bolts, i have seen sail boat, seen as more sea worthy, with stanchions that bolted in with two bolts. The hull apears to be broken up into various compartments, and if the hull was holed, like under the quarter berth, as far as i can tell, it wouldnt be able to spread to the rest of the boat. I cant say much about the thickness of fiberglass, as i never really took an interest in it, on my previous boats, one of which was a grampian 26, which was well known for its strength, but to me, the lancer seems like a decent boat, a boat that i would almost be happy to go to sea in, i say almost because my one doubt is the keel. The Keel seems like a bag, with the ballast in it, and that bag is fine as long as gravity is pulling it down, what i wonder about, is what would happen, if that boat was on its side, and the 2200 pounds of ballast was pulling at fiberglass upper keel, stretching one side, and compressing the other. Another thing i notice, is their is absolutely no reinforcing behind any deck fittings, not even a bit of ply, nothing, not under the winches, not under the cleats, also i have found few bolts on the boat, nearly everything being screwed together with self tapers, at present i am taking off the toe rails, glassing the hull deck joint, and intend to bolt the toe rail back into place.
I would be confident of taking this boat to bermuda, but I would do some mods first, i would double up the back stays, put chain plates in either corner of the transom, and i would (which i intend to do) glass in some plywood under every deck fitting on the boat, and bolt everything down, not screw it. I would also have some way of covering a broken window, but i think the boat, with a bit of conversion, and some carefull handeling, could easily go offshore. Their are some really good components on it, mine was built in 76, and the cabiin lights (i dont know if they are original but are very old type lights) are reallly good quality, when you put your finger up against the cabin lights on the 82 irwin, the cover just fell apart. For the condition, i just cant believe its a 76 boat, it just looks really good.
So why is it people are so aprehensive to go off shore in these boats, I think if i knew and understood the keel better, and if that was positive, i would happily single hand it to bermuda, in december.
