Lancer 28 or not?

[Lancer1]

I am looking at a Lancer 28 a boat. I have no experience with these boats and have mostly sailed Ericsons and Catalinas. I have only about 120 to 150 hours light sailing experience and have only single handed 5 times a 27 Ericson in 15+ knots wind about 60 miles or so.

I was wondering if this is a good boat in general and also a good beginner/intermediate boat?
Like I said I know nothing about them as far as the quality and handling , etc.

The boat comes on a trailer which I like, although I cannot imagine towing a 4000+ lb. fixed keel 28 foot sailboat... Should I have had a V8?

Thanks for any help and suggestions.

 

[brians2628]

I purchased a lancer 28 last July and love it easy to sail have not tried solo yet. I keep mine in the water so don't know about towing

 

[BobM]

I had the little brother of the 28, the 25. There are a lot of compromises made to make these boats maxi-trailerables. Usually the price is very attractive per foot, but the shallow broad keel impacts performance. The boats aren't very roomy compared to their less trailerable peers. They are also fairly light for their size. If the price is right and you like it, consider it, but I strongly suggest you sail it first, but that is true of any boat.

 

[Ron Inglis]

My Lancer 28 will crab sideways a fair bit, and a deeper keel would resolve that. On the other-hand, I can squeeze into a shallow bay, and use dock spaces that others cannot, because of the 3ft draft.

I had a Venture 24 trailer sailboat, and the Lancer is solid and luxurious in comparison. I'm moored, without a trailer, and it's nice to have everything in the boat ready to go.

The flip-side is that trailers save you a lot of moorage expense in the off-season, and your boat is easier to work on in your driveway, with all your tools at hand. Renting a big U-Haul moving van twice a year is actually quite reasonable, compared to 6 months of moorage. Mast-stepping is something you'll want to see before you buy. The Lancer has a lot heavier mast than a MacGregor, so I imagine it's going to be more complicated.

I'm in semi-sheltered waters, off Vancouver in Canada. Heading dead into 25mph winds once, with 4-5 foot crests, in the Lancer was a bit much with only a 10hp motor. Lots of pounding, for very little headway. Not directly frightening, but I don't feel experienced enough to deal with a motor failure under those circumstances. I quickly changed to an alternate destination, running downwind instead, and that was actually quite pleasant. I'm sure for someone with more experience than me, likely no problem, but I prefer to keep my pants dry!

San Francisco Bay should be fine, because you can always run for shore, like in my area. For open water, like the Northern California coast, with pounding surf onto endless jagged rocks, and 30 miles between harbours, you had better know what you are doing, regardless of the boat.

 

[BobM]

Definitely need a V8 to tow a 4000lb fixed keel sailboat comfortably. Electric brakes too.

 

[Fredn56]

Hi BobM
I am considering a 1976 lancer 25 for lake sailing in California.
Would you consider this boat to be tender when sailing on a lake? You mentioned the boat is light. I will probably never take the boat into offshore or even coastal waters.

 

[BobM]

In some ways I need to be careful about my experiences with my boat as I was still very green when I had her. I am thankful for her, as I certainly got on the water sooner than I might have and I enjoyed every minute of it.

There is usually a significant difference when moving up a few feet. I had been looking at Hunter 23's when I bought my 25 and I really felt like there was a significant gain in stability with a bigger boat. The L25 is a lot of boat for the money and, besides the hull to deck joint (which is screwed and bonded with 5200 vs. through bolted), the construction is good. However, this may be less of the case between an Ericson 23 (which I assume you have from your post) and an L2 because they have the same beam and nearly the same mass. So, in short, she may feel pretty similar to an E23 from a stability perspective.

I don't think the L25 is a tender boat. Her flat bottom probably helps quite a bit from that perspective. I loved mine, even though she gave me fits sometimes and there were things about her that were sub-optimal. Some of that was probably my fault, but not wholly. The issues I had were that:
(1) Waves or a wake above 2 feet could bring her to a standstill. This was frustrating in the often confused waters at the exit to Boston Harbor. A headsail larger than the 110% I had would have helped here, especially in light air.
(2) The resistance due to the wide keel and my small headsail made her pretty reluctant to move in light air. Getting the outboard out of the water is pretty much a must if the original fixed stern mount is still in use. The difference was amazing when I pulled the OB out of the water. Towing a dinghy in light air had the same effect.
(3) There really isn't much room down below. It is likely better than an E23, but perhaps not by much. The head is miserable. My friend popped the forward hatch to take a leak under way and my friend on the opposite tack yelled "Hey Bob...who's your forward gunner!"

Nobody was having more fun per dollar than me, as I only paid $1000 for her. I did have to put her back in shape after a few years on the hard though. However if I had to do it all over again I would have either bought larger boat from the get go. If I had to pick an older 25 footer I would probably go with an O'day 25 or Chrysler 26 (not pretty boats but BIG) or an Ericsson 25. A pop top would be a plus. I would look for a keel/centerboard boat in a trailerable boat for optimum performance and launchability.

In general, the masts on a boat this size make dry sailing them difficult. If I had to rig my L25 every time I don't know if I would have sailed her nearly as much.

Note that the older models with fixed ports suffer from significant water damage to the cabin roof core plus the mast is further aft putting the compression post in the cabin. Later boats, like mine, have opening ports (much better if docked) and the mast is over the bulkhead with no post.