We had a 272. It started with tiller steering, and I converted it to wheel. For room in the cockpit while sailing, the wheel was better, especially if you build a helm seat. The tiller described a wide arc, and you stuck it in someone’s chest every time you tacked. It also had less mechanical advantage than the wheel, so it required a little more strength, but with balancing the sails, it was finger-tip-light.
For sitting at anchor or tied up, the wheel can be removed, but if you do not remove it, the tiller is easier to get out of the way while sitting around.
With the shoal-draft, wing keel, the boat is tender, so if you or your partner or guests are skittish about heeling, you may not like the 272. I think it is about sail management. Reef early and often, and you won’t wash the windows!
For the interior, I preferred the midships head/ hanging locker in the 272 to the closet head in the aft quarter of the Catalina 28. The closet was miniscule, and I am all of 5’8” and 160 lbs. We actually removed all the cabinetry in the 272 head / hanging locker. It made a lot more room to use hanging bags and organizers.
The V berth in the 272 was plenty big. We converted the salon into a single, queen-size bed. It was wonderful. The quarter berth in the 272 was also pretty big, but we never slept there.
We changed to water system to a foot-pump at the galley operated off a 13 gallon bladder.
We added an inverter / charger and smart plug shore power to ours.
The stock 272 traveler is a pin stop traveler. We changed that out to a flat track Garhauer with line controls. I built risers for the flat traveler to clear the slider. We also changed the mainsheet control to a 4:1 led aft right off the traveler car. The stock arrangement has it led forward to a stand-up block and then aft to the clutches.
The transom-hung rudder was carefree. It was pretty well balanced.
We had an 9.9 Yamaha 4 stroke on our 272. I would consider it fine for lake sailing, but I do not know that it is big enough for any current. I think a 15 horse would be better. The diesel will give you more power and directed thrust, but it takes room in the boat, and adds complexity. We could lift our motor off and store it or have it serviced. The Yamaha was an excellent, worry free motor. We kept a 6 gallon tank under the starboard, aft, cockpit settee. We also added remote throttle, so there was no diving over the transom to adjust the throttle or change the gear- things the diesel owner would never encounter.
The outboard will cause the boat to list only slightly to the side of the motor while at the dock. It is balanced by the batteries and water tank somewhat when the tank is full of water.
The 272 sailed nicely. It would sail at 7 knots, but not really more unless way overpowered or surfing, and then only for a moment or two. She had no bad habits, did not slap or pound or roll or wallow excessively. We could balance her sails, and she would hold her course with either the tiller clutch (When we had the tiller) or the wheel lock set. We had roller furling, so balancing was easy. We did have a single reef point in the main. It was adequate, and we rarely used it. She is not an overpowered vessel.
With the shoal keel, she will rock and roll while tied up and while stepping on and off the gunwales.
The cockpit could seat 6 pretty well, but there are lots of feet and toes to step on while tacking. It helps if two people can tack the genoa, so no one has to move. It would not be impossible to rig the boat for single-handing at the helm. My family is light and fit, so 6 of us probably tipped the scales around 825-840. The boat seemed well behaved with that load.
One nice feature was that we owned a trailer, and with the shoal-draft, wing keel, the 272 is quite trailerable. Her mast is easily stepped with a gin-pole or A-frame. Thus, we could take her home and work on her in the off season.
Well, there you go. Those are my observations. Overall, I would recommend her as a sailboat. We enjoyed her. She was a carefree vessel once we got her set up how we wanted. She is/was a fine member of the community. She made us proud, and she received many compliments as a stand-out example of a proud boat. If you buy one, I think she will do the same for you.
Thanks, Andrew