Watkins 27
We bought a 1980 Watkins 27 (our first boat) about 5 years ago and enjoyed it for 3 years before moving up to a larger boat as the family grew and became addicted to sailing. Instead of saying "well built" I'll use the term "strongly built" to decribe her construction. With over an inch of fiberglass on some areas on the hull, this boat can take anything. We had a pretty bad case of blisters but that's fairly common for a boat this age that spent her early years in warm Florida. waters. I would of course get a survey done, and under no circumstances buy without a haul out as it might save you big $$'s in renegotioation. The interior is huge for a 27, it's probably the largest 27 ever built. This made it great for what we wanted, a comfortable, affordable weekend cruiser for our family. Of course, all boats are a trade off and the wide beam, shallow draft, and high freeboard, hurts the sailing performance. In light winds, the boat is extremely slow, and we motored a lot. At 15-20knts she's alot of fun but your still not going to win any races, the wide beam makes her very tender at first, heeling quickly to 15-20 degrees, but no more. In short, if your looking for affordability and livability, you've found a great boat, if club racing is in your future, you need to keep looking. The link below is for the Watkins owners site.
