Catalina 27

The Catalina 27 is an American sailboat designed by Frank V. Butler and Robert Finch. The design became one of the most popular sailing keelboats of all time and was built from 1971 to 1991. The boat was built by Catalina Yachts in the United States starting in 1971 and was also built under licence in Canada. In the first three years of production, 1500 boats were completed and sold. A total of 6662 examples were completed. The design was replaced in production by the Catalina 270 in 1991.

The Catalina 27 is a small recreational keelboat, built predominantly of fiberglass. It has a masthead sloop rig, an internally-mounted spade-type rudder and a fixed fin keel. It displaces 6,850 lb (3,107 kg) and carries 2,700 lb (1,225 kg) of lead ballast. Designed for inland sailing and not ocean passages (even though some have circumnavigated), the boat's hull is made from solid fiberglass, while the deck has a plywood core. The hull and other parts were built with molded headliners to streamline production. Early boats were all fitted with a tiller, but later ones had a wheel steering as optional.

The boat has a draft of 4.00 ft (1.22 m) with the standard keel and 3.00 ft (0.91 m) with the optional shoal draft wing keel. The boat was originally fitted with an outboard motor well, but some later ones were equipped with inboard Universal Atomic 4 gasoline or Universal diesel engines.

The boat has a PHRF racing average handicap of 204 with a high of 207 and low of 204. It has a hull speed of 6.25 kn (11.58 km/h).

Source: Wikipedia. Image Credit: Wikipedia