Albin 25 vs 27FC

[hetek]

Chiming in here, Don!

Yes, I've owned an A27FC previously and now own an A25. And I have a family of 5.

Downside is I have no experience with the A25, as of yet. It is still a work in progress and won't see the water under my ownership until next spring. I can speak to the size comparison, if not the sea keeping abilities.

True, those extra 2 feet on the 27 makes a huge difference, but as JT pointed out, it has the weight and beam disadvantages for towing capability. I entertained the thought of towing my 27 when I first bought her. Then I found out that a custom trailer would run about $7k. I would have only towed from the ramp to home - only 5 miles - not cross country like DesertAlbin. I had a boat transporter haul and block my 27 at my house for $100 each way (in, in spring and out, in fall). I could have done that for a lifetime before I hit the $7k break even point. HOWEVER... Hurricane ("Superstorm" or whatever) Sandy opened my eyes to being reliant on a 3rd party to haul my boat when it has to be. All haulers are busy in that situation and you just go on the list. My 27 was still in the water the morning the storm hit and was hauled within 4 hours of peak surge. That's close! I'm so glad I have a trailer with my 25.

My other two boats (15' Boston Whaler and 27' Sea Sport Pilot) are still in the water as I write this. Yes, I am watching hurricane "Matthew" tracks closely and yes, I have a trailer for each, ready if and when the time comes to haul.

For the 27, I never noticed poor behavior regarding handling or sea-worthiness, but I never ventured out in slop. Worst I saw was a light drizzle. 99% of my "cruises" were in the bay - no open ocean or anything challenging.

For elbow room, the 27 wins hands down. The aft cabin on a 27 is a cavern compared to the 25's "pup tent". No need to walk around the engine box because the engine is under the cockpit floor in a 27. As JT noted, standing headroom at the helm (working on a solution to that on my 25, though).

Again, limited experience. I see pros and cons of each. Depends what your most important needs are. Another data point: My family absolutely loved my 27 "Bunkie". They give my 25 a passing glance and are not impressed. Like I said (and you can probably tell by my photos in my "rebuild" thread) it is a work in progress and not very impressive as-is. Yet. Hopefully they'll warm up.

[Hobbit]

Wow. Thank you! Great replies from all.

Everything on a boat (or airplane, or truck, or ...) is a compromise. I can tell from the variety of perspectives here that the suitability is going to depend on priorites.

I can see pro's and con's on both also. Thank you for the replies. I am continuing to follow up on the. And look forward to continuing to follow this thread.

[Hobbit]

Hatch1 (2).jpg

What did you use for the support rods? Source?

Thanks

I think the first mate might be revving up her sewing machine in the near future

Jay

Jay, I used to buy them in larger quantities from a either a kite building hobby site or an antennae site. I think both at different times.

I designed different sizes for different hatches. I still have my patterns. (and hold the patent). Contact me directly and I will see what we can work out. I am now retired but putz.

[Mandalay]

Hobbit,

I have an A27FC that's now based in Port Ludlow if you'd like to see it sometime.

My boat MANDALAY is a 1985 with the Lehman 4D61 engine. The previous owner trailered the boat to St. Louis and completed the 5,000 mile America's Great Loop route. I do not have the trailer which he sold and regret that I did not purchase it at the time. Mine was for sale until a week ago when I reevaluated and decided to keep the boat.

I have run in small craft advisories that caught up with me underway, and I do cross the Strait of Juan de Fuca from my home in Port Townsend. That said, the boat is best in light winds and seas, and requires vigilance when steering in a seaway. A prudent approach, and a common matter for any such small craft in those conditions. I have a King autopilot that performs well and use it on most passages.

I've sailed and sold the A25 motorsailor as a yacht broker and know the design. I wanted one after that deal, and sometimes wished I'd made the offer. The A25 is the Westphalia Camper of the small craft world of powerboats in my view. A well conceived design that was well built in its day.

You will find the A27FC offers significantly more living space than the A25. As mentioned in this thread, the aft cabin is enormous by comparison. The pilot house is larger with more beam. My boat has an aftermarket Alaska bulkhead and Hi Seas 10,000 BTU heater that is a great feature here in the Pacific Northwest. The forward cabin is wider and this provides for a roomy head compartment with vanity and storage compared to the space on the A25. This is a pocket trawler in form and function.

The A25, despite the shorter waterline, appears to be a bit faster according to owner reports. My hull speed is about 6.5 knots and I reach that in flat water at 2,300 RPM. I plan for 6 knots and usually achieve that speed on a passage. My fuel consumption including use of the heater is always 1 GPH.

Send me an email through this forum sometime if you'd like to see the boat. I still have a video tour posted on YouTube from when I was selling her. Search YouTube for "Port Townsend Films" and you will find my channel.

All the Best,
Brian Moratti

image.jpeg

[DesertAlbin736]

Speaking of the hatch vent hood...

I designed different sizes for different hatches. I still have my patterns. (and hold the patent). Contact me directly and I will see what we can work out.

At some point I may be interested in those patterns now that I have my own Thompson Mini Walker machine. Busy now on some other things, but it looks interesting.

[DesertAlbin736]

It may be blasphemy, but if I were living in the Puget Sound/Salish Sea area & not needing to trailer distances & had the money I might be looking at something like this Sundowner 30 tug that's for sale for $52K in Bellingham.

[Hobbit]

Speaking of the hatch vent hood...

I designed different sizes for different hatches. I still have my patterns. (and hold the patent). Contact me directly and I will see what we can work out.

At some point I may be interested in those patterns now that I have my own Thompson Mini Walker machine. Busy now on some other things, but it looks interesting.

The first machine that I made (quality) marine canvas on was little Sailrite. It did a nice job for many years. When I went commercial I moved up to a new Juki. The Sailrite had zig zag which is required for sail repair, but the sewing machine horizontal arm length limited its use.

These little machines (Sailrite, Thompson, etc) are a great investment for boatowners. It is also worth investing in Teflon thread. It is pricey but it never rots. My favorite material is Weathermax 80. It is somewhat harder to work with, requires a hot knife, but is far far more water resistant that Sunbrella are sunbrella clones.

I should move this topic to a new thread. If anyone has questions regarding making marine fabric items for thier vessel I will answer in a new thread.

[Hobbit]

Hobbit,

I have an A27FC that's now based in Port Ludlow if you'd like to see it sometime.

image.jpeg

Brian, I may take you up on that. I saw the video and the listing on CL before you even posted. I thought the listing on CL had Mandalay on the other side of the Sound or I probably would have made arrangements to see it already.

Based on discussions with Willie C I have an idea what a trailer will run. Yup. Should have bought the trailer. I can save about $1800 a year by pulling my boat and trailering to the house. Plus I can keep it under cover during the monsoon season and find it much more enjoyable to perform maintenance.

My home port Pleasant Harbor gets 56 inches a year most of it during the months that my vessel is in the hard. I know Port Ludlow averages 30 inches despite it only being an hours drive.

I appreciate your comments on the 25 vs 27. I am taking time to ponder the choices.

[Hobbit]

Puget

It may be blasphemy, but if I were living in the Puget Sound/Salish Sea area & not needing to trailer distances & had the money I might be looking at something like this Sundowner 30 tug that's for sale for $52K in Bellingham.

I wish this were an option. Lol.

I moved to WA a couple of years ago from MI. My boating perspective is tainted by the difference in economic realities in the PNW.

If you can't trailer a vessel here you are pretty much destined to keep it in a well almost all the time. Having a vessel on the hard can be very expensive here unless you get away from the greater metropolitan areas. I have gotten quotes of over $100 a day. Anacortes and outlying boatyards are more affordable, but they are all a bit of a trek and most don't allow you to stay on your boat in the yard.

I am used to pulling a vessel annually and having a look at the hull, bottom painting, etc. It is also nice when you have a 6 knot vessel to keep the hull clean. Washington has clean harbor rules that make it difficult to do certain types of maintenace in the water.

In my mind the economic step from a trailerable vessel to one that must be hauled is significantly more in WA than it was in MI. ( I had a 37' Irwin CC there).

I am suffering the retirement paradox. If you have the time, you won't have the money. When I had more money I was too busy working.

[Jeremyvmd]

yikes those are some crazy yard fees - I pay 580 to have my 28 hauled, blocked, stored, and relaunched in the spring!

[Deep Creek]

Does anyone know if a 1985 27 foot Albin family cruiser has a cored hull (freeboard and bottom)?

[DesertAlbin736]

In my mind the economic step from a trailerable vessel to one that must be hauled is significantly more in WA than it was in MI. ( I had a 37' Irwin CC there).

I am suffering the retirement paradox. If you have the time, you won't have the money. When I had more money I was too busy working.

I hear you there. Not to mention the difference between being in fresh water and salt, which is a strain on everything. Our friends who brought their diesel powered O'Day 25 sailboat up from Flagstaff to cruise with us (that's how we got that cool photo of our boat in front of Chatterbox Falls) were shopping around for a boat to keep up in Bellingham or Anacortes, a sailboat, not a power boat, but something in the 30 to 35 foot range. I think your analysis would sober them up quite a bit. Before making out summer trip I repainted the bottom with Pettit Hydrocoat Eco non-copper bottom paint. It was a nasty job but I did it myself for only the cost of the paint and some sanding discs, having been able to bring the boat down to a friend's recycling yard business were I could work in a shaded concrete structure with open walls and a high tin roof.

We are a bit spoiled, paying $50 a month to park the boat on the trailer in a dry if somewhat dusty climate that often has humidity levels in the low teens to single digits and only gets an average of 7 inches of rain a year. The downside is the 115 degree summer heat and that we are 360 miles from the nearest ocean.

[DesertAlbin736]

I am suffering the retirement paradox. If you have the time, you won't have the money. When I had more money I was too busy working.

Yes that is the paradox. That and the fact that the years fly by faster and faster the older we get. Can I get an Amen there? We are by no means wealthy, but I was fortunate enough to have worked for an investor owned electric utility for 24 years with good benefits and a getting a generous early retirement buyout package in 2010. I sat in a cubicle staring at computer screens and sat through hours of inane corporate staff meetings and a series of "flavor of the month" 'quality circle' programs that consultants sold the company on for the last 17 years of my working career. Years ago my wife and her first husband owned and ran a dinner theater in Tucson during the 1970s, and she got a good nest egg out of that when they sold the business and later divorced. We could not do all the things we do had we not combined our resources and been able to live debt free as we do, and I mean completely debt free with a nice house, boat, car, truck, and small albeit older RV camp trailer all owned outright. That said, only our car is less than ten years old. And of course being in good health. We are indeed blessed. I would love to have a trailerble Ranger 25 tug or a Nordic 26 (which would have the same wide load issues as an A27), but that would be beyond our means, as would an Albin 28 or 31 TE.

[smacksman]

It's nice to have a perfect 30 or 40 year old boat but it doesent HAVE to be perfect to get a lot of fun out of it.
I bought a 1983 Albin27FC on Ebay - sight unseen - flew to the US and jumped on board. Then fixed a few things for a couple of weeks then motored 1800 miles and had a lot of fun. Fixed a few things on the way but that's normal sailing.
There is room for a couple of sleeping bags in the cockpit of a 27FC so sleeping six for a weekend is possible.

[hetek]

"It's nice to have a perfect 30 or 40 year old... boat..." Made me chuckle until I read the word "boat". I was wondering where you were going with that!

True, though. My 1984 A27FC was hands down my family's favorite boat out of all I've owned. My latest, my A25 is #19. "Bunkie" was 30 years old and was showing signs of age, but still a great, fun boat, nonetheless. I'm hoping I can reclaim some of that magic with the A25, but of course the kid's priorities are changing as they too get older. I can hope, can't I?