Bristol 27 hull on eBay

[JonnyBoats]

There is a Bristol 27 hull with old Volvo diesel on eBay.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayI ... 84866&rd=1

It has been stripped, but the bid is only $199. It is in Miami.

Is this a classic woth saving?

[Tim]

The B-27 hull has some redeeming value. I have never been a huge fan of the way the decks looked, particularly the later-model deck design seen on this particular one. (The older deck design was more similar to the Triton in appearance, but managed to be clunkier.)

If you wanted to strip this down to the hull, you might have something. This boat is rough. One caveat is that somehow, the B-27 seems much smaller than a Triton. I'm not sure why. The hull is pure Alberg, though. She'd make a nice daysailor...

If you like the design and wanted to put in the huge amount of work required to make her yours, then this is as good a starting point as any. Frankly, though, if the price goes up much at all it would be hard to justify, especially given how far away the boat is.

[JetStream]

There is a Bristol 27 here in Jamestown, RI that I looked at as a potential daysailer for the family. It has a new 4 stroke outboard. It looks rough, but pretty salvageable. I saw some larger plates under a few stanchion bases, suggesting there is a fair amount of core rot near the stanchions, but I did not survey it further. There are no cushions with it. I think the guy will part with it for about $2K. That would likely be a lesser investment than hauling one up from FL. It is under a bad tarp but I have a few images that say a little.
I can dig up the contact info if anyone is interested.

[Rachel]

Another thing to be aware of, before saving one of those later model B-27s with the high (ugly!) cabin-top - like the e-Bay one - is that the reason the cabin is so high compared to the older ones is that they switched from lead ballast to steel.

Since the steel is less dense, it's bigger, so the cabin sole is higher, and to maintain the standing headroom they had to raise the cabin-top too.

I think that the earlier B-27s aren't bad looking, and - if it's something a person wants - they did come with the option of an outboard in a concealed stern-well (or an inboard in which case the well locker is storage).

They do feel a bit smaller, but have all the same functional spaces, except that the foot of the saloon berths goes under the galley. But otherwise the layout is just like a Triton, the cockpit is still plenty long to sleep in, and they all had the top-opening cockpit locker lids.

The thing is, not only are they a foot-and-a-half shorter than the Triton, they also lose a bit of space (comparatively) in the stern because the covered motor-well space is larger fore-and-aft than the Triton's lazarette.

The bunks-under-the-galley do mean that you can't make a simple slide-out double in the main saloon. But, one thing I do like is that the companionway is slightly off-center, so there's room for a (small) stand-in-front-of sink near the center of the galley.

--- Rachel

[paul45c]

Forgive me for resurrecting a 14 year old post, but I had a question on the B27 that this thread touched on...does anybody know what year it shifted over to the higher deck configuration and the steel ballast? I, too, really much prefer the older style, but I don't know when the old design stopped. Thanks.

-- Paul

[atomvoyager]

I haven't seen any other reference online to the steel ballast version so I assume it was only a few boats. Early models that were lead also had the bridgedeck under the companionway instead of the later sill so perhaps looking at a photo of that area in the listing will confirm it's the correct model you want. Or you might consider the Cape Dory 27. At the end of this article are links for further reading:

https://sites.google.com/site/bristolow ... bristol-27

You might try asking your questions on the Bristol 27 blog here:

http://www.bristol27.com/

[paul45c]

Thanks for the info, James, especially the tip about the Cape Dory 27. I'm a fan of CD boats. Had a CD 28 motorboat I liked quite a bit. Seaworthy old tank. Personally, though, I have to say your Tritons have sweeter lines IMHO.

-- Paul