I purchased this boat for $500.00 US and spent about $4,000.00 to completely strip the interior and build a comfortable cruiser. It is a 1975 Cal 2-27, It has over 6 feet headroom below, a full head, a v-berth and a large living area with a full dinning table. And a complete (small) apartment size galley (my personal favorite). I removed the inboard engine and all related wiring and stuff to make an already large interior even larger. A lot of overbuilt construction techniques went into this boat to make it very blue water capable. I quadrupled stayed the mast on the port & stbd. sides, triple stayed the stern. Double stayed on the bow. There is no one wire failure that can bring the mast down. Added grab rails inside and topside threw bolted to each other. I built a water tight bulkhead sealing off the rudder from the rest of the boat, in case the rudder is broken off. It carries 50 gallons of water all below deck. And yep.. I got that ugly cooler holder hanging over the stern. But that 150 quart cooler is full of booze & food and easy to access. I can feed an army of party-goers. Sunday, August 22, 2010
Building a pocket cruiser on a budget
I purchased this boat for $500.00 US and spent about $4,000.00 to completely strip the interior and build a comfortable cruiser. It is a 1975 Cal 2-27, It has over 6 feet headroom below, a full head, a v-berth and a large living area with a full dinning table. And a complete (small) apartment size galley (my personal favorite). I removed the inboard engine and all related wiring and stuff to make an already large interior even larger. A lot of overbuilt construction techniques went into this boat to make it very blue water capable. I quadrupled stayed the mast on the port & stbd. sides, triple stayed the stern. Double stayed on the bow. There is no one wire failure that can bring the mast down. Added grab rails inside and topside threw bolted to each other. I built a water tight bulkhead sealing off the rudder from the rest of the boat, in case the rudder is broken off. It carries 50 gallons of water all below deck. And yep.. I got that ugly cooler holder hanging over the stern. But that 150 quart cooler is full of booze & food and easy to access. I can feed an army of party-goers. 
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Now we are talking! Great page - great job! Congrats :-)
ReplyDeleteThe hull hs been painted bright red since this last photo was taken on the water. Looks great
ReplyDeletePretty impressive work. Hope to see ya up at the lake again soon.
ReplyDeleteThanks. Hope to be .cruising the pacific soon
ReplyDeleteRoller reefing added. What a dream to hoist sails now.
ReplyDeleteHi I just ran across your site. Very good job. Where are your water tanks? Where is your gas tank for the outboard? Where is your propane tank for the stove? I just got a 2-27 for $1500. You gave me a lot of great ideas. I have a slight separation at the hull and deck on the starboard side. How would you repair this? I am very impressed.
ReplyDeletemustardismydog@aol.com
The water tank is in the bow below the v-berth. There is a water gathering system in the rear cockpit floor. All the rain that falls in the cockpit area drains into a 5 gallon bucket below decks. There is a filler cover that needs to be removed first. The fuel and propane tank sits on the rear rack, (no fuel smells in the cabin). Except for a 1 gallon point of use tank. I did not have any hull separation. Jensen Marine (who built the Cal series of boats) did a very good job of sealing the deck to hull with fiberglass inside the seam. Their hulls are also very thick. This is a great project boat for blue water cruising. Also very very spacious inside.
ReplyDeleteIve added some videos on youtube. Just type my name jmmondeau in the youtube search box and you can see the videos.
ReplyDeleteI too own a2-27, so I can appreciate your hard work and ingenuity. Great job!
ReplyDeleteThanks. Sorry that i did not respond to all these messages. Sooner. For some reason I was not getting any messages on my phone that i had questions on my blog.
DeleteWhat speed does the 4 hp put out? My old diesel is tired and I'm thinking about going that route. Did you have to reinforce the transome before mounting the engine?
ReplyDeleteThe 4 hp pushes the boat at 4kts. at 1/2 throttle. I did increase the engine to a 9.9 hp Nissan because the 4 hp cant push the boat very well against a 20-25 kts of wind. Otherwise it did very well on mild days.
Deletemy eng switch has caused a leek ,,water in the bildge any videos how to replace the berrings and coller?
ReplyDeleteI removed my stuffing box and no longer have that problem. I use an outboard and it works wonderfully. Plus if i tangle a rope i can undo the tangle when the engine is tilted up. Sorry i don't have any videos for that.
DeleteSteveB the 4 hp gives me 4.5 to 5kts on flat water at .2 to .5 gph. great endurance.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, the stuffing box (where the leak might be coming from) has an adjustment to stop the water leak. But don't forget that water is what cools the shaft when it is turning so some leak is necessary when underway. Don't over-tighten it.
The adjustment for the stuffing box needs to allow water to flow over the seal otherwise the seal (there is a waxed rope in the stuffing box) will heat up and leak even worse when it gives out. That was another reason I removed the stuffing box. I wanted a dry bilge. And that is exactly what I have. Super-dry bilge. I love it. No odors , no mildew.
DeleteThey come with anumber of mounting arrangements like card mount and clear mount and provide detailsabout the post code as well as street areas within a map...
ReplyDeleteLED Light Pockets
Thanks for sharing...!!!!
Your boat looks fantastic Jean. Like me you go for the simple approach with less to go wrong..
ReplyDeleteBanjo is still going strong despite a lightning strike earlier this year nearly sinking the boat and frying all the electrics.
Best regards graham
Hi Jean, I just rediscovered your email of 16 Sept 2011 and now, finally, sitting here in Ambon, Indonesia I get to see your boat. What a tremendous amount of fine work. You can come varnish my teak any time :) . Good sailing to you. Patrick www.whereisbrickhouse.com
ReplyDeleteThanks. sorry for the slow reply. It took more determination than elbow grease... sorta. But i'm very happy with he boat now.
DeleteHello, still there. Does the 2 27 have I-beam issue? Under compresin post support piece, knownot as the beam of Death because it erodes. Mike
ReplyDelete