Overview
The Cape Dory 27 is the middle child of the small Cape Dorys, a Carl Alberg full-keel sloop built from 1976 to 1984 in East Taunton, Massachusetts. It splits the difference between the pocket-cruiser 25/26 and the proper little ship that is the Cape Dory 30: big enough for a standard diesel and real tankage, small enough to single-hand and afford. Well over two hundred were built, so unlike some of its siblings it is genuinely findable.
History
The 27 arrived as Cape Dory hit its stride in the late 1970s, and its production run tracks the company’s best years. Production counts differ between sources, 227 per Baldwin and 277 per sailboat.guide, but either number makes it one of the more numerous boats in the range. Baldwin notes a diesel engine was standard, and adds a characteristically practical observation: with 30 inches between transom and rudder post, the boat “could be converted to an outboard well to simplify if desired.”
Construction
The formula is unchanged across the range: solid hand-laid fiberglass, a molded full keel with 3,000 lbs of ballast (40 percent of the 7,500 lb displacement), keel-hung rudder, bronze ports and seacocks, teak on deck and below, and 5’10“ headroom per Baldwin. One factory quirk Baldwin flags as a minus: the recessed anchor locker in the foredeck on some boats “does not allow storage space for long rode or anchor windlass,” though he notes it can be converted to a conventional below-deck chain locker.
Under Sail
On a 20-foot waterline with 354 sq ft of sail, the 27 posts the family’s usual numbers: moderate speed, an SA/D in the mid-15s, and a capsize screening figure around 1.7, the best of the small Cape Dorys and comfortably inside the offshore threshold. The manners match: it heels to its lines and stiffens, tracks without fuss, and heaves-to cleanly. It gives up boat speed to the Cal 30 and points lower than a fin-keeler, and its owners generally could not care less.
Buyers Notes
The 27 may be the sweet spot of the small Cape Dorys for a cruising couple on a budget: diesel and tankage the 25/26 lack, several thousand dollars less than a Cape Dory 30, and enough hulls built that patience is rewarded. Survey the usual Cape Dory points: deck core moisture, bronze seacock condition, chainplates, and the age of the standing rigging. Check which anchor locker arrangement the boat has if you plan to carry serious ground tackle. The original diesels are now around fifty years old at the early end, so engine condition drives value more than cosmetics do.
