CD27 vs CD28 vs SS28 - cockpit dimensions?

[hebert01]

Hi all-

My wife and I are in the market for a coastal cruiser, and have narrowed my list down to the CD27, CD28, or Sea Sprite 28. The many comparisons on this board between these models have been extremely helpful in helping me whittle my preferences down, but I haven't been able to find any direct comparison of cockpit size among these three boats.

While I intend to visit all three models in person before making any final decision, I'd love to hear some feedback from those with first-hand experience sailing two or more of them for any period of time.

I intend to use the boat for about 60% daysailing and 40% weekending. All three seem pretty easy to singlehand. As a relatively tall guy of 6'1", the increased cabin height of the SS28 and CD28 over the CD27 both seem more appealing on first glance. And I love the overhangs of the CD27 and SS28. But since my wife and I currently daysail an Ensign, we've become spoiled with the spacious cockpit accommodations we have. We enjoy sailing with another couple, and would ideally like to have room to spread us all out a little bit.

Thanks in advance for any advice. If I missed a thread here that addresses cockpit comparisons in particular, I apologize. Please point me to the link, and I'll be glad tocheck it out.

[Clay Stalker]

I have owned and sailed both CD27 and SS28. Best I can tell you is these cockpits are all more alike than different in any meaningful way. The CD27 and SS28 both have a locker in the rear of the cockpit which I found useful, but CD28 owners probably don't miss it. At 6'1 you won't have total standing headroom in any of them, but I think the CD28 will have the most. The CD27 is 5'11" and the SS28 is just 6'. I think the CD28 is a hair more. As for cabin size, the CD28 and SS28 are almost identical in volume, with the CD27 somewhat less. As for displacement, the CD28 is 9,000 lbs, the SS28 is 7,600 lbs. and the CD27 is 7,500 lbs. The CDs are a bit more heavily laid up as is indicated by their additional weights. Waterlines and speed are the same for the SS28 and CD27 with the CD28 being a bit longer and theoretically a bit faster. Some CD27 owners might dispute that with the additional overhangs on the boat, and the SS28 has the longest overhang of the three.

Having owned and coastal cruised a CD27 for 3 years, I sold it because I wanted more interior space, more headroom, and hoped to do some longer distance cruising, which didn't happen and probably won't. When I purchased my SS28, I was also looking for a CD28 but couldn't find one I wanted. I am very satisfied with the SS28....some things I like better on it and some things are better done by Cape Dory. All three of these would make excellent coastal cruisers, with the CD28 better for blue water sailing. When buying any of these, you will be looking out for the same problems. There are way more CDs to choose from than SS and most have been well-kept. A good SS28 is hard to find, many have not been well-kept. Some say the SS28 is a bit better finished, I have not found that to be the case. They are finished almost identically, with the CDs built a bit stouter overall. A few SS were owner finished, and the Ryder factory seems to have done a better job overall.

Hope this is helpful. Overall, you cannot go wrong with these three boats for coastal cruising and weekending.

[hebert01]

Clay-

Extremely helpful - thanks! Just the kind of feedback I was hoping to gather. Since you've got a fair amount of experience on both, have you found the sailing characteristics of the SS28's sailplan (w/ fractional rig) much different than the CD27? That is, is it noticeably easier to manhandle the smaller fractional jib of the SS28 when singlehanding? And does the SS28 seem to sail better than the CD27 under main alone? The Ensign, with its fractional rig and big main, sails wonderfully under main alone.

Just curious - why do you think that many SS28s aren't as well kept as the CDs? They seem to target the same audience, and I'd naively assume that this type of traditional buyer would seem more inclined to keep his boat in good shape than the more "typical" consumer (might be a biased comment here). Have you noticed the SS28 a tougher boat to keep up than the CDs for any reason?

Also, notice any difference in thermal or sound insulation from the airex cored hull of the SS? Curious on that - I've never owned a cored hull before.

[Clay Stalker]

Glad you found this useful. All I have ever tried to do on this board is to share my experiences that others might find helpful....I suspect sometimes I annoy CD owners, not being one, but boats are boats!!

The rigs are a bit different. I found my CD27 to sail very well under genoa alone, surprisingly well. In fact, sometimes when I was lazy or just going out for a short sail, I just unfurled the genny and didn't even bother with the main. The CD27 does not sail well under main alone. The SS28 sails a bit better under main alone, but not as well as the CD27 with just the genny, probably because of the fractional rig. On the CD27 I flew a 140, and on the SS I fly a 130, both on furlers, Harken on the CD and Profurl on the SS.

As for maintenance, there are certainly many SS owners who maintain their boats very well, but it seems those owners don't sell and move up as often as CD owners.....hard to say why, maybe there just aren't as many bigger SS to move up to.....and the SS board is nowhere near as big as this one as there are so many fewer boats, though they do have a site. I have seen some pristine SS28s, but they go very fast. So do the pristine CDs, but there are just so many more to choose from. All in all, I would guess that the owners of both boats are very similar.

As for the hulls, the SS28 hulls are not cored. All SS28 hulls are solid as are the SS23s. Ryder began coring hulls with the SS34, so I cannot comment on that other than I am not personally a fan of cored hulls. But I have not heard of any problems with the SS34 hulls, and nearly all boats built today have cored hulls....

Another note of interest is the original SS28s were called SS27s. But because they actually were 27'11" long, the name was later changed to SS28 to compete price-wise with boats of similar price, like the CD28 and Sabre 28.

As for overall sailing characteristics, there are some differences as the CDs are Alberg designs and the SS28 and 34 are Luders designs. I am perfectly willing to admit that it may be my lack of ability, but I simply could never get my CD to completely balance under sail....there was always a bit of weather helm no matter what I did. This is not a bad thing, just a note. The Luders boats balance completely, can be tiller steered with one finger, and will sail themselves for quite a distance with no hand on the tiller at all.

As for single-handing, all are easy to single hand with furling headsails, self-tailing winches, and autopilot is helpful as are lazy jacks....but these are all easy to singlehand. Stan Wheatley has singlehanded his CD28 all over the place and there are many, many other CD28 owners like him that do the same. Being lighter, the SS28 responds more quickly to wind puffs and tacks a bit quicker, but the sailing characteristics otherwise are similar with the full keels, attached rudders etc. The SS28 sails more like the CD27 than the CD28 but has more room below, that's the main difference.

[hebert01]

all great info...thanks again, Clay. Didn't realize the SS27/28 wasn't a cored hull like the others. i thought all the 3 Luders boats were cored. Good to know, as I wasn't thrilled at the prospect of a cored hull either.

[chase]

Just for the record Clay, I doubt you annoy anyone here...

Post on,

Chase

[Wayne Grenier]

if you want-I have the older bilot berth model available for inspection and a test sail out of s.dartmouth come spring/summer-I see you are nearby-you can have a shot at "singlehanding it" with me standing by-its real easy to sail alone-

[hebert01]

Thanks Wayne...maybe I'll take you up on the offer this spring.