MurrayM
Guru
Not much information out there for these trailerable boats, but they look very nice.
Anybody see one in the flesh?
Caledon 27
Anybody see one in the flesh?
Caledon 27
Caledon 27
- Thread starter MurrayM
- Start date
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Sailor of Fortune
Guru
I agree that its a nice boat! Probably not many around but it looks practical. I like it.
dwhatty
Moderator Emeritus
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- Location
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- "Emily Anne"
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- 2001 Island Gypsy 32 Europa (Hull #146)
We have some friends that acquired a Caledon two years ago. It's moored right next to us. Not sure if it's the 27 or the 25. Unpleasing sheer line to me. Friends like it so far. Haven't been aboard it yet. Supposedly good headroom for tall people from a low profile boat.
Carriage Guy
Veteran Member
I looked into these last winter, haven't touched one in person but I contacted the builder by phone to get more info.
At that time, 29 hulls of the 27' version had been built. Leadtime for a new boat was 1-2 years, the base boat was ~170k CAD.
The biggest thing I remember is that storage seemed very limited compared to other boats of similar size. The main cabin floor is very low in the hull and instead of walking around on top of some tankage and equipment, it occupies areas you would normally think of as storage (water tanks are under the dinette seats, etc.).
However the fuel tanks are underneath the cockpit floor so you do walk around on them. You step down 18" when entering the cabin from the cockpit, very similar to a sailboat layout.
The benefit of not "living" above the tanks and equipment is that the headroom in the cabin area was 6'4", 5'8" in the V-berth area, not bad for such a low profile boat.
At that time, 29 hulls of the 27' version had been built. Leadtime for a new boat was 1-2 years, the base boat was ~170k CAD.
The biggest thing I remember is that storage seemed very limited compared to other boats of similar size. The main cabin floor is very low in the hull and instead of walking around on top of some tankage and equipment, it occupies areas you would normally think of as storage (water tanks are under the dinette seats, etc.).
However the fuel tanks are underneath the cockpit floor so you do walk around on them. You step down 18" when entering the cabin from the cockpit, very similar to a sailboat layout.
The benefit of not "living" above the tanks and equipment is that the headroom in the cabin area was 6'4", 5'8" in the V-berth area, not bad for such a low profile boat.
Woodland Hills
Guru
How does it compare to a C-Dory or Rosebrough? They are similar sized and seem aimed at similar markets.
Carriage Guy
Veteran Member
We investigated about a dozen similar boat designs in the 25-27' range this past fall and winter while looking for a trailerable trawler that we could cruise on for a week at a time. About half of our them were "mainstream" boats like Ranger Tugs or Rosboroughs, and half much lower production boats like this one or Atlas Acadia. Stuff made on east coast, west coast, from Florida to the PNW.
We settled on a used Rosborough 246 but believe an extra 2' would make a world of difference in that boat (see below). I guess we had "two-foot-itus" even before we bought.
We had high hopes for the Caledon 27 until we began to understand it's (lack of) storage issue driven by the low profile. If it were built a little taller along the lines of the Rosborough with a tankage underneath a flat floor from the cockpit to the cabin (freeing up the storage space) and cockpit hardtop extending straight back from the cabin roof, that would be a perfect match for our current needs.
In the mean time, we are feverishly rebuilding our Rosborough 246 dinette/helm seating along the lines of the 2018 version of the Ranger Tug 27 that uses a "flipping" helm seat. Decreasing the number of bench seats in the cabin from 3 (1 helm + 2 dinette) to 2 (1 dinette + 1 "combination" helm/dinette) makes the cabin of these small boats much more liveable to us-- more comfortable seating, wider table, more storage, there are all kinds of ways to use the extra couple of feet of space freed up by multiplexing the function of one of the seats.
But the flipping helm seat doesn't free up enough space to comfortably pull the head out of the V-berth, another one of our goals. For that you would need the extra couple of feet of length.
We settled on a used Rosborough 246 but believe an extra 2' would make a world of difference in that boat (see below). I guess we had "two-foot-itus" even before we bought.
We had high hopes for the Caledon 27 until we began to understand it's (lack of) storage issue driven by the low profile. If it were built a little taller along the lines of the Rosborough with a tankage underneath a flat floor from the cockpit to the cabin (freeing up the storage space) and cockpit hardtop extending straight back from the cabin roof, that would be a perfect match for our current needs.
In the mean time, we are feverishly rebuilding our Rosborough 246 dinette/helm seating along the lines of the 2018 version of the Ranger Tug 27 that uses a "flipping" helm seat. Decreasing the number of bench seats in the cabin from 3 (1 helm + 2 dinette) to 2 (1 dinette + 1 "combination" helm/dinette) makes the cabin of these small boats much more liveable to us-- more comfortable seating, wider table, more storage, there are all kinds of ways to use the extra couple of feet of space freed up by multiplexing the function of one of the seats.
But the flipping helm seat doesn't free up enough space to comfortably pull the head out of the V-berth, another one of our goals. For that you would need the extra couple of feet of length.
OP
OP
MurrayM
Guru
Yup, that lower profile results in smaller fuel tanks for sure...48 gallons for the Caledon and 120 gallons for the Rosborough.
To be fair though, the smallest recommended single outboard for the Caledon is 90hp and it's 150hp for the Rosborough.
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Nomad Willy
Guru
OP
OP
MurrayM
Guru
Latitude 26
Newbie
Love these Caledons and similar boats. We have been going through exactly the same thing you did and are seriously considering buying a 2008 Ranger 25. However, Maintaining an outboard has been so much easier than it was maintaining my prior diesel powered trawler. Filters, hoses, sea water strainers, engine zincs, oil changes, fuel polishing, impellers, raw water pumps, cooling systems, etc., can be discouraging as I no longer enjoy doing that stuff. Moreover, many of those items offer an opportunity for failure at a usually inconvenient time. So boats like this one and the 25 Rosborough (I owned a 22 Rossi with a 140 Suzuki and only remember using it with very little engine upkeep) have highly desirable attributes.
Regards,
Larry
ssobol
Guru
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Cutwater 302 is a nice outboard powered boat (now in the Ranger family). Twin 300 Yamaha O/B.
C-302 Coupe
There seems to be more and more O/B powered cruising boats coming out.
