[Jeff_H]

With all due respect Skip, if you think that a Com-Pac 27, Island Packet and a Pacific Seacraft are of equal quality then you might want to do a bit more research. These three companies produce boats with wildly different quality levels in terms of construction, detailing and sailing ability. The Pacific Seacrafts are intended to be serious offshore boats. They have an exceptionally high build quality. The Island Packets are planned around having the maximum interior and coastal cruising accomodations in a particular sailing length with almost all ofter qualities taking a back seat.

The Com-pacs are reasonably nice little boats that sail reasonably well. They were represent a good quality for their modest price tags. They are a reasonable compromise in that they do not excell at anything in particular (construction quality. boat speed, standard equipment, or seaworthiness) nor do they do anything really terribly either. They are not what I think of as a heavy duty offshore boat. For most people that is perfectly acceptable since few of us have the luxury of spending large amounts of time offshore. The interior layouts of the Compacts that I have been on are simple and functional but with out all of the bells and whistles that you think of on quality boats. I like the fact that the head and galley are close to the companionway where the motion is most comfortable.I like that they did not try to crowd a navigation station into a boat of this size at the expense of berth length. They do use bronze ports which is nice and have a reasonable number of hatches and operable ports suggesting good ventilation. They have a fairly large number of drawers which is a nice and expensive feature. The galley is well equipped but there is absolutely no counter area to work on without raching over the stove and what little counter to that there is is the cover to the ice box so you need to move things everytime you open the ice box. That is a pet peave of mine but one that occurs in a lot of boats this size.

One downside of the Com-pac 27''s I have seen is that there is no door on the forward cabin which makes it a bit harder to cruise with kids or another couple and still have privacy. It also seems like there is pretty limited engine access. Also the electrical panel is installed on the riser of the companionway ladder. That is a really dumb place for the panel. You have to just about kneel to see what you are doing. It is too easy to kick and turn off breakers that are needed or worse yet damage the panel. The wires have to hinge everytime you go into the engine compartment and this area is exposed to spray and water coming down the hatch. The underside of the panel is right in your face when you are working in the engine compartment. I am not sure this was done on all of them.

As to sailing abilty, with a PHRF rating of 225 these are very slow boats, albeit not as slow as a 27 foot Island Packet or a Cape Dory. They are not very good light air boats and with their shallow draft and low density ballast these are not great boats in a breeze or going to windward.

People have varying reasons for buying the boats they do. Without knowing you I have no idea what your goals are. I am not trying to say this is the wrong boat for you but from your opening description I would suggest that you do a little more research.

Respectfully
Jeff