[Jeff_H]

Columbia built a number of different 28 footers. What year is yours? In a general sense, in their day, Columbias were middle of the road boats, far from being the best built boats but also not the worst. Their fiberglass work was generally considered pretty mediocre and many of their systems were pretty poorly done. Still in all the boats typically were designed by respected designers and sailed reasonably well. They are now coming up on 20-30 or more years in age and are probably becoming pretty tired.

Off hand, depending on which 28 you have, I would be concerned about the hull to deck joint, fatigue at high stress areas of the hull, the centerboard, port lights(which were quite large and plastic), bulkhead tabbing, keel bolts, mast step structure, standing and running rigging, deck hardware, electrical and plumbing systems.

These are posible problem on any older boat and Columbias were not exactly the best built older boat.

Respectfully
Jeff

 

[Jeff_H]

You need to have a thorough survey. Keel bolts have a 25 to 35 year lifespan and typically rust out in the portion of the bolt that passes through the fiberglass and not in the bilge. I think that the best that I can do is the list that I already mentioned. Good luck

Jeff