Production began in 1967, and the builder’s sales department recorded 553 hulls. Rather than simply refining its predecessors, the Columbia 28 introduced a deliberate change in both hull form and topside styling.
Design and Construction
Crealock gave the Columbia 28 a skeg-on-skeg fin-keel layout and counted it among the first fin-keel Columbias. The underwater profile combines a bolt-on fin carrying 3,000 pounds of lead ballast with a spade rudder and a solid fiberglass laminate hull.
The Columbia 28 displaces 6,500 pounds and has an 8-foot 6-inch beam and a 4-foot 7-inch draft. Its 21-foot 10-inch waterline keeps it in a sensible coastal-cruiser stride.
Above the waterline, Crealock replaced the older boxy cabin and ports with bullet-shaped main windows and a raised bump in the main cabin roof. Besides changing the boat’s appearance, the raised section provided a little more standing room below.
Early hulls, including number 8, are reported to have had all-wood interiors, with fiberglass limited to the hull, exterior decks, soles, and cockpit. Later boats switched to fiberglass interiors, a manufacturing change that followed Columbia’s broader move toward molded liners during the period.
Rig and Handling
The Columbia 28 is a masthead sloop with 343 square feet of sail area. Its sail-area-to-displacement ratio of about 15.8 puts it in the moderate-power range rather than at either the lively-light or heavy-displacement extreme.
Rig dimensions are:
- I: 31.5 feet
- J: 12 feet
- Mainsail luff: 26.75 feet
- Working jib: 102 percent
A 150-percent genoa and asymmetrical spinnaker were also part of the sail plan.
The fin keel, spade rudder, and modest beam suit a boat conceived for club racing and weekend cruising. Its CCA rating of 24.4 likewise reflects that purpose rather than long offshore passage work.
Accommodations
Below, the Columbia 28 provides 5 feet 10 inches of headroom, which the raised section of the cabin roof was clearly intended to support. Interior volume remains compact, making the boat best suited to a couple or small family cruising along the coast.
Tankage is modest even by period standards, with 18 gallons of water and 12 gallons of fuel.
Variants and Identification
The Columbia sales department never officially applied a Mk II designation to the boat. Dick Valdes notes, however, that the builder experimented with bolt-on keel shapes, changing the fin from an upside-down T to a V.
True Mk II hulls also carried a taller mast. Some Mk II hulls nevertheless left the factory—or were later rigged—with the shorter mast, so rig height alone doesn’t confirm which generation a boat belongs to.
Known Issues
The Columbia 28’s structural weak points are well documented. Chainplate leaks have caused rotted bulkheads on many examples, making this a routine inspection item.
Soft spots can also develop in the deck where bolts or other hardware pass through the fiberglass and into the wood core. This is a direct consequence of the cored deck construction.
On the Mk II, the mast compression post extends into the bilge and may remain wet much of the time. One owner and his surveyor found substantial wet rot in the post between the keelson and the interior floorboards. The member should therefore be considered perpetually at risk.
Keel attachment is another point to watch. The boat uses seven 3/4-inch-diameter by 9-inch lag studs driven from the top. Some owners have had to replace corroded keel bolts, a problem common to older fin-keel designs.
Refit and Ownership
With 553 boats built and a simple solid-glass hull, the Columbia 28 remains a practical candidate for an owner prepared to renew worn systems. The known trouble spots are concentrated around water intrusion, the Mk II compression post, and keel fasteners, rather than the solid fiberglass laminate hull.
The Verdict
The Columbia 28 is a Crealock-designed fin-keel sloop that modernized Columbia’s small-boat line in 1967. It offers moderate power and responsive handling in a compact coastal-cruising package.
Its weaknesses are familiar older-boat problems: moisture entering around chainplates and deck hardware, along with the bilge-mounted compression post on the Mk II. Keel-stud corrosion is another concern. Even so, the solid hull and straightforward keel attachment make the Columbia 28 a sane owner-project.
Pros
- Early fin-keel Columbia with a skeg-on-skeg hull and spade rudder
- Solid fiberglass laminate hull
- Moderate sail-area-to-displacement ratio for easy handling
- Distinctive bullet-window cabin with a raised roof for more headroom
Cons
- Chainplate leaks can rot bulkheads
- The cored deck can develop soft spots around hardware penetrations
- The Mk II compression post sits in the bilge and is vulnerable to rot
- Lag-bolt keel studs can corrode and require replacement
