Cutlass 27 Buyer's Guide
Shopping the brokerage market for a Cutlass 27 means looking at a long-keeled British cruiser designed by Alan Hill and built by Marine Construction, with nearly 200 examples launched from 1968 and updated as the "Cutlass 27" after 1974. These are stout, unsophisticated fibreglass boats that reward a careful survey more than a glossy listing photo.
Layouts on the Used Market
The fleet splits between early "Cutlass" boats and the later renamed Cutlass 27, but the accommodation constant is four berths in a saloon and forecabin with about 5 feet 10 inches of headroom. Expect basic cooking and navigating facilities and a plainly finished interior that feels small against modern boats. The cockpit is the generous part of the boat; the belowdecks volume is the compromise you accept for the seakeeping.
Equipment and Common Upgrades
On the used market, solar, spinnaker and asymmetric spinnaker, chartplotter, EPIRB, and life raft are commonly fitted, and a windvane self-steering unit appears on some boats aimed at passage-making. For a buyer, the meaningful clusters are safety and offshore readiness: a life raft and EPIRB are common and worth verifying as serviced, while solar and a chartplotter speak to house power and navigation without changing the boat's character. A spinnaker or its asymmetric variant is a common sail inventory addition rather than a structural concern.
What to Inspect
The long keel is the first handling and survey focus: it makes the boat harder to manage in tight or shallow water and adds drag and less maneuverability than a fin-keeled design, so check the full keel-to-rudder line for groundings and straightness. The under-rigged sail plan carries less area than similar boats and suffers in light wind, so inspect the masthead sloop rig, standing rigging, and the 338 square foot main-and-genoa inventory for fatigue that would compound the low Sail Area/Displacement behavior. Below, the plainly finished and small interior is a known discomfort, so look closely at sole structure, locker joinery, and any home-completed work, since many boats were finished outside the factory and quality varies.
Availability and Buyer's Takeaway
Cutlass 27s typically appear in the United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal, and Ireland.
- Inspect the full long-keel and rudder line for grounding damage
- Check standing rigging and sail area against light-wind performance loss
- Examine home-completed interior joinery for structural soundness
- Verify service dates on any fitted life raft and EPIRB
Price & volume trends
Monthly asking-price and listing-volume trends for the Cutlass 27. The line shows the median ask each month; the bars show how many listings appeared.
Monthly breakdown · 3 rows
| Month | Listings | Median ask | Δ vs. last mo. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 25 | 2 | $6,795 | — |
| Apr 26 | 2 | $12,236 | +80.1% |
| Jul 26 | 1 | $2,719 | -77.8% |
Where they're listed
Cutlass 27 listings appear across 2 countries. United Kingdom has the most listings with 4 (80.0%), followed by Spain.
Country view
5 listings · 2 countries| Country | Median ask | Listings · 12 mo | Active · 90 d | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | $4,759 | 4 | 1 | 80.0% |
| Spain | $20,393 | 1 | 0 | 20.0% |