Lancer 28 T Mk V Sailboat Review, Specs, and Listings

Design and Construction

Turner designed the Mk V as a recreational keelboat built of solid fiberglass with wood trim. It has a raked stem, an angled transom, and an internally mounted spade rudder controlled by a tiller.

A wide, hollow keel cavity allows the cabin sole to sit lower, providing standing headroom without raising the deck profile. At the aft end of the main cabin, headroom reaches 6 feet 2 inches, thanks to a sole dropped a foot into the keel stub.

The “T” in the model name isn’t marketing shorthand; it denotes the boat’s trailerable design. Its exact 8-foot beam keeps it within road-towing limits. Compared with earlier Lancer 28 models, the Mk V has greater displacement and 2,600 pounds of ballast for improved stability.

Rig and Handling

The original Lancer 28 was offered with either a masthead or fractional rig, but the Mk V uses a fractional sloop rig with the mast stepped farther forward. This change lightened the helm and sharpened light-air response. Owners who have sailed both configurations praise the fractional rig’s balance and report less weather helm than on the masthead versions.

Rather than relying on the masthead version’s central compression post, the Mk V carries rig loads through the forward bulkhead, leaving the main cabin clear. The slightly deeper shoal-draft fin keel, with a maximum draft of 3 feet, gives more bite than the sub-3-foot keel on the original. Even so, the shallow entry still limits upwind efficiency in chop—a trade-off inherited from the priorities of a trailerable hull.

Accommodations

The Mk V can accommodate four to six crew on extended berths. The 1979 deletion of the forepeak berth in the Mark V line created a forward sail-storage area. In the main cabin, there’s a settee to port and a dinette to starboard that drops to form a berth. Quarterberths extend beneath both sides of the cockpit.

A narrow head spans the beam just aft of the forward berth. The galley is divided across the aft end of the main cabin, with a two-burner stove and lockers to port and a sink and icebox to starboard.

Engines and Ownership

Most Lancer 28s used outboards. The stern well keeps the engine submerged even in rough conditions. Inboard options offered during the production run included Petter, Renault, and Yanmar diesels; a 10-horsepower gasoline inboard; and an OMC saildrive. The inboard installation sits in a box beneath the companionway ladder.

Because the fractional rig uses the forward bulkhead for support, mast-step inspection is simpler than with the masthead rig’s central post. For a trailerable cruiser, the Mk V’s legal beam and hollow-keel headroom arrangement also make launch and load-bearing checks straightforward work for an owner.

Known Issues

Practical Sailor’s survey of the Lancer 28 series recorded owner complaints about structural flaws, including leaking hull-to-deck joints and ports. Several owners in the survey also considered the mast tabernacle insufficiently strong. Reported gelcoat problems ranged from blistering to crazing and stress cracks.

Once a deck leak develops, the vinyl headliner makes its source harder to trace. The sliding companionway hatch is wide and poorly sealed against boarding waves. Its lightweight plywood dropboards can also lift free after only a few inches of travel because the opening is tapered.

The Verdict

The Lancer 28 T Mk V is a thoughtfully updated trailerable cruiser. It traded the original boat’s forepeak berth for stowage and gained stability through increased displacement and ballast, while the forward-stepped fractional rig brought a lighter, better-balanced helm. Light-air pace is acceptable, though the shoal fin still sacrifices windward bite in chop. The series’ reported leak and gelcoat problems are typical of the series and manageable with routine inspection.

Pros