More than 40 Rhodes 27s were built. The design’s long service life speaks to the soundness of Rhodes’ original conception.
Design and Construction
The Rhodes 27 measures just over 39 feet overall, with a 27-foot waterline, a narrow 9-foot-8-inch beam, and a draft close to 6 feet. Its slim wooden hull carries a full keel, and construction is traditional wood throughout.
Rhodes originally drew the boat as a sloop, and every version has retained that configuration. Its long, narrow hull and moderate draft place it in the lineage of the era’s offshore racer-cruisers, rather than the beamier postwar fiberglass cruisers that followed.
Rig and Handling
The original sail plan carried just over 600 square feet and included a fractional foretriangle. The rig evolved with the class’s racing career. The 1944 R27 model gained a bigger jib, and in the early 1960s the foretriangle was raised to the masthead.
These changes broadened the boat’s useful wind range and brought its sail plan into line with the masthead-sloop convention that dominated the period, without altering the underlying hull.
Accommodations
Below, the Rhodes 27 was arranged for coastal cruising with a small crew. A pair of forward berths sat beside an enclosed head. In the main cabin, seats on either side convert to berths, and the galley is at the foot of the companionway.
The standard layout sleeps four, with provision for as many as two additional pipe berths in the main cabin. That gives the Rhodes 27 genuine cruising capability alongside its racing identity, though its narrow beam limits interior volume compared with later cruisers.
Condition and Restoration
The class’s principal condition concern is one shared by all wooden yachts of its period. Many Rhodes 27s have been partially or fully restored over the decades. Their wooden hulls and decks bring chronic risks including rot, fastening corrosion, and deterioration at the joints.
Because more than 40 boats have passed through many decades of use, partial or complete restoration has become a recurring theme of ownership. That restoration history confirms that the boats have needed cyclical structural attention throughout their long lives.
The class’s survival into a second and third sailing generation is a direct result of this sustained restoration work, rather than any factory-supported continuation program.
The Verdict
The Rhodes 27 is a long-lived Philip Rhodes design that has worn its age well through repeated care. Its slim, full-keel hull, evolved masthead-sloop rig, and practical four-to-six-berth layout make it a credible classic racer-cruiser, provided a buyer accepts the obligations of wooden-boat ownership.
Pros
- Long production run beginning in 1939, with building heritage in the US and Germany
- Rig evolved from a fractional foretriangle to a masthead arrangement, with a bigger jib added to the 1944 R27 model
- Sleeps four, with two optional pipe berths and an enclosed head forward
- More than 40 built, with many restored through sustained owner care
Cons
- Wooden hull and deck require continuing inspection and restoration
- Narrow 9-foot-8-inch beam limits interior volume compared with later cruisers
