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I am speaking of Bayliner Buccaneers built between 1974 and 1977, of course. You know, the fat, homely, slow, 21 to 27 foot floating Winnebagos best known for sailing sideways that most everyone in the sailing community looks down on. What can I tell ya, you can't have a lot of self doubt and own a Buccaneer. I've been putzing around on sailboats in Port Townsend for over 30 years. In that time I've renovated more than 20 trailerable sailboats, so I like to think I know the pointy end from the other end. Some were pretty neat, some were not so good. I tell myself that I like cozy comfort in a boat, but really I'm just lazy. I love a boat with a comfy and well laid out interior that is as convenient to use on deck as it is below. Boats that are difficult, uncomfortable or awkward to use tend to be unused. I've owned some good sailers, a couple small trimarans, three MacGregor-Ventures, and a Hobi built Holder 17, (good design but it was evident that the building was rushed.) And I've owned some not-so-good ones, a Reinell 22 for example. For a modern design, I liked the looks and the interior design of the Reinell, (among other things a molded-in step to facilitate exiting thru the forehatch...who does that?) But the construction was a near disaster. For openers it was a thousand pounds overweight. With four people in the cockpit, water would come in the cockpit drain flooding the sole. Nothing like a self-flooding cockpit to impress your friends! It had a "box keel" a six footer could stand up in but the extra width and shallowness of the keel resulted in hopeless leeway at slow speeds. 
But I digress. In March, 14 years ago, I was again haunting marinas in the greater Puget Sound area, when I came across an orphaned '76 Buccaneer 24 in Bellingham that caught my attention. The '76 & '77 Bucs are built better and have taller rigs than the earlier years, worth having for sure. Anywho, I bought the little puppy and towed her home in the middle of the night, hoping my wife wouldn't notice…nooo, I was trying to avoid traffic, silly. The 24 with her tandem trailer weighs almost six thousand pounds so they aren't something you tow any distance unless you drive a tank. She was suffering from benign neglect, but she hadn't been abused. The hinges on the forehatch and cockpit lockers were seized and broken, and she had a small leak or two, but nearly everything else just needed cleaning, refinishing, lubing etc.
One of the strong points of the Buccaneers is how well equipped the stock boat is: bow and stern pulpits with full lifelines, either an outboard mount or an inboard motor, twelve feet of "holyrail" halyard winches (on the 24 and 27) and sheet winches, mooring and sheet cleats, all running and standing rigging and hardware, main and jib sails, teak grabrails and trim, navigation lights, two good sized cockpit lockers with manual bilge pump, no thru-hulls below the waterline except for inboards, balsa cored deck, sinks in head and galley, mirror in head, 12 gallon water tank (the manufacturer claims 20 gallon but I can only pump out 11 which, after all, is what counts), ice box and two burner alcohol stove w/searails and cutting board, all interior lights w/switch panel, skylight forehatch, carpeted hull liner & foam overhead liner, fabric covered cushions, dinette table, all this AND positive foam floatation! And I have about as much faith in that claim as I have in the 20 gallon water tank. Headroom in the galley and head of the 24 is 5'9" (5'10"+ under the hatch) and 5'6" in the settee. As far as sailing characteristics go, with her high freeboard and 3' draft, she is a little tender. But she is basically a flat bottomed hull with middling bilges, so initial stability is about as good as they could make it. One of the advantages Bucs have is that once they exceed 20 degrees of heel, they aren't going to go any faster. So there is no point in carrying sail that heels the boat more than 20 degrees, a characteristic that is usually much appreciated by wives and young children, making Bucs good family boats. Bucs point well enough, but again, because of their freeboard and shallow keels, they make a lot of leeway. I epoxied a horizontal end plate to the bottom of her keel which has helped significantly. The water line on my 24 is nearly 22', producing a theoretical hull speed just over 6 knots. In one of my first races - I know, "racing" a Buc is an oxymoron - I caught and passed a well sailed San Juan 24, much to the chagrin of her skipper and crew. Of course we were on a broad reach where waterline length pretty much rules. So they do 'go' in the right conditions. The biggest problem with her sailing characteristics is that either the center of sail effort is too far aft, or the center of lateral resistance is too far forward. She won't sail for dukie under main alone, though jib alone works fine. To help compensate for that, I added a 30" bow sprit to move the jib tack forward. Fitted with a 150 furling Gennie, it helps. 
Interior layout of the 76-77 Buc 24's is very similar to the Beneteau Oceanis 281 and was adopted for the Catalina 25 in '94 with a horseshoe settee forward and the galley and head on either side of the companionway. This more contemporary layout lends a feeling of airy openness, important on a small boat. Since I love "messing about in boats" I replaced the galley, installing a top loading ice box with 4" of foam insulation. I converted the cook stove to propane (lighting alcohol can flair up on the inexperienced and is sooo slooow to cook). After adding a foot pump to the head and galley sinks and a 24 gal. bladder tank that easily fit under the cockpit (bringing her total water to 35 gallons) we were good to go. I prefer the smallest boat that will do the job because smaller is more efficient in time, money, and ease of handling. Smaller is generally less expensive to buy, maintain, operate and moor, leaving more time and money for other things; like sailing! My little ol' Buc is a very comfortable boat that has the amenities to cruise for extended periods, yet because she spends the off season on her trailer, she doesn't cost me an arm and a leg to moor her.
A couple tips on trailers: if you have one with brakes, I sure wouldn't immerse it in salt water - galvanized or otherwise, use a lift. I glued 1" styrofoam on the trailer bunks then stapled 6 mil black plastic over them. The foam conforms to the hull shape and the opaque plastic protects the foam from weathering and won't stick to the bottom paint. To me, what kind of boat you should have depends primarily on how you intend to use it. My Buc is a great little cruiser, and for racing I have a Windrider 17 trimaran. (It's hardly a tri, more like a kayak with training wheels, but great fun!) For a couple or a small family who are on a snug budget and want to cruise, I'd say the lonely little sea slug Buccaneers are a good bet and a lot of boat for the money. That's why I've kept Turtle Sloop all these years while renovating, sailing and selling many others. ...back to 48° North title page.
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