# Thoughts about a Coronado 25



## kwaltersmi (Aug 14, 2006)

Hello all. I'm a novice sailor (but long time powerboater) considering the purchase of a Coronado 25 as my first sailboat. I plan to use it mostly on the Great Lakes with my wife and two young kids for weekends on the hook.

Here's the basics about the particular boat I'm looking at:

"1965 Coronado 25 has had many many parts replaced or upgraded, all new wiring and lights, sails in very good shape,Genoa was redone by sail care a year ago. New Winches,Newer Radio, Chart Plotter, Stereo & 4 Speakers, new head, roller furling, new compass. Still needs a little final finishing on the inside."

The asking price is $2,700. Anyone have any thoughts or recommendations about the Coronado 25?

Here's the link to the boat:

http://www.boats.com/listing/boat_details.jsp?entityid=102885211&searchtype=buy&searchid=1&back=%2Flisting%2Fcache%2Flisting_search_results.jsp%3FpayingBrandsOnly%3Dtrue%26payingBrandsOnly%3Dtrue%26enid%3D0%26ftid%3D0%26ps%3D30%26bclint%3D0%26man%3Dcoronado%26psdistance%3D500%26spid%3D121%26Search.x%3D70%26searchtype%3Dbuy%26hmid%3D0%26bcint%3D4%26sm%3D3%26currencyid%3D100%26luom%3D126%26ic%3Dtrue%26sfm%3Dfalse%26Search.y%3D7%26slim%3Dquick%26searchPage%3D%252Flisting%252Fcache%252Fadvanced_search.jsp%26is%3Dfalse


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## Irwin32 (Jul 1, 2001)

The Coronada 25 may be out dated, but it is a good boat and has served many Great Lakes sailors well in the past taking them all over the lakes back n the days when a 25 footer was a good sized boat. At the price, you could probably not even purchase the upgrades this boat has. I would consider a survey. If it is in sound condition you can hardly lose.


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## kwaltersmi (Aug 14, 2006)

Thanks for the reply.

Come on Sailors! Surely someone else must have an opinion on the Coronado 25!!!


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## Jeff_H (Feb 26, 2000)

Okay, if you want an opinion, in thier day, the Coronado 25 was a value oriented, coastal cruiser (think somewhere between Magregor and Catalina 27). At least the couple I knew were poorly assembled and cheaply built with less than ideal materials, and undersized hardware. Almost every piece of hardware was an option and so some were delivered without winches, others with simple snubbing winches way too light for their comparatively large genoas, and others with reasonably sized top-action winches. They were reasonably popular primarily because of their cheap price. 

They sailed moderately well for thier day (not quite as well as the similar concept Cal 25 of which they were a knockoff). They did not point very well, partially because of their hull form and partially because the design of the house prevented a good sheet lead angle for the genoa. Thier long waterline gave them a pretty good turn of speed reaching in a breeze.

Coronado's were built by a succession of different companies starting out weak and going down hill from there. The earliest Coronados (1965 or so) were generally reputed to be better built than the later boats, that is until the tooling ended up at Hughes who, it is claimed, improved quality again. It is not clear to me whether Hughes ever built any of the smaller Coronado's even though they showed on their late 1970's literature. 

Coronado 25's were known for developing keel bolt and rudder problems sooner than similar boats of that same era, but if I remember right, the keel bolts were a comparatively easy fix. (If I remember correctly, and I may be thinking of the Coronado 23, they had cast iron keels with galvanized iron through bolts through a flange. It was relatively easy to remove the bolts and replace with monel or SS bolts and be good to go for a very long while.) The rudder had a small diameter bronze rudder post that did not fair well over time. The electrical systems were junk but having helped rewire one, access is pretty easy. The hull to deck joint also did not fair well over time being a small contact area, rolled out flange held together primarily with polyester slurry. 

The one in question sounds like it has had all of the big things done except keel bolt, hull to deck joint, and rudder replacement. For that price these are not bad boats to mess around in as long as you don't plan to press them too hard. 

Respectfully,
Jeff


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## kwaltersmi (Aug 14, 2006)

Thanks Jeff! That's a lot of great information. At this point, I'm debating between jumping into a boat in the $2-3k price range, or saving up more money (perhaps $5-10K) for something a bit newer/bigger/better conditioned.

However, out of all the boats under $3k I've seen in my location, the Coronado 25 appears to be the best. Granted, I don't know sailboat brands (stigmas, reputations, etc.) like I do with powerboats, but it certainly shows well. I've also looked at a similarly priced Grampian 26, but it is in much rougher shape.

I'm really just looking for a starter boat that will get my family and I out learniing to sail and cruising a bit on the weekends while we dream about more southerly cruise plans for the future.


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