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I own one of those, a 1989 Whaler 27 FC, and use it a lot in Gulf Of Mexico. They are great for offshore overnighting. The one you are looking at there does not have a marine A/C unit, or a generator listed in the ad.

That boat sure looks to be in good condition, but the motors are not discussed much in the ad. When I bought mine last year, the first thing I did was to replace the 1989 engines with new 2013 new ones. This cost 43,000 bucks, after selling the 1989 Yamaha 200 motors that were on it at the time. I got 3000 bucks a piece for the old motors with 1500 hours on them, but they were in immaculate condition. You could not expect more than half of that for the 2005 Optimax engines on the one you are looking at, in my opinion.
2005 engines are now 10 years old, and these do not specify how many hours are on them.
I also spent 11000 bucks on all new Garmin electronics. Unless you are going to use this boat for extreme fishing, as I use mine, you probably won't need a new set, but you will need an auto-pilot on this boat. I don't see one listed in the ad.

You will also want an automatic anchor windlass on this boat, as access to the anchor locker and bow pulpit anchor tie-off cleat is only accessible from the cabin hatch unless you are very nimble, and can walk along a 6" walkway access while hanging on to the Bimini support struts and bow railing along the side of the exterior of the cabin in the sea conditions you are in at the time of anchoring. My "Good" brand fully automatic windlass cost me 2000 bucks after installation.

The Whaler 27 FC with WD has a 10'4" beam. It weighs over well over 10000 lbs. It is actually 34' long from bow bit tip to back of engines on the Whaler Drive. This is a BIG boat. This is not a boat you trailer to a ramp and launch. You keep these in marinas, preferably dry-stacked for preservation.
It costs me 5500 bucks a year to keep mine at Surfside Marina in Freeport TX. It costs an additional 1380 bucks a year for a storage locker at the Marina with electricity to power my chest freezer. It costs an additional 300 bucks a year to keep a trailer for this boat there at the marina for use in case of hurricane emergency.

You have to service those engines on that boat. Every 100 hrs of use, it costs 877 bucks to have this done at my marina on both my 2013 Yamaha 300 four strokes. I can do it myself for a little less than 500 bucks.

There will always be miscellaneous repairs needed on a boat of this size and age. I have already had to replace the cockpit upholstered and padded coamings with new. The original mounting strips for the coaming pads were all made of wood, I replaced this with modern mounting, and all this cost me 2200 bucks. That was one repair.


I don't know what kind of truck you own, but you will definitely need a 1-ton or better truck to tow this boat. I use an F-350 4 X 4 for the one I own. I have an account with the state of Texas DOT to get oversize load permits quickly in case of emergency, such as hurricanes, in order to get this boat off the coast in a hurry. That F-350 cost me over 50000 bucks. You need to be prepared for costs incurred permitting, including insurance, if you intend to tow these boats. I picked mine up in Wisconsin, and by the time I got back to TX with it, it had cost me 2500 bucks to get it there.

The Whaler 27 FC cabin is definitely not at all like a cuddy on a 22 'revenge. You can stand up and walk around inside the 27's cabin, and you have a galley and a full head with a shower, and the bunk uses queen size sheets. This is a BIG cabin. There is a HUGE cockpit available for fishing, and there is a HUGE area for piloting and passenger seating. You have a huge full transom stern with 2 baitwells. The stern bilge is incredibly deep, over 6', and it is very difficult to perform necessary maintenance inside it.

If you are prepared to spend a LOT of money to own a classic, this is a boat you will love. If you are not fully prepared for the cost of ownership, this could all be a real shock. I have seen many of these boats deteriorate to junk because owners buy them and then can't afford them. It pains me to see this, but I can't afford them all :) It is my opinion that these old classics will completely disappear soon, with the exception of the few of us that still maintain them, because of this high cost of ownership. A new boat in this size class is much cheaper.

I should warn you, there will be many people that will tell you my costs are inflated somehow, and you can own and maintain one of these boats for less than it costs me. You can't. There will probably even be responders to this thread that will disagree with my actual cost numbers, but they won't actually be an owner of one like I am. I am telling you the straight truth here.

The Whaler 27 FC is by far the best boat I have ever owned for the kind of fishing I do. I have put hundreds of fish on the deck of mine. I get 200-300 hours of enjoyment on the water up to 150 miles offshore with mine. Even the cost of ownership of this fine boat are worth it to me, as the only boat that could replace it would be a sportfisher express, or a new Whaler with even more costs of ownership.

If you just want to cruise around with your girlfriend a few days of the year, you should really look at other options. There are many less costly boats available.

I hope this has helped in your decision making process, I really don't want to scare you off this deal if you can really afford it...just beware of the true costs. If you have any other questions about this boat, I am willing to help, just email me. Here is a link to photos of my boats.[url]
https://www.flickr.com/photos/99787852@N06/sets/[/url]