Yesterday I did a Craigslist search on some of my favorite VolksCruiser candidates one of which is the Bill Tripp designed Columbia 26 MK2.
As it happens I found six of these boats for sale and all of them were selling for $3000 or less. The average price was just a kiss shy of $2000. Looking at my search today I saw another Columbia 26MK I had missed for an asking price of $3900 which appears to be a bit more of a turn key boat.
Obviously, a boat with an asking price of $1500 or $1700 (the two least expensive) is going to require some work but as there is not all that much to fix the expense would not be great or the work overly problematic. In my experience most of the work is more about cleaning and simple projects than anything difficult or expensive.
One thing to look out for is that the 26 MK 2 came in a normal and shoal draft version and I’ve always been partial to shoal draft where VolksCruisers are concerned as it opens up potential for less expensive moorings as well as out of the way anchorages..
Also, it’s best to keep in mind that there is almost always a difference between what the seller is asking for and what the seller will actually accept.
Some more information on the Columbia 26MK2 can be found here.