Mary Jo’s History

Her previous owner, Captain Vic Kopycinski, an award winning sculptor, licensed Boat Captain and sailing instructor who had a passion for building and rebuilding wooden boats by hand, chose an Albin 27FC to refit and customize for the Great Loop.   He and his wife, Kay, sailed for many years and wanted a simple, reliable, fuel efficient, yet comfortable boat.   As such, almost everything on Mary Jo was either serviced, upgraded or replaced. Captain Vic’s work on Mary Jo was followed by many on the Albin Owners Forum and has since inspired others to customize their Albin 27FCs in a similar way.  Mary Jo demonstrates that an Albin 27 could be more than it was conceived.  Because of health issues, Captain Vic was unable to travel on Mary Jo as they had planned and sold the boat to us in 2016.  

Mary Jo was shipped on a trailer (yes she is trailerable but may require a wide load permit) from Texas, to the Chesapeake Bay.  After multiple short  trips around the Bay and on the Potomac River,  Mary Jo was outfitted for extended cruising:   Solar Panels, MPPT controller, inverter, bow rails, drinking water filter, a new aluminum fuel tank, a larger holding tank and a St Croix swinging davits were installed.  A brand new top of the line hypalon planing dinghy was also purchased.  To make the interior more comfortable custom vinyl flooring, upgraded salon cushions, bug screens and blackout curtains were also installed.  

Featured in an article on PropTalk Magazine and online in various cruising / boating groups, Mary Jo’s travels along the AICW from the Chesapeake to the Florida Keys and most recently, down again to complete the Florida Loop, Mary Jo is known to be one of the few Albin 27s actively used for extended cruising