The Tartan 27 is a recreational keelboat built from 1961 by Douglass & McLeod and then by Tartan Marine from 1971 to 1980. W. D. Schock Corp also built 24 between 1964 and 1968 in their California plant to serve the US west coast market. In all, 712 were built.
It is Sparkman & Stephens' design No. 1617. The fiberglass hull has a keel-mounted rudder controlled by a tiller and a fixed modified long keel with a cutaway forefoot. It has a draft of with the centerboard extended and with it retracted. It has a hull speed of .
Later models added ballast, lengthened the cockpit, increased the bridge deck distance, and added interior teak.
Various interior layouts were used. Typically, it has sleeping accommodation for four, with a double "V"-berth, and an L-shaped settee in the main cabin around a drop-down dinette table. The galley is located on the starboard side amidships and is equipped with a two-burner stove, an ice box and a sink. The head is located just aft of the bow cabin on the port side.
It has a masthead sloop rig. In 1961 about 25 were built with a yawl rig. It has a shorter main mast and a mizzen mast with a sail of mounted in the lazarette.
In 1967-1968 Robert Manry completed the Great Loop in his 1967 Tartan 27 Yawl.