26' Tollycraft

[jefferyc22]

Father just bought this boat for $5K. Has been in storage unmoved since '93. Seems to have been kept heated(heater bars plugged in) the whole time.....no mold/rot.
Any help with value,what to look out for,replace(manifold is trashed),possible "cheap" diesel conversion etc. is very much appreciated.

Also what is standard electronic equipment for a boat of this type? I assume VHF highpower +handheld,GPS mapper + handheld,sonar.
Is short range radar "expensive"? necessary?What to stay away from with electronics?

[dacust]

Originally Posted by jefferyc22

Father just bought this boat for $5K. Has been in storage unmoved since '93. Seems to have been kept heated(heater bars plugged in) the whole time.....no mold/rot.

Any help with value,what to look out for,replace(manifold is trashed),possible "cheap" diesel conversion etc. is very much appreciated.



Also what is standard electronic equipment for a boat of this type? I assume VHF highpower +handheld,GPS mapper + handheld,sonar.

Is short range radar "expensive"? necessary?What to stay away from with electronics?

Hmmm, interesting questions.

First, before sinking any more money into it, I would suggest a survey. It will cost you something in the range of $300-$500, but would be well worth it. I once looked at a 42' Defever. It had taken on water and the insurance footed the bill for a refit. Refurbished engines, brand new everything else, genset, A/C, charger, hot water heater, batteries, wiring, etc. They had removed the engines to clean them up and paint them and then reinstalled them. In all that work they did down there in the engine room, they never noticed that the wood inside the stringers had almost totally rotted away. In the end, the boat had to be scrapped. So, for the price you paid, it sounds like it was a good gamble, but before going whole-hog into it, get a survey. From the sound of how it was stored, you got a good chance it has no major problems, but better safe than sorry.

As to the rest, it depends on what you plan to use the boat for.

You'll never get enough fuel capacity in that boat to make it a long range cruiser. I don't know how much she holds, but if it has, say 150 gals, you'll be doing good if you have a 100 mile usable range (that's 1mpg with 1/3 left over for safety). If you go diesel, you'll expand that to maybe 150 miles.

But a repower would be frightfully expensive. If you can do it yourself and get a good deal on used engines, that's still a whole lot of work to put into a boat with not much return.

For electronics you got it right.

A good permanent mount VHF plus a handheld spare.

For the price difference between a plain depth finder compared to a nice 3-d fishfinder, I'd do the fishfinder. But some sort of depth finder is a must.

For navigation, there are multiple ways to go. To really advise, we'd need to know what areas you plan to use the boat. You can use paper charts and a GPS to make it easier. Or, for the US, a Garmin plotter with the US charts built in is a good deal. Then there's always the option of a PC with various types of software.

You can get by without a radar, but if you plan to do long trips (especially with any night running), I'd suggest one of the cheapest stand-alone radars. If you look around, they can be found for under $1,000.

A sonar is cool, but that would be the absolute last thing on your list. Although I have see a scanning sonar for under $2k.

Basically, you'll get more answers if you give us more details about how you plan to use it, where you will use it, and your experience (including your repair skills).

Looks like a great boat. If I had been able to have a boat on a trailer in my yard, I would have gone for something like that. 2 helms and trailerable is rare. Does it have a generator and A/C?

-dan