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Old 08-06-2016, 18:53   #61
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Re: Buying a donated boat

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We already resealed the cabin hatch, and I think we sealed it good. The core needed to dry out, so we haven't sealed the inside of it yet, but as soon as we know it's dry, we are going to seal it up. I hadn't thought about the compression post, though. And that spot had concerned us as well. There are a few rotted spots we need to take care of. She sat for five years, but honestly she could be much much much worse. We got the motor running off of the fuel that was already in the tank. We are aware that it needs changed, and the tank cleaned. And we intend on doing so.
You have more pressing issues, but at some point you may want to consider a fuel filter/water separator.

My Watkins 27 kind of sat for about 5 years, too. The owner sailed it some but he did not do some of the necessary maintenance. I have done some of the work but I still need to rebed the stanchions, fix a soft spot on the cabin, etc.

Which marina are you at in Oriental? My boat is in Merritt off the Bay River (about 15 miles to Oriental by car).

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Old 08-06-2016, 18:58   #62
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Re: Buying a donated boat

The purchase price is just an "entry fee". If you paid little and you're in love with the boat, you done good. Now start throwing your labor into her and the material costs will be minimal. And you'll learn all her systems.
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Old 08-06-2016, 18:59   #63
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Re: Buying a donated boat

Glad we could help, glad you got good help (hard to find), and all the best for the next steps.
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Old 08-06-2016, 19:31   #64
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Re: Buying a donated boat

Looked at your pictures. Looks good. Can tell it has had some water on those floors and probably some mold (VERY common on any boat that sits) but you or the PO have done a decent job of cleaning it up.

Its already on the water, so you know there is nothing desperately wrong there (at least not at the moment). Yanmars are descent engines and would not be a killer even if it needed some parts.

You may not have a lot of money, but you are into a pretty nice boat without having spent the $100K+ a lot of these folks have spent. They get surveys because a survey buys some protection when investing that sort of money. Don't waste your time. Do some reading and do your own. At $1600 who cares if the deck has a couple of soft spots. Do the obvious like check the thru hulls and rigging where it connects to the mast and deck.

Fix the water leaks the best you can. Get some teak oil and protect some of that wood. Clean the mold wherever you find it and buy some mildew resistant paint to clean up those lower compartments.

The bigger risk to your ability to hang in there is the cost of a slip and the cost to haul the boat out of the water. Those things alone will cost what you spent on the whole boat. It kept me from keeping a 32 foot Marinette. I had no problem spending the time to get it running (had a cracked block on the port engine), but the $450 a month slip fee was a killer. I pay less than a quarter of that now. So I ended up selling the boat at a loss to stop the bleeding ($).

Have fun! Enjoy!
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Old 08-06-2016, 19:38   #65
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Re: Buying a donated boat

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...a survey buys some protection when investing that sort of money. Don't waste your time...
He won't get insurance without a survey. And he won't likely get a slip without insurance.
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Old 08-06-2016, 19:55   #66
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Re: Buying a donated boat

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He won't get insurance without a survey. And he won't likely get a slip without insurance.
I got insurance for both my 27 and 30 foot Catalinas without a survey. On a $1600 boat, you get liability only insurance. No survey is needed. Contact Boat U.S.
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Old 08-06-2016, 21:46   #67
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Re: Buying a donated boat

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If you work minimum wage jobs, are not boat repair experts and have only $1700 to your name, you certainly can't afford a boat. Try to get your money back from the charity. Sell or donate the boat if you can't. Take the money you have and invest it in education, then get better paying jobs. Work hard and some day you will be able to afford a boat.
Here's some good advice! Bet they don't take it.

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Old 08-06-2016, 22:43   #68
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Re: Buying a donated boat

After reading this thread, my advice to you is: forget the boat. The guy who said you can't afford a boat was right. You need to increase--greatly increase--your earning power. In short, you need an education and a career. Every waking moment for the next few (4? 6? Whatever it takes) years should be spent working, earning, saving, planning to get into the right major, in the right program, at the right school and then succeeding at that school so you can get the right job in the right field to build a successful career and reap the financial rewards that will allow you to have a wife, a home, a family, and, later, a boat. Young people who have not yet graduated from college own Lasers if they own a boat at all. Young married couples (usually with college educations) own Lightnings or J24s. Men and women in their mid thirties who have advanced several levels in their careers own thirty footers. Not you. I have sailed and raced all over the eastern half of the US, at scores of yacht clubs, known hundreds of sailors and boat owners. Not one of them was a cook or receptionist; not one boat owner made his living scrubbing boat bottoms.

There is a time for everything. Now is the time for you to lay the foundation for a successful life. Not to own a 27' sailboat with a diesel engine.

Paul

PS. Before everyone raises a din, let me say of course one doesn't need a college education to succeed in life. But the same drive, determination, and grit is needed to build a construction company or trade the markets successfully. It can be done. Still, most people who have their own company or are successful traders went to college.
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Old 09-06-2016, 04:04   #69
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Re: Buying a donated boat

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Originally Posted by Paul J. Nolan View Post
After reading this thread, my advice to you is: forget the boat. The guy who said you can't afford a boat was right. You need to increase--greatly increase--your earning power. In short, you need an education and a career. Every waking moment for the next few (4? 6? Whatever it takes) years should be spent working, earning, saving, planning to get into the right major, in the right program, at the right school and then succeeding at that school so you can get the right job in the right field to build a successful career and reap the financial rewards that will allow you to have a wife, a home, a family, and, later, a boat. Young people who have not yet graduated from college own Lasers if they own a boat at all. Young married couples (usually with college educations) own Lightnings or J24s. Men and women in their mid thirties who have advanced several levels in their careers own thirty footers. Not you. I have sailed and raced all over the eastern half of the US, at scores of yacht clubs, known hundreds of sailors and boat owners. Not one of them was a cook or receptionist; not one boat owner made his living scrubbing boat bottoms.

There is a time for everything. Now is the time for you to lay the foundation for a successful life. Not to own a 27' sailboat with a diesel engine.

Paul

PS. Before everyone raises a din, let me say of course one doesn't need a college education to succeed in life. But the same drive, determination, and grit is needed to build a construction company or trade the markets successfully. It can be done. Still, most people who have their own company or are successful traders went to college.
You do need college education, and to do well in it, to have any chances in the modern economy, as well as being willing to work hard. That's true.

However, the OP will make up his own mind whether he wants a great career or not, to earn a pile of money and spend a lifetime working hard to do it, etc. This is very personal and we shouldn't be trying to impose our own ideas on him. Maybe he just wants to be a boat bum? There's also room in our world for that, and he CAN afford that boat if he is willing to work at it, including with his brain, and to make sacrifices.
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Old 09-06-2016, 05:53   #70
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Re: Buying a donated boat

We would much rather work and scrape by, literally scraping barnacles than get a $50,000 dollar student loan and HOPE that we could get good jobs. No way. We do have insurance. I think we got this boat for a steal. The pictures in the previous thread were from before we even stepped onboard. It was a little rougher than that when we got to it, but the worst of it was old dead wasp nests. No soft spots on the deck, a few spots in the cabin that could be buffed out. This was one of our biggest concerns.


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Old 09-06-2016, 05:57   #71
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Re: Buying a donated boat

And this has been a female posting the whole time, by the way. I'm working in a team with my significant other.
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Old 09-06-2016, 06:00   #72
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Re: Buying a donated boat

Those pictures are right under a port window, but the wood is in really rough shape.
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Old 09-06-2016, 06:17   #73
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Re: Buying a donated boat

We are sort of far afield, but you guys might want to consider community college and a trade that pays well, like cabinetry, AC and refrigeration, diesel mechanic, plumbing, etc. Alternatively, getting work in a boatyard or a marine retail store could help out the bottomline repair price, as well as provide an education for you in how to go about some of these things. I don't mean to imply you will become a master at any of these quickly, but they are jobs that are in demand and can pay very well. Setting your sights on a skilled trade rather than an entry level blue collar grunt job (although that may be necessary for a period) will probably serve you better over time.

You have been surviving so far on not much income, and managed to save a bit, so just maintain that frugality in approaching this project.

The area of your boat in the pictures looks really bad. It will obviously have to be totally ripped out and replaced, and if any part of it was structural the failure may have stressed other structural members. You guys certainly have your hands full, but the nice thing about fiberglass boats is that everything is repairable. Maybe not easily, maybe not cheaply, and it may make zero economic sense to do so, but it can be done. Good luck, and please come back and show us all the progress of the refit. Not everyone may agree that this a project worth doing, or that yopu two should be doing it, but I think it can be a very helpful community when you have practical questions or progress to share.
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Old 09-06-2016, 06:38   #74
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Re: Buying a donated boat

Yes, that burned, cracked appearance is usually evidence of a malaise called "dry rot". It is a fungus infestation quite common in wooden structures subjected to humidity and lack of ventilation. Go here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_rot

Dry rot CAN be stopped, and in a 'frozen snot" boat it will never sink the boat since the fungus doesn't attack the resin from which the hull is made.

The fungus spreads in two ways: 1) airborne spores that can get in anywhere because they are microscopic, and 2) something called "mycelium" which is like tentacles spreading out from a point of infestation and sprouting new "fruiting bodies" that release spores.

Household bleach will kill the fungus, and you can apply it with a sponge. Obviously that doesn't do the finish any good, but it does kill the fungus and thereby eliminate further spreading from the treated site. You can always do cosmetic repairs later. Go through the boat systematically and kill the fungus anywhere you see it.

If any of the load bearing wooden structures in your boat are infested, you'd best get on with the eradication since dry rot destroys the structural integrity of wood.

Your pictures seem to show a plywood trim panel. Just rip it out and soak it with bleach before you dispose of it so it will not be a carrier of further infestations elsewhere. Then clean behind it with bleach and several plain water rinses. The put a new panel in.

For quite different reasons I've replaced such plywood panels in TrentePieds. If you need to know about how to do that, just sing out :-)

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Old 09-06-2016, 06:50   #75
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Re: Buying a donated boat

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There was a lot more encouragement here than I was expecting, and we also have reason to be optimistic!
I'm surprised you can say this. If I had started this thread I would have placed in on ignore by now to save myself from depression.
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