There are usually two problems with teak decks. One is the thickness of the teak being worn down by scrubbing/sanding so there is not enough
wood to hold the plugs/exposed fasteners.
The more serious problem is the 1,000s of fasteners that penetrate the underlying, usually
fiberglass cored deck. When these fasteners begin to leak and some always seem to, the
core rots. Then you have a headache of monumental proportions. The fix is to remove either the outer or inner layer of
fiberglass, remove the rotten
core, replace with new core, and reattach the FRP layer. It's a BIG BIG BIG job that will easily run into 5 figures if you have a yard do it.
The
mast looks to be
wood. Largely just a contiuing
maintenance issue as long as there is no
rot, the glue joints are sound and the
hardware is in good condition. A lot of diehard cruisers prefer wood to
Aluminum claiming it can better withstand the loss of a
shroud or stay. Be careful if the mast is painted, not varnished.
Paint can cover a multitude of sins.
Cheoy Lee's are beautiful boats usually with lots of teak. Unfortunately, they pioneered using thin veneers of teak and/or thin teak planks. They also used to make most of the
hardware that went on their boats, much of which wasn't the greatest quality stainless. Get a good
surveyor to check out the boat. Ask around for the meanest, nastiest
surveyor that's in the area where the boat is, be there when the boat is surveyed, carefully study his report and reccomendations and be sure you understand what the ramifications are.
Bill Luders designed some of the prettiest boats ever and this boat is no exception. Just be sure that there you know what the problems are and have a good idea of the cost and your ability to deal with any fatal flaws hidden under that wood. For the asking price, it would be hard to go wrong even if the deck core was rotten especially since the boats looks like it has a lot of nice
equipment.
One last thing, the
Volvo MD2 is my all time favorite engine. Sips
fuel and can be easily hand cranked which I did for 10 years. These engines are
salt water cooled and there could be issues because of all those years pickling in
salt. The engines were designed so that all the
salt water effected
parts are replaceable which is mainly the cylinders and heads. They were also designed to be rebuildable in place with the exception of the main bearings so a
rebuild is reasonably easy job to do. Might want to check on the availablity and cost of
parts necessary for a
rebuild, however.
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