Think I Found Her . . .

[capt_douglas]

Thanks for the comments, all.

Yes, I've been pondering the costs of keeping the water on the outside.

The chain plate really worries me. It's the starboard one and all the others are fine. The owner says it'll "drip" after a few months and that silicone won't permanently fix it. So, that goes on the lists (surveyor, rigging surveyor, price modification).

The head dorade has to be a matter of pulling down the overhead and really looking into the problem. It's also on the list for the surveyor.

I'm lining up surveyors to do the general, mechanical (engine, transmission), rigging, and sail surveys and their reports will affect the overall offering price. If things don't go well, then I can always either negotiate or walk away, losing the survey and haul costs. The owner's motivated, though.

I plan to do most of the work myself so I can learn the boat but have access to the "pros" for the tough questions.

OTOH, (hopefully the owner or broker aren't lurking) the vessel is seaworthy and has a lot of stuff I'd end up paying for anyway. The tender's in good shape and the 6hp outboard looks fine. The davits are oversized and the lifting crane look fairly new.

The C80 will support radar and the radar mast's already installed so it may be economically possible to add a current radar for far less than I though.

The sailing instruments, however are OEM, and need to be replaced. They're those 4" monsters so chances are I'll need to do some glass work, but that's grunt work and I don't mind that. The caprail needs a lot of TLC and even more varnish.

The interior is very good but the cushions need recovering at the minimum or replacement, worst case.

This vessel reminds me of the Pacific Seacraft 37's I've sailed and raced on. She's narrow inside (about 8.5' wide) but has huge amounts of storage, something all cruisers seem to never have enough of. She's very solid and there doesn't appear to be a creak or groan anywhere. Big plus.

The davits prevent attachment of a wind generator (but make a fine platform for a couple solar panels). She's got 8 6V lowish amperage batteries that may not be enough for 24 hour operation and no battery status monitor so that's going on the list of gotta have (in my experience, the cost of a good battery monitor can not only prolong the life of batteries but pay for itself in savings down the track).

She's dark due to the amount of teak and varnish so lightening her up will be a challenge. She's got 4 overhead lights (nav station, galley, port and starboard fwd) so there's going to be some rewiring and LEDs going in.

Negotiations continue.

[sneuman]

Capt. Doug - You might consider replacing those 4" monsters - which I interpret as Datamarines with new Moor Instruments stuff. Same profile and Moor's stuff is reasonably priced and from what I understand, good stuff.

[capt_douglas]

Originally Posted by sneuman

Capt. Doug - You might consider replacing those 4" monsters - which I interpret as Datamarines with new Moor Instruments stuff. Same profile and Moor's stuff is reasonably priced and from what I understand, good stuff.

Thanks sneuman!

The literature says they're a direct replacement for the Datamarine and others. Good comments as well.

[gonesail]

if the tank(s) have not been replaced yet .. get out your chainsaw and wipe your tears .. you need to remove the beautiful teak floors and furniture to get to them. i would not touch a tayana with teak decks. but they are pretty boats

[capt_douglas]

Originally Posted by gonesail

if the tank(s) have not been replaced yet .. get out your chainsaw and wipe your tears .. you need to remove the beautiful teak floors and furniture to get to them. i would not touch a tayana with teak decks. but they are pretty boats

Original tanks and teak decks

Tankage replacement is on the list of things to do, unless I can get a good look-see into the tanks, especially the fuel tank in the bow. No diesel smell or traces and the bilge under the water tank is nice and dry. An inspection of the water tank will be done as part of the survey too.

The water tank is very easy to remove. The fuel tank in the bow will require cutting to get out but replacement tanks have been installed without damaging the wood. You lose 10gal of the 100 gal capacity by installing 2 tanks as opposed to one. The up side is that I get two fuel tanks. The downside is that I have two tanks, more hosing to run and now need to install a "Y" valve to fill each tank from the deck fill (or I could install a small 12V pump to pump fuel from one tank to the other).

Teak decks look good except for a few missing bungs above the screws (approx 12 out of hundreds of bungs). I'll plug the screw heads and watch the vessel for any leakages though. I'd rather not have teak decks (makes the boat more tender, promotes leaks, is a PITA to remove, heats up the boat) but the price is very good.

[salpa1907]

when I bought my boat, I recreated all the furnitures and remained two days work. I worked well I think. I saw pleasant boat dreams many times too. Today, I still need to work. Happily, I have only two days work. Good luck, (good work, good dreams)

[sneuman]

Originally Posted by gonesail

if the tank(s) have not been replaced yet .. get out your chainsaw and wipe your tears .. you need to remove the beautiful teak floors and furniture to get to them. i would not touch a tayana with teak decks. but they are pretty boats

The deck job is laborious, but it's not difficult. I speak from personal experience.

I would also submit that most fiberglass boats of a particular era, including those without teak decks, have soft cores. For fiberglass decks, they almost all have stancions attached directly to the deck that eventually - due to contant leveraging - that crack the deck around them and allow water ingress. Tayanas have a base for the stancions that prevents this from happening - which is really smart. Now, if the yard had only been smart enough not to put in a thousand screw holes to hold the teak down, everything would have been capital.

[Mambo]

Douglas -
I looked at quite a few T-37's. They are beautiful boats with some great features. Does she have aluminum spars? What layout (there seem to be limitless variations). Are you on the TOG? I think it is a yahoo group -- it is very active with lots of accumulated wisdom on the maintenance issues with these boats.
-M

[sneuman]

FYI, Tayana Owners' Group (TOG):
TOGnews E-mail Discussion Group | Google Groups

[capt_douglas]

@Mambo & snewman

She's got deck stepped aluminum mast with mast steps (not what I'd do, but they work), and basically follows what you'd see as a general layout. In the early days, Tayana would allow custom modifications at no additional price, Tayana learned and added the most common changes to the original design, and raised the price.

Basically she's got a V-berth forward over a 100gal diesel tank, full head to port, nice salon with drop down table to port to make large berth, galley aft of the table, nav station across from the galley and ahead of the pilot berth. The 100 gal water tank is amidships, under the deck so the weight's nice and low. Add in a pressure and foot pump for the water, Seagull water filter, macerator head with 20gal holding tank, 4 dorades, sweet butterfly hatch, and huge cockpit and you've got most of what she's carrying.

She's got 12V refrigeration (and what appears to be a huge fridge but no freezer), 8 Deka 6V 225AH deep cycle batteries for the house and engine start, OEM sailing instruments, 1980 vintage VHF, discontinued GPS and radar, and an Alpha 3000 autopilot that must be 20+ years old but still has a great reputation.

Throw in a 9' Caribe RIB and 9.9hp Yamaha on an oversized set of davits (which seem perfectly set up for either 2x 135w solar panels or a monster 225W solar panel, bimini and dodger in good condition, OEM Barient winches, OEM rigging (running and fixed), cutter w/o clubfoot, a 2002 jib, 2000 staysail, and a 2006 double reefed main, and you've got most of the gear.

The CQR's kinda small and I don't think the 1/4" chain is going to be around long. Howerver, the windlass works and finding a different sized gypsy may be more difficult than living with the shorter chain. She's rigged for one anchor and I'm considering swapping the CQR for a nice 22kg Rockna. She's got 150' of serviceable, but not new chain along with 150' of 3/4" rode so anywhere in the Caribbean should be fine for anchoring.

As for the Tayana site, I've been spending some time there, reading about the boats, grabbing whatever I can find in the way of documents and layouts, and asking a few questions.

I made the offer this morning and the broker indicated he was 99% sure the owner would accept it. If so, it's off to the bank to get a check for the 10% down, find surveyors for the boat, rigging and sails, and mechanicals (engine and transmission). There aren't many yards here in South Florida where you can work on your own boat, so getting a spot's a bit more difficult, but it can be done.

Oh, and somewhere I started a list of possible boat names. The boat isn't documented so I've got to remove the registration numbers as well as the name off the stern and put mine on.

[sneuman]

Couple of minor things:

Basically she's got a V-berth forward over a 100gal diesel tank, full head to port, nice salon with drop down table to port to make large berth, galley aft of the table, nav station across from the galley and ahead of the pilot berth. The 100 gal water tank is amidships, under the deck so the weight's nice and low. Add in a pressure and foot pump for the water, Seagull water filter, macerator head with 20gal holding tank, 4 dorades, sweet butterfly hatch, and huge cockpit and you've got most of what she's carrying.

It's not the best place for the fuel tank, actually (it's where mine is too). Some Tayana owners have moved it to under the salon berth. Having said that, my Tayana has circumnavigated with a former owner and no one has seen the need to do that.

She's got 12V refrigeration (and what appears to be a huge fridge but no freezer), 8 Deka 6V 225AH deep cycle batteries for the house and engine start, OEM sailing instruments, 1980 vintage VHF, discontinued GPS and radar, and an Alpha 3000 autopilot that must be 20+ years old but still has a great reputation.

The refrigerator is probably a converted ice box. Although it's huge, it's hard to reach everything. We never get quite as much room in there as we'd like because of this.

I made the offer this morning and the broker indicated he was 99% sure the owner would accept it. If so, it's off to the bank to get a check for the 10% down, find surveyors for the boat, rigging and sails, and mechanicals (engine and transmission). There aren't many yards here in South Florida where you can work on your own boat, so getting a spot's a bit more difficult, but it can be done.

Wunder! and best of luck. Stay in touch.

[capt_douglas]

I'd like to move that 800+ pound weight elsewhere but I've got few options. The center line tank's water and that's more important to me than diesel. The seating under the starboard salon seat is different from the rest of the boat (3" x 1/2" boards screwed to the frames) and I've seen topics on adding water tanks there, but I need to investigate that more.

And you're right about the fridge, it's huge! I had a deep but narrow fridge on my last boat and well remember having to grab the pliers or grippers to get things out of the very bottom.

OTOH, there should be plenty of space so that the cold air can flow around the contents. The teak shelves look in excellent condition and I suppose I could always load the fridge with a half dozen gallon water containers to keep things from moving too far.