Buying a boat with broken engine?

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by carstendenmark

OP, when Europe opens up again, consider only Europe for buying, as you will have to CE certify ANY boat coming from outside of EU, no matter the age ! That can end up being VERY expensive.

If you buy a boat inside EU, it must be of a certain age to avoid a certification.

In all cases, you'll need a proof of paid VAT (best is the original purchase bill, issued when the boat was new).

I am 9'3", and my boat (Maxi 87) has a headroom of 9'2".
I do NOT want to spend thousands of €'s just to be able to stand fully upright in the center of the cabin.
Anywhere, exept in the center, I have to bend anyway.
Afraid of your scalp ? Put a helmet on, and save yourself tons of money ;-)

After a long time of consideration, I chose a 29' boat, because it is very easy to sail singlehanded.
No need to ask anyone to come along, if you want to sail right away.
Just go.

A Maxi 87 with 9'2" headroom.. Boy that's some 'Pop Top'...

[MWhite]

We bought our Olympic Adventure 47 with a bad engine. The engine oil had water in it, causing a previous sale to fall through and giving us the boat of our dreams for money we could afford. The sale of our Cal34 paid for our new Beta Marine 60. In terms of buying a boat sans engine, know enough about what will sail well (if you actually want to sail) that you can be sure about that part because you won't be taking it for a test sail. Also if you want to replace the engine in the same space, take a look at how the engine can be removed from the boat. In our case, the entire cockpit floor comes up and the engine is lifted out. You don't want to have to cut the boat apart to get the engine out.

[manitu]

I bought a Jeanneau Espace 1000 in the south of france, for 12k euro.
It had been on the hard for 5 years at least, and had an old, unproven BMW D50 engine. Other than that it had a bare minimum of equipment but the rig was in great shape.

I was prepared to buy a 30hp ouboard to get it home, but the BMW survived all the way to Norway, albeit with a few repairs.

I was also considering an elecric install, but there is no way that a sound electric propulsion system can be achieved "on the cheap" compared to installing a newish used diesel engine. I bought a used VolvoMD2030/perkins perama in mint condition for 1,5k euro, wich fitted straight onto the gearbox I had.

I bought a french flagged boat, but there's a lot of abandoned "pensioners broken dream" boats from other EU countries along the south coasts of Spain and France.
These can be had for cheap if you can find them (and the owner) , and strike a deal with the harbour master on the overdue rent.

French boats in france are generally reasonable priced too.

If you go electric, don't bother with lithium. Too expensive , and compared to quality SLA or AGM , the only real benefit is weight.. and less maintenance.

.manitu

[psjanker]

Look for the boat you want and don’t be afraid of a old diesel engine. Many classic plastic boats that can take you around the world have engines with not that many hours on them. Its hard to damage them especially if the boat has been on the hard. Old sailboats are inexpensive in terms of money but 6-12 months of sweat equity will make you better aware of the workings of your boat, make underway repairs and give you pride of ownership! In Nov our 18 month old Lagoon 42 still had an inop watermaker and broken code one Furler in just one 9 day trip from Virginia to Antigua.

Things will break, no sense in looking for something already broken and don’t think a broken engine search is worth it unless the boat is free and they give you money to take it off their hands.

V/r

Pete

[robochef]

I did not read thru the hole thread, so this might have already been said.
I purchased a boat with a blown engine, the issue I had was with the marina.
They required to have the boat insured and the insurance Co. would not issue coverage without the boat having a working engine.
Just be aware of that being the case wherever you may go.

[carstendenmark]

Sorry, 6'3" (I'm not use to this ancient stuff...)

[Mauruuru]

Actually you might want to rethink the problem. I just completed conversion of my diesel auxilliary to electric drive. I sold the 10 year old Yanmar 30 HP for more than I paid for the motor, controller, 48 V charger and miscellaneous equipment (except batteries).

A newer boat might give you a similar opportunity plus the advantage of a newer boat.

[Me-and-Boo]

I have a 1984 Catalina 30 trbs with a seized engine. I could not give it away for two years. So, she is on the hard right now, I will be buying an engine rebuild kit from Kubota, Universal 25 is the make, but it is a Kubota engine. Is it worth it to do the work myself for about $1500 in parts, yes.
Would I sell my boat as is with the broken engine for a low price? Possibly but once I rebuild the engine she goes back to a used price and I might want to keep her.

Originally Posted by tnerual

I'm exploring options to live aboard, and how to get a boat for "cheap". I'm very eager to go full electric (propulsion, cooking...) for a variety of reasons (environmental, noise, smell, risks with gas onboard...). This thread is not intended to revive the debate around elec vs diesel, I've read a bunch of posts about the issue, I understand there are drawbacks. Let's assume that I'm happy with them.


I think it's pretty safe to assume I won't find a used monohull for sale with an electric motor installed, so I'm imagining I'd have to look for one with (ideally) a broken diesel that would need fixing. Benefit for me would also be that the boat would probably sell for cheapish.


What would be the (typical) reasons a boat would sell with a broken diesel, and where would I have higher odds of finding them? For instance, I've heard of people getting one where the motor has died due to bad winterization, so I thought colder climates might see more of that than, say, Greece


I'm not after a complete project boat that needs rebuilding almost entirely, things like the Expedition Evans youtube adventure is not what I want.


Thanks for any thoughts!