Worst Thing a Previous Owner Did to Your Boat ?

[Capt Phil]

I agree, Wolf... but even old school sailors run out of steam and their boats began to suffer from neglect. Some of these oldies but goodies are around in your area and I think Bill Garden's personal little sailboat is in Port Townsend... I think her name is Toad and she is a little beauty... was in the wooden boat show. No fancy 'gizmos', just solid, well thought out construction. The installation of the newer creature comforts and electronics require maintenance and attention that many owners cannot perform themselves so they just let 'em go...

[zopi]

Owned it.

[Bloodhound]

I hope I become the PO the current PO was. Left a boat in excellent shape, drawers of tools, a parts inventory big enough to replace almost everything on the boat, heaps of stainless fasteners, etc., etc., and gave me two full days of his time going over every detail. My only regret: three years later my limited memory is still rediscovering what some of the parts are for, and where I put them when I reorganized some of the storage. BTW, boat still floats 3 or 4 inches above her waterline.

[wolfenzee]

Originally Posted by Capt Phil

I agree, Wolf... but even old school sailors run out of steam and their boats began to suffer from neglect. Some of these oldies but goodies are around in your area and I think Bill Garden's personal little sailboat is in Port Townsend... I think her name is Toad and she is a little beauty... was in the wooden boat show. No fancy 'gizmos', just solid, well thought out construction. The installation of the newer creature comforts and electronics require maintenance and attention that many owners cannot perform themselves so they just let 'em go...

As the story goes, one of the requirements made by the builder of this boat is that she be used and used well and when she could no longer be used to be sold and this was kept up for each owner.

[wolfenzee]

Originally Posted by Bloodhound

I hope I become the PO the current PO was. Left a boat in excellent shape, drawers of tools, a parts inventory big enough to replace almost everything on the boat, heaps of stainless fasteners, etc., etc., and gave me two full days of his time going over every detail. My only regret: three years later my limited memory is still rediscovering what some of the parts are for, and where I put them when I reorganized some of the storage. BTW, boat still floats 3 or 4 inches above her waterline.

I know the feeling, I have triples of spares of some stuff, maintenance logs etc.

[wolfenzee]

forgot about one of the worst things the last owner did...absolutely everything from the waterline to the top of the mast was painted with gray house paint. including the Honduras mahogany, Malaysian marianti, old dark teak, red fir, Sitka spruce, etc...the oak tiller, the mahogany hatch boards everything....I am taking care of that this winter. At the very least if I don't like varnish I will paint over it (then strip the paint and varnish it before I sell it)

[jenny2]

When I bought the boat I have now it had some jury rigs. I noticed the raw water strainer to the engine was mounted straight to the thru hull side ways with no valve, and this was right under the engine very hard to get to. So when I hauled out I took the clamps off broke the seal on the hose went to pull it off the top of the thru hull came with the hose.That was scarey also every thru hull was eat up I figured it was from a bad ground on the shore power.The some things people will do !

[xymotic]

The PO of my boat stripped her down to do a refit, and then died before he had a chance to really get-r-done. I dunno how much of his repairs are jury rigged in the middle of the pacific vs, part of the refit.

He Spent a few grand making nice rails and davits professionally fitted, then cut them half-assed in the middle to make a dive platform?? With a heavy load, the davits sway side to side because of the missing chunk cut-out. Mounted the main captain's chair on a piece of 1" pine. (there's no support underneath except at ends) Looking at it makes me think "dunk tank" And you gotta appreciate the Autopilot rudder reference C clamped to the board and tied to the tiller with string.



Spent a TON of $$ on new portlights, but then installed them without actually fixing any rust behind them (steel boat)

Look under the right side, the pink is bondo:


And the little white pieces are chunks of Aluminium epoxied over a rusty hole.

Thankfully though he didn't always use Aluminium for his steel repairs, sometimes it was stainless or wood:


No worries though, cuz the bondo will cover that right up!!

Sometimes though, if the cancer area was real bad, he'd grind to fresh metal, then screw a stainless plate into an epoxy sandwich. and screw the whole thing into the steel.


I don't have a good pic of the power inlet, but it was 45' of wire that went into at least one splice, and then straight through the hull to the panel. No plug. On the back-side of the panel the ground terminated into a free-floating screw and nut, and was disconnected from the boat ground:


Then, as we move past the panel, every single circuit has the neutral and ground crimped into a single lug, and tied to a ground buss:


The Boat is 15 or so tons, and has hydraulic steering, (and a tiller as well) so naturally you'd fit a tiller pilot to it, right?


This was 'new' work he'd not yet finished. It goes witout saying that if a tiller pilot can't keep up, the simple solution is to add another to the other side, right?

Yes, that's two complete pilot systems, installed in the 'new' setup.


Again, didn't fix any rust behind the panel or paint anything back there. Oh, and the panels he picked for the refit are interesting too. All top of the line blue seas stuff, but using two different types of fuses.

I don't wish him dead or anything, He bought really nice 'stuff' to put her back together, and so I get the best of all possible worlds, a great deal, many of the parts needed, and I get to go through and do it my way from the beginning. but...


holy crap man

[SuenosAzules]

Wow this would be a surveying nightmare! I can not even begin to feel your pain on this boat sir!

Originally Posted by xymotic

The PO of my boat stripped her down to do a refit, and then died before he had a chance to really get-r-done. I dunno how much of his repairs are jury rigged in the middle of the pacific vs, part of the refit.

He Spent a few grand making nice rails and davits professionally fitted, then cut them half-assed in the middle to make a dive platform?? With a heavy load, the davits sway side to side because of the missing chunk cut-out. Mounted the main captain's chair on a piece of 1" pine. (there's no support underneath except at ends) Looking at it makes me think "dunk tank" And you gotta appreciate the Autopilot rudder reference C clamped to the board and tied to the tiller with string.



Spent a TON of $$ on new portlights, but then installed them without actually fixing any rust behind them (steel boat)

Look under the right side, the pink is bondo:


And the little white pieces are chunks of Aluminium epoxied over a rusty hole.

Thankfully though he didn't always use Aluminium for his steel repairs, sometimes it was stainless or wood:


No worries though, cuz the bondo will cover that right up!!

Sometimes though, if the cancer area was real bad, he'd grind to fresh metal, then screw a stainless plate into an epoxy sandwich. and screw the whole thing into the steel.


I don't have a good pic of the power inlet, but it was 45' of wire that went into at least one splice, and then straight through the hull to the panel. No plug. On the back-side of the panel the ground terminated into a free-floating screw and nut, and was disconnected from the boat ground:


Then, as we move past the panel, every single circuit has the neutral and ground crimped into a single lug, and tied to a ground buss:


The Boat is 15 or so tons, and has hydraulic steering, (and a tiller as well) so naturally you'd fit a tiller pilot to it, right?


This was 'new' work he'd not yet finished. It goes witout saying that if a tiller pilot can't keep up, the simple solution is to add another to the other side, right?

Yes, that's two complete pilot systems, installed in the 'new' setup.


Again, didn't fix any rust behind the panel or paint anything back there. Oh, and the panels he picked for the refit are interesting too. All top of the line blue seas stuff, but using two different types of fuses.

I don't wish him dead or anything, He bought really nice 'stuff' to put her back together, and so I get the best of all possible worlds, a great deal, many of the parts needed, and I get to go through and do it my way from the beginning. but...


holy crap man

[xymotic]

Originally Posted by SuenosAzules

Wow this would be a surveying nightmare! I can not even begin to feel your pain on this boat sir!

Lol, and to make matters worse, to go along with the bad stuff is the really good: brand new Isotherm stainless water heater, relatively low-hours Yanmar, new in the box electric head, new Stainless hatches and portlights, new stainless fridge and stove, like 14 solar panels!? Heck, I even got three gallons of trinidad worth a few hundred dollars. Heck, two working tillerpilots gotta be worth somethin, right?

But, I got a 36' steel world cruiser for $6k so I ain't bitchin. I figure I could sell the 'stuff' and scrap the steel and be ahead on the deal. Cept I already sorta love the bitch, and that's when you get into trouble with these damned things

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by xymotic

Lol, and to make matters worse, to go along with the bad stuff is the really good: brand new Isotherm stainless water heater, relatively low-hours Yanmar, new in the box electric head, new Stainless hatches and portlights, new stainless fridge and stove, like 14 solar panels!? Heck, I even got three gallons of trinidad worth a few hundred dollars. Heck, two working tillerpilots gotta be worth somethin, right?

But, I got a 36' steel world cruiser for $6k so I ain't bitchin. I figure I could sell the 'stuff' and scrap the steel and be ahead on the deal. Cept I already sorta love the bitch, and that's when you get into trouble with these damned things

If the PO died of old age during the refit it might be a clue to what's ahead for you - LOL...

It's good you are starting to love the "bitch" as it looks like you will spend a lot of time together. Good luck and keep us posted on your progress.

[SuenosAzules]

Just like women.. It is the love that makes you blind!! Whatever you decide, good luck, but enjoy the boat. Like women, when more bad comes out of it than good, part with it. Regardless of your feelings. I have learned the hard way on both!!!

Originally Posted by xymotic

Lol, and to make matters worse, to go along with the bad stuff is the really good: brand new Isotherm stainless water heater, relatively low-hours Yanmar, new in the box electric head, new Stainless hatches and portlights, new stainless fridge and stove, like 14 solar panels!? Heck, I even got three gallons of trinidad worth a few hundred dollars. Heck, two working tillerpilots gotta be worth somethin, right?

But, I got a 36' steel world cruiser for $6k so I ain't bitchin. I figure I could sell the 'stuff' and scrap the steel and be ahead on the deal. Cept I already sorta love the bitch, and that's when you get into trouble with these damned things

[kthoennes]

Boy, that's not a project boat, that's a disaster. You have more time, hope, money, and optimism than I do, that's for sure.

[twistedtree]

1) radar with no forward visibility due to Bimini and bow rise

2) washer installed against thru hull making it impossible to close valve

3) autopilot sized for a center console on a 30ton boat with wiring 4 sizes too small

Best of all, this work was done by the commissioning dealer on a new boat.

[bigdog5]

The first day out always comes to mind.The basin in the head plumbed into the toilet outlet gave a really impressive toothpaste tube effect when it was easier to come up than go down(and yes the cock was open).After sorting this out in front of a horrified female crew we then ventured to a lovely beach for a nice swim etc.Went to start engine in arvo to go home,only to find the engine locked solid and full of water.Sailed back to marina and towed in.On stripping it down I found the exhaust manifold was a piece of tube welded to the exhaust port outlets with the water running thru it which while admirably simple in its design when the engine was turned off it drew the water in in no time.Even 18 years later I still turn the seacock off every time I turn the engine off even with the vented loops etc i have added.I have to admit that I was blinded by the size of the boat for the $ but love her still!When the gearbox blew up the other day my son pointed out that it was the last original thing left untouched so mayby the next 20 years will involve more fun and less work ,but Im not holding my breath.Dave.