Have You Found Things Years into a Boat?

[Tampabayfireman]

Was cleaning today, and hate to admit it, (time, not cleaning) but living onboard now for over 15 months, when I pulled a jacket off a coat hook, and a piece of the panaling moved... Thought, crap, another thing to fix, when i looked closer, i was shocked to find a broom closet. Yup, there in the corner of the hallway a 6x12x72 broom closet. Fit right there behind a panel on a corner, with clips for brooms and a holder for a pistol. To say i was stunned was an understatement. Yes, i have used that hook nearly every day, and never saw it move or any indications it held a closet.

So, have to ask, how long after you bought your boats did you stop finding things? Had me wandering around the boat again, pushing and pulling things wondering what else is in here....

[Wotname]

No but perhaps because I have had small boats (30ish ft) one always looking for spare space .
I once lost a set of car keys onboard, searched high and low for several weeks. Finally found them 3 years later when cleaning out the boat prior to sale.

[Chief Engineer]

I have found tools I thought I had lost the following season on customers boats.

Not usually in the bilge, but atop a tank or ledge, 1/2" and 9/16" wrenches usually and screw drivers.......I am still trying to figure out where my DeWalt 18 volt Flash light is......

[Pblais]

So, have to ask, how long after you bought your boats did you stop finding things?

3 years on the CSY 33. I had 2 emergency tillers. The PO lost the only one and had a second one made. He knew it was some place but not where. It's something you really need. I lost both of them, then found one knowing there was a second aboard and found the last one prepping the boat for sale. This boat had false bottoms in all the lockers and places to hide things that were unimaginable.

To this day I still have things on the current boat that I know are aboard just not sure where. The emergency tiller however is stored in the lazerette hatch so when you open the hatch it's right there. OK, one problem solved forever, and 2,000 more to go. It takes a long time to know where to put everything so you can find it. making a treasure map is really the only solution. Cross referenced by location and description. We do have a secret compartment but I don't keep anything in it. It's the first everyone would look.

[sundog]

found a good sized bag of pot almost 2 years after purchase and a year of living aboard... good thing I never got properly searched. "I swear officer, its not mine!!"

[boatpoker]

Found 5 $100 bills in a baggie glassed into a deckhead on a 1978 41' Formosa. Buyer and seller present. The seller got the baggie. The bills were from the early 60's

[David M]

All the people who custom built the boat I operate, back in 1975 signed the inside of a plywood panel. I discovered it just a few years ago when I had to pull the panel to access some thruhull bolts. The boat originally was designed by Sparkman & Stephens and built in Maine for the then president of IBM, Tom Watson Jr. I guess they wanted their names onboard.

[sandy daugherty]

The first owner of my boat was one Pablo Escobar, a noted agricultural entrepreneur late of Medelin, Columbia. While she has been thouroughly inspected by every Alphabet Agency in the Western Hemishphere (panels and inspection ports pop open at the snap of a finger) I keep hoping to find a void awash in cut diamonds or something.

[s/v Beth]

My son found some Pot in the old family car...Yeah we got it used. Noone was more shocked than I after using it for 10 years. This thread makes me want to go back and take everything out of my current boat, just in case.

[slomotion]

In our first 6 months of cruising our new-to-us 34' sailboat, we discovered 2 S&W .38 cal revolvers and $700 in cash hidden on our boat. After that, I spent more than a few hours crawling through lazarettes and other tight places looking for more treasure. No luck, but maybe the new owners are rich and well armed.

[bstreep]

We've only had our boat a bit under 2 years. But, most weekends, we find something else! We thought about going on a complete treasure hunt, but it's more fun this way. Weekend before last I found a socket wrench with a 7/8" deep well socket on it. Left by the rigger when he rebedded chainplates about 6 months before we bought the boat.

A couple of weekends ago we found a stainless steel fastener assortment behind a panel! Woohoo! Worth about $100!

[Tampabayfireman]

Ok, good, then I dont feel so bad. We spend nearly a month taking all the crap the PO left when we bought our boat, and gf still is amazed we missed this one.

[mikethecapt]

i must admit, i found no closets. i did find a small box with ben franklin halves and silver dollars and some mercury dimes and two towels from the st. lucie yacht club but other than that, the boat was stripped.

[Celestialsailor]

I was keeping it quiet until now...After 4 years of owning my Ingrid 38, I actually found a CQR 35 under a bunch of junk.

[delmarrey]

You guys are lucky!

All I ever found was a rusty pipe wrench and a business card from the guy that transported (sailed) the boat up from Calif.
Oh, and a hundred feet or so of wiring that came to a cut end.

That makes me think! There is still one spot I haven't access yet. That's under the ice box.