The West Auction boat "True Blood" must've been spec'd by an experienced long range cruiser. She has the stuff you wanted in 1999, and none of the fluff.
cabin layouts,
galley, and long "bridge deck" to
companionway is good for
blue water. (but the steep companion way ladder and long bridge
deck is a bitch for
day sailing or live aboard). Great design
hull. top-drawer engines and
parts all round. Not many HC's with wing keels either.
looks like it was really loved at times.
HCs at this age, irrespective of
engine hours, can have lots of bothersome
leaks from: deck/
hull joint (under the
teak toe rail and a bitch); screws through
teak deck into the
core; stanchions have
corrosion and can be a real pain to remove, clean, or
repair depending on how they were first installed;
ports and hatches need rebedding.
I see enough
corrosion on the stainless and under the powder coat to imagine you need absolute
inspection and possible replace of chain plates, all tangs, all swaging and standing
rigging, life lines, throttle and
rudder control. Corrosion around
Yanmar water pump">raw
water pump means there's a lot more elsewhere, probably the NL
generator too. 22 years with
salt water is pretty good life. working on the
engine and most of the plumbing/
wiring will be a challenge because of tight locations - don't
rule out needing major surgery to remove furniture/
interior pieces to
work on or replace things.
if one display, appliance, or instrument doesn't
work it's nigh impossible to find
parts or replacement, which means all new systems, or you just go without, or use an
iPad for everything. otherwise you must replace entire systems, backbone,
plumbing,
network blah blah blah.
I love all the
canvas covers on the topside brightwork as well as
cockpit enclosure. the few feet of brightwork visible is pretty ugly; that could run $25k to have it stripped and rebuilt up again and would look stunning. or leave the covers on. the boat probably deserves to have its
teak trim beautiful again.
KVH
equipment is impossibly old. toilets look newer.
stove looks corroded.
electrical panel has been having problems as you can see with the replaced breakers and scratches from remove and
repair. all mattresses and seat foam is long past
retirement age. otherwise the
interior is beautiful. I always love HC work below, and the layout is simply superb if you will be traveling to far away places for a long time.
Wow,
furling main and
jib like this were advanced in 1998! you might be able to get parts, I couldn't tell what brand they are.
Lifting the sole boards to see the
bilge the tank tops and hoses look OK, but the gunk and hair that has rotted on the side edges tells me that the capt and crew rarely cleaned inside, so a lot more detritus from
cooking and living is laying in the bilges below and you likely have an
odor and mildew problem until you can clean it - the problem is getting to the gunk. Everything on a boat of this design is tightly packed to keep her slim, fast, and beautiful.
If I was in good
health to
cruise Mexico and the
South Pacific I'd go take a look at her before bidding. Lots to love if you want a BIG
project.
I've done a few
project boats and it's always more expensive and difficult than imagined BUT once you're done you truly know the boat. You can fix anything and sail with the confidence that you earned through $$ expense and hard labor.
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