FREE, or close to free!

[IslandHopper]

A few here.....

Where to find a free Sailboat - Free-Boat.com

[jefjo]

ok one more for tonight. '74 Pearson 30. "Will take any offers, motivated to move before summer." They're asking $2000 for it, already a good price for what looks like a really well kept boat. Of course I don't recommend making sight unseen offers but this one looks like it's just some bottom paint away from a fun summer!

https://boston.craigslist.org/sob/bo...509803557.html

[Fore and Aft]

https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/mack...ome/1176404710
Not sure about this one above. But I love the Albin in the first post......would it be cheaper to buy the Albin in the UK for $27,000?
Cheers

[Singularity]

Originally Posted by Steadman Uhlich

A better title would be:

"Free Boats That Will Be Very Expensive to Make Seaworthy."

I look at thousands of boats, and ignore all of the derelict, hulks (hull only), unfinished home builds, salvaged, badly damaged, badly neglected, and occasionally rotten (wood), boats I see, because I have the sense to know they are likely to be very expensive and very time consuming to repair or refit them to a seaworthy standard, at least to my standard of safety and reliability. That is why I do not post notices to them in the "Boats Less Than $30k" thread.
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ds-147098.html

When there are so many nicely maintained and equipped boats out there at reasonable prices, I don't think it makes sense to throw thousands of dollars into fixing up a typical derelict or "Free or almost free" boat that would be worth very little after spending much money on it.

Assuming a 32 foot sailboat:

Option A:
-cough up $17k
-Buy someone else's dream with the $17k
-Spend an extra xxx in time and yyy in money making it yours
-repair/replace on the fly, learning as you go, or spend YYY in labor fixing things

Option B:
-Get a free boat without fatal hull/spar problems
-Spend xxxxxxxxxx in time and yyyyyyy money making it yours whenever the time/money allows
-hit the water with all new/inspected/overhauled everything
-generally significantly more service life left on components vs Option A; have the know-how to fix things as they arise
-when done this boat is worth the market value, which has nothing to do with the fact that it was procured for free

-Horses for courses
-Clearly most free boats started off as someone else's Option B, though this fact invalidates the previous dreamer owner, not Option B as viable

I've owned several planes and a few boats and always choose option B or something close to option B precisely because of higher standards for safety and reliability.

You're doing something very wrong if a boat costs more to make seaworthy than a comparable boat costs on the open market (fire sales notwithstanding).

[thomm225]

The Ranger may be worth it but only if you live close by where you can get it ready to launch........the others that were shown look like junk

If you have to travel very far to work on it or if you will have to have it shipped to your location, the dollar count will begin before you have even started to prep the boat

I paid $2,000 for my boat in 2011, and have completed no structural repairs since it was in decent shape. I was sailing it a month or so after I bought it. It had been on the hard for 5 years unattended

I haven't replaced the rigging, thruhulls, chain plates, stanchions, or redone the windows.

The gear box for the diesel failed after a week or two. So I bought a second cheap diesel with gearbox and had it shipped in.

I replaced the gearbox and relaunched.

Then the diesel failed.

So I pulled the diesel and gearbox at the dock when the tide was right to allow me to swing it over onto the dock after removal. Then I pulled the gearbox off the failed diesel and reinstalled that back onto the "new" replacement diesel and reinstalled.

The second diesel failed so I removed it, the mounts, prop shaft, muffler, etc plus cleaned out all the old oils and crap in the bilge and where the motor used to sit

Then I replaced with a new 2011 5 hp 4 stroke extra long shaft Mercury Outboard and adjustable bracket

Later I replaced the mainsail with a new 8 oz sail I had made. Autopilot failed so I replaced with a new one

Added solar and controllers

Added inverters (400 watt and 1500 watt)

Replaced bilge pump.

The boat already had two main anchors and maybe 250' of rode and 40' of chain for each plus 3 other smaller danforths

The jib was good as was the storm jib.

It also had GPS (2), VHF, Depth, that all worked plus it had a dodger and bimini

I've completed two bottom jobs and one topside paint job over the last 6 years of so

The boat still needs lots of work. I closed off the thetford head so it wouldn't stink. I removed all the "crappy" hoses and terminated the good ones. It's basically a glorified porta potty now but it works and doesn't smell. All thruhulls are now closed. Sink is disabled.

So, I've spent somewhere between $8,500-$10,000 on the boat (which includes purchase price) over the last 6 years and it's a tough little boat that I've had out in some pretty rough weather.

Nothing comes for free.......

For any cruising to be done WELL offshore the boat probably needs to have the chain plates replaced, the rigging, and possibly add a new jib plus maybe AIS

[406Columbia]

As a few others here have mentioned, sometimes its about the particular boat not the money. The first big boat my wife and I purchased was an Ericson Independence 31. It came with a trailer, triple axle monster capable of taking 15k and with a length of around 35 feet easily. The boat was completely gutted, believe me when I say gutted.

That said, the pristine perko port lights, sail inventory, rigging, etc. plus the trailer were worth significantly more. We paid $1,500.00 and kept everything that was good and made money on the deal.

Our next boat, our Columbia 29 Mk1 is just a beautiful timeless classic. I got it for ten bucks, and her interior is wonderful to me, her hull is sound. Came with a Tohatsu Sail drive, all new port lights from Becksen, etc.

Free or next to free boats are wonderful if you have the time and desire as well as money to fix them. In our case were trailering her home and doing most of the work ourselves. It costs us nothing to park her on my land and its so therapeutic as Don already mentioned.

The other thing for us is we like a nice blank canvas. We are very particular with what we want. I want specific electronics, specific Lewmar ocean hatches, a particular fabric on our cushions, etc. etc. So for my wife and I a fixer upper with a classic design is exactly what we wanted.

Its not that we couldn't afford a boat in better shape, its that we wanted a beautiful S&S classic to make our own. With all the stories of keels falling off these sandwich core masterpieces I am even more excited for our 1960's era plastic classic. She will get sorted out and sailed for many decades to come Lord willing.

Great thread and love to watch people build there little dream boats! Here are a few pictures of our project boat and one or two of Don's so you can see what they look like put together. STUNNING boats in my opinion!

[fatherchronica]

As an aside, these old abandoned boats were the same kind that Chappelle took the time to do line take offs and scantling lists from, thus filling a section of the Library of Congress with a history of U S boat plans. I think I read that the French designer Vivier did the same thing in France, france ( pronounced the second time like a Conehead would). When I was a student of the Yacht Design Institute, I did a couple of rough takeoffs of boats with the consent of their owners, but not the designers, by running masking tape at intervals vertically from sheer to keel, and photographing them from bow and stern views and transfering them to paper. Just a visual exercise really. But pretty quick. Somewhere I still have lines from a first year J-24, back when racing boat lines were secrets not for publication, and a Mull 30 footer.

[DeborahLee]

Ahhhh! FREE a Cruisers favorite 4 letter "F" word.

[Scout 30]

While I have to agree with Steady Hand that the cheaper a boat is to buy the more it ends up costing in the long run, I think this thread is a great idea. Not only will it include a lot of boats that are basically abandoned and many that the owner just can't afford to keep but it will also include project boats where, for whatever reason, the owner just can't complete the refit or new build. That big ferrocement hull in Oregon comes to mind.
If some old classics get saved or a new under construction gets finished because of this thread that would be great. And along the way there might be some interesting finds.

[hamburking]

Here is a C&C34 for $5,000 cdn (thats almost free when converted to USD). I have not seen the boat myself, but I'm told there may be an issue with the keel bolts.

https://www.kijiji.ca/v-sailboat/kin...ationFlag=true

[hamburking]

A boatyard in Hamilton (Lake Ontario) is clearing out boats which have been abandoned and/or legally repossessed, or whatever. Follow the links to 3 pages of boats for sale: Welcome to Generica
Some are free, some a few hundred dollars. Most notable (to me) is a Tanzer 22 for free. These are tough old boats that sail great.

[hellosailor]

Jef, there are undeniably bargains out there.

But when you start jumping on every listing you see and shouting "I TAUGHT I TAW A PUDDY TAT!" just like Sylvester and Tweety....You know?

Those ads mean nothing. Most classified "vehicle" ads are somewhere between a deception and a fraud. They won't mention the keel bolts (heard about the loss in John's Pass two weeks ago?) or that it needs twelve new stanchions plus bases ($2000?) plus the deck repairs to hold them. Or that the mast step is rotted out, of it needs a mast for a couple grand more and oh, yeah, the engine and boom and sails and really, only one half of the main bulkhead rotted out, you can just paint over that.

Bargain boats? No really, anyone on this forum who is looking for one, can do their own looking directly. Hollering about the puddy tats you think you seen...doesn't accomplish anything, unless you plan to actually GO TO THEM, survey them, and itemize what it will cost to bury them. Or refit them. Because the reality is, most of them aren't worth the cost of the gasoline and match to burn them. Sad, but that's how it is.

[belizesailor]

A wise friend once said..."never take more free stuff than you can afford".

[hamburking]

Originally Posted by jefjo

ok one more for tonight. '74 Pearson 30. "Will take any offers, motivated to move before summer." They're asking $2000 for it, already a good price for what looks like a really well kept boat. Of course I don't recommend making sight unseen offers but this one looks like it's just some bottom paint away from a fun summer!

https://boston.craigslist.org/sob/bo...509803557.html

OH NO...that one really hurts. Its nicer than my last boat...also a 1974 Pearson 30...and I had many wonderful adventures on that boat!

[hamburking]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

Jef, there are undeniably bargains out there.

But when you start jumping on every listing you see and shouting "I TAUGHT I TAW A PUDDY TAT!" just like Sylvester and Tweety....You know?

Those ads mean nothing. Most classified "vehicle" ads are somewhere between a deception and a fraud. They won't mention the keel bolts (heard about the loss in John's Pass two weeks ago?) or that it needs twelve new stanchions plus bases ($2000?) plus the deck repairs to hold them. Or that the mast step is rotted out, of it needs a mast for a couple grand more and oh, yeah, the engine and boom and sails and really, only one half of the main bulkhead rotted out, you can just paint over that.

Bargain boats? No really, anyone on this forum who is looking for one, can do their own looking directly. Hollering about the puddy tats you think you seen...doesn't accomplish anything, unless you plan to actually GO TO THEM, survey them, and itemize what it will cost to bury them. Or refit them. Because the reality is, most of them aren't worth the cost of the gasoline and match to burn them. Sad, but that's how it is.

If you are not interested in this thread, you are under no obligation to follow it. Some of us are really enjoying it.

There are other reasons to be interested in free boats. You could put it in your backyard for your kids to play on. It could provide parts. You don't know!

And some free boats really are worth the work. I bought a Paceship29 for $100 and sailed it home. Had many great adventures on that boat. Spent a few $ on it, and it was money well spent.

Not all of us have the resources or the desire to get a new/expensive boat.

I even recall reading about a guy on the east coast (usa) who bought an old wooden oyster boat that was sitting in some farmers field. He bought the boat sight unseen, sitting in a bar, for ONE DOLLAR. What would you say to that guy? Would you call him an idiot? Look him up. Josh Slocum. Good sailor. Turned out to be a good boat.