Just scrolling through the site and I saw this post. I purchased an old boat, 1979 to be exact and this is what I learned:
Rule: (there is only one)
#1. Don't buy an old boat
Of course there are exceptions to
buying older boats, and typically they will rival the prices of newer boats because all the systems have been changed out. My boat just happened to not be in this category. So if you choose not to follow
rule #1, then I suggest you take some of these guide lines into play:
Guidelines (in order of cost):
1. Lack of Patience will cost you the most. I strongly agree to have a
surveyor walk through the boat to perform some assessment on if its what you are looking. I believe I paid an extra 20K more for my boat because I was the first person to walk through before the surveyor so I was already convinced I had to have it.
2.
Engine (diesel): Ensure the surveyor takes a lot of pictures of the
engine room. Inspect engine mounts for rust, look for
oil absorbent rags, have the surveyor start then engine cold (without priming the
fuel lines) and see if the engine turns over in less than 3 seconds. If more than you got a problem. Ensure engine gauges are new and there is a
oil pressure and temperature
alarm installed. A bad gauge may cover up something that the owner is hiding and that could cost you a lot. Ensure there is not oil coming out of the air intake area or around the PCV. If no oil is observed and the engine starts up quick, its a good sign that the cylinder
compression is acceptable.
3. Standing
Rigging: Ask if the standing
rigging AND chain plates have been replaced in the past 10 years. If its anywhere on the
salt water, you will want to replace them (as per expert recommendations). This can be pricy if you have someone do it for you. If you do it yourself it will be around 2K. I wouldn't trust a visual inspections, but if its original and its not made out of
bronze, then you have to address it. Try to see if it would be easy to access these chain plates or if you will have to destroy your
interior (like me).
4.
Deck: Any experienced surveyor should already do this, but its your responsibility to hold them accountable. Have them take their shoes off and walk (bounce) foot by foot every square foot of the
deck. Ask him directly, did you feel ANY soft spots around the deck? You don't want soft spongy decks. Its an indication of how well its been taken care of
5.
Leaks: You are probably gonna have some
leaks around the hatches, etc. and that's normal stuff you can get to eventually. What you want to know is if there is a secret leak you don't know about that makes you have to take expensive immediate action. One tip you can request from the surveyor is to immediately drain the
bilge as soon as they get there. Then they leak ask them to drain it again. If the
survey is able to drain the boat more, then you got a leak you have to address. Also, have them take a picture of the
bilge and give it a good smell test. If its black and smells interesting, then it may be troubling.
6. Smells: It doesn't matter how great the boat has been maintained, smells can easily drive you insane.
Head smells are probably typical and may cause you to roll up your sleeves one weekend to take care of that, but what you should be more worried about is any signs of
Diesel leaks. My boat was secretly chaffing one of the
fuel tank fill lines. The first time I filled it up,
fuel silently traversed through the floor boards and got to everything. It took me a year to fix that and I tried everything.
Google had to
purchase an extra server to hold my search
history for "how to remove
diesel smells". The only thing that worked was to rip up the floor board and backing
plywood (definitely could open up a new form). Not the most expensive fix compared to others, BUT it was the emotional toll that taxed my motivation to the point of tears (mostly from diesel fumes)
7.
Electrical Wiring: Ask for the surveyor to take a picture of the back of the Panel. If its neat and organized, there is a good chance the boat was properly upgraded over the years. My experience has been that owners would upgrade their old boat with a new
autopilot, or AC unit, etc. and just shove the
wiring around making a mess. Look for every wire to land on their own terminal location and labeled properly. If the boat is wired with 120V AC, something you can have the surveyor do is take a 1000W Space
Heater and test it out on every outlet. If you blow a fuse, you gotta do some rewiring, or receptacle replacement. If they feel a lot of heat around the outlet, you will need to replace the receptacle. These aren't that expensive, but they can give you an idea on the level of
corrosion on the wires. Have the surveyor turn on all Lights, etc. Every light should
work, including running lights,
mast lights, and
interior cabin lights. If they don't
work, ensure that the broker, owner of the boat gets the lights to work before you come down there. Again what you don't want to find is you assume a light bulb has blown, but in reality the
mast wires have corroded so bad that the strands are now in two pieces. Just imagine how many hours in the chair you would spend trying to troubleshoot the issue in the air just to find out you gotta rewire your mast.
Ok, I think I wrote enough opinions here. Again, they may be wrong, they may be right, but I will tell you that I wish I had known to do all of those things because I would have saved 20K.
OTOH an old boat is cheap(er) because it is old.
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