Well, I did it. I finally pulled the trigger on a starter
boat for the wife and I! We have been spending some time out at Lake Carlyle in Illinois and swung by Boulder Yacht Club since, that’s where the
boats are! We were wandering around (hey, we just like being near the water) and spotted this little
boat on the end of the
dock. It was dirty, without question, had been sitting alone for some time, and needed TLC! The good news was, it was floating! Truly, the boat isn’t as bad as it looks in the pictures.
The
For Sale sign had no
phone number listed on it so we thought we would just stop by the marina office on our way out and ask about it. Before we got too far, the owner had spotted us looking her over and was making his way to us to ask if we would want to take a closer look at her and we took him up on his offer.
He told us that he was asking $1,700 for the boat as is with a running Tohatsu 9.9
outboard and what we see with it. In addition to that, he said he also had extra
sails [jib and spinnaker],
Bimini top frame and
canvas, new
electrical panel, new
compass, Magma 14.5" gas
grill with cover and a new
bilge pump. He then added that while he was asking $1,700, he would probably take $1,500, no less.
Now, I do not go to the
marinas without a checklist of things to look for when considering a
used boat and the tools to perform the mini-survey. The list I used was from another
member on this site and it is comprehensive. We looked the little boat over for well over an hour checking everything I could get to!
Next Monday my wife, oldest son and I will meet with the seller and the folks at the marina to haul it out of the
water, pressure wash the bottom and let our son (been working on
fiberglass boats for a while now) look it over and he give us his opinion on the
hull overall (through holes included).
Some of the big items on the list that I know will need to be addressed are the
electrical and the running
rigging. The electrical
wiring in the craft now is old and brittle and there is no
shore power connection that I saw. I plan to go ahead and replace the breaker panel along with all the
wiring and receptacles. While I’m at it I’ll go ahead, swap out all the incandescent bulbs with LEDs, wire up some new
battery boxes, and add a
solar charger.
The standing
rigging is solid but the running rigging will need replacing. Thank God it’s a small boat! I’m sure I’ll replace all the
sheets and call it good, no reason not to.
For now, however, we are going to clear her out and clean! Top, bottom, port and starboard, nothing will go untouched! We need to get it as clean as we can in order to really see what we have in store for us!
My wife already has some
fabric for the
cushions and I have a fair amount of cherry
plywood in the shop to really do the
interior some justice.
After we looked it all over and got an idea as to what we need to do, we all sat down on another club members boat and shared a
beer, or two, or… After a while I told the seller I’d give him $1,200 cash (contingent on the
haul out inspection) for the little boat. He countered with $1,300 and we made the deal.
For sure, more to follow!
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