I bought a 1985
Fisher 34 in the
Pacific Northwest US about 7 years ago. Paid $60K and probably added $100K on top of that. I am trying to return it to 'like new' condition and am gradually getting there. I spent alot on cruising (dream)
gear,
liferaft, anchors, electronic upgrades, new
batteries, sail,
rigging, engine maint.,
canvas, varnishing, and on and on. Also as I am a professional mariner my 'need' for
safety is probably a bit over the top, based on my conversations with most yachters I hang out with. I spent an unexpected chunk of
money on basic outfitting, (lifejackets,
cooking, bedding, tools,
hardware, spare
parts, emer.
gear, etc.) as the previous owner stripped it of everything for his
new boat. Hopefully the 46 one has the gear.
I see that most responses say double the
purchase price and you have the total cost for a practical
refit. I think that is good
advice.
The only thing I had to do when I got it was have the
rudder pulled due to some
water logging and that was a quick, not expensive job done by the yard. I have done all the rest of the
work myself (except changing out the engine injectors) so saved alot of
money on labor. When I bought the
boat in the
PNW it had been in the
Gulf of Mexico originally and so the AC unit had been pulled and replaced with the Wallas
heater, an
electric 110V wall
heater, a engine
water heater for the wheelhouse and a Dickenson
propane heater. Plenty of heat now!
The previous owner had installed good
equipment and took pretty good care of it. The pictures of yours looks like mostly surface stains which should not be a problem, the basic structure of the hulls and interiors is quite good. Watch out for the condition of the engine,
shaft seal area, bonding and other accessories, that's what sneaks up on you! I had leaky windows, but was able to fix them fairly easy. Based on other Fisher's I know, changing out the
salon and wheelhouse windows may be needed if you can't stop
leaks, but not difficult if you have the tools and do some
research. I changed the 3 hatches on
deck, hardest part was finding ones that fit the original cutouts (Dutch). Check out the seal between the wheelhouse and
deck structure, might need some 5200 in there.
I love the
boat and enjoy working on it as it is my main hobby these days. Not a fast sailer (3-4 knots in a 10-15
knot wind), but stable as a brick shed house. I gotten her up to 6 knots in a 25+
knot wind and she heels over to about 20 degrees and holds. I am fairly confident the sailing rig would collapse or the
sails blow out before she went over on beams end. As she is pretty stiff (low center of gravity) so has small angles of heel, that means short rolls rather quickly in a swell (or waves, large wakes), which can be uncomfortable for some. Tie everything down!
It's great to have a warm, shaded wheelhouse and has a skylight so you can watch the
sails when inside. The aft
cockpit is OK for sailing (it has seats high on the aft gunwales so you can steer with the tiller and see over the wheelhouse) when the
weather is nice. Four can sit comfortably for socializing. It's like a little ship as the seller noted. She does about 7 knots motoring and I do that probably about 75% of the time when I'm trying to get somewhere, sometimes in the motorsail mode.
Hope your search turns out well.
Good Luck!