Sailorboy, ha ha. I’ve read your posts for years. U think people are overestimating the trouble this boat represents?
I think this boat could be salvaged also. But at what expense and with how much labor? What is a man’s time worth?
Let me state my case. I bought a 5K dollar boat, a Sharpie,
plywood and some glass. Unstayed schooner rig with not a wench on it. Trailerable boat and we splashed it in Benicia and I could not get a good view of the bottom. But she leaked like hell. Finally after and hour of sailing and pumps going full bore she began to “take up” and pumps now working about 1/4 speed. I knew there were some problems with tape on
bilge turn and
centerboard. I knew she needed some love. Simple boat. What possibly could be so horribly wrong. So, I took it on
Went to work on her in Napa Marina in November 2017. The bottom was a freaking mess. I had to sand it down to bare
plywood the entire length and about a foot above the water line. No rot was found. I decided to
fiberglass entire bottom, sanded
centerboard and
rudder down to solid
wood and reglassed them.
The gunnels were wonky. The miserable
cleats were loosy-goosey.
Deck had many places where the yellow jacket fiberglass was coming apart. It had been well disguised with coarse/sandy non slip
paint. Tore it all down and reglasses the entire
deck and
cabin top. All the box lids were in serious rates of nastiness. All those boxes got sanded down to bare
wood and repainted to look new with multiple layers.
Boat came with a 4 hp two stroke. No reverse. Couldn’t have that BS with
My little wife on board. So I bought a 10 hp Suzuki EFI.
motor well wouldn’t accommodate it. Had to hire one of the most respected guys in the yard to reconfigure the
outboard well. Dan Meyers did a fabulous job. Took him almost two weeks to
engineer it, carpentry, and glass it. Cost me almost 6K.
Winter of Nov 2017-May 2018 was a ball buster for rain. Hardly stopped for more than a few days for 5 months. I sh$t u not. I literally could do nothing after early December. Yard bills were reduced to half due to rains.
I am 40K into this
project and still not done. I hate that I bought this boat. So I bought another boat in
Mexico for 20 K. She will need work also. But mostly things like
rigging for
singlehanding. Install better
electrical ...
panels... better refridge. I think I can do all for less than 15k. I’ve already spent weeks in
sea of Cortez and she is a wonderful boat.
My lesson was painful in loss of time and unbelievable amounts of
money drained from the coffers. I should’ve been more patient and not so naive.
When I see a boat like what the OP is considering i say run like hell. That boat wouldn’t even interest me if it was free with all the neglect it shows This seller is trying to Escape demolition expenses.
I spent a year on my boat, 40 K, and still not done. Buy the best boat you can find where the owner has been diligent with maintenance. How can you even get a survey on this boat if the marina won’t
lift her without insurance? An insurance company is going to need a survey before they will bind her. Seems like a “Catch 22” situation.