I am a CG31 owner, having started building her in 1978. When the previous posters tell you about the construction you need to ignore them - it varied over time, and with the original buyer. Remember: there is no such thing as a standard Cape George - each one was built for/by a specific owner with their own ideas. There were far more owner-completed (or not completed as the case may be) than Cecil et al finished. That said, the
interior does look like one of Cecil''s. AFAIK there was never a molded deck/house for any of the models - certainly not when this
boat was built. For the decks Cecil preferred to use 5/8" (finished)
teak over 10mm (3/8") Sapele Bruynzeel
plywood on Alaskan yellow cedar beams, which is all reasonably
rot resistant. Some house sides were Honduran mahogany, others Alaskan yellow cedar. The house tops were typically 2x1/4"
plywood covered with
fiberglass, on laminated beams of Port Orford cedar with the lower laminate of mahogany. Port Orford cedar was used extensively on Cecil's own boats until it became unavailable in the late '70s (at which time the whole
logs were exported to Japan). It appears this
boat has Port Orford cedar ceilings that have been painted over, also the fir
bowsprit and
mast have been painted.
The
hull was probably laid up by
Fiberglass George, a legend in Port Townsend. It is beautiful
work. But this is a heavy boat so don't expect it to crash into a rock and not get damaged.
She obviously looks great - a real
head turner. She will perform quite well too, though not quite as well as the 31' for her size. She has extensive
equipment - near new
engine, hydronic
heater, Glacier Bay reefer, 2 chartplotters. I would say it will take very little additional costs to equip for cruising - certainly nothing like $50k. And keep in mind that when she was built it probably cost the owner $200k-$250k (1975 dollars) to build - these boats were very expensive. So if she is in good shape, and you want a boat that requires a lot of
wood maintenance, then absolutely go for it.
The
wood thing... except for the
hull proper she is a wooden boat. Assuming Cecil's recommendations were followed she has very high quality wood (but some owners had their own ideas). But even the best quality wood can
rot. A small oversight in the bow construction of my Carina caused rot in the Sapele plywood under the king plank at the stem - something I discovered when replacing the
bowsprit due to rot inside the krantz iron. It happens... Before
buying this boat a thorough
survey by someone who really knows wooden boats, and especially Cape Georges, is essential. I find the painted
mast and bowsprit worrying - it may have been done to lower
maintenance, or cover up discolored wood, but it makes it difficult to find rot developing. There is a reason spars are varnished. By now I know where all of the high risk areas are, so if you like I can PM a few pointers, but you really need a great
surveyor (many will not be competent to
survey this boat).
Comparing a custom built, primarily wood, boat with production fiberglass boats is absurd - they are different beasts. Which is not to say one is better than the other, just different. Think hard about the maintenance, and your desire to do it or pay for it, before going the wood
route. But if you do go that way it will be very satisfying.
Greg