repair possible?

[Tetepare]

No way.

[MicHughV]

Yep, besides all the above....the boat appears to be constructed from wood....in fact looks like plywood to me..as I see the hard chines, which would be typical of a plywood boat.
I see dark stains here and there, so likely rot all over the place...but the plywood would nix it right there and then....never mind all the other damage.

I'm curious to know how the hull got to be in that shape in the first place ??? That's a large chunk of hull side missing. The interior framework seems intact, suggesting it was not an impact.

Almost seems like someone else had a go at it, starting pulling back one piece, found another, and then more...etc....finally saw the writing on the wall. Maybe the original owner ?? or a previous buyer ??? There seems to be a fiberglass skin on the boat. Get water between the skin and the plywood and what you see is what you get. The other side could be equally as bad, but yet to be discovered. Double trouble !!

I honestly think someone was pulling the wool over your eyes telling you it was fixeable. This boat is scrap heap material.

8K GBP is about $10K US.....you should be able find something for that without much problem.

I lived in Somerset for a while, I can recall seeing a myriad of smallish sailboats along the coast there.

[Capt Clark]

Joe,

Welcome to the forum. Good luck but I’m with them…. don’t walk away, RUN.

Capt Clark

[Oeanda]

Yeah nice try attempting to get money for that thing. No no no. The antidepressant bill alone would quickly exceed the purchase price.

[Shrew]

Beware the man that sells anything mid-project and says "It will only take <blah> to get this thing back to its original glory".

If it were that easy, he would have done it himself and sold it for more than the sum of his investment.

The reality is, the owner has realized that he will either never get this job done, or will spend far greater than the boat is worth once he is done.

This is akin to the 'Free Boat' paradox. A Free boat is you simply paying to remove the vessel that they would have otherwise had to have paid to dispose of themselves.

[mjojom]

from pics before they cut off the side there was a bodge "repair" I guess of the hole. Clearly unattended for quite a bit letting water in and in between the laminate completely destroying it.
https://www.boatshed.com/one_off_rob...00530.html#_=_

[MicHughV]

Down below, the interior is roomy and influenced by charming wooden floors,

whenever I see the word " charming" to describe a floor I recognize a snow job..

[Don C L]

Welcome here Joe! I guess you pretty much got the answers though they may not be what you hoped for. My first thought was that I have seen better boats that ended up being crushed. Something that was mentioned was that a project boat is one that may not look like a project at first. That was pretty astute. I say keep looking! If you have the tools, time, money and skills you can find many better potential projects that will keep you busy and have a good chance of sailing.

[Bowdrie]

That fiberglass over plywood was probably done with Polyester resin.
No way can you just "peel off" fiberglass that's put on with epoxy.
Anyway, I too would walk away from that boat.
Now, if they give it to you for free and you can dispose of it in a reasonably easy manner, I see a couple of nice ST sheet winches and some track that will be worth a few bucks, maybe some other stuff also.

[seandepagnier]

they should pay you to take that boat.

[MicHughV]

Joe,

One more thing (okay, more than one thing) you need to factor in your boat search.
Which is where to keep it ??

To fix this boat, will require that the boat must stay in a boatyard, for which there is bound to be a monthly storage charge...and if you use power tools, etc, electrical charge.
There may even be insurance requirements.
Sales tax ?
Skilled as you might be with tools, there will be many days you won't be able to work on it. The yard might close at night, preventing you from working on it at night.
Wintertime is not an ideal time to work on the outside of a boat.

To properly fix this boat, would require it be moved inside a shed, or have a temporary shed constructed over it.....more $$$$...this one fact, in my opinion, is a MUST DO feature.

Unless you live close to the boat, there will be travel time involved...more $$$.

This is England....so many rainy drizzly days can be anticipated, making working with wood challenging.

These are all bills which need to be paid, that really have nothing to do with the repairs.
They quickly add up and can tear your budget to shreds in a short time.

Though you have already decided to move on, thankfully, keep these things in mind, when anticipating repairs for any boat.

[hpeer]

I have a personal rule to never tell anyone they should not do something but to help them do it.

Don’t do it.

I have bought a couple of older boats in far, far better condition and then done a lot of work on them on spent far more money than reasonable.

There are at least 3 kinds of people, speaking very broadly, who own boats.
Sailors
Fixers
Builders

This boat would out you somewhere in the fixed/builder range. I am in the fixer/sailor range and trying to move up.

IF you want a challenge, maybe like finding a decaying MG Midget and wanting to restore it, and that is your passion, then consider this boat. Elsewise let it go.

Good luck what ever you decide.

[garyfdl]

Originally Posted by hpeer

Don't do it.

IF you want a challenge, maybe like finding a decaying MG Midget and wanting to restore it, and that is your passion, then consider this boat.

LOL I had a 'Spridget' a lifetime ago (AH Sprites & MG Midgets were the same cars, just different badges, hence 'Spridget'). IMO you could restore 10 of them for less than that boat would cost to bring back.

'Don't do it' is the best advice.

[Mexican Hat]

Joe, there are numerous places in the States, particularly but not only in post-hurricane zones, where intact boats are being given away by marinas after being abandoned or written off. You could pick from a dozen within a few miles of Corpus Christie, Texas, And if you have 8K to spend, you could be sailing that day. I'm sure there are other areas of the US that are like this. The better marinas will have a file on the boat with all the legal steps they took to get a lien on it, making it simple to get a title.

People walk away from boats all the time and the work they'll need is often minimal compared to that hulk. To get some idea, look up the Texas State boat registration website for abandoned boats (Tpwd.gov and then dig). They list them for 6 months with the 'available-by' date.

[mjojom]

after a good night's sleep (cos I let that "dream project" go) I woke up to more don't do it. again guys very much appreciated all your wisdom, you have saved a guy from making a mistake.

thank you for your welcome, already got some nice advice here, that could help me with my search.

joe