Should I fix or sell my boat?

[Bill O]

Originally Posted by foggysail

I would look around. Heck on Ebay some guys practically give their boats away. Try this one-- a 27' Hunter with diesel.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1977-Hunter...paOppo&vxp=mtr

or this one, a 40' Pearson

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Pearson-40-...5Z1AN5&vxp=mtr

There are free/cheap boats that could be worthy and then there is the non-worthy category. Neglected or sunk boats are usually not worth it.

That Hunter 27 hasn't been used in almost 13 years. Talk about a lot of work! The OPs boat is in much better shape.

The second ebay link for the Pearson isn't for the boat, but a 2 week vacation on the boat.

[TrentePieds]

While we must thank Foggysail for his contribution (#60), I think it is fair to observe that a chap on the Eastern Seaboard of the US, pumping gasoline through 700 HP's worth of gaspots at the rate of about 100 litres an hour, say 150 buck's worth an hour in our money, should have an intuitive understanding of what Ellevan, here in British Columbia, needs by way of moral support and technical advice.

The money that would be spent on fuel for an afternoon's puttering about the harbour in Foggysail's boat is enuff to repair Ellevan's transom, or to give his kicker an absolutely whizz-bang tune-up!

TP

[Ellevan]

TrentePieds -

Here are some closer pictures of the mast. There is no cutout for lines to exit the bottom of the mast that I can see...

[Ellevan]

Bill O -

Here is the transom cutout. Excuse the grime, the boat sat uncovered during the early stages of fall and collected a bit of water in the cockpit.

[Ellevan]

Bill O -

...and some dark shots of the inside of the transom from below the cockpit. For some reason these kept flipping upside down every time I tried uploading.

[Souzag818]

Originally Posted by Cadence

I believe you would be spending good money after bad. This spring sounds out of the question for sailing. Find a sailable boat, probably cost far less than costs you are looking at for a refit. JMHO Good luck!

I have to agree... I also have to disagree with the comments about fiber glassing being easy. Slapping on fiberglass is easy; good, solid, structurally strong glassing that is right and in the end looks good isn't. I've seen so many F/G jobs that were butchered it's not funny. There is a skill involved..

[Ellevan]

Here are the chain plates inside. As you can see they've been lathered in paint which makes me wonder if I should undo everything and scrape/sand the paint of to get a better look at them and the wood they're fastened to, or just seal them from above with urethane and be done. A couple are even hidden behind interior finishing, so just showing four here.

AND AGAIN, due to the pictures being taken with the camera sideways, my computer displays them upright but the forum does not. If anyone knows how to correct this please clue me in.

[Bill O]

Originally Posted by Ellevan

Bill O -

Here is the transom cutout. Excuse the grime, the boat sat uncovered during the early stages of fall and collected a bit of water in the cockpit.

Ok good pics. Can you tell, was the core just painted, did they epoxy it, hard to tell from the pics? Can you stick an awl into the core to see if it's soft? Probably would be good for you to unbolt the bracket off the stern to see if there is water accumulated on the inside bottom of the transom. As mentioned previously it would be good to seal the bolt holes so water doesn't enter the transom while the lower bolts are under water when motoring.

So far it doesn't look too bad.

Bill O.

[Ellevan]

You said you wanted pictures...

Here are a couple of up to date shots. Not quite as clean and pretty she was when I adopted her. Still covered in a tarp for now, so more pictures of the topside to come.

[Ellevan]

Ok, thanks Bill O. I'll remove the bracket next time I'm out and check for wet soft wood. From the looks of the darkened area around the bolts inside, my guess is that things are soft. From what I can tell, the cut out was just painted and not glassed.

[Ellevan]

The hull in its current state...

[Ellevan]

What do you think of the through hulls?

[Bill O]

Originally Posted by Ellevan

I'll remove the bracket next time I'm out and check for wet soft wood. From the looks of the darkened area around the bolts inside, my guess is that things are soft. From what I can tell, the cut out was just painted and not glassed.

Agree about the darkened wood. From the inside pics it doesn't appear that the wetness is too into far into the surrounding wood yet (again check w/awl). Besides sealing the bolt holes the top of the cut out should be capped to stop water from coming in form the edge. As you can see the edges are starting to pull away from the ply.

It appears the transom cut out is factory for the OB version. I found this link to another Crown 28 (and others) and they also have the cut out. C28s w/inboards had a full transom.

Bill O.

[thomm225]

Like I said earlier, I thought you'd get tons of advice on how to fix your boat.

You also mentioned you didn't have mast lights. This is not a problem for a small sailboat.

My mast lights haven't worked for years so I use an led lantern at anchor and you don't need a mast light while underway sailing on the size boat you have

It was mentioned to get your outboard professionally serviced. Not a good idea. You need to know how to service your engine......

The boat looks good for coastal cruising......

[Ellevan]

Thanks Bill O. I find it strange that there's no sign of mine having an inboard and the cutout is obviously post production. I kind of wish it did have an inboard. I found steering maneuvering with both the OB and the tiller very difficult for the short time she was in the water. I have worked on small engines quite a bit, so the idea of learning to tinker with a diesel doesn't intimidate me.
I agree Thomm225, I will be giving the OB a tune up myself.