How Bad Could this Be ?

[Tropic Cat]

Originally Posted by boatman61

It got caught in 40+kts gusting 50 wind over tide situation which chucked up 12ft waves with short troughs... over one and through the next.... between Barbate and Tarifa

Force 9 with short wave periods? Sounds like you were caught in a washing machine. I think you emailed me photos of the foredeck damage a while back. Those photos caused quite a stir among British boat owners.

[MarkJ]

Hope you don't mind me chiming in.
Just looking at the ad at the things he does admit, and doing a quick tally of the cost, in cash, needed immediately, and the nice to haves (hot water)

No GPS $500
No Auto Pilot $2,000
5 batteries @ 100amp hrs = 500 amp hours need to be replaced. $2,000??
(Interesting comment: Panels are easily removable in storm conditions but are fine in 50 knots. so he's been in 50 kts but doesnt call that a storm)
Drive leg is a Volvo Penta 270 needs to be replaced.** $1,800 on the internet, pluss instalation, lift & drop
Trum propane water heater not in use** i.e. doesn’t work

( No water maker.)
Furling gear for staysail not working. $1,500??
Main is out of shape and needs to be replaced or repaired** $2,000
If the main is stuffed the 12 yold geny would be too. Genoa (fitted 1999) $2,000
with 50ft 3/8” BBB chain (1999) plus 140ft rope warp, Chain for cruisng $500

= $12,000
Plus the cost of fixing the stringers.
and you would be left with a boat that a surveyor would spot the stringer fault so may be difficult to on-sell.

Thats a lot of work and money before you can go sailing. One would think there must be other options.

Boat buying is fun

Mark

[Tropic Cat]

Mark automatically assumed the new boat owner would perform all the work himself. If the refit is contracted to a boat yard ... you would probably double or triple Mark's costs.

[sailingaway221]

I wouldn't give up yet on that one mate.....it looks very cheap for that type of cat... most of them are aver 100k still....and older than the one you are looking at......
Now the next question will be whats your budget like? If you get this thing for say 35000 or 40000 by the sounds of it you could spend another 20000 or even more fixing it...... and putting it how you would like it.......! I'd say it is very cheap for what it is and even with all the problems if you have money to spend on it you could still come out with a great boat .... but it is a project that will take lots of time and lots of money...... Are you good at fixing things?

[JustThinking]

Yup, sailingaway, after quite a bit of cruising one does get used to constantly fixing something - more often than not with inadequate tools and spares/materials, right? :-) ...so, the labor involved doesnt scare me, it is at least half the fun of sailing for me (*sick!* lol)

@ Mark: Thanks for pointing this out - a very good overview which I had not even done yet myself to that extend. Since the theft of my old boat I have not been again in the shopping circuit for a while. (your estimate for bat's look a bit high, or did you factor golf-cart gel-batteries?)

In addition the add is not telling half the truth, once you get the overview from the owner there are lot more items for worried eyebrows, - (i.e. no provision to hook up to shore-power =..... =.... etc.)

So, I guess even so this would be nicely positioned in cruising grounds for the coming winter, I will do what has been recommended to me after the first posts: "Not walk, but run!"
(But that mainly due to that strange "stringer"-thing, which I still have no real clue what is meant by that)

(P.S.: a good advice how to beat them Swans in Antigua: Take a dive under their boat while they are out and drill a hole into their keel [not the hull!] - next fix a looooong chain to these holes and pref. tie some old engine or other junk found under water to it ... short of that it's gonna be a toughy to beat them! *verymeangrin*)

[SurferShane]

Originally Posted by JustThinking

"1 x 6 stringer that reinforces the bow span between the two main hulls, needs replacement or repair.
Two of these were installed in 2004 as bow reinforcement stingers. They are about 3-4 feet long and provide support to the section of bow between the two hulls in heavy seas."

BAD: with hardly any technical knowledge, from practical experience I can say that the stinger is a major structural component of a boat. In smaller mono hulls the stringer is the main supporting beam inside the structure that runs from bow to stern. Obviously a multi-hull must require these additional stringers which hold either hull together? If the stringer has already been replaced and/or reinforced for heavy seas you really have to wonder what kind of conditions the boat has been through and the stresses/potential areas for failure elsewhere?

A broad analogy to the situation might be to say that a couple of addittonal reinforcing bars were wielded across the chassis of a truck, one which one of which has failed? Likewise, there is a really solid production runabout over here often used for spear fishing due its sea kindliness at high speed. A lot of the glassed in stingers in these boats have been known to fail due being driven hard in rough seas. Basically these boats have a “broken back”. Again, an analogy is a fractured chassis is a 4wd due to being driven wildly in rough terrain or suffering a major collision.

Sometime it does not matter how tough the model is and can be more about the punishment it has seen. Still, I would be extremely concerned that the stringer has been reinforced and still failed. That is, why was it reinforced in the first place and why has the subsequent repair failed? Sounds like major failure and/or damage that needs specialised structural engineering attention; unless you intend sailing out the rest of your days on “Lake Placid” keep looking?

[SurferShane]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

Hope you don't mind me chiming in.

(Interesting comment: Panels are easily removable in storm conditions but are fine in 50 knots. so he's been in 50 kts but doesnt call that a storm)..,,,,


Thats a lot of work and money before you can go sailing. One would think there must be other options.
Boat buying is fun

Mark

The bolded section you note is evidence supporting my argument above about harsh punishment causing major structural failure and probably fatigue elsewhere? As you said, “One would think there must be other options.”?