Is it worth it?

[Juggles]

Hi there. My dad and I have been arguing full pelt over this one..it's 40 foot and I can get her for 8k Aust. A navy friend of mine says if the rust is bad he can fix it and teach me how with an air needle gun. I already own all the other bits for repair. If it's not bad I can do it myself. Obviously the woods gotta come off as well.

But the steel boat is only 15 years, old engine was rebuilt a year ago and has less than 50 hours on it. Solar. Professional interior fitout. I just don't see what the issue is at the price. We've factored in 15k AUD for repairs but the people I've talked to so far think as long as the hulls fine(been told it is will get survey) it's a decent price. I mean hell at 8k...it's barely a gamble with all that's on the boat I can strip..right?
My dad's not a Yacht guy at all only a fishing boat less than 20 foot but he has friends who think they know everything and also have beef with the yacht club apparently. I just...what are your guys opinions?
Hope pictures loaded okay.




EDIT: it's now 15k for repairs my partner overheard how upset I was and said the repair kitty can go higher. I think he's just trying to prove a point because he doesn't like dad too much but hey.

[skipmac]

Not much detail to figure a really definitive overhaul cost but having done two major boat rebuilds and a couple of minor ones the old joke "any boat project will take twice as long and cost twice as much as your best estimate " may be a joke but is also very, very accurate.

Check the hull carefully for bad places. The inside under frames, behind bulkheads and such is by far a bigger problem than the outside of the hull. If you don't find a lot of metal work then could be well worth it.

Don't forget the cost of parking the boat somewhere while you're working on it. That can add up really fast. Also how close to home can you keep the boat while working on it? Drive time gets to be a real pain and expensive.

[Juggles]

Yeah we've found a relatively cheap spot to park it because a mates doing a pair job on it for us on the house so that's been organised since the beginning before we even found a boat. It's close enough to home about 15 mins away.
Sorry I don't have much more detail. Still waiting to chat with the owner the yacht club employee showed me through and is exchanging numbers. I don't actually know if it's got 15k of work on it I just said a figure I was comfortable with blowing in the first 6 months.
Half the issue is dad wants me to buy something that doesn't need work but I want something that does. I need something to keep me busy when works finished. He doesn't understand that. And frankly if I'm spending 15k a year on rent right now and a berth is 2500 a year as long as I get 3 years out of the boat I've broke even and had fun without too much hell.

[Reefmagnet]

Engine aside, the apparent lack of maintenance would ring alarm bells. With steel, it's not how it looks on the outside - it's how it looks on the inside. Check the bilges, anchor well and hull to deck joins for rust. I reckon a newbie should visit this site when considering the purchase of a steel vessel:



https://www.thecoastalpassage.com/rust.html

[Juggles]

Thanks for that I'll have a read after work. Yeah she's been ignored for the past year cause the owner got sick apparently. Half the reasonmy partner likes her. Poor thing needs someone to look after her. He's sentimental like that.

[Fore and Aft]

That looks a fairly old design for a yacht launched only 15 years ago? Is that motor a Perkins 4108, that’s also an old motor? You have to see her out of the water and get her surveyed to see if she is worth buying. $8000 is not much but I could imagine it costing at least $5000 to cut her up and dump her if you have purchased a lemon. I have seen plenty of steel yachts go to the scrap yard because the plate thickness is just to thin.
What noise restrictions do you have where you are going to do the repairs? A needle gun or sand blaster is a noisy piece of gear. Some yards do not like sand blasting at all.
$2500 is a cheap berth for a 40 footer, it’s more like 7 or 8g up here.
My dad tried to talk me out of buying a 31 foot wreck when I was 18, lucky I did not listen as she turned into the best home and fun a kid could have.
Cheers

[Juggles]

Older guy built it himself.. could be why such an old design perhaps...not too sure about the motor gotta ask the owner when he calls. Yeah absolutely plan on getting her surveyed.
Hadn't considered the cost of getting rid of her...most people her just seem to abandon their junk boats. It's pretty sad but good point about the cost.
Surely if the plate thickness is too thin something can be done? It's steel after all?
It's not a flashy marina. No noise restrictions before 7pm.
Thanks for that. Makes me feel better about arguing with him and I'm bloody nearly 30…

[Fore and Aft]

Putting new steel plates in sounds easy. But steel is very heavy and you would be working upside down and usually if there are issues with the plates then the stringers and frames could have problems.........Then you have to start thinking is she worth fixing?
One of the worst things I have seen was a steel yacht with a built in diesel tank in the keel. A barnacle must have been keeping the tank sealed but after a water blast she started leaking diesel, no one noticed but the next day there was a big diesel slick circling the yacht in the yard.........I bet that owner had one big clean up bill.
Cheers

[Juggles]

I suppose that answer is different for everyone. Attachment vs money to fix it. I have no problem with working upside down or with heavy items it's what I do /have done for a living my entire life. Earlier today I was doing a half crabwalk under an industrial oven next to a hot water heater to clean roaches.
If she's fixable and it's financially viable(15k initial repairs were hoping for less of course) she's fixable and the real question becomes how do we get this done.
I feel like as well once you've had the boat for a while the whole love thing comes into it and you're willing to put in more to save what's essentially a metal family member at that point. That's just me and my...mushiness I guess perhaps.

[Juggles]

Hey Reefmagnet. Had a quick squizz at the website linked and oh man haha I googled and found that a little while back and showed the partner what our "worst case scenario" looked like. Really love to avoid that though! Hate to think of the cost o.o

[Fore and Aft]

Metal family member....... Juggles you are definitely losing that argument with your father. Look anything’s possible but the fact you are posting these questions on this forum shows you have not been around a few mates whose projects have ended badly.
15k sounds like a lot of money but that’s just a drop in a bucket when you start restoring old boats. My 33 foot yacht cost me around $3000 just in paint and then you are probably going to need all new rigging as well. A few repairs and there goes that 15g.
I think the photos show a nice yacht and if you are lucky she might be a diamond in the rough.
Cheers

[Juggles]

nah I haven't seen anyone's projects go horribly wrong. Haha you can thank my partner for the photos. Thanks for letting me know about how small on the scale 15k is for repairs. These were the types of things I was trying to ask Dad but kept getting stonewalled and called stupid. I ask why. He says because. I'd rather know why it's a bad idea and say no myself not be told no because I say so.
I assume all boats you buy incur some kind of repair fee unless brand new so thought 15 was adequate. Can you share any of these beyond hell horror projects? Because even that one that was linked to me doesn't seem to bad really...a year of work and bonding..but the pricetag...who knows? Give me an idea of what to look out for in regards to being in Too deep. I mean I can weld. Just on land haha. But yeah obviously I'm out to work out just how much of a repair I'd be happy with.

[Simi 60]

If you are living aboard on the hook therefore using it boats can be cheap.
If you are parking it in a marina and then paying for a car, house travel etc on top of it they can be very expensive.

[Reefmagnet]

I've got a 33ft fibreglass boat that was seaworthy with a new engine when first purchased. We spent about $10 000 on it just in new batteries, instruments, new autopilot, antifoul and yard fees within a couple of months of buying it.



Fast forward and we're nearing the end of a refit that I reckon has averaged out at about $400 dollars per week over the last 3 1/2 years she's been laid up on the hard. Never underestimate the cost of repairing a boat. We've spent too much time in a boatyard over the years (refitted 3 boats in total) and steel is, by far, the most "walked away" from boat building material.



Having said that, I personally like steel, but I would be extremely cautious with any old unkempt steelie before committing. And I know how to weld (I was a welding engineer in a previous life), It takes much more than a needle gun to fix some boats!

[Fore and Aft]

As a professional I think old home built steel yachts are going the same way ferrocement boats have gone. Hard to sell and not really worth the effort required to fix them up.
No one can tell you how deep is to deep,it all depends on your standards of finish and what you are happy with. A year of work is nothing on a 40 foot yacht, particularly if you are working outside and have to pack you gear away every night.
I am struggling to think of many successful restoration projects I have seen. Usually life and lack of money stall the project and it gets sold on.
I imagine your dad knows you well and maybe he thinks that you will never finish the project.
Have you thought about a smaller yacht like that Columbia 34 on Gumtree?
Cheers