What's the 1st thing you should do...

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rgranger

rgranger

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Jan 19, 2010
12,943
Hobie 16 & Rhodes 22 Skeeter Charleston
... when you buy a 35+ year old sailboat?

:troll:


Remove the 10 layers of bottom paint to see what they were trying to hide...:neutral:


I've been doing a complete restoration of my Balboa 26 (see thread "Almost Ready" for pics of the keel repair) and yesterday I got the bottom down to the original gel coat. Well... the P.O. told me he thought the pivot pin was leaking but I found several gouges and cracks that were filled in with bottom paint and the tip of a screw that had been screwed through the hull.... oooops.

I think she will be a dry boat when she splashes in May.
 

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soldier1964

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Jul 8, 2012
144
Helms 25 indiana
sometimes you never know but its good to find out . may not always be the best news, but now you are prepared. Ive had the same eye opener when I discovered that the PO had used glue to seal a cockpit window. the boat will be much dryer now.....
 
C

Crazy Dave Condon

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Jun 8, 2004
10,536
-na -NA Anywhere USA
Rob;

Once I sold a brokerage boat but got a call at 2:30 a.m. Boat was located on the Bedford side and was taking on water. Although I did not warranty the boat as it was not mine plus being a much older boat, I went and found water coming thru the Keel retaining bolt. The bolt was supposedly fitted with neophrene washers. Instead, I found of all things, bubble gum washers. Pulled the boat, got the water out. Returned early in the morning and repaired it and put the boat back in at no charge. My customers were use to that type of service. I guess that is one reason why I am called Crazy. But bubble gum for washers? I wish I could have met the idiot on that one.

crazy dave condon
 
shemandr

shemandr

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Jan 1, 2006
8,006
Slickcraft 26 Sailfish
The first thing ........ is to remove every bit of the duct tape everywhere on the boat and see what's underneath. Then carefully inspect all newly painted surfaces....
 
rgranger

rgranger

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Jan 19, 2010
12,943
Hobie 16 & Rhodes 22 Skeeter Charleston
shemandr said:
The first thing ........ is to remove every bit of the duct tape everywhere on the boat and see what's underneath. Then carefully inspect all newly painted surfaces....
Click to expand
Crazy Dave Condon said:
Rob;

Once I sold a brokerage boat but got a call at 2:30 a.m. Boat was located on the Bedford side and was taking on water. Although I did not warranty the boat as it was not mine plus being a much older boat, I went and found water coming thru the Keel retaining bolt. The bolt was supposedly fitted with neophrene washers. Instead, I found of all things, bubble gum washers. Pulled the boat, got the water out. Returned early in the morning and repaired it and put the boat back in at no charge. My customers were use to that type of service. I guess that is one reason why I am called Crazy. But bubble gum for washers? I wish I could have met the idiot on that one.

crazy dave condon
Click to expand

We could write a book. Call it something like Confessions of Sailboat Junkies :D

Three boats back, I had got the "great deal" on a Coronado 23'. It was shoal draft, the guy told me his dad had purchased it in California from the Factory and sailed it through the Panama Can. to NC.

Need a cleaning and it was ready to sail. Well I took it on vacation at SML and came back the next day to find about 20 gallons of water in the bilge. After taking her home, putting her on blocks and taking all of the bottom paint off. I learned that the boat had spent some time on the rocks. I had to remove ALL of the interior down to bare glass, rebed stringer, etc etc. I got some repair pics on my profile if you are interested. And on the Rhodes 22 that I'm also currently working on... I found a crack in the hull buried under bottom paint. So for me, that is 3 out of 6 boats that had damage hidden under bottom paint.

We could make a check list...

__ Bottom Paint

__ Any "new" paint

__ Duck Tape

__ Through Hulls

__ Transducers

__ Anything that looks like the P.O. made it:naughty:

Anyway I'm not worried. The cracks on my Balboa are all small-ish and fixable. The keel is now in great shape and the interior of the boat is clean and mostly dry. I love the fact that the hull is nearly a half inch thick in most places and even thicker in stressed areas (like the keel trunk). It looks like my starboard chain plate has a slow leak but after much rain I have only about of cup of water in the boat. That is also fixable. I might keep this boat (of course I said that for the last 5 boats I've owned). :D
 
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bffatcat

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Jun 8, 2004
853
Pearson 26W Marblehead
what to look for

I have to ask you if you got a survey prior to buying the boat. I hope you did. If so you should have a list of everything that needs attention. If not I suggest you get one now
this will take most of the guess work out of whats needs to be done
 
rgranger

rgranger

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Jan 19, 2010
12,943
Hobie 16 & Rhodes 22 Skeeter Charleston
bffatcat said:
I have to ask you if you got a survey prior to buying the boat. I hope you did. If so you should have a list of everything that needs attention. If not I suggest you get one now
this will take most of the guess work out of whats needs to be done
Click to expand

Ha!

No way! Your advice is good advice so I don't mean to sound like a pr!(k. Maybe when I was new at this, I should have gone that route but this is the 6th boat I've restored. I've taken my lumps in the past but I've gotten pretty good at this over time. I did my own survey and what I saw was a hull with moderate damage, a keel that was fixable, a 15 HP Honda 4-stroke (runs great and has good compression), a brand new main sail, a VHF, a chart plotter etc etc. all on a duel axle trailer with surge breaks for a total of $3,300. I've already had the trailer and outboard professionally serviced.

I've got about $2000 in parts materials etc. and new tools invested and when I splash I'll have a boat that cost me $5,300 out of pocket, and about 10 long days of hard work.


.... and she would have cost me $10,000 to buy a boat in that condition.

The guy I got it from broke his shroud bracket and thought the mast needed to be replaced. The bracket is a $30 part at Dwyer's.

I'm really happy with this boat:D

I hope this response doesn't sound too defensive. I really do understand that your advice is good advice. But paying for a survey for a boat that only cost me $3K does not work in my calculations.
 
anchorclanker

anchorclanker

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May 27, 2012
1,152
Oday 222 Beaver Lake, Arkansas
I don't see how a survey would have found this. How could anyone have seen or known about this kind of previous damage/repairs without removing all the bottom paint? Surveys are well worth the money in many cases, but they dont use Ouija boards and crystal balls to make determinations. Well, most dont anyway.
 
Scott T-Bird

Scott T-Bird

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Oct 26, 2008
6,432
Catalina 320 Barnegat, NJ
rg ... where are you going to sail this boat? With a keel it isn't exactly trailer sailer, is it? You take your other boats on trips, no?
 
rgranger

rgranger

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Jan 19, 2010
12,943
Hobie 16 & Rhodes 22 Skeeter Charleston
Hi Scott

This is a swing keel boat. It has a massive 1200 lb swing keel. I've been doing a lot of work repairing it.

Here is a before and after pic.

r
 

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