Do you have a dead guy boat?

[Captain Larry-DH]

I was having a conversation today with my son, who's in his late twenties, about whether to sell my tri and get a cat. I want the spacious layout, but I know it'll be a step down in sailing pleasure. All boats are a compromise. We discussed pros and cons. He said "Dad, you've got your dream boat, so I think you should keep sailing and maintaining it until you're too old, or die. He alluded to an episode of Seinfeld "Cars and Coffee" where Seinfeld said he bought the classic car he was driving from the estate of a dead guy, and the next owner will likely say the same thing... "it's a dead guy car".

If I do that - the next guy who owns it will have a "dead guy boat".

 

[PaulK]

Sounds like a viable option, no?

 

[Tod]

My nephew has a dead guy boat. The guy died while sailing it. The story here:
http://webcache.googleusercontent.c...ws/09/0424/file.pdf &cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

Photo album here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/edr_bug/sets/72157618892189586

 

[Rick D]

Wow! A very different L-16 than I used to sail on! Great background. Hope she's still floating.

 

[chrischesley]

I was having a conversation today with my son, who's in his late twenties, about whether to sell my tri and get a cat. I want the spacious layout, but I know it'll be a step down in sailing pleasure. All boats are a compromise. We discussed pros and cons. He said "Dad, you've got your dream boat, so I think you should keep sailing and maintaining it until you're too old, or die. He alluded to an episode of Seinfeld "Cars and Coffee" where Seinfeld said he bought the classic car he was driving from the estate of a dead guy, and the next owner will likely say the same thing... "it's a dead guy car".

If I do that - the next guy who owns it will have a "dead guy boat".

Larry, having owned a Corsair F-28cc, (thus somewhat familiar with a performance trimaran), I'll tell you that the MC 38 is not a 'step down' in sailing pleasure. It greatly increases the pleasure--both underway in comfort and at anchor. Don't confuse raw speed with overall sailing pleasure. Just sailed from Miami to Lake Worth this week in 7 1/2 hours. (60 miles s/b to s/b). I guarantee that the pleasure exceeded what I would have experienced in the F-boat. (btw- avg wind speed was around 10 kts)

Sorry you missed seeing the boat. Come to the PNW sometime...

 

[Tod]

Wow! A very different L-16 than I used to sail on! Great background. Hope she's still floating.

My nephew has her at his house on a trailer, with plans to restore her to a daysailer eventually (he has other boats in line first, I think). He has bought quite a few boats that needed work, fixed them up, and re-sold them, giving them a new lease on life.

 

[Gunni]

My nephew has a dead guy boat. The guy died while sailing it. The story here:
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:mLWqFBIYXEAJ:archive.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/09/0424/file.pdf &cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

Photo album here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/edr_bug/sets/72157618892189586

Never seen a boat configured like that, very odd. Spartan. It does look like a submarine.

 

[Captain Larry-DH]

Larry, having owned a Corsair F-28cc, (thus somewhat familiar with a performance trimaran), I'll tell you that the MC 38 is not a 'step down' in sailing pleasure. It greatly increases the pleasure--both underway in comfort and at anchor. Don't confuse raw speed with overall sailing pleasure. Just sailed from Miami to Lake Worth this week in 7 1/2 hours. (60 miles s/b to s/b). I guarantee that the pleasure exceeded what I would have experienced in the F-boat. (btw- avg wind speed was around 10 kts)

Sorry you missed seeing the boat. Come to the PNW sometime...

Hi Chris -
Sorry about the late reply. The MC 38 looks very nice, and it's great to know it sails well too. Definitely interesting and attractive.
But my boat is in great shape and it's FMV is considerably less than the price of a new MC38. My boat's well maintained and was repainted a few years ago, and looks fresh inside and out. Even if I spend $15-20k on new sails, $5k on the latest "color" speed/wind/depth instruments, and another $5k on cushions (none of it needed right now, and the other electronics have been recently updated) the only reason to change is for the cat layout. As it is, we can have guests (or adult kids) in the separate aft cabin, which has its own head, so it's got 2-cabin/2-head space, and for a night or 3 we can get by with a 3rd couple using the settee birth -- which converts. I put the word out that I "might be interested" in selling. Sort of a "soft listing" so to speak. We'll see.

 

[chrischesley]

Larry, I'd have to agree with you that what you have is the most economical solution and that you wouldn't gain significant advantages unless you just decided you 'wanted' to. Boats, however, are seldom logical decisions. Dollar for dollar, I had many less expensive ways to 'scratch the itch'. Guilty --- of self indulgence!

 

[Capt jgw]

My boats almost 50 years old so I imagine some prior owners are dead. But more to the point, the original owner was an Italian cheese maker from Brooklyn, so I think there may have been dead guys ON the boat. One way trip.

 

[dwedeking]

Mine's a dead guy boat. Kind of a pain cause you can't call him up and say "What were you thinking when you did xyz?"

 

[Captain Larry-DH]

Larry, I'd have to agree with you that what you have is the most economical solution and that you wouldn't gain significant advantages unless you just decided you 'wanted' to. Boats, however, are seldom logical decisions. Dollar for dollar, I had many less expensive ways to 'scratch the itch'. Guilty --- of self indulgence!

I hear you loud and clear. Picture from warmer times. The "0.01 percenters" house is NOT mine

 

[TomY]

My boat is 55 years old, so I've got a several dead guy, boat. Not only the prior owners (2), but there's ghosts stuffed in odd places. Like an old house, people that have worked on this old boat have left clues. Math calculations and little thinking sketches of some project left scribbled on the back of lockers and panels.

This is my favorite. Left on the back side of a beam under the cockpit sole (where the owner would never go and see), is this dialogue:

First messenger: "Don't you hate this kind of job?" I can commiserate with this ghost. Likely working on the steering or the rudder stuffing box. Not much room.

Then the second messenger left: "Be content with what God gives you. Consider it a challenge." Hmmm, this one could have several meanings.Older ghost mechanic, sending a message to the younger apprentice ghost?

Or, tongue in cheek: a disparaging remark about the boat - an Alden Challenger. Get it?

 

[sailinmikenaz]

I have a "dead guy " boat too. Original owner died, boat sat for a few years on a trailer filling with 18" of water until the widow gave it to the neighbor to have or dispose of. I was looking for a Dolphin 24 and when he put it on Craig's List and I realized it was the last boat out of the factory, I knew it was meant to be. A quick road trip over to LA, a thousand dollars and it was mine! Luckily the PO didn't do any mods to the boat. I sometimes wonder about him, but more than that, I wonder if since mine was the last boat from the factory was it built with extra sentiment, or was it thrown together with whatever was laying around? Do any of Romain Corbin's former staff know the answer?

 

[Al Schober]

SA,
Don't know Romain Corbin but have sailed a bit on a Dolphin 24. You say 'last boat out of the factory', but my understanding is that there were multiple builders for the Dolphin 24. The deck stepped mast was always an issue, as the cabin top would compress and loosen the rig on the wind. The boat also would have been better with a spade rudder (just my opinion). The boat made no pretense of having 'standing headroom' - we found that 'drinking headroom' (seated) was adequate. Must admit, though, that when I bought a boat in that size range I bought a Morgan 24.

 

[sailinmikenaz]

Romain Corbin owned the factory in Oceanside CA that made the last 50 Dolphin 24's, hulls 250 thru 300 known as Pacific Dolphin 24's. He had bought the molds from John Shumaker of Yankee Yachts who made hulls 71 thru 249 and known as Yankee Dolphin 24's. I own hull #300. The Dolphin24.org website has all the history and specs listed as well as a roster of all the known boats. The low headroom is a factor to deal with, but they are solid boats. I saw one in Santa Barbara and was smitten. Some boats just call your heart.

 

[genec]

Don't know who owned it before the last owner... but the guy I bought it from was alive and well... didn't have much to say about the boat at all during the sail trial... and left a few receipts around here and there. But he wasn't dead.

 

[RussC]

I can't help but recall the photo of the guy who's mummified body was found onboard his drifting 44 footer a year or two ago. the photo is, unfortunately, now etched in my brain. RIP.

 

[Kings Gambit]

I suppose the good part is that you don't have to experience the unhappy day of selling it when you're too old and too decrepit to sail the thing anymore. Beats me why people claim it's one of the happiest days in the life of a boat owner--to sell his or her boat.

 

[NotCook]

First messenger: "Don't you hate this kind of job?" I can commiserate with this ghost. Likely working on the steering or the rudder stuffing box. Not much room.

He was probably stuck in there and couldn't get out, and wrote on the bulkhead while he was waiting to be extracted feet first!

We don't have a "dead guy boat", but we did find a dead guy washed ashore once while we were cruising. Let me tell you, having a dead guy boat is far better...