Well, I mentioned below that I had acquired my '79 C27 in a charity auction sight unseen for $2,800 and that I was going to pick it up last Wednesday. I gave a little background below on the purchase so I thought I'd followup with my promise to report back on what I found.
Let's start with that $14,000 value put on it by the surveyor; well he/she was a bit optimistic. It's a long way from $14,000, the wrong way. Also, the PO had been using it regularly but the reason he was getting rid of it was because of some engine problems. More on that later.
So, our first encounter was kind of like a blind date where your buddy has convinced you that the date may be someone gorgeous and he/she turns out be someone quite plan. In this case, we realized as soon as we got to the boat that we had bought a 30+ year old sailboat, not a boat from the boat show. We didn't expect a boat show boat, but we were a bit deflated, probably due to our own excitement about owning a sailboat again. Some things we noticed right away, the teak had all been painted with what looked like Olympus deck stain. It matched the dock! And, not just the exterior teak; all the teak inside and out. The cushions looked like the originals, and there was no marine head, just an empty room. And the boat had been painted as well, but that looked like it was done by hand with not a lot of prep, and I'm sure it wasn't Awlgrip. Of course, we knew the engine didn't run, we just weren't sure why yet. But, my wife, god bless her, was still upbeat. "Hey, it only cost $2,800. It's not like we spent a fortune."
But, that's really all the bad stuff. The good stuff is that all the standing rigging was recently replaced, and everywhere else we looked we saw a very solid boat; just in need of a little TLC. At a distance, she looked pretty good; up close, not so nice. But don't we all!!
To make a long story a little shorter, we got it to our dock. Eventually determined that the Atomic 4 has one stuck valve that we're working to free, and the engine does run on 3 cyls, actually not too badly. The sails are at the end of their life and the cushions are past theirs, but other than that, there's no major issues I can find. The rudder is a little sloppy but that can be easily fixed and the rudder and prop shaft packing glands need to be replaced. Thru-hulls are still strong but the originals and I will replace those. And, of course, it's a C27, the boat I've always wanted since my C22 of many years ago.
I've posted a couple of pictures below. I'll have some questions about things to do on this boat, but we have time and this looks like a solid start of a great project boat. By the end of the week, our blind date wasn't as gorgeous as we might have imagined but it turned out to be someone we would like to spend time with. And, I'm starting to like the maintenance free teak as well.
Thanks to all for your help on my original question.
Thanks for the rapid response and helpful posts. That does help clear up some of my questions.
To answer some of the concerns about buying this boat, let me give you a few details. This was a boat donated to a charity but there was a survey published for the boat and extensive pictures taken just a few weeks ago. The boat was valued by the surveyor at $14,000. I talked with the PO who assured me that the boat was in very good condition and that he has been using it regularly up until this past October. The reason he had donated it was that had downsized to a trailerable, and that he was looking for the tax write-off for this boat. The charity has also guaranteed that the boat is in good condition. The PO won't be there just because of a conflict in our two schedules, he will be there two days later if I had wanted to wait. The bottom line is that I got the boat for $2,800. At that price, based on the pictures and other reassurances, I didn't think it was a big risk. I'll post pictures next week and see if I was right.
