Key issues with C275.

[Mike8074]

Hi Team.

I have an accepted offer on a C275. Boat goes to survey tomorrow. Any concerns from your experience that I should have the surveyor focus on in particular?

I had a chance to do a Sea Trial on another C275 and I LOVED IT!

Thanks in advance.

Mike

 

[sail sfbay]

Propably no different than any other sailboat of that vintage depending on how it was maintained. What year? Did you sea trail it yet?

 

[sail sfbay]

Let the forum know what the surveyor found.

 

[shemandr]

A surveyor worth his salt will know where to look. Let him do what he does. If you are going to be there just watch. Try not to distract him with a lot of questions. He will be going through his process.
I have had the experience of a surveyor oral report to me was substantially different than the written report. It's what's on paper that counts. Wait for the written report before speaking with the seller. Don't be surprised if the seller is calling shortly after the survey. Turn off your phone if you have to.

 

[Mike8074]

The boat is in Michigan. I am in Washington State, so SeaTrial is not in the mix. I had a chance to sea trial a boat owned by the local dealer and I really liked it. The survey is today. Will report back. its a 2015 boat, but was basically in the showroom for three years. The biggest issue I saw in the photos was that the cover on the steps in the companionway have become delaminated. Interesting I saw the same thing on the dealer's fleet boat that I did my sea trial on.

 

[Souellette]

If it's going from fresh water to salt water, you might want to find out what type of bottom paint is on the boat. I bought a fresh water Catalina 275 that had Interlux VC17 which is not optimal for a salt water environment. It also has to be completely removed as you can't paint over VC 17 with an incompatible anti-fouling paint. I had the bottom paint removed via soda blasting, followed by a barrier coat and the proper paint for Boston Harbor.

 

[Mike8074]

It's going from freshwater to freshwater, so not a huge deal...but it does have that VC17 on it which apparently is not so easy to remove as you note, Souellette

 

[Codybear]

I'm very late to the party, but for future googlers, VC17 is very easy to remove. It dissolves with acetone. Going to take rolls of paper towels, but you will be able to remove it w/o sanding/blasting. Going to saltwater, I'd take a freshwater boat with VC17, than a saltwater boat any day. A lot less creatures and corrosion in fresh water.

 

[xavpil]

I'm very late to the party, but for future googlers, VC17 is very easy to remove. It dissolves with acetone. Going to take rolls of paper towels, but you will be able to remove it w/o sanding/blasting. Going to saltwater, I'd take a freshwater boat with VC17, than a saltwater boat any day. A lot less creatures and corrosion in fresh water.

I’m even later than you to the party!
what do you mean by “Going to saltwater, I'd take a freshwater boat with VC17, than a saltwater boat any day. A lot less creatures and corrosion in fresh water.”

 

[Codybear]

I was just inferring if I was buying a boat, I would rather have a freshwater boat than one that lived in saltwater. Even if I had to remove the VC17. Just like if I was buying a used car, I'd rather have one that wasn't driven on salted roads as compared to one that spent it winters in Chicago. Salt is quite corrosive. I see it firsthand when I'm under a car.

And VC17 does dissolve with rubbing or denatured alcohol as well. But that said, removing an entire bottom will not be a quick task. A paper towel picks up the VC17 but then you are smearing VC17 onto VC17. There has to be an efficient way to dissolve the VC17, but I do not know firsthand. Just experimenting, it seems to work best if the alcohol can soak in instead of just the being wiped on the surface. I think the fastest way would be floating a boat in a swimming pool filled with alcohol.

 

[dlochner]

And VC17 does dissolve with rubbing or denatured alcohol as well. But that said, removing an entire bottom will not be a quick task. A paper towel picks up the VC17 but then you are smearing VC17 onto VC17. There has to be an efficient way to dissolve the VC17, but I do not know firsthand. Just experimenting, it seems to work best if the alcohol can soak in instead of just the being wiped on the surface. I think the fastest way would be floating a boat in a swimming pool filled with alcohol.

From 1984 until about 2016 I used VC17 on my boats. In 2016 I removed the VC17 because we were taking the boat to saltwater. Any number of solvents will remove VC17 and it is a good technique for small areas, however for larger areas it is less effective. Removing VC17 after the solvent has been applied creates a mess. Wiping it up tends to smear it leaving you to clean and reclean repeatedly. It work better if the solvent was sprayed on the hull in an amount sufficient to dissolve the paint and then run off to a containment receptacle, that however is quite impractical and expensive. Part of the issue is the solvents' rapid evaporation. It evaporates almost as fast as you can apply it.

Aggressive sanding works. An orbital sander will work better than a random orbital sander. Start with aggressive paper, we used 36 and 40 grit and frequently changed the paper. In areas where there has been some build up of paint the copper in the paint will burnish in to a solid piece of copper, it is very slow going. On my 36' boat almost 5 gallons of paint dust was removed.

 

[PMK]

Two years ago I had my boat bottom soda (sodium bicarbonate) blasted, for two reasons. First, the paint was adhering poor, likely because the hull was improperly primed prior to painting for the first time and secondly because I wanted to switch from ablative paint to hard bottom paint. The soda blasting left a very clean bottom, ready to coat with epoxy barrier paint, followed by antifouling paint. Soda blasting would likely be an ok method for removing VC17.