The Prior Owner: Hero or Goat?

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David

Total Loser

The guy who owned my boat was a total jerk.*butt He raced her, but did not do any PM on her. Batteries were dry, no oil in transmission, rig wasent even tuned right. As an engineer, I may be a little anal about maintenance, as a marine engineer, I am fanatical about it. If you can't or don't want to take care of it, don't get it. Some things can't be ignored, no matter how much the price is reduced.
 
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David

Question

Fred: Checked her out stem to stern, got an extended warranty from the manufactuer, and did some old fashioned engineering. Batteries were replaced, transmission oil was NDI'd, and transmission checked. Funny thing... all manuals were in a brown paper grocery bag when I got her... now they are in a binder and on a CD. Best Regards David D.
 
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Robert Neville

Amazing

The man who owned my '98 Mac26X should have been an engineer, but wasn't. You could have eaten off the outboard, his wife had sewn custom fitted sheets for the berths as well as a cover for the propane stove...oh, I could go on and on. After corresponding with him via email for several weeks he drove from Colorado pulling the boat, I drove from San Antonio, and we met in Amarillo. I hadn't laid eyes on the boat, but I could tell from the way he wrote that he was the genuine article. I was thrilled at the immaculate boat I ended up with, and told him so. Pic is of him and his wife (who wept as I drove away with the boat!).
 
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mark

The full monty

When i bought my Beneteau the owner was so anxious to do the deal that everytime I opened my mouth he'd throw something in. This left a bad taste after awhile, as I worried that there must be some reason. Then, there was the closing. His wife didn't want to turn loose the boat. So to make a long story short I have the boat and I had to marry the wife, which turned out ok, cuz she could really polish your stainless. We now live aboard in Galveston and my Viet Namese is really getting pretty good.
 
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Charles Graves ChasMo77@aol.com

I don't know what a response title is.

Three old friends that came up through Optimist Prams in Florida during the early 1950's salvaged C-22 13114 off the bottom of the Indian River at Cape Canavrel. The boat had been down for about 6 months. The three gave the owner $1.00 to transfer the title and spent 6 months restoring her. She was loaded to the hilt with electronice, 2 and 3 or everything, but all was worthless and was trashed. The hull was one huge barnicle and the board was missing. The trio located the board and pulled it free of the mud with the help of an A frame and chain hoist. To answer the question of the artical: Our boat was in lousy shape (through no fault of the original owner) but we restored her to good shape. We sailed her in the Region three championship held in Cocoa FL yesterday and the day before and did great. 20 boats and we captured 20th. We learned a lot about what it takes to make a faster boat and we are going to set about correcting 5 or 6 items - PLUS - we are going to sail her and learn what we are doing. We did manage to beat several boats in a couple of races. We had rudder failure and got one DNF and two DNS's before we returned Sunday with everything repaird. It has been a lot of fun for three old men getting back into sailing. Charles Graves Merritt Island Florida
 
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Mark R.

Repairing Noah's Ark ...well, almost

Was wondering when a topic like this would surface! I swear, I feel like I'm working on Noah's Ark...it's that bad! I bought a 1972 Oday 23 back in July 2002 and am still working on it! I'm only the fourth owner since the boat was built. I'm virtually replacing or starting from scratch on every system on the boat. Electrical: The electrical system wasn't even a system. Chicken wire(not marine grade) with only ONE in-line fuse going to a push/pull switch. No grouunding system at all, and no electronics or navigation systems. This boat surprised me again when last week, I started working on re-wiring the mast. I was thinking..use the old wire to pull through the new VHF coax cable & masthead duplex marine grade wire right?? Wrong... I found that the whomever wired up the mast, taped up his connections, plus, every 3 feet or so, he put a dozen or so small 2" square foam pieces, taped to the wire to prevent the wire from slapping against the inside of the mast! The wire was so thin, it couldn't wake up a squirrel! *geez* I had to gut it out and will replace with the coax + marine grade wire inside pipe insulation tubing to prevent noise. Plumbing: no bilge pump, hoses needing replacement, no double clamped hoses either. Not to mention, the sink/ice box drain..has no seacock valve! Hull/Deck: found misc repairs needs. Rotten core, damaged stanchion base. but neatly, hull is in good shape! (saving grace) I bought Noah's Ark without the animals! *beer and patience is helping in this repair/refit process* Mark 1972 Oday 23 s/v Cattivo I Green Bay, Wisconsin
 
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BOB

PRIOR OWNER UPKEEP.....POOWEE

THE PRIOR OWNER............. WELL ACORDING TO THE SERVEY THE PRIOR OWNER TOOK O.K. CCARE OF THE BOAT.....BUT IN REALITY HE REMOVED THE STOVE AND THE TANKS (WHICH I KNEW) BUT COMPLETELY TORE UP THE SUPERSTRUCTURE WHEN REMOVING IT (REPLACED STOVE AND TANK AND REBUILD SUPERSTRUCTURE)..... THE REFRIGERATION UNIT WAS RUNNING BUT DID NOT WORK (REPLACED COMPRESSOR)..ENGINE RAN GOOD AND SEEMED TO BE O.K...(REPLACED THE WHOLE THING MUCHO $$$)....ONCE INTO THE BOAT THIS FAR FOUND HAVE THE PUMPS WERE NOT FUNTIONAL ( REPLACED THEM ALL).... THE HOT WATER UNIT LASTED THREE MONTHS BEFORE IT WENT ( REPLACED THAT)..........bOUGHT A DREAM BOAT AND ENDED UP BUILDING IT FROM SOTTOM UP, BUT IT IS MINE AND IT IS BASICALLY ALL NEW..LOVE THE BOAT
 
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Beverly

Prior Owner got sea sick

The prior owner of "Sight Unseen" got seasick but had everything installed to make cruising comfortable as well as effortless. Electric winches, windlass, generator, invertor, all up to date electronics including chart plotter and radar, and auto pilot. Many of the upgrades are too numerous to mention. The stove and oven were NEVER USED! (not so anymore!) I guess the sea sickness won out because he had the boat less than one season and it was for sale. I am so happy with my Hunter 380 that my matey & I traveled over 1500 miles to go to the Bahamas this winter and we loved every day. We travelled in comfort as well as style. What a great cruising/livaboard boat!
 
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Deborah

It was a boy's toy

My partner and I bought our Cal 39 II (1980) a little over a year ago. She was beautiful on the surface -- gorgeous royal blue hull, teak well cared for on the deck, magnificently varnished interior teak and new headliner, chromed winches. We fell in love with her. But, the two fellows from whom we bought her were really only impressed with impressing the girls (we should have known from the full locker of booze they left behind and the Jimmy Buffet CD in the CD player). Their maintenance records were pathetic, the Perkins 4-108 need everything short of a rebuild, sails were exhausted, moisture was everywhere, steering shivs were about to go....the capstone -- they had nice plastic battery boxes into which they'd put in new 8Ds, but they also had cut holes in the bottom of the boxes so they'd drain; the result was the inner sole of the cockpit was eaten away (under a water tank and heater) from a decade's worth of battery acid leaking and we had to remove everything and rebuild it. O'my God!
 
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Mike B

Never ending surprises

I suspect the PO always had good intentions when performing maintenance. Unfortunately, I also suspect that these good intentions were accompanied by a lack of knowledge, few skills, improper tools and a couple of six packs of beer. Note to all - Drink beer only AFTER work is completed. I've removed every bit of wire from the boat. Why it never burst into flames, I don't know. Very scary stuff. It will be up to current standards when finished.
 
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Spencer

The Perfect Gentleman Owner/Professional Salesman

We arrived to see our future dream boat on a beutiful Florida afternoon. The owner, we will call him Murry, was busy Cetoling the ice box of our future Hunter Vision 32. He waxed mistily of how he often drove the three hours for just a weekend to do odd jobs around the boat and that there is just not a better day to be had. He mentioned some of the things he just hadn't gotten to but they were all very manageable. And he would reduce the price to cover those. So we headed out and as we cleared the marina entrance four dolphins "On Cue" playfully swam across our bow. Well, that was it, we were hooked, line and sinker as it were. The boat is a wonderful boat. Am I sorry we bought it... No not really but I wish we had seen the signs, and then checked the story. Things were just too slick. The great maintenance shop that did "all of my work" had only scrubbed the bottom before we came on the scene. So, we are loving our boat and upgrading and refurbishing as we go. We just had three great (and cold) days of sailing so I won't complain too much... but beware of the slight of hand and the line of Bull@(#%$%... It could be just too good to be true... oh... and about that surveyor... That's a whole other story. He missed a lot, nothing terminal... but it would have been nice to know.
 
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Scott Chausee

My poor girl!

Poor Nirvana sat there for serval years being neglected. All her neighbors were going out for nice rides, enjoying the wind and the waves, while she sat on the hard with her mailsail still bent on. All her thru hulls were frozen and the bees took over every place they could find shelter. The hatch was left open for several rain storms and she filled with water, only to be closed up with all the water still in there during the summer heat. Needless to say, she was like a petree dish with all the mold and mildew growth. All the interior wood work needs to be scraped and treated and refinished. All the electrical items need replacing(i.e. lights, batteries electronics). To top it all off the Atomic 4 was removed and in its place was all the oil soaked bilge and hoses and wires. On the plus side she is a C&C and has a nice solid hull, I love the line and the shear. When shes done (2005) she will be a beauty.
 
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john

Goat - shop carefully *butt

Bought my first boat with some inspection, largely by impulse... (does that happen?) When my V berth caved in, I got suspicious. Found it rotten, full of rainwater that had been sitting for years. Also decking inside companionway was rotten. I am now redoing the V Berth with nice Oak ply, oak trim and other improvements. Searched out the leaks, found that the boat had a bow pulpit at one time that must have been crashed as there were holes in the deck, poorly repaired with some brown gunk and leaking, which were covered by nice looking plastic trim. Other deck hardware will be pulled and caulked, mast bracket, etc. I love the boat, but paid too much considering this, am looking forward to my new interior, redesigned to be more spacious.
 
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Chris Conklin

A Winner

It's interesting to read all of the horror stories, and realize how lucky we were. Our H35.5 belonged to a dockmate who obviously cared for her deeply and spared no expense on her upkeep. When He heard the siren's call (in the form of a brand new Jeanneau 41) he had already done most of the upgrades a well-sailed twelve year old needed: new sails, standing rigging, bottom job, interior cushions were just a few of the big ticket items he had replaced in the last two years. He had been a boatbuilder, and a yacht owner for many years, and took a serious interest in the day to day maintenance. The condition of the boat left us free to enjoy learning her ways with peace of mind, making only a few changes to suit our personal choices (single line reefing, new DSC-VHF with RAM mike, to name a few).
 
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Dennis

Okay!

My Venture, was a stipped down model that the previous owner used for racing. Very cold inside, bare, if you know what I mean. The things wrong with it were only really from age and not from neglect, so all in all I think I got a good deal! I warmed the interior up by adding paneling and making it homey! Fixed that which needed fixing! It was through a dealer that I got the boat, and it was a trade-in, so the dealer only wanted what they gave the guy for the trade in! Perhaps I was lucky!
 
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James

I'd buy another boat from him!

I bought my Islander Bahama 28 (1981) from a fellow who was truly dedicated to maintaining an almost bristol boat. In almost four years, the only real problem I've had was a blown oil seal on the Yanmar engine. I've only had to do routine maintenance -- an annual light sanding and one-coat of varnish on teak rails and hatchcovers, annual waxing, polishing the stainless, washing the sails, and replacing some of the running rigging because it's aging. She was a sail-away boat in 2001, and she still is today. Thanks p.o.! Tell me when you put your C&C Landfall on the market.
 
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Lew Harvey

cheap boat

I went to at a sail that I could live abord. in a marina there was this hunter with a hand drawn sign. since my friend always said he wanted a boat I sent heim a picture with the phone number as a joke. and he calls the guy and after a lot of haggeling he buys an 63 hunter 25 for 2k. after helping to get it ready for the water and repairing a crack in the hull I have not seen him for 3 months. after 3 months of sailing his boat I went out with him. I went to rais the main and asked him to release the main sheet. he said what. and after poing it out he wanted to know why release the main sheet and why it was necessary. the main problem with buying a cheap boat is he wants a dink, but he can't bring himself to buy a dink for half or more of the cost of the boat
 
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Harley Nygren

The Evil Men Do

My 30 year old Newport 30 has had five owners. One was a retired Navy Officer who had everything shipshape for fourteen years. The last was my son-in-law who was eager and learning. I have had responsibility for the last six. All have done their best with what they had and were. Neglect was minor. All boats should be so lucky.
 
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michaelwjones

In Good Shape For It's Age

My 1980 Hunter 36 was in remarkable shape when I purchased her in 1998. The hull was still the original and had not been painted to cover old age/fading. The engine worked fine and the electrical systems were also ship shape. Good job. I wish I had done as well. The boat needs lots of work since I've done little to her in the last 6 years
 
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