Black iron fuel tanks
This seems like a great buy on this boat. We have been on it and the interior is gorgeous and the outside needs some work. For the price it seems like a good buy, but I am not familiar with "black iron fuel tanks" and "box section Alaskan cedar mast". Are these things to avoid? Deal breakers in any of your opinions? There is very little info on the web regarding these boats. I think there were only 9 built but seems to be positive info. Or maybe the only info was from when the owners were trying to sell theirs? Here is the boat:
http://www.yachtworld.com/boats/1978/Anastasia-32-Custom-2631504/Our-Docks%2C-Portland/OR/United-States#.Uy8WuRdOXIU
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Black Iron is just that. Cold steel without a lot of carbon. It rusts!
Many black iron tanks rust through from the outside, namely where water stands on top by leaking around the fuel fills. If the owner routinely washed and dryed the standing water, if any, from the top, you are fine. Have the surveyor check on top. If he is a veteren surveyor he will already know to do this. Grand Banks are the worst offenders and the tanks have to be cut out and replaced with a series of smaller tanks. Or remove the engines...or...as a boat yard in Snead Island, FL has been known to do...cut out the bottom of the boat and lower the tanks out and patch the holes.
The sulfur in diesel reacts with a galvanized coating, so the "black iron" actually may be preferable
http://www.purdue.edu/envirosoft/fuel/src/tankpipe.htm
An acquaintance of mine had to replace the tanks in his Albin. Rather than remove the engine to get the tanks out, he cut the old tanks up in the boat and removed them. Then he had 4 smaller tanks made to go in the same place the original two had been and put them in himself. I think the new tanks were aluminum.
The Anatasia was a Bruce Bingham design, I think originally intended for ferrocement. Somewhere I have his old, original catalog. I also met him while he and Katy Burke, his then co-designer and main squeeze were living/sailing on Sabrina, their Flicka 20. He claimed it did 7 knots, and since it was blowing like stink out in Long Island Sound, he decided to show me and a few others. We were out on a close reach I think, well heeled over, and the knotmeter read 6.8 knots. I asked him about his thoughts on ferro cement, since he had wrote an "Enclopedia of Ferro Cement Boatbuilding", a copy of which is in my personal library. He said "We don't talk about that any more." and he didn't say another word. I think he's the real thing, good designer, great at designing/drawing/illustrating any boating details you want. The Anastasia you're looking at is likely a fantastic boat, and at under $30K, I'd have a surveyor check it thoroughly, and not worry about the black iron tanks as the overall boat. If the tanks are bad, just use them as a bargaining point to get the boat at a lower price. You don't find many cruising boats that look like they're that well build and finished at that price. As for the wood mast, also have it checked. I had a wood mast break at the spreaders once, due to water intrusion. The mast was sheathed in fiberglass which prevented adequate checking the wood. I'm an engineer/boat designer (retired) and was able to redesign a mast and build it for that particular boat (a 25'er). If the mast is ok, just maintain it well and it should last a long time. Hope this helps you!