Can you identify this boat? Needs some TLC.

I

Internet Sailor

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Hi folks,

I'm a lurker who's come in the from the cold and registered. I don't have a background in sailing or much experience, and what I know mostly comes from studying second hand sources, such as the internet! However, the subject got it's hooks into me a long time ago and it seems that no matter how much I learn, I become more acutely aware of how much I don't yet know.

Introductions over, I walk my dog past Fidlers* Ferry Yacht Haven on the Mersey and regularly and, among the various vessels whose owners seem to have forgotten about them, there is this:
mystery%20boat%201.jpg

mystery%20boat%202.jpg


Boat's name is 'Catalyst' which, by the current state of the hull, is probably an apt name!

It has caught my interest for two reasons: a copy of it was in for a refit a couple of years ago and was a very pretty boat, registered to Liverpool with a bright red hull and fitted out for cruising. Looked very nice, but I never spoke to the owner and have forgotten the name. Either way, this tells me the boat pictured is not some kind of one-off, and thus should be traceable.

The other reason is that I'm day dreaming about tracking down the owner and making an offer, with a view to restoring it as a project. Am I mad?

Either way, I'm curious to know more.

Cheers

*the common spelling - yes, I know it looks wrong!
 
Much underrated design I reckon. A Van der Stadt design and his take on a modified folk boat. Some people I knew had one and loved it but one in picture ....hmm, keep walking. There's no such thing as doing up a boat on the cheap = replacing duff bits costa a lot. Best approach I've heard of for such as this is to view hull as worth nowt and reckon the value as lying in engine, sails, rigging and other bits and pieces.
 
Welcome to the Forum.

Presumably the owner is paying mooring fees of some kind to the boatyard? Perhaps you could ask the yard for contact details or ask them to give the owner your email address or phone number. The owner might be pleased for someone to just take it off his hands and take over the fees.

It's bound to cost more than you expect to do her up (boats always do) but if you get her for nothing, or close to it, then surely it's a project worth taking on if that is your fancy?

Richard
 
Walk away. I didn't with an old wooden boat. Whatever you pay will be too much.

Engine, sails, paint, fix it up, well budget £20k + and about three winters.

Nowadays, you can get a lot of boat for £20k. Unless she is a classic (and even then you will never get your money back) it's not worth the hastle.
 
Lots of good sense being talked. The fees are quite cheap so maybe it's become someone's forgotten 'gym subscription'. Maybe it's rotten and the only value is, indeed, spare parts. Yet I'm still curious and so I've asked. Waiting on the reply. Been reading about the Invicta. Looks like a very good boat. Interestingly, was originally built with a 12hp petrol that was very highly thought of. They appear to go for about £5k second hand... damn you, good sense! You have no soul! Can't you see that this poor boat is in pain and needs some love? How can you let those flowing lines just rot?

:ambivalence:
 
Last October I had a mind fart and bought a Hurley 18 for £407.50 (the £7.50 was important....). I did it with, I thought, my eyes open and reckoned on being able to sort the interior out over the winter and go sailing this spring. And do it all for not very much money. Well, I've got her in the water and used her sailing but it's cost me about four times as much as I thought it would (mainly due to buying mooring gear) and it took a lot of work, which still isn't finished. It's been fun but hard work and if I'd had to pay anyone to do the work it wouldn't have been worthwhile.
So I've now got a functional boat that looks good inside but needs work outside. To the OP, if the interior is dry, then you stand a good chance of getting a functional boat with a winters hard graft. If, on the other hand, the interior is damp, run away unless you feel up to replacing lots of delaminated plywood. No, on second thoughts, if the interior is wet, run away no matter what!
Oh, anyone got a genoa that'd suit a Hurley 18? For not a lot of money?
 
Are you mad? No absolutely not, but take heed of the advice already proffered. Questions to ask yourself are: Can I buy the boat cheaply? Can I do most of the renovation work myself? If the answer to both is yes, then on the plus side you will be starting off with a good basic proposition - this is a boat with lovely lines from a well respected designer. You could end up owning a beautiful classic.

However - 'buying cheap' means a few hundred quid at most. As has already been suggested, you might be able to acquire this just for the cost of any outstanding mooring fees. Then there is the time. If you have plenty of it and you like pottering around fixing boaty-things, then great. But however long you think it will take, at least double it (and I speak as one presently engaged on just such a project!) Doing things quickly and buying new equipment will be expensive - but if you are in no rush, Fleabay and breakers yards can often come up trumps for very modest cost.

If the above does not put you off, make some enquiries and check out the boat. Scruffy is OK (the scruffier the better when negotiating a price) but you want the boat to be basically sound. No bodged major repairs for example. There is nothing more heartbreaking than putting in months (years, even) of effort into something that was fundamentally flawed at the outset. Get yourself a sound starting point and you might just have fun doing this.

Best of luck!
 
If it's your first boat then you will end up paying more than you estimate. Big money wasters are; engine, rig (no boom in the picture), sails (ditto), mooring gear and fenders and of course the hull. If all the bits are there you have a chance but the reality is that you could almost certainly get a 'sorted' one for much less dosh. Or consider another boat, there is http://www.theyachtmarket.com/boats_for_sale/1307904/ this Seamster 23 for sale for not much more than the brand new engine it recently had fitted. No connection, it just looks nice!
 
Are they made by the same company that made the contessa?? Looks very similar, curved companionway & round hatches.
 
Are you interested in doing up boats or going sailing? That is a serious question and if you have time and money and like working on boats then go for it. If you want to go sailing then it can be very frustrating spending time working on your boat. Listen to the advice on here and be clear about what you want to do. I have spent three times as much as my boat cost me on doing her up. Costs quickly escalate.
 
Internet Sailor said:
The other reason is that I'm day dreaming about tracking down the owner and making an offer, with a view to restoring it as a project. Am I mad?
Click to expand...

Not at all. GRP boats are basically indestructible - two hours with a pressure washer and this one would look fine. There are three important considerations. First of all, are the boom and sails around somewhere? If not beware: new ones would cost a bomb and suitable second hand ones would take a while to track down.

Second, does it have a working engine fitted? As with the boom and sails a knackered engine will cost time, money or time and money to replace.

Third, is she dry inside? A fetid stinking cabin will be an expensive pain to deal with.

That said, if the rig is there, the engine starts and the inside is OK, why not? Bringing a boat back from the dead or dying is extremely rewarding.
 
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