heart set on damp hull?

[danharvey]

hello, looking for a bit of advice........

moving up from dingy's, can't afford to charter every weekend hence buying trailer sailer. i'll keep it inland fresh (more osmosis) water, but hope to trail occassionally to west or south coast.

problem - the E-boat I have my heart set on has "moderate osmosis" port and starboard. Otherwise in pretty good nick for 1979 boat. I'm not suprised but am disappointed. Obviously the age and price of the boat (approx £4000) makes fixing the problem un-economic. I've read the posts saying that osmosis doesn't matter and simultanously mentioning the drop in value of the boat. So that leaves a few questions.......

- if I do nothing how quickly will the osmosis progress ? when will the hull fail?
- will it cause other problems prior to catastrophic hull failure?
- what sort of percentage reduction is usual in the asking price for such a problem?
- will the boat be worth anything if I come to sell in say 5 yrs (maybe bigger boat time ?)
-there's almost a grand's worth of work to the trailer as well (gets worse eh?). i'm not sure that it's worth this investment in a dodgy boat, but without a trailer I can't use it as well and will be worth even less at re-sale.

She sails really well, the other half actually loves the boat rather than tolerates its existance and so I'm loathe to give up. But should I walk away before I shed too many tears ? I dodn't want to buy somebody else's problems - I have a car like that !

thanks for your help everyone,

dan
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<hr width=100% size=1>You can't blame the water for finding a hole in the boat.

 

[Rowana]

Your last sentence says it all, IMHO.

Walk away now & keep on looking. There's plenty boats out there looking for new owners. I've been looking for about 2 years now, and I'm still not a boat owner!

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[cameronke]

Hello Dan
Sound advice from Jim there. If you have slight niggles then they can become major concerns. Oldsaltoz is a good source of info regaring GRP maintenance and repairs, there is a post on osmosis over on the PBO site today.

But I am An E-Boatophile. Had mine for four years and absolutely love it. I, like you moved up from dingies to my E-Boat and it is a pretty good transition. you get a lot of boat for your money, it is lively and should be sailed like a large dingy. I have set mine up for solo sailing and in the Clyde Estuary it is a great boat. If you really like the E-Boat but cannot resolve your concerns have a look at the club site at http://www.e-boats.org.uk/

good luck
Cameron

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[freebird1]

Don't know what the going rate is for a boat of this model and age, but if you really want the boat, you could do either:
(a) Get the seller to get the trailer and osmosis sorted and pay him the £4k once done to (your) satisfaction.
(b) Get quotes for the work to be done. Total it up and that is the reduction to ask for. Any less and it's your wallet that will suffer.

Sounds a bit more trouble than it's worth though. I'd walk away now.

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[FullCircle]

I have to agree with jmirvine. Look further. The osmosis will cause no heartache until you want to sell it on, but the trailer repair costs are 25% of purchase budget!!!
It is easy to spend a couple of thousand on sails and other must haves. I suspect the interior may want work (7-800 quid for cushions alone), and other bits will be well worn (rigging, electrics, deck hardware, cordage)
If you must, then pay no more than about 2500. Look on the trailer as an expensive static cradle, and do the minimum. Occasionally charter on west and south coast (bet you wont find the time!) with surplus funds.
I paid 3200 for my 1979 Jouet 680 (23ft) and have spent 3000 to bring it to nearly new condition, and I have done little on the osmosis front, mainly because I dont have it as a priority. If you PM me, I can provide a list of work hours spent and cost for almost any job on your boat, as I have just done most of them over this winter.
I understand the emotion in the purchase. I think we all do......

Jim & Lynn


<hr width=100% size=1>Second Chance - First Love. Still no wind instruments, c'mon peeps its for (my)charity

 

[maxi]

Firstly, the hull is most, most, unlikely to fail, and certainly not catastrophically. There are no recorded instances of a boat being lost due to osmosis.

As regards progress of the osmosis, this will depend upon many things, some you can control others not. keeping the boat in fresh or brackish water will accelerate matters, as will a warm climate. On the other hand, you may be able to almost halt any osmotic progress by trailer sailing and by allowing the hull to dry thoroughly each winter.

Reduction in purchase price relates to the likely price of repair, and you may well be looking at circa £125/foot for 'professional' services, even then there are an awful lot of poor professionals about, so do your homework.

If you are tempted to d.i.y it, be aware that drying the hull alone is not sufficient to eradicate the osmosis, there will be hydrolytic products within the hull that will have to be removed by means of grit blasting & repeated pressure washing over a period of time, as well as drying, before re-coating with epoxy.

It is totally do-able at reasonable cost provided you don't cost your man hours. And bear in mind that, if the build quality of this particular E Boat has permitted osmosis, than there must be a suspicion for all the other E.Boats. At the right price, I would be tempted to go for the boat and enjoy her, as long as you do so with your eyes open. Good Luck.

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[danharvey]

Thanks for all your advice, i'm definatley going to heed it. i'll think things over and will probably offer significantly lower price and just she how she goes. if owner doesn't bite at low offer i'll walk. cheers guys.


<hr width=100% size=1>You can't blame the water for finding a hole in the boat.