HELP Just bought a sadly neglected UFO 34,
- Thread starter John Powell
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John Powell
New Member
Thanks Boo2 I'll keep you "au courant" She's back in the water now, probably take her out at the weekend, we've got a bit of breeze for now as a cold front's just gone through. One thing I've found as I've investigated the plumbing, is that the galley sink drains into the bilges Normal? Can't find where the sink in the heads drains, it disappears somewhere below the motor!
Tranona
Well-Known Member
When you have read as many student essays as I have you learn how to get the meaning from such a collection of words - particularly if you know who has assembled them!
If you want a properly written passage that says the same thing but needs no interpretation, read one of my earlier posts.
davidej
Well-Known Member
I didn't know much about UFOs so I diddled around on google and found this on Yachtsnet
The design was originally for tiller steering, with a six foot long tiller and extension, but many yachts intended as cruisers were fitted from new with wheel steering. Many others have since been converted to wheel steering, and it is now rare to find one with the original tiller (which is a shame - as they handle very well with a tiller, and it makes much more space in the cockpit when anchored or moored).
The design was originally for tiller steering, with a six foot long tiller and extension, but many yachts intended as cruisers were fitted from new with wheel steering. Many others have since been converted to wheel steering, and it is now rare to find one with the original tiller (which is a shame - as they handle very well with a tiller, and it makes much more space in the cockpit when anchored or moored).
Tranona
Well-Known Member
Just because something is cheap does not necessarily mean it is worth buying!
The caution expressed by some is based on seeing such boats become money pits. Worse when the boat will never really be satisfactory and will still be worthless (relatively) no matter what you do to it.
Of course, your choice, and at least it seems you will be able to get some use out of it before making the decision to spend money.
Boo2
Well-Known Member
No contradiction in what I intended to say :
Sunrunner has an easy helm in my experience (but less easy under power than sail). If I did find the helm becoming heavy I'd shorten sail to cure that, not being a racer.
Boo2
Boo2
Well-Known Member
I wouldn't say that's normal : draining the galley sink into the bilges will make a bad smell and a mess - you only need a little water in a UFO 34 to get everything wet as the bilge is very shallow.
Sunrunner came to me with the galley draining via a long hose that ran backwards under the stbd quarter berth as far as the aft lazerette then back forward to the cockpit drains which it joined via a "T" fitting just forward of the engine in the engine box. My survey report suggested that, given its length and route through several lockers, any damage to this hose could sink the boat by water ingress through the cockpit drain so I had a waterline-level skin fitting + seacock added in the aftmost stbd saloon locker and drain to that via a new sump tank fitted with an electric bilge pump.
Sunrunner doesn't have a heads sink but part of my reason for fitting the sump tank / pump was so I could run the hose from one back to it if I add one later, otherwise it would have been cheaper just to run a pipe from the pre-existing galley sink manual bilge pump to the new seacock and skin fitting. An alternative I have heard of people using is to drain the heads sink into the heads inlet pipe but I would expect there to be an issue with back-syphoning on one tack or another.
I used an 8 litre Whale Grey Water tank and fitted a Whale Gulper 320 but there are other pumps on that page that cost less and they also supply a pump fitted with a tank as a set.
As I say above, there is no real need for the electric pump + tank but it is convenient if you have multiple grey water sources and/or if you intend to cruise in an area where grey water tanks are de-rigeur.
Hth,
Boo2
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sailorman
Well-Known Member
What is the deprecation of a Benbavjen AWB in say 5 yrs from new
pvb
Well-Known Member
Aagghhhh! Don't go there! Looking on the bright side, it's lower depreciation than most similarly-priced cars.
Tranona
Well-Known Member
It is significant and unpredictable, but at least spending on replacement and maintenance is minimal, and more importantly you have a new boat which works and still works at the end of 5 years. Better than a knackered old wreck!
Just got my boat ready for its second season. 3 hours on monday to wash the winter crud off it, and 3 hours today cleaning the log impeller and going out for a sail to make sure everything still works - which of course it does. Only jobs now is to put some more diesel in and have a lift to wash the coppercoated hull.
Appreciate not everybody has the cash to buy a new boat, but when you have a limited time left and want to maximise your sailing time it is the way to go. Over a 10 year period expect the depreciation will be similar to keeping a 20 year old boat running - and I will have the pleasure of having exactly the boat i want.
sailorman
Well-Known Member
What ever "rocks yer boat"
you keep banging on about your new boat you can afford to buy but deride those who are no doubt on a more limited budget & also enjoy "fixing" older boats within their budget.
I could afford a new bright shiny AWB, but i prefer my yacht & i am only her 2nd custodian from new in 1979.
I have had 18 yrs of w/e & holidays, aboard her & she incorporates some 48 yrs of the same from her 5 predecessor`s, she & the 5 others owe me nothing, even if i walk away with nothing.
Uricanejack
Well-Known Member
I don't know why so many insist on telling the OP to buy another boat because this one is no good. Is to late now
He has already bought one. Presumably because he has sailed a UFO 34 before and is familiar with it. Along with the price was right. for him.
I always feel its kind of rude to criticise another chaps choice of boat. Particularly right after he just bought it.
As it happens I have an old IOR type boat 35ft. So similar I think.
Why did I by it? I had sailed sister boats many times and owned a much smaller one. I liked sailing them.
Mostly because I could afford to by it.
I would just keep the tiller, tiller's work fine. When looking for an old boat, tiller or wheel both were acceptable. If anything I would pick a tiller for simplicity and reliability. particularly easy to fit a simple auto pilot. You can reach almost everything.
So of course I bought one with a wheel.
What to do with the boat? Just anti fouled and back in the water, go sailing.
My wife was rather insistent I get the head working. In my case a new pump, was a reasonable price and avoided messing about with a repair.
All I need was. A comfortable bunk, A stove to make a cup of tea, A pan for bacon sandwiches, and a cooler for some cold beer.
Sailing and old IOR boat, Keeps me happy
Bon voyage, Take your boat out and sail it. You will figure out which systems you need to fix, based on what you can live with and without.
He has already bought one. Presumably because he has sailed a UFO 34 before and is familiar with it. Along with the price was right. for him.
I always feel its kind of rude to criticise another chaps choice of boat
. Particularly right after he just bought it.As it happens I have an old IOR type boat 35ft. So similar I think.
Why did I by it? I had sailed sister boats many times and owned a much smaller one. I liked sailing them.
Mostly because I could afford to by it.
I would just keep the tiller, tiller's work fine. When looking for an old boat, tiller or wheel both were acceptable. If anything I would pick a tiller for simplicity and reliability. particularly easy to fit a simple auto pilot. You can reach almost everything.
So of course I bought one with a wheel.
What to do with the boat? Just anti fouled and back in the water, go sailing.
My wife was rather insistent I get the head working. In my case a new pump, was a reasonable price and avoided messing about with a repair.
All I need was. A comfortable bunk, A stove to make a cup of tea, A pan for bacon sandwiches, and a cooler for some cold beer.
Sailing and old IOR boat, Keeps me happy
Bon voyage, Take your boat out and sail it. You will figure out which systems you need to fix, based on what you can live with and without.
James W
Well-Known Member
I don't know why so many insist on telling the OP to buy another boat because this one is no good. Is to late now
He has already bought one. Presumably because he has sailed a UFO 34 before and is familiar with it. Along with the price was right. for him.
I always feel its kind of rude to criticise another chaps choice of boat
As it happens I have an old IOR type boat 35ft. So similar I think.
Why did I by it? I had sailed sister boats many times and owned a much smaller one. I liked sailing them.
Mostly because I could afford to by it.
I would just keep the tiller, tiller's work fine. When looking for an old boat, tiller or wheel both were acceptable. If anything I would pick a tiller for simplicity and reliability. particularly easy to fit a simple auto pilot. You can reach almost everything.
So of course I bought one with a wheel.
What to do with the boat? Just anti fouled and back in the water, go sailing.
My wife was rather insistent I get the head working. In my case a new pump, was a reasonable price and avoided messing about with a repair.
All I need was. A comfortable bunk, A stove to make a cup of tea, A pan for bacon sandwiches, and a cooler for some cold beer.
Sailing and old IOR boat, Keeps me happy
Bon voyage, Take your boat out and sail it. You will figure out which systems you need to fix, based on what you can live with and without.
What a lovely positive post :encouragement:
Tranona
Well-Known Member
Not deriding them at all. Have done my share of running on a very tight budget and both building and rebuilding boats so know exactly what is involved. I built my first two boats from kits - one ply and the next from GRP mouldings and for the last 36 years have owned a wooden boat built in 1963, undertaking two major refits and modifications plus changing engines twice along the way.
You really should read what I write and understand the reasoning behind my comments rather than just take snatches that you fancy. I try and make my comments relevant to the OP's situation - in this case questioning the suitability of the boat for the intended use (based on 10 years sailing in the Med) and the wisdom of spending what could amount to many £000's on an unsuitable boat that has little value. Never suggested he buy new, just that there are much more suitable boats available that in the long run will not only be more satisfactory but end up probably costing less.
It was you who raised depreciation on new boats, not me. You use up monetary value of boats over time as well as wearing them out. With a new boat that is primarily capital loss, with a 20 year old boat it is in terms of replacements, repairs and upgrades plus a smaller loss in capital value at the end. If you do the sums over say a 10 year period the overall annual cost of running the boat will not be very much different. The big difference is that you are paying up front with a new boat, whereas with a used one it is spread over the period of ownership.
It is a good thing these choices are open to us, otherwise nobody would buy new boats, nor would people take on projects. However, while the latter used to be viable when the value of older boats was higher and the choice of functioning boats was smaller, this is no longer the case. As many contributors here, including on this thread, have discovered the hard way doing up old boats is no longer financially viable.
Paddy Layback
N/A
Well said!
Daydream believer
Well-Known Member
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Niander
Well-Known Member
Hope your good at DIY?
If not you soon will be!....Hopefully
If not you soon will be!....Hopefully
DanTribe
Well-Known Member
I totally agree.
If the OP wants a boat for the joy of sailing, he has the right boat.
If he wants a country cottage with all mod cons then a more modern boat may suit better.
lpdsn
Well-Known Member
The best thing to do, IMHO, is to sail the boat you've now got. Fix things, of course, but try not to let that get too much in the way of sailing the boat.
It's very unlikely that you're currently over-estimating the cost of fixing all the small things on a neglected boat, so put the big things like converting to wheel steering on the back burner for a year or two.
Think about it again over the winter - maybe be better the winter after that. You'll have a season or two's experience with the boat by then. You can then think about getting the features you want on a boat.
In all likelyhood the cheapest way of getting a boat with what you want is to sell what you have and buy one that fits the bill. But cross that bridge when you come to it.
JumbleDuck
Well-Known Member
Well he might have, if it was in good condition. Unfortunately, knackered old racing boats tend to be cheap because they are (a) knackered and (b) old, however good their sailing qualities may have been twenty years ago, as shown repeatedly over the decade of car-crash entertainment provided by the other attempt to turn a lnackered old UFO34 into a cruiser.