Is it worth fixing?

[mirozbiro]

HI guys,
i have a chance to get this boat (see pictures attached) for free (transport price). There is a 15 cm hole: "The bad news and reason she is free: so she had a hole in her from drifting off a mooring over a year ago. This hole was temporarily patched, but it seems last night the patch gave way and she began taking on water."

Me and my friend are taking it as a project for longer term. What is your opinion looking at pictures? Is it worh it?

 

[Romeo]

That depends on what you mean by worth. She has received damage from hitting stuff, which is a lot less worrying than having damage just from age and rot. If you have to replace the engine you might be better off paying for another boat with a working engine, than taking one for free and having to replace an engine.

In the condition in the photo- couple of hours with a scrubbing brush and you will have a fine looking boat with a hole. However perhaps more damage has been done in her recent incident.

 

[PhillM]

Sorry, but that looks like a money pit to me. If you need to do any significant work on her you could easily spend £10s of K without even thinking about it. I'm sure she was lovely in her prime, but that you even feel the need to ask suggests you don't know what you are getting into. Refit costs of my 25 foot wooden boat topped £25k. Don't get me wrong, I learned a massive amount about her in the process, but to give you an idea, mine had no holes, mine was sailing around the coast when I bourght her and I was able to sail her every summer and refit in the winter.

 

[sideshowbob]

Couple of things spring to mind looking at the photos.

Forestay not connected to boat. Pulpit damaged, stanchions and gurawires not intact. Hole in the side.
Freshwater looks like its been trapped on deck and where it has escaped slowly through the freeing ports in the toe rail has almost certainly set up rot problems.
Sheer line is distorted.
I reckon the boat has lots of freshwater damage, hence lots of rot.

Honestly you should not consider it.

 

[Paddy Layback]

Not even worth the price of a box of matches, to torch it on bonfire night.
Are you serious?

 

[KINGFISHER 8]

No.

 

[Tam Lin]

If you buy that boat you will soon find that there is much more wrong with it than appears. Your initial flush of enthusiasm soon wears off and the work becomes a chore. However, you carry on and are soon spending every moment that you are not actually at work, working or thinking about the boat. Your relationships suffer, your friends give up on you and your wife starts going out on her own. Time drags by in a blur of woodwork, varnish and unobtainable parts.
Pretty soon you have spent so much on the boat that you can't possibly give up and lose all that money, your credit cards are maxed out and the boat still isn't finished. For every problem that you fix you discover two more.
Late one evening when you get back from the boat you find the house empty, fed up with waiting for you to finish the boat your wife has run off with the fitness instructor from the gym. This turns out to be more than a fling and a few months later you find yourself living on an unfinished boat while the happy couple occupy your house.
Finishing the boat has been such an obsession that your work has suffered and your company decided to let you go. Winter finds you shivering and penniless and sitting hunched up in a sleeping bag trying to keep warm. This is the low point of your life, surely things can't get any worse? The next morning the boatyard seize your boat because of unpaid storage fees and other outstanding bills, you have 24 hours to leave. Slowly you pack your essentials and trudge off into the rain......

Don't say you haven't been warned!

 

[chrishelen]

How fast can you run? She will suck away your time and money.

 

[Mandarin331]

Assuming not too much wrong which is not visible in the photos I reckon it would take c£20k to have her looking nice, and a year or two of labour, after which she would be sellable for at least £12k. Run!

If you really want a boat there's plenty out there in good condition for most budgets.

 

[Biggles Wader]

Well.That seems to have frightened the OP off.Surely not another one post wonder?

 

[JumbleDuck]

Possibly firewood, but probably too damp for that.

 

[Seanick]

Yes it will take time, and money, and you wont get half of what you spend on it back.
However, the sense of accomplishment and satisfaction from restoring a boat then undertaking a trip cannot be acheived with an off the peg boat.
If you are practical, you could have that up and running for beer and fags money.

She looks narrow, and would go like a witch upwind!

What else do have planned to do with your time? ;-)


If you are not practical, best not get involved.

 

[PCUK]

At last, a sensible reply. Ignore all the "advice" from those who never pick up a chisel for fear of cutting themselves and whose main criterion is saving money! Boating in general is a waste of money if you want to look at it from a financial perspective. What have you got to lose? As said it can be done on the cheap so it'll cost you what you want to spend and the enjoyment and satisfaction is priceless. Hot tip, never buy from a chandler, always find the local wholesaler for whatever you need.

 

[Tranona]

At last, a sensible reply. Ignore all the "advice" from those who never pick up a chisel for fear of cutting themselves and whose main criterion is saving money! Boating in general is a waste of money if you want to look at it from a financial perspective. What have you got to lose? As said it can be done on the cheap so it'll cost you what you want to spend and the enjoyment and satisfaction is priceless. Hot tip, never buy from a chandler, always find the local wholesaler for whatever you need.

By the look of the photo and the registration on the boat it is in the tropics. It will more than likely be rotten right through as it seems to be left open to the elements.

Would not be surprised if it broke its back when hauled out. While the can do attitude is admirable in some circumstances there comes a time when a rotten old boat has come to the end of its life. There are plenty of sound restorable boats with good basic structures (and designs) around to satisfy those who have a DIY bent and want a reasonable chance of having a usable boat at the end.

 

[mirozbiro]

Thanks guys for all your answers. It is good to have some opinion from someone who have some experience. Thanks a lot.

 

[Romeo]

Send us some photos for your first sail.

If you take it on, having checked that the hull is not completely shot, I would suggest that you should try to get her back on the water within six months, with the basics fixed, and leave fitting out the insides and the fiddly but unnecessary stuff until your next off season. Once you have her sailing you may change your mind on how the further fitting out should be done and a boat that is used is more likely to become a boat that is looked after.

 

[chrishelen]

At last, a sensible reply. Ignore all the "advice" from those who never pick up a chisel for fear of cutting themselves and whose main criterion is saving money! Boating in general is a waste of money if you want to look at it from a financial perspective. What have you got to lose? As said it can be done on the cheap so it'll cost you what you want to spend and the enjoyment and satisfaction is priceless. Hot tip, never buy from a chandler, always find the local wholesaler for whatever you need.

Yes you are right. .....my reply was a bit jaded from over 50 years of boating and 'doing up boats' I dread to think how much money I have sunk into old tearouts and old wooden hulks,That is just the type of boat I would have bought when I was young. But you can't put a price on that feeling that comes from buying and sailing an old wooden boat for the first time,one that you have repaired and done up. I guess it's the ops first boat and he? Is quite young. I'm going to change my advice to get the boat as long as it's not rotting, patch it up,enjoy it,don't spend a lot of money on it, get a year or two out of it and sell it on...good luck and enjoy.

 

[Rafiki]

It doesnt even appear to have any equipment you could take off and sell on ebay before setting her alight, so may as well just let her sink I'm afraid.

Seriously, why does value stop at zero ? People say it is worth nothing, but actually you should be paid maybe £10k or £20k to take it away ie a negative value.

It happens all the time in business ie vendors sell busineeses that are losing money by first writing off all the outstanding loans and then selling th business for £1

 

[Mandarin331]

I'm not going to change my advice, but if you do decide to look further go back on board with a hammer, torch, bradawl and a notepad and someone with a dispassionate view. Tap everywhere listening for the dull tone of rotten wood, prod everywhere for soft wood, check the keel bolts for serious rust ( they will always have surface rust,), the sails, rigging, chainplates, mast, engine, steering gear and generally crawl into every inaccessible area and inspect it for rot, worn out gear and corroded fixings. Write down what you find.
This will take several hours.

Then sit back, see what you've got to do and price it up, then double it for stuff you can't see in the water and stuff that will always be found as you go along. By now you will have an idea if you want / can afford to take it further. Do not be seduced by the excitement of a 'free' yacht.

If you do go for it, as has been said, get the hull and decks watertight as fast as possible and get her back in the water, left out the seams will open and you'll have a full recaulking job to add in as well.

Please let us know what you decide

 

[JumbleDuck]

But you can't put a price on that feeling that comes from buying and sailing an old wooden boat for the first time,one that you have repaired and done up.

That's absolutely fine, but some boats (like some cars) are just so far gone that the effort and cost of restoration will be grossly disproportionate to the pleasure to be had. It would be a nice to do up a boat for "beer and fags", but an abandoned, rotten, smashed and stripped hulk - floating, but just - probably isn't a good place to start.