Rustler 31... known issues?

[Tranona]

But even the few photographs the broker has shown display a very nice saloon and the boat underway - is that misrepresentation?

Not making excuses, but guess the broker has just listed it and judging by his reaction he had not appreciated how bad it was.

Perhaps he should be more careful about what he does with owners information, but it is only "misrepresentation" if somebody relies on what the broker says and loses as a result - hardly likely to happen as the broker has made no claims about its condition. Would you buy a boat based on a few tiny photos?

Just to show that you can never satisfy everybody, read the thread "Is it really for sale" where a broker has provide lots of information and 55 photos showing in detail the current condition of the boat, and still some folks complain - just because he did not say whether the sails needed replacing, even though he stated the age!

 

[KevO]

What really gripped my proverbial was that even after the viewing the broker still pressed ahead with "obviously the price has already been reduced to reflect the minor issues and it's a 30 grand boat after all' ballcox...

He must think I just got off the boat from a long, yellow fruit producing country which is quite insulting. I accept he was doing his job, acting for the vendor etc but he really must have known he was taking the p*ss. Someone needs to slap the vendor back to realityville and convince him to stop playing on his new Oceanis and invest some time, money and disinfectant on his old boat if he genuinely expects to sell it! Compared to what else is out there on the market, he has got more chance of taking a p*ss in the Queen's handbag than of selling that for 12.5k!!!

How lovely it must be to just be able to write that kind of money off and how sad it is that such a boat can be so abandoned.

 

[Me_has_a_Boat]

If the boat has been filled with water for any length of time she will be worthless.

What will have happened is that the bottoms of the bulkheads will have detabbed and the plywood bulkheads themselves will either be mush or incapable of taking new Fibreglass / Epoxy (at least not in any meaningful way).......the answer is either new lower bulkheads or entirely new. and for that pretty much everything has to come out to gain access. or a bodge job.

"Broker" - Latin for "Lying Git".

 

[KevO]

Apparently the surveyor (recently!!!) described the hull readings as being 'towards the wet end of the scale' or words to that effect... No Sh*t Sherlock!!! After 2 years ashore too!

 

[Seajet]

I once went with a prospective buyer from West Sussex to Plymouth to see a likely boat; it turned out the photo's supplied must have been taken years earlier, she was very disappointing.

I thought I might as well go through my checklist, so started checking the flares; the 'prospective buyer', now very thoroughly p'd off and despondent, said " don't bother, they'll be out of date "...they were.

What also upset me was that the owner had supplied these photo's to me to place the ad' on the class website, and I'd taken them as representative because I knew how long he'd had the boat and recognised Plymouth in the background, the neglect must have started in quite a determined manner on day one of his ownership !

Needless to say I 'adjusted' the ad' as soon as I was back.

 

[chinita]

Not making excuses, but guess the broker has just listed it and judging by his reaction he had not appreciated how bad it was.

So the broker listed the boat using the vendors photographs and specification. Fair enough if the boat is in Aberdeen.

But, both boat and broker are in Falmouth. What is the excuse for the broker not inspecting the boat i wonder.

 

[KevO]

Mylor actually, both boat and broker's office are in the same boatyard!

And I made the appointment to look at her 2 days beforehand...

 

[Seajet]

I asked about another boat for another prospective buyer ( as he didn't really know the questions to ask ), at an apparently well known broker / boatyard on the East Coast.

" I'd like to know more about the boat ****** "

" Oh yes, she just came in, the boatyard where she was have asked us to look after the sale as we're more set up for that "

" Well I saw her a couple of years ago at ******** Marina in a dreadful state, and you've been advertising her with you for nearly a year "

" Errr..."

" Have you got an inventory for her ? "

" Err, no I don't usually do that " - (the boat was outside his window, what was he charging a percentage for ?!).

" Well at least can you say if she's got basics like an anchor ? "

" Dunno, but anyway we've got a secondhand shop, you could get a cheap anchor there ".

We didn't pursue that one.

 

[Tranona]

So the broker listed the boat using the vendors photographs and specification. Fair enough if the boat is in Aberdeen.

But, both boat and broker are in Falmouth. What is the excuse for the broker not inspecting the boat i wonder.

Yep. Guess you are right, does not seem to deserve the benefit of the doubt.

Incidentally the other one for sale (the one with the forecabin picture) in Scotland is not only in far better nick, has a newish Beta and much lower asking price.

 

[KevO]

Yes, that one has a range of issues too including some interior bulkheads that require retabbing but the broker there has been quite frank in his discussions with me and sent some additional pics which show what he is on about. All backed up by the observations of Spyro... our very helpful local man on the ground

Yes it needs work but is, as you say, cheaper, has a modern engine and doesn't have the collapsing coachroof problem for a start! Does seem to have the stress crazing in the gelcoat in the fore quarters as well though.

 

[chinita]

I was not going to mention this due to KevO's obvious enthusiasm about the Rustler 31 but i recall reading somewhere that, due to an error with the original plug, one side is longer than the other

Perhaps someone can confirm or deny this?

Perhaps it does not make any difference. My Vertue lists to starboard - only by an inch or two - but i notice it. A previous owner countered this with a 56lb weight in a portside cave locker. One year, whilst painting the boot topping, i raised the starboard side by an inch. I couldn't live with that so now I just fill the portside lockers with wine boxes and SWMBO's shoes.

 

[penfold]

Perhaps it does not make any difference. My Vertue lists to starboard - only by an inch or two - but i notice it. A previous owner countered this with a 56lb weight in a portside cave locker. One year, whilst painting the boot topping, i raised the starboard side by an inch. I couldn't live with that so now I just fill the portside lockers with wine boxes and SWMBO's shoes.

Interesting; the old man's Westerly Storm did the same thing, a persistent list to starboard and we could never work out what the cause was. It sailed fine and similarly on both tacks, but irritating none the less.

 

[KevO]

I was not going to mention this due to KevO's obvious enthusiasm about the Rustler 31 but i recall reading somewhere that, due to an error with the original plug, one side is longer than the other

Perhaps someone can confirm or deny this?

Perhaps it does not make any difference. My Vertue lists to starboard - only by an inch or two - but i notice it. A previous owner countered this with a 56lb weight in a portside cave locker. One year, whilst painting the boot topping, i raised the starboard side by an inch. I couldn't live with that so now I just fill the portside lockers with wine boxes and SWMBO's shoes.

You're right mate... a number of people commented that she seemed consistently faster on one tack rather than the other. In an old newsletter found on the Rustler Owners Association newsletter:

"Despite the technical skill and craftsmanship of Bob Hoare the Rustler hull mould was not perfect. When we came to install the first pushpit, made by Lewmar, it did not fit. After much toing and froing to adjust and remake the pushpit it was discovered that the boat was about two inches longer on the starboard side. Henceforth all the pushpits were made on a small section of deck made especially for Lewmar and kept in the welding shop. All Rustler pushpits are lopsided."

 

[Tranona]

Have a soft spot for Rustler 31s as my first experience of "proper" sailing was in one out of Antigua in the days when they were the hot thing to have.

Many boats are not symmetrical. When I worked for Tremlett, our large hull was way out, the result of taking the first mould off a wooden boat, then splitting it down the centreline to insert a panel to widen the beam. Plus a transom insert to set the hull length which never seemed to fit in the right place. Some correction by way of making the water and fuel tanks different sizes P&S!

My Eventide was the first one built to the refined and faired plans, but is stil 1/2" higher one side than the other and has always had a list.

BTW the Anstey Rustlers are probably the only boats built in a corporation bus garage! Still there, having been various other businesses such a tyre depot and windscreen shop in the meantime.

 

[Seajet]

The Anderson 22 as standard exhibits a list to port, as the engine, loo and cooker are all on that side !

I was told this was 'so the owner can always predict which side she'll settle on' which seemed a bit feeble to me, Oliver Lee was a great designer of hulls but as the interior of the similar forerunner of the Anderson, the Hunter 701 was judged poor, two of the Andersons directors' wives designed the interior...

Most owners learned to balance the distribution of kit long ago, we placed the water tank to starboard instead of central while fitting ours out, and I carry stuff like kedge anchors and various kit which stays aboard like fire extinguishers, tools etc to starboard so she evens out.

While racing boats make an effort over weight distribution, one sees a lot of cruisers with a list to some degree when on their moorings.