New to sailing, opportunity to get a Venture

[tails359]

Hey guys,

Thank you all for the replies, they have been very informative and encouraging. I definitely do not mind doing the restoration work, so I think that is my primary advantage. Its interesting, I feel much more willing to try things myself on this project because of the low initial cost of the boat then I would if I had purchased a more expensive one. I definitely plan to try to do as much of it as I can myself. I do like the idea of parting it out as a backup plan, but hopefully it doesn't come to that.

As for some of the issues that have been brought up, Ill try to address some of them. I definitely will look closely at the trailer, as I have no other method of getting it home. The current owner is going to have his mechanic buddy look at it. I did note the area on the side that you guys say looks like repair filler. I didnt see this up close, as it was right in some thorn bushes when I went to look at it before. I thought perhaps they had begun to sand the bottom then gave up. I will look closely at it next time, what should I be looking for aside from obvious cracks or damage? The owner mentioned the rubrail, but not the bent area of it, again I will look closely next time. Can that kind of bending be repaired? I plan to try and get a look at the keel, and will lower it in shallow water the first time.

To Johnacuda, thank you for the offer, but I am all the way down here in Georgia. I do appreciate it though. I have a lead on a rudder, so hopefully that will work out. To any who are interested, I am on Lake Lanier here in Georgia, anyone on this forum on that lake?

Catigale, I will look for that book, thank you for the suggestion.

Again, I appreciate all the replies. I called the owner today after reading them and I plan to go look at the boat on Wednesday. If I dont see any major issues that I have missed I think I am going to go for it. If that happens, I definitely think I will be a regular here, as it seems like a good group of people.

[Catigale]

Dave ,,just to put that filler issue into perspective, if the boat had a 1 foot crack and hole in the side, it would still be a great deal. Fiberglass repair is easy to learn , cheap to do, and tons of lit and support on doing it here.

If the trailer rolls you home, that's recoverable too - I once saved one buried in a leach field...

[81venture]

Like I said...

At $300 BUY IT!

The sails are worth that or more if the condition is as good as the photos.

Mast, stays, rigging are worth $250 - $300

Unless the trailer is completely rotten it's worth $250 (not sure your states rules regarding titles...here in NC a title adds value)

The boat has a nice bow pulpit that can be removed for your future better condition boat if this one is too much work for you.

I see Money all day in this deal regardless of what you do with it....

I see a donald trump deal on this...and then keep looking for a nicer one,

[Freedom77]

DO NOT PASS GO, DO NOT COLLECT $200. BUY IT NOW!! NEEDS SOME ELBOW GREASE AND TLC BUT FOR THE PRICE I'D BUY FIVE OF 'EM. WHAT PART OF THE WORLD DO YOU LIVE? WE DON'T HAVE ENOUGH MOISTURE HERE TO GET STUFF YUCKY. GOOD LUCK. FAIR WINDS AND FULL SAILS...OLD SALT

[Russ]

Buy it, dunk it in bleach and you will be amazed at how much better it looks.
Once you buy it, you will be required to post update photos.


--Russ

[tails359]

So, an update!

I went to look at the boat again today. I went in my grungy clothes, and spent about two hours crawling through the boat. Thank you to everyone here on this thread and others that gave me ideas of what to look at. Over all, I am pretty pleased with the boat. The owner had to go back to work and left me with the boat, so we were not able to finalize anything. One of the major things that happened is that yesterday I purchased a rudder for the boat. I found an ad of craigslist for a 6 foot tall teak sailboat rudder for fifty bucks. 60 miles of driving out to where the banjos play, netted me a rudder that looked about right for the boat and looks like it really may be made of teak. I rolled the dice and bought it, figuring that two rudder pintles are about 40 bucks off West Marine and that if it is teak the wood alone would be worth something. I figured I would modify the rudder if needed, but it turns out it almost certainly will fit perfectly! We weren't able to drop it in because of the angle of the ground, but the pintle mounts are exactly the same distance apart on the rudder and the boat, and it looks like it will fit. Talk about an omen. So all I need in that department is a tiller handle.

The rest of the boat looks pretty solid. The damage that was noted on the sides is deep gouges, the owner said the previous owner said something about a deck line breaking and it was rubbing on the dock. The PO slapped bondo on it. I checked on the inside of the boat, and there are no obvious cracks or holes. There are a couple of small gaps where the deck and hull meet though, but they are pretty small. The rub rail guide is bent in that area as well.

The keel looks like metal to me. It looks like rust, feels like rust, and looks like it has paint flaking off it. I dont get the feel of resin at all. The keel bolt looks ok, as far as I can tell without removing it, no major rust noted on either end. The keel cable looks pretty good, I didn't note any rust. The keel winch is pretty rusty, but it raised and lowered the keel several inches each way. The keel was stored against the trailer and not hanging by the cable.

The motor mount moves, bending the fiberglass of the transom with only mild effort by hand. I went in and noted that the plywood that the engine mount is thru bolted to on the inside is rotten. The bottom half of the wood plate for the keel is rotten as well. Those look like fairly simple replacement jobs though. Correct me if Im wrong, please. I noted that pretty much all the wood on the boat will have to be replaced at some point. I am unclear if the big bulkheads are load bearing or not. The bottom of the forward bulkhead, by the portapotty, goes all the way down to the hull and was resting in water. It feels rotten, though not as bad as the engine mount. I hope replacing the bulkheads is a matter of pulling them out, making a template, and cutting new ones.

The flotation foam is in place, but some of the aft foam is completely disintegrated. The cabin is very dirty, and foam fluff is everywhere. The cushions are 'new', per the owner were made just a year before he got the boat. They are in really good condition, and all of them are present, even the quarter berth one. The sink and ice box are a mess, but thats just a cleaning job. The portapotty is a joke, it looks like a glorified bucket, and I plan to toss and replace.

All in all, it looks pretty good. Clean up, rebed hardware, replace some wood. For starters anyway. I took a heaping helping of pictures if you guys are interested. Please let me know if you see anything, I would appreciate it!

https://plus.google.com/photos/10627325 ... 5dmF_fmvPA

So, I plan to call the guy back tomorrow. I think I am going to go for it!

[Catigale]

I stopped at about picture 90 - having seen about 2000 USD of sailing hardware on the boat sellable on ebay

If you dont buy the boat tomorrow, Dave from SC will...

[81venture]

I stopped at about picture 90 - having seen about 2000 USD of sailing hardware on the boat sellable on ebay

If you dont buy the boat tomorrow, Dave from SC will...

Damn Skippy I would...

These things are priceless





However at $300 I would buy it for the sails alone, and could easily make my $300 back + profits in less than a week on that boat....

And I live in NC
not SC

Cheers

Dave

And yes, I just went and updated my member status

[Catigale]

There's above and below the mason Dixon line, all the rest is trivial details ....