For Sale: 33' Fiberglass Classic Gaff Schooner

[Hawkeye]

I am presently emptying out and cleaning up my custom built Schooner. It will be put up for sale and this ad is an early post for those who might be interested, and interested enough to want to strike a deal before everything is done, making it possible to get it at a lower price and complete the details as they see fit.

Here is a video of it under sail heading for Marathon a few months ago.

I am trying to upload both a video and a photo and don't seem to be having any luck, but we'll see. Probably a good idea I started this early.

The boat is massively thick with a sheer of 3/4", waterline of 1 1/4", and the overlap at the bottom of the keel results in 3 inches of solid fiberglass. She holds 7700 pounds of internal lead ballast and displaces about 22,000 pounds. There are two fuel tanks holding 55 gallons each, three water tanks holding a total of 85 gallons, and a 25 gallon built in holding tank.

The engine is a 4 cylinder Pathfinder Diesel - based on the Volkwagen Diesel engine - of 1.6L, 52 HP and 74 FTLBs of torque. The Hurth gearbox is 3.0:1 in forward and turns an 18x15 3 blade RH Michigan Wheel Prop, brand new 4 years ago. At 2200 RPM the boat makes 5.5 to 5.8 Knots and burns about 0.66 gallons per hour.

Under sail alone she runs up to 8.2 knots with 20 knots of wind and 4 FT following seas, quite comfortably. On a broad reach in 15 Knots she'll scoot along at about 7.4 to 7.5 knots, not healing more than 10 degrees or so.

Her beam is 12.5 feet and she draws about 5 feet, depending on loading. I have had her heavily overloaded - making for a real comfortable ride - but probably drawing 63 inches.

The deck is insulated below with 2 1/2" of rigid foam insulation under a laminated, strip built deck of just under an inch. The cabin roof is about 1 1/4 inches of laminated strip planks and another 1/2 inch of rigid foam insulation.

Portholes are Harken Stainless Steel 6 x 14" units, 8, with 4 on each side, and there is a 22" square Bomar deck hatch with a new 3/8" thick lens. This boat does not leak anywhere - not above or below. I have lived very comfortably on it for most of the past 28 years.

Up forward is an Ideal vertical windlass with both drum and gypsy, with a new dual direction motor and my own version of a remote control that operates in both directions from anywhere on the boat. Two huge, overbuilt stainless steel anchor davits hold the 45 pound Spade primary, on 216 feet off 5/16" BBB chain, and the new 33 pound Delta, on 208 feet of the same size chain. There are also two add-on 5/8 inch 3 strand nylon rodes of about 150 to 165 feet up forward in rode lockers to be added to the chain if needed.

In the back are a 30 pound Danforth HT and a 22 pound Bruce, in separate lockers with both chain and rode, ready to deploy.

The boat drives it self under either power or sail, steered by an Autohelm 6000 Autopilot. There is a spare head for this unit. A new Autohelm ST40 Depth sounder with a far forward mounted transducer has always been reliable.

The boat has a full - though old - mainsail, and new foresail and jib. There is also a small, old inner jib, but I have only run it once. It works fine, but with full hull speed achieved with the big 3 up, why bother?

I have a solar array of two 210 watt panels built into a hardtop, and two 250 watt panels put right over them, for a total of 500 watts of solar power while sailing or motoring, and 920 watts when at anchor. The two top panels require only about a minute each to slide out and deploy at anchor. This solar array feeds a battery bank of 12 size 31, 2 volt AGM Deep Cycle batteries of 630 AH each. Bolted into two 12 volt batteries, residing beneath the cabin sole and right atop the lead keel, this arrangement gives me all the power I could ever want while on the hook. This will only go with the boat if someone really wants it. I do not expect you to, so it is coming with me, as well as the Outback Solar charge controller, the brand new Balmar AT 165 amp alternator, and the new Balmar external regulator. I just spent almost $8000 for this equipment and I do not see anyone being willing to pay for it. Therefore, it will be going into my new motorhome.

I will be adding a page to my own website where I can post dozens of pictures and explain anything in detail. The boat needs a bottom job, but I figure only to haul it out and take care of that when a serious buyer is here and we can go over everything in detail, in our own time, and to the prospective buyers complete satisfaction.

This boat is not really for someone who wants to scoot over to the Bahamas to see what it's like there. Those people will be happier with an Albin Vega, a good Cheribini Hunter, or an old Pearson. Less money, points to the wind, and easy to sell when you're ready. This boat get massive attention on the water by everyone. She is beautiful and powerful and comfortable (as long as your 5' 10" or less). She is a standout even among other Schooners and would always be a crowd favorite in the Chesapeake Bay Great Schooner Race. This boat is for someone who is ready to be a little physical - you have haul both throat and peak halyards together to deploy the main and fore sails, and be prepared to lower sails early. I have sailed this boat alone and don't mind it at all, but I'm 66 now and it's beginning to be a bit more work than I like. With another person on board, it would be fine.

Learning to trim these sails to get the most out of her does not take much time. Always remember to put the engine in reverse after shutting it off, or you will hear the big prop whizzing away down there - bad for the gearbox.

Everything on the boat works and she is absolutely ready to head off to wherever your home is right now, but I'd really like to get her empty, clean, and get some fresh paint on different places. She looks a little used and I don't like it.

Message me here, however that's done, and we can start talking by email. Thanks for looking, I'll be updating this as I get used to it.

[tropicalescape]

Gotta love that Gaff rig,nice looking set of sails...

[MTLandlocked]

That is a beautiful rig

And in what price range about are we talking here? I wouldn't have the foggiest idea of where to even start.

[boatman61]

Nice looking boat...

[Hawkeye]

Price will be between $40K and $50K, depending on what is left with the boat. There is an 8 ft sailing dinghy, a 1600 gal/day watermaker, as well as the solar array, batteries, Outback solar charger, 2500 Watt Inverter, Balmar alternator and regulator, complete propane system including 2 aluminum tanks, Garmin GPS Chart 545, Charles 50 amp 3-bank battery charger, hot water heater and on and on. I realized people are used to seeing everything as being 'part of the boat' and think they should be there at no additional cost. Usually, the 'extras' left on used boats amount to so much junk: dead sails, trash lines, rusty tools, 20 year old electronics, played out pumps and secondary systems. Many sellers even point to this crap as being items of 'added value'. After almost 30 years in yacht service, I declare it to be dumpster fill and think most experienced sailors will agree. I would much prefer a clean, empty boat without shallow offerings or useless spares. Most people will want to buy their own 'extras' at their own pace and after their own research. I have spent well over $10,000 just recently on some of these new systems and have no intention of leaving them behind only to buy the same things again in the coming months, especially if someone buying the boat has no use for them and sells them off himself. I mean, I can do that right now if I wanted to.

[SkiprJohn]

Pretty under sail.