Want To Buy: Project Boat: Engineless 35'ish blue water cruiser project

[senormechanico]

Free wood boat, freshly sunk yesterday.
Local pickup only.

[endoftheroad]

Originally Posted by Max Sail

Looking for a project blue water cruiser cheap. Hoping to find some sort of older leaky teaky Cheoy Lee, Hans Christian, Tayana sort of boat.

Considering putting in an electric drive, so one with a shot engine might be a good fit.

Hoping to pay somewhere between free and 10k, depending on condition.

Any leads appreciated.

There is a Westsail 32 in Key West thats been sitting in the mooring field unnatended for a couple years. I met the young juvenile couple that own the boat. I heard they wanted something like 6k for it. I tried contacting them through their blog to let them know that their "string" that someone used to tie the boat when it broke free in a tropical storm is getting thin.
The boat is a discrace to Westsail's. It's a kit boat, has a flush cockpit....yes, no footwell. The kids are scatterbrained.
But, its a legendary bluewater hull, and a bird sanctuary now for a couple years.
Their blog is stevenjen or something like that. Add Westsail 32 when searching and you should find the blog if your interested. You should be able to get the boat for a song as a song is all its worth. If you do contact them tell them that I'm ashamed of them.

edit; just found the blog,http://stevenjen.us/sv-lady-slipper

cheers

[senormechanico]

Originally Posted by senormechanico

Free wood boat, freshly sunk yesterday.
Local pickup only.

Actually, it sank this morning.
I just returned from helping get an oil boom containment around it.
Why people own a POS like this is mystifying to me.

[endoftheroad]

Originally Posted by senormechanico

Actually, it sank this morning.
I just returned from helping get an oil boom containment around it.
Why people own a POS like this is mystifying to me.

Whereabouts?

[Kettlewell]

I probably shouldn't ask, but have you been trolling Craigs List, eBay, and any boatyards within a 100-mile radius? That's where you'll find the real bargains--particularly a certain type of boatyard--you'll know it when you see it. These project boat boatyards are getting rarer as the cost of waterfront property goes up, so another thing to do is drive the streets in communities close to the water. I always spot some forlorn looking sailboat in someone's driveway with a plastic tarp that has long-since turned into blue confetti. These boats also sometimes turn up on the bulletin boards of yacht clubs or boatyards.

Edit: I think I see you advertising on the Muskegon CL. Good luck! Some of my first sailing was out of Pentwater.

[gjordan]

50 mile range= 1 dead calm night of motoring, and by morning your batteries are flat. The sun has to be up for a few hours to get much charge rate(low angles dont give much charge) and then, running the motor will use almost everything coming into the system, so that the batteries will take a long time to charge fully(if they do at all with the motor running). If they are not fully charged by nightfall your range will be even less than 50 miles. Yep! sounds like a really great system.____Grant.

[Kettlewell]

A lot of people have sailed around the world and all sorts of places without an engine (Slocum, Pardey, etc.). Can't we assume that the OP knows there are limitations and plans on working around them? Back in the day, a lot of people with engines only carried a small amount of fuel, and only planned on using the motor to get in and out of ports they couldn't sail in and out of, or in an emergency. Nowadays most cruising sailboats are really motorsailors, whether their owners call them that or not.

[mbianka]

Originally Posted by Kettlewell

A lot of people have sailed around the world and all sorts of places without an engine (Slocum, Pardey, etc.). Can't we assume that the OP knows there are limitations and plans on working around them? Back in the day, a lot of people with engines only carried a small amount of fuel, and only planned on using the motor to get in and out of ports they couldn't sail in and out of, or in an emergency. Nowadays most cruising sailboats are really motorsailors, whether their owners call them that or not.

Indeed!
DOESN'T ANYBODY SAIL ANYMORE? - YouTube

[Anonymous7500]

Originally Posted by Max Sail

Looking for a project blue water cruiser cheap.....

Hoping to pay somewhere between free and 10k, depending on condition.

Any leads appreciated.

What part of Michigan are you in? I will be in the Saugatuck and Holland areas this weekend and can take a look around. That is, unless you have already been through these areas.

[Andrew Troup]

"It might be easier to get some leads..." - post #12

I did a double take here. I was thinking you'd need LONG leads to run electric boat propulsion from shore power...

Seriously though:

I wouldn't turn my nose up at a 50 mile range, given that the 'tank' can spontaneously refill.

Even propulsion which can run just long enough to get me from a sheltered cove out to where a few knots of breeze are blowing is a major bonus. Or save my bacon if the boat misses stays in a tight spot, or if I misjudge an approach under sail to a pier...

I'll take a sailboat anyday, over a power boat.

And... silence really is golden.

[gjordan]

I agree that many people have sailed around the world without a motor, or with a very small motor. Eric Hiscock is a classic example in that in his second circumnavigation he doubled the size of his motor. He went from a 4HP motor to an 8HP motor in his 30 foot boat. In his next two boats he had what are now considered normally sized motors. He had gained thousands of miles of experience and chose to have reasonable power and fuel. He said that every sailorman should have the experience of going through the doldrums under sail, but once was enough. I have done it twice under sail alone and once with a very limited fuel supply, and can say it was wonderful, but would I plan to do it again? Not unless I had to! My opinion about not going electric for a cruising boat comes from reading many posts on CF and watching the electric boats for sale on Ebay and Craigslist. Electric boats seem to sit unsold for a long time , or go for very cheap. A 50 mile range is great if your are a stoic/purist but not very practical for long distance cruising. I wonder how the Bacon and Eggs cook on the electric stove after a night of motoring? As I said before, Just another opinion._____Grant

[SURV69]

That's a great looking boat.

ANYONE who likes to push water with their bow, will not like or trust electric.

I know sailors who motor out 2-3 miles and motor in 2-3 miles and they always try to get more speed than hull-speed.

There's a certain speed a boat can move at without much effort at all. My Mcgregor was computed to be something like 2+knots.

I've since forgotten the formula and I can't find the book that gave the formula for what was called(in the book), "natural speed". It's a computation that takes friction as a large portion of the final result. It involves the weight of the boat, the depth the boat sits in the water, the type hull, the roundness of the belly and I think the length, but if I remember right the length becomes part of the computation of the wetted surface only.

I'm willing to bet that an electric boat that could traverse 10 miles at near hull-speed, could probably go 5 . . . maybe 10 times that far at hull speed with no wind hitting the rigging from the front.

Maybe only people with "time", can truly enjoy electric motors for what they give to the sailor in quiet serenity...

[Max Sail]

Originally Posted by Anonymous7500

What part of Michigan are you in? I will be in the Saugatuck and Holland areas this weekend and can take a look around. That is, unless you have already been through these areas.

I'm in GR. I was out prowling torenseen in Muskegon last weekend. Let me know if you come across something! Thanks!

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by gjordan

50 mile range= 1 dead calm night of motoring, and by morning your batteries are flat. The sun has to be up for a few hours to get much charge rate(low angles dont give much charge) and then, running the motor will use almost everything coming into the system, so that the batteries will take a long time to charge fully(if they do at all with the motor running). If they are not fully charged by nightfall your range will be even less than 50 miles. Yep! sounds like a really great system.____Grant.

You make a fair point - and of course that restriction on range would not suit everybody (including you), but it will for some.

The "answer" in the case you describe is simply to wait for the wind! rather than to flatten the batteries (albeit probably also a bit of slow running) - that won't fit if you need to be back to work on Monday etc, but if not then perfectly doable (whether desirable for "you" is a seperate matter). In any event, on a shorter passage it would be a matter of picking the weather a bit more carefully (to include some wind!) - on a longer one (outside weather predictions) likely that would not involve any land that might suddenly need 8 hours of power to avoid, in any case the "answer" would be to ensure that the boat was not placed in a position where it might take 8 hours of power to get away from danger - the price of that is once again time....some can pay that price, some can't.....if "you" can't then EP is not for "you" - and nothing wrong with that.

But I certainly agree that EP would knock the desirability of a boat (and it's resale value) - likely that as much to do with systems pretty much being DIY, at least in the decisions on what bits to fit onboard, time might cure that as more "off the shelf" complete systems become used.......but (IMO) likely not.........again, a compromise that not everyone can make...........but EP does not have to be suitable for everyone / every boat / every use to make EP viable for some.

Anyway, the above really just a thread bump for OP!

[mbianka]

Having had converted to electric propulsion in 2008 I have to shake my head at all the negativity about it's use in a cruising sailboat. I would encourage the OP to go for it. I cruise the same places I did when I had the Westerbeke 27 diesel on board. Only the boat is and smells a lot cleaner. Have not had to clean the exhaust off the stern in six years. Maintenance is minimal. So are the spare parts I need to carry. Best of all it operates so very quietly. So even after 10 hours of motoring one is not as fatigued as listening and feeling the vibration from a diesel.
I agree if one wants a pure electric play you will need time and a lot of solar for charging. I prefer a three legged stool approach using solar, wind and a Honda 2000 generator. Of course dock power is also another option. But, I'm usually on a mooring or at anchor. It works well on so many levels. Another thing is there are so many ways to use electric propulsion. For example if the winds are light I just add a touch of propulsion to negate any prop drag and get a nice bump in speed without the noise of starting a diesel or expense of a folding prop. Doldrums? You could charge during the day and motor at night or with a Honda or other generator in the mix you could motor when ever you wanted. With EP you've got a lot more options for moving the boat in all kinds of winds. There's more benefits but, I'll stop here.