FREE, or close to free!

[liquidice]

Originally Posted by Don C L

Well to quote Miracle Max in Princess Bride, "I've seen woyse."

Now a good size shallow draft boat for gunkholing in estuaries and coastally? Tandem centerboards! Rare and great for teaching how to steer and balance a boat without the rudder! A good scrubbing, some paint... some kids who want to learn some woodworking and mechanical skills... someone with a crane and a flatbed truck who wouldn't mind volunteering to a good cause for a weekend to get her to a yard, a yard that wouldn't mind helping out by giving a good rate on long term storage for a bunch of kids, maybe a scout ship, to bring her back to life?... I can see it.

It's ALL about the dream. That's why we are all here.

I’m definitely all about the dream, and the skill building (and the young people -building) along the way.

I also think the twin keels looks and sounds ideal. A very cool concept.

That being said, I’d say this particular diamond is rough enough to be more expensive than free, which has been a running theme of the thread.

Check out this 24’ Westerly Pageant at $7,000.

https://chicago.craigslist.org/nwc/b...564694068.html

Now I know that 32’ is a lot of a lot more boat than 24’, but a similar seeming 26’ Westerly Centaur made the Atom Voyages good old boats list. I also know that $7,000 is a lot more than free. I’m just pointing it out because I don’t know if $7,000 would be enough to revive that free boat. It does, however, appear to be enough to drive away with a sturdy looking boat on a trailer, ready for adventure.





The $7,000 challenge? Where is the tipping point? I guess it changes for each person, each time, for each boat. Is $7,000 too much to be almost free? Is $5,000? I’m a thrifty fellow (I do have Larry at the Larsen yard in Waukegan give me a thumbs up for rigging integrity and general safety check before I launch each season. He’s the man) and I got my little Capri 25 and her trailer for $1,200 off Craigslist some years ago. I learned how to fix up old 2 stroke outboards in the off seasons, which is definitely a huge cost savings.
My annual mooring charge is almost as expensive as the boat was. Combined with the separate location winter storage/haul/launch package, it is definitely more expensive to have the boat than it was to buy it. I have ambitions to explore beyond Lake Michigan- a sturdier boat is in order. Something from that Atom Voyages list, or similar. If I would’ve known then what I know now, I might’ve snagged a lot more boat for a little more money, with similar holding costs. But it got me back sailing and now my sons are sailors too and it mightn’t have happened if I didn’t have the boat when I did. I might’ve missed the window. So it’ll work out. Apparently there are always new old boats!

More introspection then I had set out for...

[Don C L]

That Capri with a trailer for $1200 sounds like a god deal to me! And that is a good first boat and a really good boat for the whole family to learn on!

[liquidice]

Originally Posted by Don C L

That Capri with a trailer for $1200 sounds like a god deal to me! And that is a good first boat and a really good boat for the whole family to learn on!

It’s been amazing. I’ve learned so much. I sailed in dinghies through youth sailing as a kid and in high school. That was +\- 20 years ago. I was actually looking for a Laser when I found my boat! Now I’ve been able to teach my sons and one of my brothers how to steer and they’re learning how to sail. I was lucky to meet a very good guy as the p.o. and he was straightforward about everything he had done, many nice touches such as upgraded spring loaded boom vang, reinforced chainplate mountings, newer sails, but it was storage time again for him, he’d had a positive life change and had been on the hard for the third season in a row and he was done.

It sails just like a heavy 420 (the dinghy of choice for Chicago youth sailing). I feel totally comfortable up to 25 knots with a full reef and the 110 jib. Past that... I just worry about the mast bending or the motor mount snapping off or something else that would amount to a season-shortening or season-ending outing. The boat could probably take it, and I do love playing in the waves and seeing how high we can get the knot meter to spin up to on a reach, but the fear is there, so I stay in the harbor at 30 kts and up.

[panglaodave]

Originally Posted by liquidice

I’m definitely all about the dream, and the skill building (and the young people -building) along the way.

Free isn't free if it's just a bare shell

I think it was in the book STEEL AWAY, a book about building and outfitting steel yachts, that it mentioned that hull & deck was only about 1/3 of the cost to get to sail away stage.

Another 1/3 for propulsion sail/power and final 1/3 for fittings/furnishings

So, even with free hull, figure a big spend for a 32' rig and fittings

BTW - Green Cove Springs used to be a nice place to work on boats.....low key, inexpensive, friendly circa 1995/6

Green Cove Springs Marina - The Cruiser's Homeport

[hamburking]

Not a lot of info given in the ad, but free Westerly Nomad in a little town about 1 hour NE of Toronto Canada. This looks like a world cruiser for sure!

https://www.kijiji.ca/v-sailboat/kaw...ationFlag=true

From the ad:

Free for the taking. I have a 21ft Westerley Nomad Sailboat. It still needs some work but slot is done. Lots of good stuff in great shape but need to be finished. Has to be removed from my garage but yours for free.... Great boat for someone with the imagination and drive.

[john61ct]

Won't last long, the above Pageant's already gone

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by liquidice

Attachment 168739

It’s been amazing. I’ve learned so much. I sailed in dinghies through youth sailing as a kid and in high school. That was +\- 20 years ago. I was actually looking for a Laser when I found my boat! Now I’ve been able to teach my sons and one of my brothers how to steer and they’re learning how to sail. I was lucky to meet a very good guy as the p.o. and he was straightforward about everything he had done, many nice touches such as upgraded spring loaded boom vang, reinforced chainplate mountings, newer sails, but it was storage time again for him, he’d had a positive life change and had been on the hard for the third season in a row and he was done.

It sails just like a heavy 420 (the dinghy of choice for Chicago youth sailing). I feel totally comfortable up to 25 knots with a full reef and the 110 jib. Past that... I just worry about the mast bending or the motor mount snapping off or something else that would amount to a season-shortening or season-ending outing. The boat could probably take it, and I do love playing in the waves and seeing how high we can get the knot meter to spin up to on a reach, but the fear is there, so I stay in the harbor at 30 kts and up.

The Capri 25 is another one of those small racing sailboats that has completed the SHTP Race from San Francisco to Hawaii which is 2000 miles plus. The one that did it won it's division in 1986. They gave it a PHRF of 168 which compares pretty closely to fin keel sailboats of 30'-31' as far as speed

History of Singlehanded TransPac

[liquidice]

Originally Posted by thomm225

The Capri 25 is another one of those small racing sailboats that has completed the SHTP Race from San Francisco to Hawaii which is 2000 miles plus. The one that did it won it's division in 1986. They gave it a PHRF of 168 which compares pretty closely to fin keel sailboats of 30'-31' as far as speed

History of Singlehanded TransPac

Awesome! Cool to know. It’s fun to sail and it feels fast. I haven’t gotten back into any racing yet but I’ve learned that every sailboat is racing every other sailboat, to some degree, the whole time you’re under sail.

On my friend’s first outing on the boat, he was steering and we were passing Navy Pier going south in Chicago, along with all the summer traffic. Even though he was very new to sailing, my friend “got it”, comparing our speed and heading with everyone else’s, seeing the tack we were on and understanding that one of the boats that was going faster that was below us would inevitably have to tack for the breakwater and pass us well astern while we sailed on.

I guess it could have happened on any boat but the memory is so crystal, seeing the appraising gaze that I’ve seen so many racing captains get, glancing about from boat to boat, while still steering, reassessing the set of the sail and cursing the chop. There was a bigger boat, overloaded with ten shirtless meatheads on the deck, and he just had to beat them. We weren’t racing them, but we were. He started quoting lines from the movie One Crazy Summer, which I remembered featured a big boat race at the end. It was great, and he learned so much about controlling the boat, and reading the situation, and maintaining speed and heading in the short term while planning for the long term... you know, sailing! When the meathead boat tried too hard to pinch up, they lost their speed, right as they came on the wind shadow from the downtown buildings. We sailed off and my buddy was thrilled.

I went on at length about this but it gets back to the meat of the thread- free or almost free!

I see a lot of posts from people asking about how to get started on their sailing dream and how much money do you need, and which boat is the best for cruising. Some of the people end up getting lots of great responses from some of the moderators and people who have been using this forum for years to actually communicate as they cruise (!) with tons of knowledge and insight. Some people get limited responses just because. Other people get flamed, usually with just cause.

The way that I am getting started on my cruising dream is by having gotten a $1200 boat on craigslist, getting me and my family and some great friends good at sailing the boat off it’s mooring and back on Lake Michigan for a few summers, hopefully with some longer trips this year, and doing all the things necessary to make that happen, including becoming an outboard whisperer. I launch Saturday in Waukegan for the third season of sailing my boat. My sons are now 12 and 14 and are into it. My hope is that as they get older we can keep sailing together, perhaps to farther shores. I feel like it’s a lot more likely to happen now since it’s become a part of our lives.

Nice $3000 hunter 27 here, fresh to market

https://greenbay.craigslist.org/boa/...572771520.html

This kittiwake also at $3000 has a nice looking keel and an outboard in a well:

https://milwaukee.craigslist.org/boa...553562691.html

[jefjo]

Quick free boat post before I go to work. Needs to be hauled out of the yard, but Hull is surrounded by water so I don't imagine you'd have to haul it far to get it in the water! If it's in the condition shown in the picture this is an excellent "free" boat!!

https://boston.craigslist.org/sob/bo...575248624.html

[Scout 30]

Originally Posted by hamburking

Not a lot of info given in the ad, but free Westerly Nomad in a little town about 1 hour NE of Toronto Canada. This looks like a world cruiser for sure!

https://www.kijiji.ca/v-sailboat/kaw...ationFlag=true

From the ad:

Free for the taking. I have a 21ft Westerley Nomad Sailboat. It still needs some work but slot is done. Lots of good stuff in great shape but need to be finished. Has to be removed from my garage but yours for free.... Great boat for someone with the imagination and drive.

This is a really great little pocket cruiser & could be a real score. Someone in the area needs to check this out & post more pics!

[liquidice]

Catalina 27 , trailer and dinghy for $1500 looking nice.

https://stlouis.craigslist.org/boa/d...554598399.html

Looking sharp.

[Don C L]

Originally Posted by liquidice

Catalina 27 , trailer and dinghy for $1500 looking nice.

https://stlouis.craigslist.org/boa/d...554598399.html

Looking sharp.

That's a good deal. With trailer and Zodiac? That's the nicest looking A4 I've ever seen! Now it just has to be put back in.

[liquidice]

Originally Posted by Don C L

That's a good deal. With trailer and Zodiac? That's the nicest looking A4 I've ever seen! Now it just has to be put back in.

It did look nice didn’t it? The ad states that is a different a4 from the one in the boat, but that the owner included it because he knows how to rebuild A4’s and does rebuild like the one shown on the bench from a different rebuild, so we can infer that the one that’s in the boat is in good shape because he says it is and he has pictures of another rebuilt motor on his workbench to prove it. Sounds kooky now that I’m writing it, but actually that’s about the best endorsement for a craigslist motor/boat with motor that I’ve seen in a while. Definitely better than “owner states motor ran when it was put on the hard four years ago”.

I’ve seen comparable prices for just the dinghy!

[Bdozz]

Here's a good one

[jefjo]

SO many new boats posted recently I can't keep up!

Free, you haul it out....
https://providence.craigslist.org/bo...578697320.html

A decent 27' Hunter (LOADS of these out there)
https://providence.craigslist.org/bo...571990616.html

And another...
https://southcoast.craigslist.org/bo...580019691.html

One more. (The best of the imo)
https://southcoast.craigslist.org/bo...552088735.html