Advice on Project Catamaran

[Nick Stephens]

I just had a friend stop by... a guy I know really well, worked side by side with him for a few years. He's done more boat related work recently though. rebuilt a brown tri, built a pretty sweet salmon trawler recently. I saw what he did in 3 months on the hard. he suggested just chopping off the hulls at or around the waterline, sistering up the bulkheads and strip planking the hulls. Yup. these are the types of friends I have. you guys probably think that's completely crazy right? not sold on the idea, just mentioning it. Still looking at 40ft+ monos and some tris...I'm using searchtempest and sailboat listings..are there any other good sites?

[Krogensailor]

Stay where you are. Buy $1k of marine fir ply. $3k barrel of west resin. $3k Western red cedar. $1k stock cat plan. Build a boat. Will be cheaper, faster, way more fun, and you won't hate yourself in the end. That boat in that picture is a piece of ****. It's fire wood. Nufsaid by me. Peace out.

[I.Grind]

The Flyin' Hawaiian is for sale in Sausalito if you are truly hell bent for a POS cat that needs serious work.

[Nick Stephens]

hahaha.. I have been looking at that one.. not to buy of course, but its entertainment factor is through the roof. it's like the redneck kon tiki. actually, that's an insult to Thor

[Redreuben]

Originally Posted by Krogensailor

Stay where you are. Buy $1k of marine fir ply. $3k barrel of west resin. $3k Western red cedar. $1k stock cat plan. Build a boat. Will be cheaper, faster, way more fun, and you won't hate yourself in the end. That boat in that picture is a piece of ****. It's fire wood. Nufsaid by me. Peace out.

Agree, except for the fir plywood, only use that to build your own piece of ****.

[Zach]

Actually... Yachtworld is a good web site to check. You are looking at a budget of 30k. Look around at the asking price closer to 40, round of a third of the asking price, and come up with a value you believe it would sell for and be fair to both the owner and yourself. Then decide what you would be willing to pay. If you find a broker that enjoys walking the docks with you, they can pull up the recent sold prices of those boats in similar condition.

When you find, specifically, what brand, model and length you want, keep an eyeball on 15 or so different boats that are close enough to be local. Go down and look at them, and find the best of the bunch as far as condition goes. Spend an afternoon on each, look them over as a self survey. You'll be looking at a price range, driven by the budget... But you want the budget to buy a boat you can sail today with minimum investment in "Fixing" things.

Put in an offer on each at what you've got to spend... and wait. You'll get counter offers back, for what the owners would close today. While you are waiting, keep working and saving. If it takes you 6 months to get an offer accepted, you've got another couple thousand in savings for the boat. Repeat the offer process, or revisit those still on the market. Some of them drop out of listings, but haven't sold. You can follow them around to ebay and back. Just keep your eyes open, and a short list of which ones you want and don't hurry it. If it will take you a few months to fix a project so it can move under its own power, walk away for a few months and see what else is out there.

You could have snagged a condor 40 trimaran for less than 16k up in Maine earlier this year. There was another down in North Carolina floating around 40. There are a half a dozen west sail 32's out and about with asking prices below 40 down around Florida. I walked away from a Norsea 27 for 13k a few years ago... (Boat poor at that moment. Would have been a nice way to polish up and make 30 or 40k off it.) There are a few Prout Mongooses around with asking prices under 40k.

Here is a Piver asking 29k. 40ft Piver Trimaran

Don't buy a project, that is a dead end. Unless you want to marry the boat, and will never sell it, ever... A cold molded plywood cat or tri, with no name recognition from the designer and no pedigree will be worth about the same as what you pay for her as a project. Even after, all the blood sweat and tears you pour in and hundred dollar bills you put in. Boats aren't investments, but that doesn't mean you can't at least hold some of the value by buying a boat with a pedigree, and not a project that will take your budget and everything else you've got to spend.

Give yourself the opportunity, to buy a boat that you don't have to work on for the next few years instead of sailing... and buy one at a price, that even if you spit polish it and sail it to somewhere where there is demand for that boat, you can convert it back into boat bucks and either have the use of the boat for free for the time... Or even make a little off it.

If you buy a boat with the mindset that every "project" on board is 2 days of actual labor, and a week or two of materials hunting. Anything larger than that deducts drastically from the price. You want 20 an hour, for how ever many days its going to take to fix it. Bad water tanks? Hmm... Deck recore... Hmm. There are a lot of boats out there, keep walking.

You really can't make anything off a project boat, that should be free, or they should charge you to take it using the 20 an hour rule. Unless it has a big lead keel that is going to scrap. There aren't very many boats, that are total derelicts that will come back to life without spending far more than they are worth to make back into cherries in materials alone... That isn't to say there are none out there, just... very few.

The sort or projects you can buy and perhaps earn something back for your labor are things like blown engines... That still turn, and haven't sunk. Or Dismasted... but a common boat, that you can find a mast within driving range off a local derelict in a boat yard.

At the end of it, for 4k you can buy a drum of resin and hardener... Or you can go find a Hunter or Catalina 27 with a Yanmar and a propane range and heater and go sailing today. Keep saving up, and then when you've got it to buy what you want... Sell it, get your 4k back and go buy a boat that isn't a project. As an aside, the Hunter or Catalina 27, is downright cavernous inside the hulls in comparison to a wharram or hughes without a main salon tying the two hulls together.

[snort]

Just needs a little tidying up. A weekend; no more.

[Nick Stephens]

LUCKY DAY! the thing sold... so, I either missed out on a dream or a nightmare, only time will tell. It will be interesting to see what actually happens with the boat.

(kinda surprised someone bought it to be honest)

[smj]

Originally Posted by Nick Stephens

LUCKY DAY! the thing sold... so, I either missed out on a dream or a nightmare, only time will tell. It will be interesting to see what actually happens with the boat.

(kinda surprised someone bought it to be honest)

You'll probably always wonder about that boat. Should I have bought it? Would it have been my dream boat? The person who bought it may have saved you a lot of money, time and mental aggravation. No telling, but if you think of it that way it will save you a lot of the painful thoughts!

[boatman61]

Raise a glass to the gods of good fortune...

[Nick Stephens]

yup... not too stressed about it. I'm a very logical man. I know I could have hat it in the water and under way after a year and 30k and been pretty happy with my accomplishment, but the fact will always remain. It would never be worth as much as I would need to put into it. That fact was slowly dawning on me. So in the end. eh. I keep looking.I hardly ever buy what I first set my eyes on anyways. now I'm looking at some massive 40ft+ monohulls though.... had to punch myself in the eye for looking twice at a ferro hull

[HappyMdRSailor]

Originally Posted by Nick Stephens

yup... not too stressed about it. I'm a very logical man. I know I could have hat it in the water and under way after a year and 30k and been pretty happy with my accomplishment, but the fact will always remain. It would never be worth as much as I would need to put into it. That fact was slowly dawning on me. So in the end. eh. I keep looking.I hardly ever buy what I first set my eyes on anyways. now I'm looking at some massive 40ft+ monohulls though.... had to punch myself in the eye for looking twice at a ferro hull

Make sure you got yourself real good... Take a picture... And carry it in your wallet....

[Redreuben]

Originally Posted by HappyMdRSailor

Make sure you got yourself real good... Take a picture... And carry it in your wallet....

LMFAO

[s/v Beth]

Nick- that boat was probably the equivalent of going out with an axe murder- could of been real good, but most likely would have ended badly. I wouldn't wonder too long. Lots of other boats in the sea....
BTW- since Catalinas are so available and cheap-
Anyone take the bottom off a 27(the lead is always trying to fall off anyway and is worth more than 3k) and make two floats- one on either side for a Cat 27 tri? Seems like you could be in business for less than 10 K!

[blewett_john]

NIck,

Look at the pictures on my site, link below. There are many unexpected surprises during a restoration. I've got about $10k in mine just to get the hulls seaworthy. I've done nothing above the gunwhales. Also, I live in RI where there are numerous boat supply stores. Everything I need is within a 20 minute drive. No shipping charges, many discounts, numerous consignment stores. Plan to spend about triple what you estimate.