comments / thoughts / $.02

L

LSP

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27633
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Good evening .... Today I thought that I would be a new / old Trojan boat owner. I've had my eye on a 1976 F32 for awhile. I watched the price drop and drop over the last year. I knew it probably needed some work...but sometimes something catches your eye and you just can't walk away. I'd made a low-ball offer and was accepted. Today the surveyor (along with my wife) went to check out the boat. Here's a rundown of the findings.....Should I walk away? Thoughts?

Engines - 318 chryslers - under 150 hours since repower - good shape
Trans / complete drive train - good shape
small loose stuff...nothing major there
couple bare wires and a couple hoses needed replacing...
Stringers in good shape

Here's the major? issues...
Main bulkhead between engine and cockpit bildges starting to rot
Most forward bulkhead in forward V berth shows signs of rot at the base
Starboard Bow deck running to starboard gunwale starting to rot and needs replacing
Cockpit deck is soft....portside and back corner
Old type fuel tanks...not leaking but suggests replacing

Hmmmmm.....she is 30 years old. Thoughts / comments / suggestions?

Thanks ....
 
Friend of mine had a 1974 F32. Similar issues, he had teak decks which were spongy. Ended up tearing out the decks and sliding door. Had to have a fiberglass company do the work. Don't know oif he had rot in the bow.

I had a 1978 f30 that had some rot in the bow near the anchor feed. It is a cored deck so the wood can get wet.
 
If those bulkheads are indeed rotting, then they need to be replaced, and the work has to be done properly or else the boat will be worth no more than it is with rotting bulkheads. This is a big job, and repairing the decks could be also. Just remember, once you get into it, the project always gets bigger and more complicated, and costs more than you thought it would.
Just my $.02,
Brian
 
I had an F36 which was a great boat with no issues. There are plenty for sale that are in great shape. I would walk away from this one.

my .02
 
There's another way to look at this. What kind of money are we talking about here?
Let's say for sake of argument the guy was asking $35k and you thru him a lowball offer of $25k that he accepted. Now you see what kind of problems you are looking at and he sees what kind of problems he is looking at if he doesn't sell the boat.
What if you could now get it for $15k? For that amount of money, you can probably get 5 years (or more) of use out of the boat without doing anything costly to it. Then when it gets to the point that it's no longer safe, scrap it.
The reason I say this, 14 years ago, we were looking to buy a sailboat. During survey, we found a spot, several square feet, on the deck with bad delamination.
We bought the boat anyway and never did anything to repair the delamination. Sold the boat 4 years later for $500 less than we paid for it and the boat is still in the marina and being used by the guy that bought it from us 10 years ago and he never did anything with the delamination either.
The rot you see can be stopped and it could be years before the problems become really serious.
 
Along cwms's line of reasoning, if the hull is sound, and the engines have only 150 hours since repower, and the $$$ is low, not just low, but really low, and the seller will discount the boat further due to the survey items discovered, then whether you walk away or not depends solely, in my opinion, simply on "how much" you are paying.

By the way, you said "Engines - 318 chryslers - under 150 hours since repower - good shape", does repower mean repowered with new engines, or since rebuild? It would make a difference to me whether or not they are new or rebuilt.
 
Thanks for all the replies. Original offer was 10ish.... after the survey was completed, I can have it for 6K. The engines were rebuilds ....
 
For $6k, you can probably get several good years of use without doing a thing to the boat.
Let's say you bought a newer boat in great shape and paid $50k for it. Heck, it will easily depreciate $6k in 3-4 years.
I say buy the boat. Do some cheap bandaid fixes and enjoy it
 
I would agree with cwms, assuming that for safe and normal operation, not much needs to be done with it. Thast a lot of boat for $6K and some of the work may be manageable. No way to tell without looking at it closely.

For the fuel tanks, are they fiberglass? or some other old style. There are issues with Fiberglass fuel tanks and ethanol fuel you probably don't want to dal with.

Were there any hull isues below the waterline? (delamination, moiture, etc) Those woudl be show stoppers.

Also you will want to search out any areas of water intrusion and at least seal them off.

You may be abel to ask your surveyor "off the record" if he thinks the boat is worth it. I knwo I coudl.

ASlo any items listed as safety? those woudl have to be corrected for insurance purposes
 
Those boats had aluminum fuel tanks so they usually rotted externally if exposed to salt water.

At that price, I agree with what was mentioned. However, if you are looking at it as a long-term deal, then you need to do the repairs beyond a band-aid.
 
Still too hard to know. A little soft wood is not unusual, but it does need to be dealt with. I'm squarely not in the camp of turning a blind eye. Do you have any reasonable calibration on the amount of possible work we are talking about? I've been there, it can consume you.

But the plain economics of the situation are that you are nearly always better off finding an example of a boat that is in tip top condition. It's cheaper to buy without the problems than it is to fix them.

bp
 
If you are up for some grunt work, $6 K is very much worth considering. I really like that boat, and would have purchased one if I could have found one cheap enough.
 
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