The story begins in Mid august of 2011 as a co worker who is a current sailboat owner expressed his interest in finding a live aboard sailboat where he and his dogs could reside in our local area of St Petersburg Florida. He then came to me with a listing on Craigslist for a 1980 Columbia 35 ft or 10.7 meter sailboat located in nearby Clearwater Florida. The boat was listed at $6900.00. Well unless it was sinking, this was a great deal. The coworker had one problem. He already owned a smaller sailboat and needed to sell that so he could have the funds to purchase this boat. I agreed to go look at the boat with him to see for myself what its condition was and why it was going for such a small asking price.
We ventured down to the boat with who we thought was the owner of the boat and proceeded to conduct a mini survey of the vessel.
The topside of the boat was in need of cleaning but the sails, the standing rigging and the gelcoat of the boat were in good shape. I was intrigued by the find... Next we ventured into the cabin where it looked like a no one had ventured in 20 years. The cabin was decked out with beautiful but nasty dirty teak wood from floor to portals. The sole of the boat was dry rotting under our feet in one area but the bilge was dry. The cushions were NASTY and needed to be replaced. It also looked as if someone had placed a pan of hot grease on the stove top and let it spatter all over the galley area. There was also some rot of the teak veneer that covered the portal area.... All in all, it was in rehab shape. Perhaps it needed some 12 volt rewiring and new fixtures but it was certainly in good enough shape to rehab and well worth the asking price.
We couldn't tell if any of the 110 worked because there wasn't any power to the dock where the boat was tied up. Nor could we tell if the on board marine air conditioner worked or if the head was in working order... So in short.. we couldn't tell if many of the systems were in working order.
Next we looked at the engine of the boat. it was the original 1980 westebeke diesel inboard. The engine started up immediately and the transmission shifted smoothly in forward and reverse.
The boat was sitting at a dock behind a motel and the water was very shallow. On the day we looked a the boat, the tide was extra low due to the new moon. The boat was resting upright on its keel with the waterline exposed down about 2 feet. The bottom was clean and free of barnacle build up... The owner told me that the bottom had been completely redone a year prior.
All in all this was looking great!! The only issue is that my coworker wouldn't be able to live in it in its current state and it was obvious that it would take several months to rehab to even be able to live aboard. At this point we discussed it and he decided to pass on the boat due to the amount of rehab work that needed to be done to make it a live aboard.
I went home that afternoon and couldn't get the boat out of my head. It was such a great find and was in super sailing condition. So I decided to take a leap of faith and purchase the boat myself. Since my wife works at a marina I would be able to bring the boat there and rehab it myself over the next several months. I planned to also sail it and enjoy the boat before I re listed it for sale after the rehab....
I contacted the owner and agreed to buy the boat for the asking price of $6900.00.
Stay tuned for the next entry. I am off today to purchase the boat and make it official.
No comments:
Post a Comment