Buying a 20-year old boat with rust

[L Taylor]

I am look at buying a 20-year-old 42-foot ex-fishing trawler. It has a fair bit of surface rust on the deck and a fair bit of flaking about the bilges. What visual signs of serious rust problems should I be looking for in a second-hand steel boat and is it worth getting the hull ultra-sounded?

[longliner45]

a professinal boat surveyor at this time will be money well spent, Even a expirianced sailor could benifit from this,,,good luck .longliner

[PAR]

Most working craft (fishing boats, etc.) have lived a hard, long life after 20 years of service. If it seems like a real deal, then you'll probably get what you pay for, a rust bucket. John (LongLiner) is quite correct and I second the motion to have a survey performed, or you may have little more then a steel tub to toss thousand dollar bills into as you take a bath. I perform surveys and you can expect to pay a professional for several hours of expertise and effort.

[L Taylor]

Thankyou for your helpful words. The boat does seem to be a bargain and it seems to be too cheap to be true so I will get a surveyor to have a good look at it.

[Corpus Skipper]

Survey survey SURVEY!!!!!!