Newbie looking for solid sailboat

[Noboatyet]

Is it possible to get a boat built in the 80's with out deck core rot and a solid fiberglass hull? How do I test for core rot and solid fiberglass hull. Can winches last 30 years? So many questions!!!

[bistros]

Originally Posted by Noboatyet

Is it possible to get a boat built in the 80's with out deck core rot and a solid fiberglass hull? How do I test for core rot and solid fiberglass hull. Can winches last 30 years? So many questions!!!

Yes, it is possible.

Testing is an issue best left to professionals, and what you learn from a professional survey is absolutely necessary for insurance, bank and peace of mind. I'm not talking about an insurance walkaround, rather having a professional poke, prod and crawl every inch of a hull. Unless you have unlimited budget and unlimited time, hiring a professional to survey a hull is the cheapest investment you can make. Some sellers will deduct the cost of the survey from the sale price if the boat is purchased. Worth negotiating, as professional survey results are valuable to the seller as well.

--
Bill

[Diesel boy]

Hell, i sail around in my 1970 Jensen cal and its solid.. I have run it aground twice and it just took on Hurricane IKE .. When the marina was wiped from the face of the earth " even to pool was removed from the ground" and only three boats survived out of that marina we thought she was lost but.... three days later she was found in Galveston bay in the shipping lane towing a 9 foot chunk of dock! With only minor damage " three cleats torn out".. Buy older boats they were just were built better.
Good luck in your search..

[alan white]

It's true that there are loads of people out there sailing boats with rotton cores, weak bonds, and a host of other problems.
Without carefully surveying the boat, people are swayed by the nice surfaces, never realizing that behind all that gelcoat and polished stainless, rot is eating thei boat. It will be years before the decks signal the problem loudly enough for the owner to take notice.
I've never liked balsa core, especially below the waterline, but also in areas that have a lot of through-bolting of hardware.
Though light and stiff when new, balsa can take on a lot of water without any obvious signs, even sounding the deck with the knuckles.
I prefer foam sectional ribs, or epoxy-coated wood ribs, which have been used on a number of boats such as the British Alacrity sloop I'm currently working on. No rot in those stiffeners.
Still, most larger boats of that era were cored (and improperly). A lot depends on the builder. A Carter 33 I owned had no water ingress in the deck, a testimonial to the superb direction given to the talented layup team, along with Dick Carter's design specs.
Then there are boats like an S2 7 meter I owned. Built by Slickcraft, reknowned for their layups in fact, but not one through-bolt was jacketed with anything, the bedding compound being the only seal to prevent water seeping into the deck---- which it did, requiring one third of the deck to be replaced at a cost that exceeded the boat's value (but almost all labor, which I provided while seasons slipped by, as I was too busy doing other things to have the time to do it all at once).
so there are a lot of well-built boats out there, and the evidence of that is usually found on websites devoted to the design in question. some boat models all seem to have the same maladies. Others were built by near-paranoids, way back when only very imaginative builders over-built decks out of extreme conservatism at the time. The reward is that now those boats are out there faring quite well, awaiting new owners who are smart enough to seek them out by reputation, and survey them carefully.

[Diesel boy]

Originally Posted by Noboatyet

Is it possible to get a boat built in the 80's with out deck core rot and a solid fiberglass hull? How do I test for core rot and solid fiberglass hull. Can winches last 30 years? So many questions!!!

I went through the same thing when i bought mine.. I would lay awake at night and worry.. The answer to your questions is that only through research on the background of the builder and a through inspection of the boat will you ever be satisfied.

I have a theory as to why the early boats were built rather well and the later ones not so well. Because no one really knew how long fiberglass would hold up i believe that they over built the early ones just to be on the safe side.
I found articles like this"http://pages.sssnet.com/go2erie/calhome.htm"" on every boat i looked at and when i found no information i stopped looking at that boat. Hunter "which i love the lines " i found so much negative stuff on that i just never looked at them again. Which is sad because they are a beautiful boat.

On you winch question .. mine are almost 40 years old and still work very well. As long as they were good quality and do not get abused then i don't see why not? [IMG]http://adriana.12thfloor.com/main.php/d/13560-2
/Boat+027.jpg[/IMG] As you can see 39 years old but still in good working order.
To set your mind at ease here are links to my 1970 Jensen cal which thanks to IKE and old age i am redoing lots of. So please don't mind the mess.

http://adriana.12thfloor.com/main.ph...ber/?g2_page=1