Yeah, I'm crazy, what's your point?

Seems like brushing on a really really thin epoxy that will soak into the wood might work.

Of course, the epoxy fumes might kill you!

 

Epoxy doesn't really have any fumes Cthippo. I've been aboard several well done conversions, that went to great measures to remove the smell. I was nice enough to agree that I couldn't smell, what was obviously being covered up with every imaginable concoction. The only boat I've been aboard that didn't smell was a big ferro cement (oh crap why did I have to mention it) schooner. It had been stripped and the interior of the hull shell sealed with epoxy, then painted, then the interior reinstalled. This one looked and smelled fine.

 

We still have a few that are well taken care of

 

Well, if you hear of anyone looking to abandon one, let me know!

 

cthippo,
for what youre looking for, take a look at some shrimp boats on the gulf when Ken Feinberg gets done collecting interest on the money hes holding and pays out, there will probably be some old steel shrimpers for sale, relatively cheap. Cheap yards down here too. I wouldnt want to take most of them through the canal and up your way, but I aint you

 

I've decided what what I'm looking for is a superstructure aft vessel with a flat working deck forward and a full width space below decks suitable for conversion to cabins. Ideally she would be in the 30-45' range and have a steel hull, though wood or GRP in decent shape is fine too. I'm not concerned with what shape the interior is in so long as she's reasonably sound structurally.

 

Get searching online. There are quite a few boat like this for sale in the country. Do they all have to be in the PacNW, or are you up for a move? The south (where Katrina and oil spill hit) is loaded with boats that are out of service now.

The shrimpers (thought a bit larger and with superstructure forward), could work very well for this. You can always put the cabins aft of the forward superstructure. Doesn't make much of a difference, right? I was recently looking at them for myself, but decided to stick with the catamaran build.

 

Can you recommend a good website for down there? Most of the sites I've been looking at have been geared towards significant larger boats.

West coast would be preferable, I don't know if I'm brave enough to do the canal trip, but if she were truckable that might be an option too.

 

Just to get you started, take a look at what comes up on Yachtworld:

http://www.yachtworld.com/core/list...nt=100&cint=101&pbsint=&boatsAddedSelected=-1

I'm not sure of your exact budget, but there are a lot of boats like you describe out there. Midcoast (http://www.midcoastyacht.com/) has quite a few listings. Scruton Marine (http://www.scrutonmarine.com/) has some and Apollo Duck has some.

What you are after is commercial listings - Google that too, especially in your area. Many commercial boats (like the one you found recently) aren't listed in the usual places. Pick up a paper copy of a local fishing publication. In Maine, there are several lobster-related ones that are loaded with boats for sale like what you are looking for. Possibly, a similar type of commercial fishing publication exists in the PacNW.

Just scour the hell out of the internet and you'll find several boats to choose from under $50K... some of which will already have cabins.

When you look at the Yachtworld search link I put in above, just go through and look at individual pages of various brokers. Call them, email them, tell then what you are looking for. Many of the boats I found were not listed online, but I found them only after I spoke to the brokers (in LA/TX/MS) about exactly what I was looking for.

Hunting for boats is a big job and you have to cast a wide net. What you are looking for is definitely out there though. I'm sure of it.

PS: Don't forget the prices listed are *asking* prices. In the current economic climate, many of the boats for sale will end up rotting. Keep hunting and keep making offers you can afford. Eventually, one of the boats will have someone who really needs to get rid of it and will accept just about any offer. Work hard at this. You can save more money buying a boat than you can working a 9-5 job!

 

A local one:

http://www.yachtworld.com/core/list...rency=USD&access=Public&listing_id=59129&url=

 

Great! Thanks a bunch

 

Pacific boat brokers have lots of unlicenced fishing boats,many quite cheap, occasionally one with a Gardner diesel engine (drool).
Steve.

 

Im sure you know about dock street brokers, and the other alaska websites. Pick up an old copy of pacific fishing if you see one, they often run boats dock street wont carry because of low profits involved. And of course keep checking marinas and docks for abandoned boats. A number of unkempt foreign longliners have been abandoned in Astoria when the men aboard refused to go back out after crossing the bar, but that aint that common and they usually go for more than your price. The bay area has alot of them too, dont neglect down there. Are you looking for something to cruise around the San Juans or just sit in Squallicum harbor being a house? Cuz that aint a cheap harbor for a liveaboard, i dont think.

 

Walk the docks incessantly. Many times boats are 'for sale' only with the sign in the PH window because the owner hasn't really convinced himself to sell it, so hasn't listed it. I agree look for a Canadian fishboat because they're cheap and often have Gardner diesels. What do you want the boat for? You said 30 to 45 feet and that doesn't make much sense because the 45 footer would have over twice the displacement and room. A 30 foot boat is quite small and difficult to live aboard while the 45 footer can be palatial. The NW has many converted trollers that have made nice yachts, but as always you get what you pay for. A 60 year old wooden boat is just that, 60 years old and the iron fastenings (all fishboats I've ever worked on) are often completely gone in some places while the oakum has turned to black stinking mush and some of the wood would be at home in an aged compost pile. Paint hides an awful lot but the ocean will ferret any inadequacy out and tell you about it, usually at 2 am in a storm when the water starts coming inside unbidden. The vessel that started this post is an example, as the stern tried to fall off years ago and instead of repair, it got external steel reinforcement, which has now started to sag too. Another thing that gets forgotten is tankage. These are power boats and don't move anywhere without fuel. An aged steel diesel tank can be very very thin from age. The CG is very vigilant on any spilled fuel and having a tank let go and dump a couple hundred gallons in the bilge of a leaky old boat whose automatic pump goes off every few minutes can cause a very expensive (to the boat owner) fuel spill. I've seen this happen several times over the years. Tank replacement is usually difficult and expensive but the fines for a spill are HUGE.

 

Even Ex fish boats in top shape have a hard time finding a new use. The design is wrong for cruising . Ive seen retired, top class North Sea fish boats, go to the ship breakers. They do make good dockside liveaboards...not economical to operate cruisers.