Folkboat - opinions, please?

Hi everyone!

I've done some cruising before, but only now I've started considering buying myself a boat.

This project is for sale, and the current owner sent me these pics.







What do you gurus think of it? Is is worthwhile the trouble? How can I check its condition once I go see it? What to look for? Does the deck look a bit rotten?


Is the folkboat capable of ocean sailing? Any ideas on how to furnish it? Isn't it dangerous to sail without the tack protection?

Also, the owner has temporarily removed part of the keel (was it the lead?). Can it be put back easily? Doesn't messing up with it affect the overall balance of the boat?

Thank you in advance for your patience towards a rookie

 

While I know very little about wooden boats, I wouldn't touch her with a 10 and a half foot pole

It looks as though she has not be taken care of. It looks like a ton of work. Is there any rotting? How long is she? how much is he asking for her? and most importantly how much work are you willing to put in.

The deck looks warped, cracked, and most likly not structurally sound.the restoration work that has been done looks sloppy.

What are you looking for in a your first boat? a open water cruiser or a old pretty bay day sailor?

Sorry if I have been harsh, I dont meen to be.

Good Luck
-Alex

 

nice option if you're beginning a Toothpick company... (sorry for the joke)
Once (long time ago) I've acquired a wooden sailboat, sailed on it for more than 10 years, I've spent twice the initial cost in manteinance and finally sold it for 1/10 of the initial cost.
best option is a fiberglass hull...

 

Lots of Folkboats have cruised 1000s of miles. See _Twenty Small Sailboats to Take You Anywhere_.

That said, wooden boats do cost more to maintain, and the failure modes of one that's not in good shape are catastrophic. I would not cruise in a Folkboat that hadn't been signed off as in good enough shape to do it by a surveyor who knows wooden boats.

 

I haven't sailed the Folkboat but the grp look alike IF.
It's a safe and comfortable cruising boat.

Remember before you pay anything for the boat you are looking at, you can get good looking folkboats in Sweden for 25.000SEK (3000Euro), ready to sail!

 

Folkboat restoration projects

Anders Olsen founded the Swedish Folkboat Association they started the "Classic Folkboat campaign" their aim is to rescue wooden folkboats. They have many years of combined experience restoring folkboats and own a yard where people can restore their boat with sound advice from members.

I can't find a website for the campaign but Anders Olsen contact details can be found here: http://www.folkboat.com/index.php?worldwide i am sure he is willing to advice you. I got this information from the June 2006 issue of Classic Boat magazine.

 

Timagal,
From the photos and information provided, no one could really give you any serious advice apart from general advice about the design, wooden boats in general, or more specifically wooden boats that visably need at the very least considerable superficial work, and maybe/probably more serious work.

You really can't know (neither could any of us) untill you take a good look at her, she does appear from these two photo's to be in a rather needy state, but as to how far these needs go- who knows. If you go to look at her, DO NOT GO UNLESS YOU CAN TAKE SOMEONE WITH YOU THAT ACTUALLY KNOWS WHAT TO LOOK FOR. No matter how much people can tell you here what to look for, it will never be enough! There certainly is not visable anything that would condemn her- but there is not visable much at all. I certainly do not like the look of the tarp that appears to have been trying to cover her! Fresh water is one of the worst killers of wooden boats. I would certainly beware- as with any boat- especially wood- but I would not be put off by negative posts here, especially by people who (rightly or wrongly) express favouritism for fiberglass boats, or a lack of knowledge about wooden.
For my first boat I have bought a wooden and am now in the last stages of restoring her. Now mine looked great to begin with, and me and my uncle (who knows a hell of a lot more than I do- and what to look for) examined her thoroughly and thought that she needed minimal work- but once we started some minor repairs, and started stripping off the paint (6mm thick!), many problems appeared, and before long she looked much worse than the boat you have pictured. At least in a half restored project boat like this, the problems and condition has not been covered up by a pretty paintjob.
From the small amount visable, there doesn't actually seem to have been too much work done. Lots of pulling bits off, stripping paint etc, but no visable major work.
Maybe they just ran out of steam, or maybe they found a problem that was too big- that condemned her to more money/work than she is worth. This is what you have to find out.

Not all project boats for sale are wrecks. Often people have simply bitten off more than they were bargaining for, and then just left it sitting (or rotting) in the backyard untill they realise (or are told) that they have to sell it.
Good deals can be had.
If you are serious about the boat, then especially considering your experience- get a survey done! It may seem pricey, especially if you don't end up buying it because of it, but it could save you a lot more money, and if it is in good shape, will allow you to make an informed decision- let you know what you are getting into.
You could pay someone to go and inspect it without you there, or arrange to meet them there and go over it with them. If you go for the second option, make sure you pick a freindly helpfull surveyor who is sympathetic to your position and willing to explain a lot to you, and if nothing else this will teach you alot about what to look for on the next boat- and will thus be well worth your money.

First get as much info from the owner as you can.
Keep picking. Write a list of every question you can think of. Write down the answers. History of the boat, previous owners, work they have done, why he bought it, why he is selling it, what needs work now, what has already been done, everything that the boat comes with, everything that the boat will need. Don't stop untill you have gotten answers for all of them. If he is unhelpfull and hesitant, then the signs are not particularly good.
Get your information, and hopefully some more detailed photos, and come back here with them, then you could get a bit more reliable advice (though still not definitive).

Either way, this boat, and wooden boats in general do take a lot of work.
You have to have a thing for wood, a love of it.
If you would like to spend A LOT of time (and money) restoring and learning completely about a boat, then if it checks out, and the design suits your wants, then it may be a good boat for you.
If you just want to sail, and sail as soon as possible, or don't actually have the skills/time, or the want to learn, then it probably isn't the boat for you. Maybe you should just get a neat little fiberglass boat ready to go.
Don't be too discouraged- just be aware- and if you can't inform yourself of its condition, then make sure someone else can.

Best of luck.
Hans.

(P.S. I love my boat, I love that it is wood, and though I have worked my *** off and spent a more money than I planned, I do not regret a thing... This however is not everyones story)

 

An excellent FG "folkboat"

Is Jeremy Rodgers Contessa 26. I owned one of these for about 15 years and did lots of deep water sailing in her. My longest single-handed passage was from Falmouth, England to Lisbon, Portugal, via 10 degrees west, non-stop. I went through a full gale on that one that lasted a week. Once out in the Atlantic somewhere I was rammed by a small whale (knocked the starboard side v berth off, gel coat cracks, cracks in the overhead where I hit it), and also managed to sail through a mostly-submerged wooden crate, splitting it in half.

This was one tough boat! And a darn good sailing vessel as well. There are lots of them, so maybe you should look for one!

Bill

 

I can ad to that that it will take more than EU 3000 to get that boat in a reasonable shape especially if the ballast is missing. Folkboats are excellent cruisers, though not very spacious.

 

I just bought a wooden folk boat for 10 Euros, sails, spars and all. Main reason was that this one was number 47 as was a bought to be glass fibered over.
So now I have a project, of with the keel and new keel bolts, all planking except the top 3 will have to be changed, I don’t anticipate sailing her for a year or two, but it will give me something relaxing to do.

PS. the photos you received,,,,,

Back end of the keel is what you wana look at.

 

This folkboat is for sale at 80.000NOK or 10.000Euro.
It's built in Sweden, larch hull on oak frames.

http://www.finn.no/finn/viewimage?f...kb%E5t+til+salgs%21&sid=5aBRB93YE851040&pos=1

 

Lots of folkboats for sale in Sweden:
http://www.folkbat.com/batborsen.html

Prices in SEK.

 

My folkboat was built in 1947.I was lucky enought to find her before she was ruined.Im amazed at what people think about when maintaining them!!

Some trim around the cabin was glued on with airodux!!Good glue bad idea, just as the glass windows were glued in to "stop them leaking"I had to make sof rubber seals that compressed around the window.


The tow rail hatch had been re screwed down with a brass screw every 5 cms!!The canvass decking had a teak board 1 meter long by 10 cms wide with a long screw every 2 cms!! To stop a leak!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I cant understand how anyone can fix a leak by drilling a hole through the deck????

The other really stupid idea people have is that a clinker boat shoulent leak more than a cavel one when put in the water after a month or so on land!

Ive seen in Sweden and Finland folkboats stuffed full of old fat and oil sold to stop leaks!!! If ever a boat treated thus got to the med it would melt but in the frozen wastes of the north it simply stops the plancks takeing up as quickly as the might.

A folkboat is the best boat you can wish for fast safe and looks wonderful!! Parts and new sails are also afordable as there made in large numbers to a set pane,the FB clubs provide lots of good ideas to make sailing even better.

The wooden Folkboats are ment only for walm climates the plastic IFs for the frouen wastes the reason is simple,the IF has a self draining cockpit lots of room below and can sail the world in safty and comfort.

The "baltic folkboat" had mostly a large open cockpit and no room below!!Shes faster than an IF can weather offshore voyages with a canvas cockpit insert,but once in the med the large cockpit comes into its own!You will live in the cocpit only going below to sleep of get something strored there.

I have my galley in the cockpit and pressuerrised water!!(Really) to a sink which slides out for washing up etc and have just one below water fitting that i dont upset the new plastic sailors by throwing my washing up water over the side!!

With a good cockpit cover it becomes the main liveing area.

Make sure you buy a good one to begine with that is one with a keel!!One last point i see wooden boats everwhere abandoned becouse the person renovating it has not done one job at a time but riped the deck off interior out then started on the hull!!!To much work at one time!!

Folkboats are the best boat afloat and in todays med are small enough and not to deep to find a place in port the modern "fat" deep keeler cant get near!!

 

My mate owned a wooden folkboat.. It was pretty, comfortable and easy to sail. It's performance was not very good though, it was slow and did not sail well on a close reach. As I recall not very responsive on the tiller.
Having said all that it was also strong, stable and he had no trouble finding a buyer when he sold it.

Mychael