The free boat Phenomenon

and if I am not mistaken there is usually a charge to dispose of junk fiberglass. at least an old rotten wooden boat can be burned in the fireplace.

I don't mean to discourage you tho, Danny. as I said about the corvette in the barn These hidden gems are rare. But they do exist. many variables come to play. how much time do you have? How much room for salvage do you have? do you have an adequate truck to haul it with? etc etc etc. and some in the spirit of "Junkyard Wars" just like rescuing trash and turning it into beautiful things. It can be done. Just be cagey about it.

 

so I can take it Par that the whole thing with your buddy and the fero-cement hull for free was just an idiot check, I can just feel the love.

thank all the Gods I see the value in a solid foundation. Only way to make the best of free is if there is more than salvage value in scrapping out the bits and pieces.

I'll be collecting stuff like a nice marine type wood stove and kitchen stuff this way but as far as trying to rebuild something, no way. I have remodeled enough stuff to know that at some point ( and that point is generally not to far out in front somewhere ) its less costly to just start over. Ok maybe engines and some rigging might be worth salvaging, led, bronz bullion and the like but for the most part, I'd have to recommend starting fresh and just building new. Anything free is bound to be a liability. that old adage is way wrong, always look a gift horse in the mouth.

my two cents
cheers
B

 

well said Boston,

there was a post on ebay maybe still there of damaged boats from hurricane katrina 12 boats to choose from 450 dollars takes any one boat. mostly in the 22 to 40 ft range

I am sure someone with a keen eye could get a lot of hardware radios appliances sails etc out of one of those. But again a lot depends on the neighbors and how much space you have for scrapping out.

 

Having been involved in the dragging home of dozens of boats over the years, I can assure you, it takes a lot of skill to just select the right one, let alone finish it off.

This isn't to say it can't be done, it surely can, I have as well as countless others, but as a rule, you'll take a bath and will be better off just buying a working boat in need of some love, then a derelict.

This doesn't mean you pass up opportunities to strip off good hardware and other items, but again, as a rule you'll find these types of boats have been picked over fairly well by the yard that brought the mechanic's lien against them.

In other words, if the boat was a fairly easy fix, some spit, polish and spark plugs, they'd have already been installed and the boat sold. In the vast majority of cases, the transom, sole and stringers are shot, the engine (if it even has one) is dead, the electrical is cut up, the controls frozen, etc.

Don't get me wrong, I find really nice boats all the time for cheap, but I've a few decades of this sort of thing under me and know precisely what to look for, what models and years to avoid, etc. I picked up an 1989 Bayliner Capri this last spring. It was sitting in a guy's car port, the engine compartment half filled with water and leaves. A fresh battery wouldn't turn it over, so the owner knew it was "locked up". Nice trailer, interior in fairly good shape, gel coat faded, torn bimini, etc. I bought it for $600 and he thought he got the better deal. By the end of the weekend it was running nicely, though I did have to give the starter a good swat with a hammer to unlock it. Tune up parts, impeller, filters, new bilge blower and a transom kit (bellows, bearing, U joint service, water lines, hydraulic lines, etc.). The hull buffed up real nice and some odd electrical work (corroded bulb sockets, burned fuses, etc.) and she was done. It looked like a million bucks in comparison and the guy that bought it thought he got the better deal at $2,000, knowing the bimini had been repaired and need to be replaced. He proclaimed it was clearly a boat that hadn't been used much and frankly I couldn't argue with him, because I'd only owned it a few weeks and couldn't honestly say, though I didn't see any reason to disturb his excitement over his new purchase.

I put a few hundred in parts into the boat and a solid weekend of labor. I knew exactly what to look for, how to fix it, where to get the parts at the best price and knew that this model would easily sell with a nice looking hull. My personally opinion of this boat and in particular the Cobra drive aren't especially important, but without the experience, the novice would have taken a bath. Hell, they probably wouldn't have been able to figure out how to get it to shift properly (this model had a shifter linkage recall).

Paul No Boat makes a very good point about having the space and zoning. I'm out in the woods with several acres of heavily wooded land. I can ax murder people out here and no one would know.

Stripping a boat doesn't take skill, but then you have a hull that needs to be dragged to the land fill, which will likely cost you money. I chop them up with saws and toss them on my 16' tandem trailer. This way I can off load the big boat pieces at the dump quickly. Sometimes I can talk a forklift operator into spearing the hull with the forks and lifting it off, but you can damage a trailer pretty good this way (smashed fenders, broken lights and axles, etc.). After you strip a few hulls you now have lots of stuff that needs to live some place until you get a boat to put in on. A tip for those that may be trying this. Of all the stuff you strip off other boats, you'll be lucky to use 1/4 of it on any single boat.

In the end I say go for it, but don't expect to save much or make any money, at least not at first. I didn't make a dime until I'd done several boats this way.

 

PAR, my statement comes from a situation I could have been in several years ago.

A 30 ft Lugar was advertised in the paper as free for the hauling. Not knowing anything, I called on curiosity and found that when the gentleman started the project, his neighbors were all behind him, thinking how fun it will be to watch this guy build a boat and take us for rides.

Zoning laws were against it but since nobody seemed to care the town looked away. (nice folks). After a few years of inactivity it became an eyesore and people started complaining and the town gave him 30 days to remove it.

It was in a cradle only no trailer so I naturally turned it down and while window shopping at a local boat dealer I mentioned to him that there was a hull available for the hauling he might be interested in since he had the special truck to go get it.

His reply was that a 30 ft Lugar was not worth the gas to go get it and the best he could offer would be to pick it up and dispose of it for a fee.

I am sure glad I have you guys to confer with as I really do want to build a boat even if it never sails and the insights I have recieved on this site have led me to seek plans more in the 14-16 foot range. Trailerable and garageable.

a 17ft Penobscot maybe? beautiful project and within reach of the average woodworker. and easily tucked into the garage during periods of inactivity.

and while I am building this little gem there is nothing stopping me from joining the local university sailing club which has a 32 ft sloop on an 11000 acre lake.

Bigger is not always better and I reiterate on a previous statement that the larger the boat the less the chances of it ever being completed.

Think positive to a realistic goal is a motto I am quickly adopting.

 

Well, I'm probably put off the idea, especially after all the talk of hammers and rakes in the thread. Space is no problem, and Son #1 keeps a spare quad axle Brockway Heavy Hauler that will pull a three story house, so that's not a problem. And there's a whole host of lighter duty semis and straight trucks in family below that. So I'm glad they mention all the hammers and rakes. The family has a lot of potential to pull home a huge money pit. Better to avoid it.

 

Danny,

I hope none of us sounded too discouraging. Just thinking it through with you as to what can happen. But I am sure many boats have been successfully procured this way. The important thing is to have fun and if this method suits your unique situation, Go for it.

 

Danny,

Par is from Florida, you from the USA, so you're practically neighbours

I can think of no one better to sought you out a nice boat. You may not get it for free, but it wouldn't be junk either.

 

Atta boy, go for it. I did and I have and I've enjoyed.
you cant lose anything but time and money!

Women cost you more of each and they don't float!

 

Fat women do . . .

 

They do too...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2E8T7bt2D4

 

I like the expression: "it is expensive for free".

 

maybe if you took that moomoo, used if for a sail and oriented that pear shaped girl in the right direction you could even do a little sailing with her

just an idea
B

 

Too much induced drag Boston . . .

 

the bigger the woman the larger the moomoo
seems like a simple power to weight ratio issue to me