Buying an Old boat

[phsycicdreamer]

Hi,

 

Ive been looking at verious secondhand boats in the 20,000 and lower market.

 

The boats i have been looking at have a BSC but some are as old as 30 years old.

 

Some have been refitted with new bottom plates in some cases.

 

Is there anything i should be looking out for?

 

What is the difference in a 30 year old hull to a brand new hull?

 

Thank you for your time

[bottle]

physycic

 

The BSC is not worth the paper it is written on, it is like an MOT for a car, it is a test that proves that the boat complied "At that moment in time" when the inspection was carried out.

 

The only way to be sure of anything about the boat is to get qualified surveyor to do a report for you.

 

Yes it costs money but could save you a lot in the long run.

 

Happy hunting

[g0n]

I suspect there are people around who can give you better answers, but I've had 2 boats of 1980 manufacture (and a degree of responsibility for a 3rd boat, rather older), and what I would look for off the top of my head is:

 

1) rust traps where it's impossible to paint & water can gather, particularly in the engine bay of cruiser sterns. A previous boat of mine had a cracked diesel tank, and a small replacement tank had been fitted on one of the swims in the engine bay. There was a 1" gap between the tank and the hull, and when I removed it the steel underneath was very badly pitted.

 

2) ratty looking engine & bodge fixes. Particularly things that are tricky to fix like stripped threads on stern gland studs. Also (and I'm open to argument on this one) excessively oily and goopy looking engines. A well looked after engine should look /reasonably/ clean, and definitely shouldn't have loads of oily goop in the bilge/drip tray below it.

 

3) bitumastic paint in inappropriate places. Some people may disagree, but I've found that some people use it as a cheap alternative to proper paint in e.g. the engine bay, on the topsides of the boat. It doesn't do much to stop corrosion (if anything it seems to encourage it by holding water against the metalwork), and it's damn difficult to get rid of.

 

4) amounts of work to do, fit-out or engine/hull related, that you are not 100% confident you can do/get done easily. Assuming you want to cruise, rather than spend all your time working on it. This extends to the lay out - if you haven't done it, moving a boat kitchen/bathroom can be more effort than you might expect. That said, replacing cupboard doors, floor tiles etc can make a remarkable difference to the look and feel of a boat inside.

 

5) Mark 1 Paloma water heaters. I saw quite a few on boats in this range when I was looking just over a year ago. Although they were very reliable, you can't easily get spares for them now, so it's a replacement job if they fail. It shouldn't put you off buying a particular boat, but factor the possibility of replacement in if necessary (and bear in mind that the new models are a different size, so piping needs to be fiddled with to fit a replacement).

 

6) ANYTHING that could cause bad trouble with the BSS. Particularly things like no drip tray under the engine, that require awkward welding. If your BSS cert expires and your boat fails, the work necessary for a pass will need to be done pretty quick, and that can be hard on the cashflow!

 

7) Never seen anything bad on this, but I've been warned about it. Make sure you can get access to the cabin bilge and it's /reasonably/ clean and dry. Watch out particularly for cement. Apparently it used to be a popular trick to dump cement in the cabin bilge of a leaky boat to seal it up for a quick sale. That should hopefully show up on a hull survey anyway.

 

8) Personally, I would advocate having a hull survey done before purchase. Don't expect 10mm of hull thickness - after all, a 20-30 year old boat has been around a while. But my boat has never had a new bottom plate, was 10mm at build, and is about 8mm now (25 years later).

 

Those are the main ones I can think of offhand. I'll try and dig out the notes I wrote for a friend who was boat hunting a few months ago. Anyone else?

Edited July 4, 2005 by g0n

[phsycicdreamer]

Thank you for the answers so far guys.

 

If one was to buy a second hand boat and the hull needed some welding work on rust ect what kind of cost is involved in worst case scenario?

 

How much does a survey cost?

 

Thanks for your time.

[John Orentas]

Well you lot are a bunch of prophets of doom. You can still buy a nice boat for £20,000 or a bit less. As with a new boat the hull is number one priority boats of 20 years old were rarely built with a bottom plate of more than 6 or maximum 8mm thickness, with an older boat you should certainly see it out of the water but you will no doubt have to stand the cost so only go that far with a boat you really want.

 

Personally I would not bother with a surveyor, like housing surveyors no matter how much you pay (and it can be a lot) none will give any kind of written guarantee. A good fabricator or general engineer can gain a good assessment of the state of the hull, most of us will know such a person personally, or you may be confident enough to make a judgement yourself, pay particular attention to the bow and stern swim outside corners, wear can be as important as corrosion especially if it is an ex hire boat, while you are down there have a good look at the propeller and give it strenuous tug about, is there play in the bearings.

 

If the hull is dodgy at the above price range leave it alone.

 

The rest is secondary even a well knackered engine and gearbox is unlikely to cost more than £3,000 to put right but it will give an indication of a generally hard life, but don't write off the boat for one or two faults, instead make written notes to deduct the cost of rectification from the asking price.

Edited July 5, 2005 by John Orentas

[bottle]

Well you lot are a bunch of prophets of doom.

 

We may be but if we do not have the knowledge, surely it is best to find someone who does the caveat "buyer beware" is well known and in buying a second hand boat it is even more true.

 

Phsycic is obviously on a tight budget (aren't we all) so cannot afford to make a mistake, yes anything is reparable but at what cost.