I bought a boat! (not C-Dory)

M

Marco Flamingo

Active member
I looked at Ranger Tugs but then figured that I could save $230,000.00 by buying this boat instead.

https://seattle.craigslist.org/tac/bod/ ... 62866.html

Hopefully, the broker won't get around to deleting the craigslist post for a couple of days.

Every time I went to look at the boat I learned more things that weren't clear on the published specifications. Like when the motor was rebuilt 40 hours ago, the owner went to the trouble of locating NOS Lehman parts. He had a NOS crank shipped from Michigan. The Garmin navigation system is brand new, professionally installed less than a year ago. The winch is brand new. I didn't understand that from reading the spec sheet.

There were the normal little irritating things that need to be adjusted, etc., but all of the systems seemed appropriate and surprisingly up to date, with the possible exception of the vintage Norcold fridge (but it still works). All batteries are 2017. The Yanmar genset wasn't even listed in the specs until recently. The owner had cruised extensively, including a circumnavigation of Vancouver Island.

I may have a new ride to the Friday Harbor CBGT.

Mark
 
Mark, looks like you found a gem. And, IMHO, you are way ahead of the RT in many ways. Bring it on to the FH-CBGT. You are welcome.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon
 
Mark,
That is a great looking boat! You should be very comfortable in it a the FHCBGT and hopefully you'll be staying overnight on it rather than at a hotel room? :) Your keeping Limpet aren't you? Maybe use it for a tender!
- Steve
 
Very clean and well equipped example of a good trawler. Congratulations. With your innovations, it will be even better!

That Ford Lehman is a great engine. Ford tractor parts are still available world wide. There are many thousands of those blocks in tractor service. I put almost 5,000 hours on a Ford Lehman in one of our motorsailors--and just getting broken in.
 
Robert H. Wilkinson":h9pt1249 said:
Oh, oh ,,,, Jason is going to be PISSED when he finds out you can go from a 16 to a 30 foot all at once without jumping 3 feet at a time !! :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
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It's okay. I like to think of my 3 footitis as a philanthropic endeavor. All of my boat sales tax over the years has single handedly repaired all of the roads in Massachusetts! Lmao

Nice rig Mark. Good luck with her
 
C-Sharp":22y0dt0w said:
Mark,
That is a great looking boat! You should be very comfortable in it a the FHCBGT and hopefully you'll be staying overnight on it rather than at a hotel room? :) Your keeping Limpet aren't you? Maybe use it for a tender!
- Steve
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Our friends in Friday Harbor sold their apartment, so it's not as ea$y to find a convenient place ashore. I'm keeping the Limpet (and thinking of naming my new boat Chiton). While doing the sea trial, I climbed all over the new boat and found the boat hook, found extra fender, extra dock lines, etc., etc. I don't need to buy anything at the Boat Show??? Is that possible?

Wait, I do need a tender. Maybe there will be a Boat Show special. I've got the 2.5 Suzuki kicker from the Limpet. West Marine inflatable? Avon? Kaboat? Portland Pudgy? Time to do some researching on C-Brats. What concerns me is that the vast majority of our dinghy use is to land on some rocky shore. What can handle that and is light enough to carry (or drag) above the high tide mark?

Mark
 
land on some rocky shore. What can handle that and is light enough to carry (or drag) above the high tide mark?
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The Alaska series, tenders from 40# to 50# with Grizzly Claw bottom hull fabric should stand up to that. We have used both West Marine and Bombard inflatables in AK, BC and WA. and neither had failure. But if you wish put some extra fabric on areas which might wear.

Next best small tenders to Alaska are Achilles.

I see some fantastic Alaska trips coming up.
 
Marco Flamingo":esu51xex said:
. . .

Wait, I do need a tender. . . . What concerns me is that the vast majority of our dinghy use is to land on some rocky shore. What can handle that and is light enough to carry (or drag) above the high tide mark?

Mark
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I agree with Bob. Our Alaska Series with the Grizzly protection got dragged over no end of barnacles and pointy rocks in BC and S.E. Alaska. Never a problem. It only weighed about 50 pounds. However, we never used a motor - just oars.


Princess_Louisa_Trip_July_2010_049.sized.jpg
 
chromer":1e4lrcpz said:
Is that a wood hull?
what is the bottom construction?
Is there a bow thruster?
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It's fiberglass. I looked at a nice GB 32, but it was wood. Did the research on it and got spooked. It seems that the complexity of determining the state of the fastenings, and refastening when needed, has driven the prices down, but I was trying to avoid (as much as possible) a project boat. The price of wood GB 32s and others like the Marine Trader has really taken a hit.

The Tung Hwa had some osmotic blisters when purchased by the prior owner, which doesn't appear to be common on these. He had a below-the-waterline gel coat peel and a complete epoxy re-coat. That seems to have eliminated that issue. The only hull construction issue I've seen (the web is full of horror stories) was a Taiwan trawler that had teak engine mount stringers that rotted. I believe all of them were constructed in this manner, but being teak and being encapsulated in fiberglass saved most. I only saw one example of this.

Bow thruster? Bow thruster? We no need no stinkin' bow thruster. It has a four blade prop, which seems to kick the rear a lot in reverse. It also has a surprising 4 foot draft, which might help with windage. I think that a lot of practice will have to take the place of a bow thruster. Or, I could install one of these:

Budget_bowthruster.jpg

Mark
 
Marco, if I didn't need a 8'6" trailerable boat I'd be jealous, we had a R tug and you are way better off with the non computer Ford Leeman, with that quality rebuild it should last another lifetime. The lightest RIB we could find was a West Marine folding transom we had on our steel sailboat I think it was in the 60 lb. range, it served us well up and down Mexico for a few years as the hard floor was pretty rugged (it was PVC fabric though). The absolutely best thing about that model was that due to minimal weight and a flattish bottom it would plane out and cruise with a 6 hp at about 16 mph with 2 people, nearly equaling our friends 15 hp rib, this allowed us to explore distant nooks and crannies of the coastline and still drag it up the beach. Now with a 2.5 hp I won't be able to fish some of the distant reefs, anyway you now have a great boat for your area!
 
Mark, I was interested to see you listed the Portland Pudgy in your tender options. I have been watching them for years, even considered one for SleepyC, but the weight was a factor. I still think they are the utmost for a PNW tender, and virtually indestructable. If you have a way to put it on the swim step (like with a Weaver Davit system or such) you get away with not having to lift it, and you have a USCG certified life boat on board.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon
 
hardee":3o92abn5 said:
Mark, I was interested to see you listed the Portland Pudgy in your tender options. I have been watching them for years, even considered one for SleepyC, but the weight was a factor. I still think they are the utmost for a PNW tender, and virtually indestructable. If you have a way to put it on the swim step (like with a Weaver Davit system or such) you get away with not having to lift it, and you have a USCG certified life boat on board.

Harvey
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Harvey, I don't believe that the Portland Pudgy is "a USCG certified life boat". I thing the design is great, and I used somewhat the same concept for a "life boat" on my ocean crossings. (A hard dinghy with massive excess floatation, and a canopy, plus survival gear in both it and an inflatable fitted with rapid inflation cylinders.) I had included a motor always attached, with 6 gallons of fuel, a sail rig and oars.

Perhaps there is some confusion since the boat is "CG approved for 4 passengers" as a row boat. This is much different than CG certification as a life raft.


I had a problem in Portugal where the port captain would not clear my vessel out because I didn't have a certificate of inspection a life raft. The impasse was resolved when I mentioned the magic word "Balsa". (He didn't speak any English, and my Portuguese was very limited. I tried the world "foam' and it didn't work.) It seemed that even an open balsa raft would have fulfilled the requirements.

The potential problem with these Is weight--128# base weight. If the boat can be in some form of davits or crane then it works well. Hoisting aboard, without winches and a crane is more difficult.

All in all the Porland Pudgy is a good solution, but heavier to pull up on the beach--and the carry can be some distance because of the tidal range. One could fit large pneumatic wheels, as on some inflatables and RIB's. (The small wheels on the keel of the PP are fine on a ramp or smooth surface, but not on rocks.)

Then there is price: Although the basic boat is about $3,000. The canopy is $2,275, Fenders, sail rigs, electric system, more secure storage & Bilge pump, even without davits or Torqeedo outboard is almost $9,000. Granted one's life is worth far more than that...but to get the most of a "life raft" configuration is necessary. If one got the motor and davits, the price could easily reach $12,000.
 
I mentioned the Portland Pudgy because I recall that Greg has or had one and thought he might chime in. They can be the answer to many problems, but I'm still not convinced that they are worth the money.

Our last boat of this size came with a 10' Sorenson dinghy. Very stable, clunky to row (no outboard), with straight sides that worked well with Weaver davits on the swim step. Weaver davits are a trip hazard, otherwise okay. They hold the dinghy stable and, with our new boat having a door out on to the swim step, would make dinghy boarding very easy.

One day in our old boat, when going through the Ballard locks, the boat beside us had a cute little Ranger sailing dinghy. They wanted something bigger and I wanted a sailing dinghy that fit on our cabin top. I sold the Sorenson and the Weaver davit$ and almost broke even.

The little dinghy rowed great and was fun to sail in a calm harbor. It was not a lifeboat and took some time the get it off the cabin top and in to the water. Best with two people, but I could do it myself taking even more time. So I also bought a Switlik Crewsaver. http://www.fawcettboat.com/pc_product_d ... c4EALw_wcB

I basically had $2K total into a hard sailing dinghy that did everything that I wanted and a quick deploy dedicated life raft that did everything I wanted (except maybe fly me to shore). I did a lot of solo cruising and the idea of taking the time to launch the dinghy in an emergency bothered me. The hard dinghy certainly rowed better, but I could see that rowing would not be my concern in an emergency.

If I can come up with swim step "davit" system without the trip hazard, I'd probably go with just an inflatable for this boat. I'm mulling over the idea of somehow using the gaps in the teak swim platform to hold an unobtrusive (Nylon straps???) mounting/swivel point for an inflatable. Also, the Tung Hwa has a hard rear deck cover all the way to the stern and it would be easy to mount a block and tackle from the center of the overhang to the outside of the dinghy when in the water. That angle, and being able to use my body weight pulling down, would allow me to easily flip up a dinghy on to the swim step. I had a similar system on another boat where I used a ratcheting one-way block that allowed me to stop and catch my breath if needed.

I'll have to channel my inner Rube Goldberg.

Mark
 
Bob, it has been a long time since I had looked at the Pudgy site, but it seemed I remebered they were USCG Certified. I just looked through their site and don't see that now. They use the wording, "fully functional, 4 person lifeboat" [" the Portland Pudgy is an unsinkable, dynamic lifeboat."] and then list "US Navy approved", "USCG recommended", and "SOLAS approved" in their list of components.

Another, lighter and probably close to as indurable possibity would be the foldable, Port-a-bote. Great for dragging up on the barnicals, and unsinkable too.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon
 
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