Need help with prospective purchase

A

AKcrusier

New member
New member here, hoping to own a c-dory in the near future.

Looking at a 1986 26' long house and wanted ask some questions of the experts!

I am looking for pretty general information anyone might be able to contribute. The boat my family is looking to purchase is a 26' longhouse powered with a 99 200 yamaha 2stroke.

I checked out the boat and on first glance appears to be in great to excellent condition. It has been in the current owners family for 30yrs. Mainly looking for insight on specific areas to inspect closely on a c-dory of this vintage and any known major issues/ design flaws that might exist with this particular model/year. Mainly interested in information pertaining to the hull as we would be going in to this anticipating a re-power in the near years to come.

Also I know this may be a generic question but what would be a reasonable value given the outboard and hull are well cared for and in good condition.

Thanks for any feedback!
 
I would advise to pay to someone and get a survey done. A decent one will provide you with a value and a long list of the equipment and it's condition. A second set of eyes is a very good thing. Obviously, I don't know anything about the boat, and it's value could be next to nothing if it has hidden rot that will cost a fortune to repair, or it could be worth much, much more if everything checks out, has modern electronics, a super nice trailer, and other options. The fact that it still has a 2 stroke on the back leads me to think it doesn't have those things. A point to ponder is how much repowering will cost, and you've probably already researched this. But if not, it's a huge expense - probably well over 20k, and more like 25k, by the time it's done. BTW, the CD 25 comes up for sale (even here) and is much more modern. It also probably costs lots more, but it is likely worth it unless you like working on boats. And with an old boat, you will be working on it.
 
I'd love to see pictures. These longer early c-dorys don't come up for sale very often and I'm not familiar with a 26' long house. Is it possible this is one of the 27s that were built around this time? is it the deep V pro angler 26? Either way cool boat and it has value if in good shape. Keep in mind what a repower and new electronics costs though. Check the transom for rot, and look for any soft spots in the fiberglass, especially areas in the deck and gunnels where there's wood core and hardware screwed into the fiberglass.
 
This is my opinion and we might have a boat surveyer chime in. I am not a boat surveyer.

There is a lot you can do to check a cored boat without a survey. Based on my dealings with professional surveys of houses, I wouldn't necessarily trust a survey to provide everything I need, and they are expensive.

First, hammer method, you can tap, tap, tap, with a rounded-face hammer, certainly the transom, hull and sole. If the sole and hull are one and the same, as with my 22, this can make checking the hull much more definitive, as you can get to both sides. Some boat designs would make getting to the interior hull more difficult.

Ideally, the boat will be on a trailer.

In the case of my 22, it was, and had been in a garage for several years. I based my purchase on my own tapping survey, as the boat was a fantastic price if solid, and I didn't want to lose it. I also had a water meter (below), which supported lack of water in the core. Lack of water and solid sound should indicate good FRP-balsa-FRP bonding.

If anything cored doesn't tap with a distinct solid sound, it likely isn't, and may be core rot. You are not tapping concrete, there is a little "give", bot definitely no oilcanning. Unfortunately, core rot filled with water, and places where the sole and deck are the same with a boat in water may sound solid (water doesn't compress).

A good surveyer may be able to tell the difference between water-filled and solid, but I wouldn't trust just myself. I would trust my judgement to reject a boat if it is clear the core is compromised.

If all of your tapping leads you to believe the boat is solid, then go forward with a survey.

You should ask how it will be done.

The surveyer should have something like this...

SkipperPlus.jpg

for detecting water in the core.

This thing seems to work...I was able to detect water-saturated cores in several boats.

It does not detect core rot if it is dry.

A once beautiful trawler here are Anderson Island is slated for crushing. The owner ignored soft spots and did nothing for years, saying the important parts were sound, until a deck caved in and he had a survey. By then it was too late.

Good luck. This looks like a beautiful boat in the most beautiful place in the world, again my opinion. I would retire there, at least for summers, but I can't afford a divorce.
 
Good advice above, but I will add, after using marine surveyors (and I used several when buying "Saint Somewhere") I would not buy a boat without having is marine surveyed. Yes, they are expensive, but $500 kept me from buying a $40,000 headache, so I believe this to be a good investment.
They won't catch everything, and what they see as good today (especially in the engine) might not be good tomorrow. Things break on used boats. But, they are valuable when looking at a boat, especially when that boat is across the country.
 
txmntman":2grwvyls said:
I would not buy a boat without having is marine surveyed.
Click to expand...
I did not mean my advice was INSTEAD of a survey. A personal precheck of an obviously faulty boat may avoid the time and cost of moving forward with a survey. Good luck.
 
I would not contradict anything above though I think you’d be as well off to have it checked out by a fiberglass repair expert and an outboard mechanic. So a “survey” so to speak but not necessarily a formal marine survey. I’d just skip to the specialists on the main potential issues. Just my 2c on that.

And your biggest potential issues are the aged motor and/or water penetration into wood core, most likely in deck (if it’s a 27’ of this era) or transom (any era) but can also be in gunnels. You can check it out yourself as advised above (deck, transom, any penetration, look for cracking or bulging or softness, back out some screws and peak in if you can, hammer/tapping as described above). But if you’re not experienced on this you want someone who is. I’d add here that some of this is not necessarily a huge deal to pay to fix (hundreds to a few thousand) but if it’s extensive it certainly can be (10s of thousand) so this is another reason to include an expert. One other smaller thing that is common are the window gaskets harden and shrink which can lead to leaky windows. Not a huge deal just another weekend project.

And speaking of projects I’d offer that in my experience owning a 30+ year old CD that a boat this old, unless it’s been stored indoors and on a trailer and lightly used, is unlikely to be turnkey and even if very functional it will likely be tardy for modernization. So assume you’re buying something that needs some maintenance and would benefit from upgrades, and budget and plan accordingly.

I’m assuming it’s a 27’ since you use the term “long cabin” but they did make a 26’ in that vintage. Valdez is a place it wouldn’t surprise me to find either one. I’ll respond again below with photo links to a 27’ long cabin and a 26’ pro angler, since it’ll be one of these I expect, and then people can maybe offer number ranges.
 
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