Salvage Boat?

  • May 31, 2023 5:55 AM
    Message # 13208541
    Deleted user

    Hi, I found this boat on Craigslist and wanted to know if it would be worth fixing up? I contacted the owner and they said the hull is in good condition. The boat next to it had a fire so that is why it is salvage. He is unable to provide additional photos. He has a rudder, no mast and no engine. No doubt it would be a major undertaking to fix up. I’ve got young kids right now, so I’m pretty grounded, but I’m thinking I can take the next 3-5 years to work on it, and be ready to sail in a few years. I’m hoping he will also come down in price? Any suggestions are welcome! Westsails are amazing boats

    https://norfolk.craigslist.org/boa/d/norfolk-32-westsail-hull-fiberglass-obo/7626447877.html

  • June 01, 2023 10:20 PM
    Reply # 13209558 on 13208541

    Hi Justin - From the few pictures it looks like an insane amount of work. I can only imagine what the interior looks like. One way to look at it is time vs money. To get that boat sailing again will take quite a lot of both. As much as I like to see some of the older fleet get saved from the land fill, you’d probably be better off getting a different W32 that is less of a basket case but still needs some work than starting from a bare hull with extensive damage. 

    My 2 cents. 

    Keep us posted.

    Cheers

    Randy 

    W32 Tortuga 

    ~~~_/)~~~

  • June 06, 2023 7:56 PM
    Reply # 13211760 on 13208541

    It can be done. I did it, so have quite a few westsailors albeit 18 if not 20 years ago now. With amazing support and advice (still) of many here it was not impossible. The w28 “hull” I started with was not all that much better than what you are looking at. but it takes a special combination of tenacity stubbornness patience and dreamer to see such a huge undertaking through.  5 years on the hard while juggling job and 2 kids was hard and more than once I was not giving either the boat or the family the time and attention they deserved. Many times I was  ready to give up, but luckily my husband wouldn’t let me. (Sunk costs or maybe he figured out that tinkering made me happy and a bit less restless in suburbia). In the end we spent far more than if I had bought a lesser boat that we could sail and enjoy sooner  while saving for the Westsail. That would have been smarter but also maybe we never would have saved..I still have an old unremodeled kitchen. Priorities. But you either have time or money and for a while time and sweat equity will move things along, but that last year and every year after it took an infusion of $. The learning curve and sweat equity paid off..pic is what it looked like on the day I sold that baby before moving up to a 32. So if this is the only way you can or will get into the cruising boat of your dreams, go for it. I know where you can find a mast and an engine at a reasonable price.. but if you have to pay to move it and pay a storage fee I agree- you would do far better to find a fixer upper much closer to being able to float or already floating. What I did not do, however, is take off cruising because by the time the boat was ready the kids and hubby were not. So if you want to be fixing boats instead of sailing boats for a while go for it. Or be patient a little while longer and a slightly better on May pop up. Folks have been getting some good deals on Westsails this last year or two..

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  • June 06, 2023 8:09 PM
    Reply # 13211765 on 13208541

    P.S. I just showed the craigslist pic. to my husband and asked if he would do it again..  he said hell no! (Maybe that is the better answer…)