[djodenda]

Hmmm.... I'm not sure if this qualifies as advice, but here's some data.

1 ) If the engine is bad (either too small, or failing) , then it's instantly not a good deal. A replacement would cost at a do-it-yourself price around $10K. I think the smaller diesels were raw water cooled. Look for a heat exchanger. If it's not there, then you should include the price of the retrofit of one in your calculations. My recollections of Santa Monica bay sailing were of mostly calm waters, with long-duration swells. However, no wind at night. Basically, I daysailed my boat and took trips to Catalina on the weekend. If you're just daysailing, than you don't care too much about how fast you go under power. An engine survey, which is usually not included in a standard survey would be money well spent here.

If you are going to be traveling back and forth to Catalina in the evenings, which is what I generally did, than you will probably be motoring, and traveling at a knot or two less that the 6.2 I get on my C30 with the 20 hp engine. So, it might cost you an extra hour or so to get there. Whether that's a problem depends on your personality I guess.

I had termites on my Catalina 27, which I kept in Marina Del Rey. They were in a similar location as yours. I found them by the piles of wood dust and black droppings. I killed them with some bug spray, and didn't migrate elsewhere. I doubt a surveyor will have a better way of finding them, but tapping and poking around, looking for dust will probably reveal them. The only structural wood on your boat is the bulkheads, and the bulkheads. I'd check more carefully there.

Look, in particular at the base of the mast post for rot. Some C30s have a problem with water in the bilge rotting the post. Not sure if your year is subject to that issue.

See how the boat handles under power. Catalina made a modification to the rudder in the 1980s, which altered the rudder shape to improve handling under power. It's pretty squirrely without the modification.

To me, it seems like a good price, as long as the engine works for you. Boats cost more here in Seattle. I paid about $27K for my 1984 C30 with the M25 engine. It came loaded with a full complement of cruising equipment, a new main, and worn jib and dodger.

Good luck!

I agree with all the advice in the previous posts.

You can PM me if you'd rather discuss any of this privately. You'll need a couple more posts to do that. You can do so in this thread

David