'72 Charles Mason 22 1/2' "derelict"

[BobfromSWOhio]

First post and sailer "newbie."

I have located a "nearly" free Mason 22 1/2 that man wants out of his yard. Hull, deck and cabin roof seem solid; no soft spots in fiberglass. Aluminum mast, boom, stays, shrouds, ratcheting winches, etc. --- all present. Sliding upper door cover and door, good shape. Plexiglass hatch and windows, good.
Basically, all hardware and exterior are very servicable. Sails, including spinnaker, quite usable.

Down side: interior wood will all need repaced, fiberglass will need painted, and trailer is useless. Will need to hire large truck/trailer combo to deliver it to my home, 75 miles away.

Any info available on this model? Mason sites all seem to have died in 2007.

Final question: Am I nuts to even consider this, even for a "free" (yea, right) boat?!

[deniseO30]

Ask the owner how much he will pay you to take it away? Respectively.. I'd suggest, you slow down and keep looking

[kd3pc]

sorry Bob, having a few of these myself...

there is no such thin as a "free" boat...

keep looking...

[Starlyte]

For what you'll pay in restoration...you can buy a ready, or near ready to sail boat in that range for far cheaper than "Free"......hum....
You'll end up sinking alot of cash into a boat that may have been somebody else's problem for quite a while. From what I've seen lately, an excellent 22 to 24 (most times with a trailor) can be had at about 3-6 grand.....ready to go.......with all the gear.
One guy at my yard had a ready to go San Juan 24 for 3k...ready to go with digital wind instr. installed and 3 jibs, he bought another boat and had to unload it...it was costing him money for everyday he held on to it.
Biggie here: Think of the sellers motivation.....Dumping, or moving onto another vessel?
In the past 30 years I've worked on, or helped on, several restore projects from wood to glass.
The small parts alone will kill ya....
Unless it's something you gotta have...I'd pass.

[sailingdog]

IF this is a "derelict" as you describe, he should be paying you to remove it. Free boats are often the most expensive ones you can get because many have an actual "negative" value. The cost of restoring them far exceeds what they would ever be worth. Unless the boat is a rare design or has extremely high sentimental value to you, bail on it and find one that is in sailable shape.

[EarthNC]

Sailing dog is correct. You are probably better off leaving well enough alone.

[tomwatt]

Advice well given.
I ran across an interesting Craigslist ad the other day... a 24' sailboat for sale down on the Gulf coast. The owner had restored the interior and done some rebuild work, listed his bill of materials... costs of more than $6,000 in materials (labor not even considered), asking about $4,000 now, and not getting any takers - partly because there is still a fair amount of work to do bringing the exterior back to life.
Plenty of boats out there for a bit of cash that you can sail right now, instead of having to do (and redo) a ton of work on to get it ready to splash.

[BobfromSWOhio]

Due to numerous (and welcome) responses I have passed on the Mason and am still looking for my first sailboat.