Free Boat

[gaha_1]

A friend has a boat he is giving away 1965 24' columba,The boat is in ohio

[Jim H]

Be careful what you wish for...

Last night I noticed that a free 27' US Yachts sailboat popped up on the Seattle Craigslist, but this morning the ad has been removed.

As for Columbia 24s, we looked at one recently for fun, but it would have been a ton of work to bring back into shape. We could have bought it for $750, and the trailer it sat on was almost worth that. Still, the interior was rotted, the standing and running rigging looked shot, everthing needed to be prepped and painted... The list went on and on.

Jim H

[jared]

And if a "free boat" turns out, after further inspection, to be unfeasible to repair, the new owner is now stuck with the disposal costs for thousands of pounds of what is often classed as toxic waste.

Caveat emptor.

[markandmarla]

I'll bite...Where is the free boat at?
Mark

[TUNDAR4]

PLEASE E-MAIL ME AT MZPAGEMASTER@AOL.COM IF ANYONE HAS A FREE OR INEXPENSIVE BOAT OVER 24' SAIL OR POWER THANKS AGAIN I CAN GET IT AS SOON AS THIS FRI,IF EVERYTHING IS READY ON YOUR END; THANKS AGAIN; AND YES I KNOW THE DOWN FALLS OF AN OLD BOAT ;BUT I ALSO KNOW WITH A LOT OF WORK COMES A LOT OF SAILING;I DO ALL KINDS OF CUSTOM WOOD AND FIBERGLASS;REWORKING AND LOVE A CHALENGE ;BUT THANKS FOR YOUR INPUT; JUST LOOKING TO PUT SOME OLD BOATS BACK IN THE WATER, AFTER ALL ;THOSE OLD BOATS ARE WHY WE ARE ALL SAILING NOW ;ISNT IT?

[phowson]

As asked above, where is the boat? If your friend can't give it away, he/she might consider donating it to charity. There are a number of sailing oriented charities that would be psyched to get any boat no matter how battered. One group I know in the DC area gets teaches kids to fix up old boats and then teaches them how to sail.

[owlmtn]

there is no such thing as a "free boat". Jim

[SwiftSea]

A long time ago I took someone up on a free boat and it turned out to be a really good thing. It needed some work to say the least, but it ended up being a great boat and provided tons of fun for myself and my son. If you have the time and are able to take a look at the free boat I would give it a try.

[SailinJay]

I acquired a "free" Catalina 22 with a 9.9 Johnson outboard included back in 1998 that did not have a keel. I bought the keel and had a yard do that and some other work. Had the outboard overhauled. The rest of the work I did myself. Spent a year off and on getting her ready and launched her in 1999. Got four good years of sailing out of her, then I bought a new, larger boat in 2003. The C-22 is still alive and well and moored at a private dock in Lewes, DE, where my brother-in-law has enjoyed the use of it for the past three years.

Given my budget at the time, I found the cost I put into the boat more than acceptable for the amount of use I was able to get out of it (vs. chartering Tanzer 22s for day sails from the sailing school where I did my basic and intermediate keel boat classes).

[CBinRI]

My general rule of thumb is that a "free" boat is almost never a good idea and usually means they should be paying you to take it away.