Coronado 35 CC sloop

[salamandyr]

Hi Folks,

I looked at a nice 35' Coronado today, with the center cockpit, and could use some advice.

Basically the same hull as the Columbia 34, but different above the water line, and has a skeg rudder instead of the C34's spade. This center-cockpit 35er one was very nice and had a custom interior, recent low-hours yanmar rebuild, full complement of equipment and sails, good rigging, decks feel solid, etc.. by all appearances this is in very nice shape for a 1973 vintage, and the bottom has been cleaned monthly by divers... but I've not seen the bottom yet.

I'm considering making an offer contingent upon a haul out + survey, but I'm hesitant.. here is why:

1) some of this era / this model Coronados are reported to have balsa-cored hulls below the water line. It's unclear to me how to tell if this is one of those.. some folks with these Coronado 35 CC's are adamant they have solid hulls, other folks tell horror stories of cleaning out mush and replacing the balsa hull core after water logging..

I know these have balsa cored decks, whose condition needs to be verified, but I'd prob step away from it if it's got a cored hull, because:

2) it hasn't been pulled and painted for 8 years, or sailed much in that time, although has been maintained quite well "at slip" from records and appearance.

3) this ship has a cast iron keel

thus, it definitely needs bottom paint, and all the things an iron keel needs, e.g. phosphoric acid treatment, prob new keel bolts after all this time, electrical ground bonding to slow electrolysis of the metals, etc.

thus, if i haul it to do a survey before buying and discover that 1) it's got a balsa cored hull, I just walk away because a balsa cored hull whose paint hasn't been done for 8 years means it's prob soaked.. or 2) it's got a great hull in solid shape, but needs significant keel maintenance.

so.. how much $$$ am i talking about to do that kind of work on a cast iron keel? grind the rust, clean the iron with phosphoric, replace keel bolts, wire a ground, add layers of gel/paint/zinc as necessary, etc

i figure a bottom paint and haul on a 35' should be about $1500.. i dont want to get into this boat if the keel work will double that, I dont think.. anyone got an idea?

[Faster]

Short answer..... keep looking......

[salamandyr]

Too many unknowns? Or is maintaining an iron keel that's rusted a giant problem?

[Faster]

The iron keel is not in itself a huge issue... but 8 years with no haulout isn't going to be pretty - anywhere.

There are better boats out there ....

[fallard]

Don't know about the boat, but getting a haul-out, prepping the bottom properly (i.e., removing the old paint, applying a barrier coat (if it passes a survey) and applying 3 coats of an ablative bottom paint won't happen for $1500, unless you do it yourself.

[salamandyr]

Originally Posted by fallard

Don't know about the boat, but getting a haul-out, prepping the bottom properly (i.e., removing the old paint, applying a barrier coat (if it passes a survey) and applying 3 coats of an ablative bottom paint won't happen for $1500, unless you do it yourself.

Thanks Fallard,

The local boat yard is quoting my buddy with a Columbia 33 only $1300 for haul/scrape/paint etc. Zincs are extra, I think. They added another $500 to the quote for iron keel treatment and replacing it's bolts, so still not awful.

I know that dollar amounts on boat maintenance are all over the place, and are almost always more than you expect, so I'm figuring at least 30% more than I'm quoted for straightforward stuff, and also know that almost nothing is that straightforward when it comes time to actually doing the repair