A Bayliner Buccaneer 272 given to me 4 free?

[Sea Cow]

I’ve been offered a 1980 272 for free. It’s in a local lake with 12 inches of water standing inside. The owner has no trailer. The cabin would have to be completely redone due to the water damage. My biggest question I’d like to have answered is, is this repairable or has the standing water damaged the structural integrity of the boat? I’m a master trim carpenter so the woodwork should be relatively easy for me.
Frankly I have boat fever though I’ve been giving a lot to home build a sailboat,, I’m shocked and awed at the notion of a free boat! I could take it and haul it onto a regular flatbed trailer and savage the rigging, which appears to be intact. The mast has (lol) a sail in the front and a sail in the back in canvas, though I didn’t care to open the canvas and check the state of the fabic.
From the looks of it the lake level went down and nobody tended to the boat leaving it on shore. Upon lake filling water gained entry to the cabin/ hull. Beyond the fiberglass skin, do anyone know what the hull is comprised of? Are there wooden elements of the hull that now renders the boat junk, due to the water immersion?
Thanks ahead of time for any help you could send my way.

[Sailormon6]

It's hard to say without seeing it, but a 1980 Buccaneer 272 wouldn't be worth much in average condition. If you have to put new or used sails on it and a new or used motor, and have to pay to have it hoisted out of the lake and hauled to where you can work on it, as well as your labor and materials, you can pretty quickly have more invested in it than it's worth. If the decks or coach roof are rotten or waterlogged inside, then it's not worth salvaging. If there's no hidden structural damage or rot, it might be worth doing, but the only way you can know that is if you have it surveyed by a good surveyor, and that would add a few hundred dollars to your up-front costs. It doesn't sound very promising. I think you'd be better off buying an older, smaller boat that is intact. Keep in mind that, once you own it, you have the responsibility of disposing of it if it doesn't work out, and it could be costly to haul that rascal to a landfill. I wish I could be more encouraging.

[Faster]

Sailormon is right on the money. These boats are worth little in good condition, and virtually unsellable if not. The freebie notion can be tempting but nothing is really for free and, as already said, you will quickly be out of pocket more than the package is worth. Even if you were to bring the boat back to life, it's still not much of a boat.

[sailingfool]

Sea Cow
I consider it extremely unlikely this boat had any value, before you go any further figure out how much it'll cost to legally dispose of the boat as trash before you become the owner. Although I've owned various sailboats over 30+ years I gotta admit I don't know how one dumps a junk boat.

If you can resolve how to bail out later without an exit cost, it's still unlikely this boat will be worth whatever you'll pay to make it useable, even the cost of materials replacing the interior, assuming you are willing to put no value on the many, many hours of your own time that would require. A boat left in this condition is likely to have plenty of other problems. And if you put all those hours of personal sweat, and who knows what money into this model, when you have rescued it, it will frankly, still be a pig.

You can find plenty of GOOD boats in finx-me-up-mode for short money, where the boat itself is at least worth the sweat (although I personally believe most fix-it-uppers ending up costing far more than a just buying a needs-nothing alternative, unless you've done the fixer-up route once so you know what you're getting into...)

good luck.

[sailandoar]

Look at:
http://groups.msn.com/BaylinerBuccaneerSloops

You will get an idea of prices. There are a lot of pictures and stories.

I have always considered the bayliner buccaneer's to be rather nice as small floating motor sailing apartments go.

I agree with previous posts that you can very VERY quickly put more $ in than you can ever get out. However, it is possible to to do a nice but CHEAP job of cleanup and restore as a sailing barge/apt and keep the investment low, for example it may sound goofy to use latex house paint and caulk on a boat (above the waterline) but it works and in the end you can save big bucks by NOT getting into the 'MARINE GRADE MATERIAL' trap. That marine stuff is fine and sometimes necessary if your restoring a Hinkley Yacht or any vessel that will/may sail the north atlantic in the winter or you need to maintain resale value, but for cautious sailing of a disposable barge/apt on the ICW and various lakes/ rivers almost anything works. A good eye, common sense and some ability with tools and you could possible have a nice little apt on the water. If you want a boat to travel across oceans and sail coastal offshore then look for something else.

It is unlikely that water sitting in the boat damaged anything other than wood/fabric, one exception being freeze damage. You do need to tap all over with a wooden/plastic mallet to listen for hollow/punky/soft/rotten/delaminated spots, particuaraly where there is or may be wood embedded in the structure. e.g. ply or balsa core decks. soft or rotten core is usually a deal breaker unless the boat is very valuable and the damage is very limited.