Things that don't give one a good feeling about the PO of one's boat

[drynoc]

I love my boat, but it took a lot of work to get it in shape. The PO had:

Installed a pump that could empty the holding tank over the side. I found it by chance - fortunately haven't been boarded by the Coast Guard yet. Typically of a lot of other things on the boat, it didn't even work. When questioned over the phone months after I bought the boat, he claimed not to remember it.

Left the whisker pole and the spinnaker pole lying in the companionway, half down below and half in the cockpit. Of course the companionway was open. I bought it for a bargain price, had it delivered by truck to my home a month later, and the poles and the companionway were still in the same condition. How the boat stayed so dry below is beyond me. Thankfully, I couldn't make the shipping arrangements quickly, or it would have been delivered in time to sit through hurricane Isabel.

Cut the wiring leading to the through hull sensor for the depth sounder right at the through hull. It is cut off so short that it cannot be re-wired, and will have to be pulled.

Allowed the engine shut off switch to deteriorate so that it was unusable, and the engine had to be shut off by pinching the fuel line.

[chucklesR]

PO of my previous boat (Hunter 31) was a 73 year old single geezer who only used her to take out female Single Sailors on the bay(a large club here).
He named her 'Swallow' - which the admiral said I must change immediately...

In renaming her I after the first weekend of stripping she became
"wallow" - which she did as I was learning to sail.
then
"allow" - on friday night races, she allowed the others to pass
then
"low" - as in the speed.
Finally "Patience" because by then it was obvious I needed more.

While the wine rack was full, there wasn't a spare part or tool aboard.
He'd had a stroke while laying her up, left a hatch open all winter. I got her for a song from his estate.

[sailingdog]

Is this what you did or what the PO left you with???

Originally Posted by ilnadi

- Wire nuts to the stereo
- many wire connections twisted together and black-taped (including in the bilge!)
- Lazy jacks threaded wrong and wrapped to the mast with (very dead) bungee

now if I can keep the boat nearly as clean as they did, I'll feel really superior

[EO32]

I guess I was lucky.

My PO had the boat commissioned for himself. He has everything labeled and had already purchased the spare parts for the broken things I've found.

He kept good records until the last 5 years when dementia set in and the boat never sailed.

The problem now is he doesn't remember anything about it.

[xort]

Originally Posted by drynoc

I love my boat, but it took a lot of work to get it in shape. The PO had:

Installed a pump that could empty the holding tank over the side. I found it by chance - fortunately haven't been boarded by the Coast Guard yet.

Depending on where you are, that's legal. You're allowed to pump out your tank 3 miles offshore, 5 miles out in the Gulf of Mexico.
In the Great Lakes, you have to disable that pump. In Lake Champlain, you have to disconnect the hose that feeds the pump.

[FarCry]

The PO of my boat is convinced that the Yanmar 2GM that is in the vessel he sold me, has just one cylinder.

The starting battery was about 8' from the starter and the cables were very undersized. The PO said that the motor always turned over slowly. I wonder why? After relocating the battery and running some nice big fat cables, I think the boat could reach hull speed in gear spinning the starter.

[sailingdog]

Not for very long, unless you've got a really big house bank to run it off of... Don't run a starter for very long if you've got a water-lift muffler, unless you've closed the intake seacock or you'll risk hydrolocking the engine. Hydrolocking the engine is bad.

Originally Posted by FarCry

...The starting battery was about 8' from the starter and the cables were very undersized. The PO said that the motor always turned over slowly. I wonder why? After relocating the battery and running some nice big fat cables, I think the boat could reach hull speed in gear spinning the starter.

[uspirate]

Originally Posted by sailingdog

Not for very long, unless you've got a really big house bank to run it off of... Don't run a starter for very long if you've got a water-lift muffler, unless you've closed the intake seacock or you'll risk hydrolocking the engine. Hydrolocking the engine is bad.

we all knew that but figured we would let you up you post count

[FarCry]

I should have put a at the end of the sentence. The humor was too subtle without it.

But once again SD you are absolutely factually correct and you may save someone some damage who decides to try my absurd suggestion. Don't try this at home kids.

[CBinRI]

To buck a trend, my PO was a yard owner who put in new teak decks, electrical and did as beautiful a varnish job below as you will find. I'm hoping her next owner won't be posting on this thread, but wouldn't rule it out.