My New Used Boat

[Harborless]

Just bought a 1979 26'4" AMF Paceship.
I do not have a camera but I will put the ad I found it on in a link so you can at least see a few shots.
All in all I think I got the boat for a steal. In the ad it said the Yanmar had not been cranked since the rebuild... Upon my inspection I found the Yanmar 10 HP to be in really good working condition. It turned right over. The guy said he planned on raising the price another $1200 after the engine was found to be in such good condition but seeing as I was already there with $2800 in hand I closed.

Boat needs: All new lines. I notice some stress cracks around a lot of the Stanchions. When I looked in the inside up I saw that the Stanchions were bolted through the hull and attached to what looked to be a fiber glass backing plate. I plan on taking out the Stanchions, raising them up at least 6", and backing them with some stainless steel or something else robust to spread the stress around.
Boat needs radar, depth sounder, GPS, and radio. Winches need some elbow grease. They hardly clicked upon turning but when I took the heads off and scraped out some of the gunk and reapplied them they clicked ten fold better.. Not sure if I will replace yet.
Next week I will haul out the boat, scrape it, paint it, and take out and reinstall all the old sea cocks and hoses attached to them.
Need a few pieces of standing rigging. Havent been up the mast to check out the spars but looks to be okay.

***Note: The bilge in this boat is only 2 inches which is wierd to me. Also, the keel-bolts that stick up out of the bilge are pretty corroded but once I dug down to the bolts washers I saw shiny stainless metal so I think keel-bolt failure is pretty unlikely.
I bought this boat without seeing it under the waterline so I have no idea if its blistered up or not. I will drill a few holes into the keel to see if any water has gotten in there though. I figure even if the ballast is rusty mush I can get back my $2800. The rebuilt diesel alone would fetch at least $1200 on a cheap day. Besides, what are the chances the Keel is rotted out anyway? I know some of the posters on this forum swear by surveyors but for a 30+ yr old boat priced at under $3,000 the cost of a surveyor is not an exceptional need for my situation. I did take a risk with not having the boat hauled out first but the rest of the boats condition and its stoutness lead me to believe its nothing to worry about.

Refitting starts next week. Look to put from 2-4K into refits and upgrades. The one major thing was that the boat has no roller furling... Not a huge drawback but definitely something I plan on installing.

I am going to replace two of the main cabin port holes with the kind that have the flip up screen windows. I need more ventilation.
Other than that the boat just needs a lot of varnish and elbow grease, nothing major besides the fact I need to buy a working jib.

I will be getting a digi camera very soon and plan on using this site as both a source of information for my projects and hopefully eventually a reference for those attempting their own.
Now I just need to think up a name for her...


Harborless

[Harborless]

1979 26'paceship sailboat

[bljones]

Nice score.

[eherlihy]

Originally Posted by Harborless

In the ad it said the Yanmar had not been cranked since the rebuild... Upon my inspection I found the Yanmar 10 HP to be in really good working condition. It turned right over.

If it runs RELIABLY, you're way ahead.

Originally Posted by Harborless

Boat needs: All new lines.

Buy them... it could easily run you >$1K.

Originally Posted by Harborless

I notice some stress cracks around a lot of the Stanchions.

Check for flex at the base - it probably has gaskets under the stanchions. Rebed with Butyl tape (search for Maine Sail's excellent post here).

Originally Posted by Harborless

When I looked in the inside up I saw that the Stanchions were bolted through the hull and attached to what looked to be a fiber glass backing plate.

Nuthin' wrong with good glass backing plates. You don't have to worry about dissimilar metals with glass.

Originally Posted by Harborless

I plan on taking out the Stanchions, raising them up at least 6", and backing them with some stainless steel or something else robust to spread the stress around.

I believe that you mean to replace the stanchions with 6" taller ones, and not use 6" blocks under your existing ones (I hope). Again, there is nothing wrong with adequate glass backing plates. Epoxy ½" G10 fiberglass in place if you want bullet proof backing plates. You can find that here; McMaster-Carr

Originally Posted by Harborless

Boat needs radar (Really?!?), depth sounder, GPS, and radio....

Originally Posted by Harborless

Next week I will haul out the boat, scrape it, paint it, and take out and reinstall all the old sea cocks and hoses attached to them.

Toss any old gate valves - and use Main Sail's tips on installing through hulls, available here. You'll develop a new appreciation for the price of Bronze

Originally Posted by Harborless

Need a few pieces of standing rigging. Havent been up the mast to check out the spars but looks to be okay.

It may be wiser to have the rig dropped to do the initial inspection.

***Note: The bilge in this boat is only 2 inches which is wierd to me. Also, the keel-bolts that stick up out of the bilge are pretty corroded but once I dug down to the bolts washers I saw shiny stainless metal so I think keel-bolt failure is pretty unlikely.

I'll share what MY bilge looked like when my boat first went to survey;
This boat was built in 1986


Not too bad... or so I thought...

Then I had the boat hauled, and noticed the keel rocked about ¼" (at the bottom) from port to stbd.

After the keel was dropped here is what we found;




The repair was about 1/3 the asking price of the boat...

Refitting starts next week. Look to put from 2-4K into refits and upgrades. The one major thing was that the boat has no roller furling... Not a huge drawback but definitely something I plan on installing.

The roller furler alone may eat your entire 2-4K.

I don't want to dissuade you, but realize what BOAT stands for. The older they get the more that seems to hold true.

Good luck, and keep us posted!

[Harborless]

Thanks so much for sharing! I recently heard abut a new kind of plastic seacock I am going to look into.
Honestly, the keel is my only concern. I have some bad feelings about it just because I have never seen it before. HOWEVER, I am NOT sure if use has anything to do with the problem you had. See, the boat I just bought has been sailed three times in 10 years. Much more a product of neglect than rigorous use. Im praying the keel is up to snuff.
One question for you, how long could you have operated your boat with that keel before it fell off you think? This is a starter boat that I plan on only holding two years or so.

[dhays]

One thing to consider is check out used gear at marine swap meets and chanderlies that specialize in used gear. You may find some bargains in a roller furler, lines, ports, etc...

[eherlihy]

It's not just a matter of the keel falling off (though it probably would have taken 5 or 6 more years), but of loosing the race against the water in the bilge. You may come down to the dock one day and find this;

Also you will wonder why she handles poorly and what that "clunk" is when you tack.