Someone wants to GIVE me a 1946 44ft Island Clipper

NewportNewbie · #1 (**permalink**) 10-01-2011

Its a wood boat that has a few wood issues that are being fixed. Complete rebuild in the interior. Its a 44 foot sloop. I have heard that the upkeep on wood boats is ALOT. Would I enjoy sailing that? I really like how responsive and easy to sail and single hand my 30 ft boat is. When would I use the 44? I am a daysailer so I am not sure I would get a lot of use from it. I also don't wanna take it just to scrap it. Anyone have any experience with this type of boat? I'm going to look at it tomorrow and see how bad things are. Exterior needs repaint, but I am told its solid and seaworthy with a rebuilt atomic 4.

eherlihy · #2 (**permalink**) 10-01-2011

You're going to hear this a lot, but let me be the first; RUN AWAY!

There is NO WAY that I would accept a 1946 44 foot anything that needs a paint job, and wood repair.

CharlieCobra might want it, and know what to do with it, but not me. The maintenance and responsibility of a wooden boat would ne too much for me to bear.

But if you have a lot of money and free time...

bljones · #3 (**permalink**) 10-01-2011

Grasshopper, one has to walk before one can run....
Right now, you're crawling.
And this boat would stop you dead in your tracks.
See, this is the kind of boat that is a dream killer. She is SEXY, with long overhangs and a cute little high and tight transom and ...
a proper 8 coat varnish schedule for 40+ feet of brightwork is expensive and time consuming, so often it gets neglected, especially in the corners, and the wood on the house beings to rot, especially in the corners, and where is the cabin house fastened?
In the corners.
So somebody decides to cut some corners just to keep the boat sailing and simply putties it up and glasses it all over and paints what used to be bright, and the boat sit, and gets rained on, and doesn't get cleaned, and...
a few season later it gets offered for free because it now is worth less than it would cost to scrap it, and refitting would cost four times what it could be sold for.
No one owns a woodenboat- One either feels owned by it, or one feels that they are simply stewards, charged with maintaining a classic until the stewardship is handed off to the next keeper of the flame.

Siamese · #4 (**permalink**) 10-01-2011

RUN...like the wind. Like a cheap pair of stockings. Just RUN, and don't look back.

SloopJonB · #5 (**permalink**) 10-01-2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by NewportNewbie

Someone wants to GIVE me a 1946 44ft Island Clipper

What did you ever do to them? It must have been pretty nasty.

Yorksailor · #6 (**permalink**) 10-01-2011

We had a panic call to our sailing club from a lady offering to donate a boat.

The lady had been given a boat and after 3 days of ownership she was out $1,000 on repairs and tows and was still stranded 100 miles from home.

Phil

dhays · #7 (**permalink**) 10-01-2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by eherlihy

You're going to hear this a lot, but let me be the first; RUN AWAY!

There is NO WAY that I would accept a 1946 44 foot anything that needs a paint job, and wood repair.

CharlieCobra might want it, and know what to do with it, but not me. The maintenance and responsibility of a wooden boat would ne too much for me to bear.

But if you have a lot of money and free time...

...and would rather have no money and no free time.

NewportNewbie · #8 (**permalink**) 10-01-2011

Haha...thanks guys! In my mind I am already talking my way out of it! I am enjoying the fun of sailing, I have a boat that needs very few things done to it, and I DONT want a long term project. A buddy said, "Yeah in great shape you can sail around the world in it.". I told my wife if I was sailing around the world it would be comfortably in a Beneteau 50.

smurphny · #9 (**permalink**) 10-01-2011

Geeez, that's older'n me.

Unless you are a very good woodworker, have lots of determination AND lots of time and/or money, you should probably not tackle it. A wood boat (and I have owned plenty) are not necessarily a lot more work than a glass boat ONCE THEY ARE IN TOP SHAPE. But unless you know this boat does not have major repairs, which takes a lot of experience to determine, it could quickly become a nightmare.
On the other hand, there is nothing that "feels" like a wood boat. There is no core rot, no blistering, no polishing gelcoat. I swear it seems most glass boat owners spend more time polishing and waxing than it takes to give a woodie a shiny new coat of paint. A wood boat is part marine construction and part art. The boat I was most fond of was a 1936 42' Wheeler Playmate without a fiber of glass in her.

deniseO30 · #10 (**permalink**) 10-01-2011

Nirvana – 44′ Island Clipper Sloop – $69,500 | David Jones Yacht Brokerage what you would be missing if you had the resources to restore or refit.