Purchasing Sunken boats

[m2736185]

Anyone ever had any luck puchasing a sunken boat? Someone is selling a Catalina 22 and I guess the foredeck came apart and they reattached it. Anything I should look out for? How much can I expect it to cost to repaint the entire boat if I did it myself?

[Me and Boo]

That sounds like a wreck that is worth less than $0.00. You should be able to find something that is not wet and broken with a little searching.

[CorvetteGuy]

Watch out for a Cat 22 that has has the fordeck glued back on. Lots of boats for cheap out there with out the frankenboat part. Keep looking and GL

[DonScribner]

Define sunken. Fully submerged or a hundred gallons in the salon before the keel touched down and the neighbor threw in a pump and made a phone call? The biggest thing will be delamination. Once the deck core gets wet and the wetness begins to spread, the inner and outer layers of glass could let go. It's the sandwich of these components that give the boat strength. By themselves you have two sheets of floppy fiberglass and a sheet of balsa wood. Putting them back together is a real chore for a small area. If its the whole deck . . . RUN AWAY from this one. There are few things that cost more that a free boat. If you really want a boat, there are a bazillion 22 footers on trailers out there for about $2500 and they are sailable and in decent repair.

[denverd0n]

Be very, very careful. A sunken boat could easily cost more to repair than simply buying a nearly new boat. Most sunken boats are not worth anything. I mean that literally. The owner should be paying you to take it away, not the other way around.

[Barquito]

If we understand the damage correctly, it is probably not worth the effort. I repainted the bottom, topsides, and deck on my C22. I would estimate it cost less than $500 in supplies. I probably put $1500 into the boat and sold it after 5 years for what I paid for it. That is why is is usually most cost effective to purchase a boat as close to the condition you want. If you just want a project, go for it.

[Harborless]

My grandfather when he got stationed in Annapolis Maryland with the Army back in the 60's saw a sunken sailboat in the harbor chanel entrance near his base. Long story short my grandfather had the boat raised and a few years later when he signed his retirement paper that 46' Cheoy Lee (spelling) took him, my grandmother and their kids from MD to the ahamas where they found the piece of land they decided to cal home.

So--- Yes, it is and can be done. Dont waste your time on a catalina though. If its a nice boat it may be worth it. Production boats like Cats are not worth it.

[DougSabbag]

As was mentioned earlier, a lot depends on the details. Did this vessel "sink" in fresh water or ocean water? How far down, for how long?

As far as how much it will cost to repaint her, well, that depends too. If you use AwlGrip or IMRON, it won't be cheap. For instance Imron costs at least $250 a gallon.

Here is a quote from another site:

"I worked for Hatteras in New Bern, where the BIG ones are built, in the late 70's. All hulls are sprayed with Imron over gelcoat. Imron is a 2 part polyurethane enamel that is very hard, durable, and when properly applied, produces an extremely high gloss finish. It should only be applied by spraying because it is so thin. A Binks Model 18 will do an excellent job. The key is to lightly fog first, let that tack 5-10 minutes, then apply to about 10 mils thick. No runs, no drips, no errors! "

Good luck!

[Harborless]

You can find the boat in that huge old book of yacht names. Was named Harbor Light

[SloopJonB]

Check out the motorsailor project at Lackeysailing.com. He's restoring a Fisher 30 that sank in the Hudson.

For a trailer sailor that could be 90% restored with a good pressure washing it might be worth it but not if there's fiberglass damage as well - there're too many small Cats out there in decent shape to bother.