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Good deal? Need advice.

4K views 15 replies 10 participants last post by  jimgo 
#1 ·
Good evening ladies and gents,

I've found a 1976 c&c mk II 29' sailboat for 5k. The interior is fairly nice and actually clean, which is unusual for that price range I've found. There's minor cosmetic wear and tear on the inside, but it does have some flaws. The diesel engine has a head crack, and the previous owner decided to epoxy it and paint over it and sell it to the current owner without revealing the flaw. So needless to say, the engine is done. The boat is missing pretty much everything you would need to get underway. There is no compass, no depth finder, no engine, no vhf radio, no wind vane or autopilot. Some of those things I recognize aren't strictly necessary, but are nice to have for longer trips (self steering systems). It once had a nice aluminum davit and dinghy, which were knocked off when someone new to boating ran into it while it was docked. Unfortunately that means that a new davit might be difficult to install since it damaged the fiberglass when it ripped off the davit. The current owner never got underway with the boat so I have no idea if there are other problems, perhaps with the sail or the mast or boom.

As it is right now it appears to be a comfortable live-aboard vessel and is great for anyone who wants an apartment. But I've also found a boat for a few thousand more that has all of the equipment, including working autopilot and engine, dinghy, radio, etc. - a 1981 yamaha 30.

I plan on using my boat as a place to live while I'm in the Navy and do some cruising around the bay and maybe a little coastal cruising and offshore cruising. Not a lot, just enough to test the boat and myself. When I finish my time in the Navy I'm planning on taking a few months to travel up the coast over to Greenland and Iceland then down to the UK to visit Ireland. If I'm still feeling adventurous at that point then the Mediterranean is just around the river bend as it were, and there's a host of countries to explore around there. I'm also considering very strongly cruising around the Caribbean for a bit as well, but which course I plot out will depend largely on who is going with me, or a coin toss.

I'm looking for advice from the salty gurus of sailnet. What am I looking at cost and time wise to set the c&c right? Would you go for the c&c over the yamaha 30? Would the Yamaha 30 work for my long term plans better than the c&c? Is there anything that pops out in your mind listening to my plans?

Thanks for your time guys.
-Brett
 
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#2 ·
How much sailing have you done?

A choice between a money-and-time sink -vs- a sailaway boat? Yamaha.

...unless you want to spend two or three hitches patching up the C&C.
 
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#4 ·
The C&C is in my opinion the better boat, but a new engine is $10k or more, and it sounds like the boat needs another $2-5k of work pretty easily. A 1979 C&C 29 in really tip top shape would be worth in the $20k range in Seattle, which probably means it should be a lot cheaper over there.

Neither of these are ideal choices for sailing across the Atlantic. It's been done in similar boats hundreds of times, but they were intended more for coastal trips where shelter is never too far away.
 
#5 ·
Early days to be making transatlantic plans....

The C&C may be the boat with better 'bones', however the Yamahas are well engineered and executed, with some nifty ideas and it's probably a bit roomier, though somewhat less conventional than the C&C. Yamaha 30s never seemed to sail to their ratings, if that's a consideration. The early Y30s also had the engine under the Vberth, it was later moved aft. The engine forward version was a bit of an anomaly, with the added complication of a long propshaft and it's attendant bearings and steady rests.

But as-is-where-is it's pretty much a no brainer... the C&C is a still-unknown quantity as far has how bad it might get. If the boat hasn't been 'out' in years there's probably some serious underwater issues to worry about too.

I'd go for the sail-away - but keep in mind there are lots more boats than those two and it's a buyer's market... don't be in a rush and look at plenty more.
 
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#6 ·
Thanks guys, that was along the lines I was thinking. I'll steer clear of that c&c. It had a nice feel to it, but when it was missing even the compass...it felt like it had been stripped down for parts and anything electronic was sold off.

I'm not making any transatlantic plans yet per se, but I know I want to cruise when I'm no longer bound by my navy contract and keeping that in mind I feel as though I should plan for the eventuality. It'll take a lot of time and money to get myself and a boat to where I feel comfortable taking her on that voyage.
 
#7 ·
Well the C&C sounds to be over priced by about $4500. for under $10 grand you should be able to find a good 30 footer. Not sure if this is the Yamaha you were looking at or not, but looks kind of nice. Small cabin with those wide decks, but I bet that is nice when sailing!

1981 Yamaha 30 sailboat for sale in Virginia

That vbirth mounted engine is kind of strange, but at least you have good access. Settees look like pipe births with cushions but otherwise the interior looks well done.

I think you should be able to find a good boat for that price with a bit more room. Keep looking.
 
#8 ·
I don't think I'd choose either of them, no matter how nice they were, to sail to Greenland, Iceland and across the North Atlantic.
 
#9 ·
If you are planning to live aboard, you might need AC and heat even more than you'll need a compass.

The current owner might be straight-up but it sounds like his previous owner was a piece of work. You don't want to find out, I think, what else got painted over.
 
#11 ·
I like the S2 9.2 CC's especially for a 1-person live-aboard. The aft cabin could make a "quaint" (to use the term you see in house listings) bedroom that you can keep messy while keeping the V-berth and salon straightened up for guests. The separate shower is a bit of a joke - you can't stand in it, but as Cruisingdad has pointed out before, it's really nice to have a separate shower area so you can keep from getting the entire head area soaked. I'd go check that out, if for no other reason than to get a sense of what a center cockpit looks like, and how that impacts the "floorplan" of a boat.
 
#12 ·
...The separate shower is a bit of a joke - you can't stand in it, but as Cruisingdad has pointed out before, it's really nice to have a separate shower area so you can keep from getting the entire head area soaked....
If it is not otherwise provided for, you could use something like this:

Shower Chairs
 
#14 ·
You know I actually saw that Islander but my concern is that most racing sailboats I've viewed aren't good liveaboards or cruisers, and I can't find a goodly amount of information on this particular islander. I'm curious about this S2, she looks like a nice find, but I won't be able to check her out until next weekend. Has anyone ever heard of an Allmand? I found a 31 that looks well taken care of but I know nothing about that particular brand.
 
#15 ·
Brett-
An inboard diesel replacement means a fast $15,000 and a lot of effort on top of that. Unless you really feel up to a DIY on that, or get lucky and it "just" needs a new head. Either way, if you can get a boat with a working engine for just a few grand more...that's a no-brainer, the engine will prove to be convenient. And add resale value when and if you eventually move off the boat and sell it.
The epoxy and paint routine also means that PO was a cheat, and the guy he sold it to wasn't so sharp on maintenance issues, so you've got two more reasons to question everything on the boat.
Unless you really want a project...walk.
 
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