Repair or sell my F32 opinions please

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K4282
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Repair or sell my F32 opinions please

Post by K4282 »

so 3 years ago I got a 73 F322, did some work and now shes running great and I use her often and enjoy her with family and friends but my upper floor and cockpit floors are getting bad. I called a local guy who said hes at $55hr for such repair work but talked himself out of it saying the boat wasnt worth it (sight unseen) unless its a labor of love estimating $5,000 in repair work and the boat is far from perfect with a homemade enclosure on an original open model boat. I know of a 1980 F321 for $8,500 in great shape Im sure I could get for less, what do I do here? Im contemplating attempting the job myself but am not much of a carpenter and have 0 experience with fiberglass work and from what I understand even the materials are expensive. My options are
1. Sell for around $4 to $5 and take a risk on another boat
2. attempt to repair myself
3. (wont happen) invest over $5,000 in a boat im not totally in love with
4. burry myself in debt now and finance what I really want
5. run it into the ground and bubble gum and duct tape everything till I cant do that anymore and then buy what I really want
todd brinkerhoff
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Re: Repair or sell my F32 opinions please

Post by todd brinkerhoff »

How much have you invested so far? How bad are the floors? Is it a safety issue? Are you handy? Do you want to learn to do fiberglass work? There are a lot of "what ifs" .

From my experience, people will always tell me to go get another boat in lieu of doing a project. But I have done a ton of work already, and would be diving into an unknown if I went with another boat. It all depends. If I had major stuctural issues, I would probably try to get rid of it. But everything that is wrong with this boat will be present on any 25 to 30 year old boat. If I want to step up to a 10 year old boat, I would have spent 10X more money, and probably still had issues.
1991 Trojan International 10.8 Meter Express hull# 003 - 454 Crusaders
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The Dog House
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Re: Repair or sell my F32 opinions please

Post by The Dog House »

If its just the floors that are a concern, for less than $200 you can reinforce them using 8 lbs. density expanding polyurethane foam. You can buy it from US Composites (http://www.uscomposites.com/foam.html) as well as many other manufacturers on the internet. Drill 1/4" holes in the floor, use syringes to inject the liquid foam into the space between the two fiberglass layers, and then allow the foam to expand. Allow any excess foam to come out of the holes. Once the foam hardens it is easy to cut off the excess. After the empty space is filled with foam, countersink the holes slightly and use MagicEzy 9 Second Chip Fix to repair the fiberglass. It will be a very functional fix and the 1/4" holes are not too noticeable. Given the value of our boats, removing the floor and putting in new core material is not cost effective.
1993 Sea Ray 200 Overnighter OB with 1993 Mercury 150 hp Outboard
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K4282
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Re: Repair or sell my F32 opinions please

Post by K4282 »

without sitting down and doing all the math im invested into her for about $5 to $5,500 including aquaring the boat. I believe the upper floor has been repaired in the past, its wavy and its really just too far gone, as the lower. The gunwale and forward deck and stringers etc are all great. Im currently leaning toward attemting the project on my own. Id remove the bridge and do some minor repairs and respray that over the winter and make plugs for quick connecting in the future. then maybe some cardboard to figure out the correct arch of the upper floor, and notch and make some kind of wood structure, then im thinking wet plywood so it bends to the correct shape. The cockpit floor looks easier, I should probably start there. As stated i feel like anything in a 15k or less price range will have similair issues, what I want 36 Ocean Yacht/40 Mainship/34 Silverton Aft but I want my next boat to be more of a longer lasting/forever boat for myself. At 32 I think I have time to aquire this. Im not afraid of projects just the lack of time/wasted money on supplies and lack of knowledge
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Re: Repair or sell my F32 opinions please

Post by ready123 »

Don't spend another dollar on it... use it as you wish. Then sell or dump it when you have saved enough $$ to buy the boat you really want.... 36 Ocean Yacht/40 Mainship/34 Silverton Aft, as you say.
This looks like another one of those got it cheap so it must make sense projects which turn out to be not what one really wants.... as the dollars and effort required ends up being seen as not really worth it.

As I'm sure you can tell I'm not one of those people who believe fixer uppers are a good route to go! :(
Michael
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Re: Repair or sell my F32 opinions please

Post by prowlersfish »

And yet all boats are fixer uppers
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Re: Repair or sell my F32 opinions please

Post by todd brinkerhoff »

prowlersfish wrote:And yet all boats are fixer uppers
Exactly. Please show me a boat on this forum that is not a fixer upper. It's the level of fixer upper that is the difference. If you don't like to work on stuff yourself, get out of boating. Or save your dollars for lottery tickets...

There are 3 types of boat owners:

1. The type that can afford to buy services: I have a boat neighbor who spent $350,000 on a new 35 foot boat. Beautiful, with all the bells and whistles. He has been stranded at the dock at least a 1/2 dozen times because of issues. He calls the mechanic, and they come down and fix it. He does not have a clue how to fix a thing. But he has the money to do it.

2. The type that buys used and does the work himself: I have another friend who sold his 11 Meter to step up to a 1990 45' Viking. Beautiful boat. He does all of his own work. So far he has had to replace both turbos, and a head gasket. He says he loves the boat, and it is more fuel efficient than the gasser Trojan, BUT, his ownership costs have gone up, and the boat is more work.

3. The type who buys into the attractive part of boating without a clue of the work associated with having a new or used boat - They are the type of people who say the two best days of owning a boat are the day you buy it, and the day you sell it.

I encourage you to go find what you want. But if you think buying a 36 Ocean Yacht/40 Mainship/34 Silverton Aft will be trouble free, you're disallusioned. ALL boats are fixer uppers. Some more so than others. I agree with Dog House. Find an economical way to fix what you have. Don't allow that boat to continue to rot under your feet. If you can't do it yourself, then get rid of it. But, I encourage you to LEARN something new. The best part about old boats is that if you screw something up, WHO CARES? Make your mistakes on this boat, so you won't on your next. You'll have tested skills that you can then transfer to that boat of your dreams. Life is about experiences, not possessions. ENJOY what you have while you have it, and if it gives you a life lesson or cool experience, its worth the ownership.
1991 Trojan International 10.8 Meter Express hull# 003 - 454 Crusaders
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K4282
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Re: Repair or sell my F32 opinions please

Post by K4282 »

I dont expect any of them to be trouble free or fixer uppers, ill most likely keep my F32 for a few years, 3 im guessing, it was my first larger twin engine boat moving up from a 26 Silverton flybridge single screw. I installed my port motor myself as well as fixed wiring and other upgrades. Im just at a point where I need to decided wether to keep going or wait, I feel im at a point where I can break even or just loose minimal amount of money which is ok. My Silverton was free and I spent lots of time and a few thousand fixed her all up and sold for $5,000 after enjoying for 2 years and my friend is using her and very much enjoying it. Kind of where im at now. And like I said I can buy another F32 with better floors for about the same money but Id be gambling on the motors
Last edited by K4282 on Fri Oct 17, 2014 3:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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K4282
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Re: Repair or sell my F32 opinions please

Post by K4282 »

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ready123
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Re: Repair or sell my F32 opinions please

Post by ready123 »

prowlersfish wrote:And yet all boats are fixer uppers
All boats need some mods. or upgrades. When I say fixerupper I mean stuff that *must* be fixed to be safe. I stay away from those. 8)
Michael
Rum is the reason Pirate's have never ruled the world
Done Dreamin'
1987 President 43' Twin Lehman 225SP Turbo
Highfield 310 Ally 15 HP Yamaha 2cycle
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Re: Repair or sell my F32 opinions please

Post by todd brinkerhoff »

This is my suggestion if you plan on keeping it for a couple of years;

Find the border of the bad area, and draw lines marking the edges. Start drilling holes (1/4 to 1/2") throughout the entire area. Take a shop vac and vacuum out any loose material or moisture. If its wet, you need to dry it out. Take some Smith's CPES, a syringe, and start pouring the stuff into the holes. The CPES is just to stabilize the rotting wood. Let it dry for a couple of weeks. Buy some high density structural expanding foam. Do what Dog House suggested, and fill it all in with a caulk gun. Let it expand and dry. Fill all the open holes with thickened epoxy. Sand down the entire area. Apply paint of your choice.

Enjoy for a few years.
1991 Trojan International 10.8 Meter Express hull# 003 - 454 Crusaders
1961 Century Raven 22 - Gray Marine 327

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K4282
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Re: Repair or sell my F32 opinions please

Post by K4282 »

I've made a tentative decision to keep for 5 years (till my new truck I just bought is paid for) I have a freind who builds surf boards who can help with the fiberglass work. Many have mentioned injecting and other repair work but im going to be cutting out all the bad and starting over. Ive begun to remove the upper helm, couldnt believe someone did repair work in the past and glassed the edges of the helm down, a hammer took care of that, im committed now, the upper being glassed to the floor was giving the floor some support so its even worse. Ive disconnected and reconnected the transmission shifters inside the helm/on the hardtop so Im able to use the lower helm to go for a ride and to move to the boat ramp for hauling soon. Reconnectiong was one thing I didnt think Id have to do but the lower feeds my upper feeds my transmissions, im assuming the wiring is similair. Ill be doing the same with the fuel shifters and currently looking into the wiring thats 40yrs old im trying to get a handle on all that, looking at the buss bar and whats there looking into having a custom made pigtail/plug made for quick connect and disconnect of the helm for future removal. Looks like the boat will be stored in my driveway this season and most likely for in all future off seasons. Ill post pictures of the progress.
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Re: Repair or sell my F32 opinions please

Post by dfg4240 »

maybe I am wrong but looking at the rear deck vent in the second picture looks like it is in backwards,I think??
My Louvers face towards the back.
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Re: Repair or sell my F32 opinions please

Post by willietrojan »

Looks like the Cockpit has been lowered?
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K4282
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Re: Repair or sell my F32 opinions please

Post by K4282 »

This is the correct way for the vents. I ordered them from Bob here, not cheap but we're better than the home Depot dryer vents that were in it someone hacked. Trojan redesigned these in later models. This style may have been to blame for a missing/sunk boat around the great lakes, I really don't have rough seas where I am so I'm not worried. the bridge was never lowered, was originally a open model boat someone enclosed years ago now showing it's age. Between yesterday and today I actually agreed to sell to my friend who's wanted it for awhile and I'm probably buying the same thing only the more common 321 enclosed model with good floors for the same price, I'll also gain a hardtop but loose my custom platform, bow pulpit and underwater lighting but we'll see, I'll probably improve the new Trojan.
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