Finally got to see her first hand yesterday!
She's got her quirks, but daaaayumm is she in great shape for 33 years old. All teak is salvageable, gelcoat is in good restorable shape with a minimum of scrapes chips and abrasions. Most hardware is clean without excessive pitting, corrosion, or other rot. Props and flywheels spin freely (compression check to be done as soon as I can rig up a working battery), shifters and cable linkages work, and the console steering even still works, though the bridge steering does not. Transom is in amazing shape and has only a 2-3 inch crack where it meets the cap on the port side. All but one of the original teak hatch doors is intact, and one that's not can be reassembled easily once it dries. The main deck is ROCK solid and even the fuel tank cover is still strong!
The tower has some splits in the tubing from ice damage and a cracked weld all the way around the foot of the stbd rear corner of the tower. Anyone know if the cracked weld will be difficult/expensive to repair? The rest of the cracks are not too structural and really don't worry me much, although I'll be happy to get them fixed too if there's a cost-effective way. The ugliest part of the entire boat is the painted wood in the tower platform and the electronics box.
Here's the best part: unbeknownst to me, the boat has its original 3/4 eisenglass enclosure which is in salvageable condition!! Will need to thoroughly clean and treat the fabric and glass, and probably also will have a professional reinforce some of the existing seams/stiches, but the panels actually appear to not be dry rotted, glass is still clear, and all the snaps are still present! The outriggers, safety kit, and anchor were also all down below in the cabin but weren't listed in the ebay ad.
Hey Ryan,
Would you be so kind to snap a close up of the CG capacity plate just left of the wheel and post it here.
Bob I got your photo and will post it in your thread when I have a minute. The plate actually identifies the boat as a FF model
