Prospective Owner Questions

[britinusa]

Congrats, looks nice and clean. Here's hoping the survey looks a good.

I understand from a friend that went all out the pee from a virgin was hard to find.
Jim

That was a toughy for us too. But the bottle of Bubbly was pretty close. ;)

Paul

[SV Sand Pebble]

    Thanks Jim, Paul and all.
  I think my boats name change will come about like any good relationship with a woman does: I will be true to you, take care of you to the best of my ability, I will never neglect you. In return I expect you to take care of me even when I make a few amateur mistakes.
  Then remove her old name off the back of the boat and then remove any all objects from the boat with her name on it. A toast with my favorate beverage with one drink going overboard to Neptune Lol, no seriously why take the chance of pissing off Neptune.
     

[britinusa]

Here's how we did it. A couple from our sailing club even stood in for the Gods.


https://www.sailingeximius.com/2015/06/renaming-ceremony.html

And the video: https://www.sailingeximius.com/2015/06/renaming-ceremony-video-by-matt-dreiss.html

[SV Sand Pebble]

  That was great, you guys really went all out. I want to party with you guys if our paths ever cross. I don't think I can match your level of ceremony so it looks like I better get creative in my own way not to insult the Gods. Thanks for my Monday morning laugh and showing me the good spirit that resides in the Sailing Community.

[SV Sand Pebble]

  Hello all.
  I just wanted to give a follow up on my boat buying process. It's been a learning process. 6-5-19 survey day, my possible new 1987 Catalina 34 was taken out of the water, no Catalina smile and no blisters. The surveyor of my choosing said both the hull and deck looked great, no hull blisters, it did have a few on the keel, the surveyor said no worries if on the keel. We did find an exhaust leak between the engine and muffler, that is being fixed. The original 4000 autopilot tried to work but it either had likely a belt problem or a motor problem, Ether way they said, owner and broker it would be fixed or a price adjustment, yes I heard $1500.00. The standing rigging is good but old and should be replaced and adjustments to price is happening. The main sail has plenty of life left but the front sail, jib or Genoa Sail? has been repaired a few times and only has a few seasons left. I get the survey back tomorrow 6-7-19 and will have the surveyors evaluation to go to bat with. I almost wished I did not meet the owners, beautiful people. On a second thought it doesn't matter, good business is when all parties are happy or should be in the light of reality.
  Again thanks guys and gals for all your feed back during this newbies boat buying process.
  George

[Noah]

Congrats! Fingers crossed. So far sounds goood. $1,500 for that old autopilot is a generous gift.

[SV Sand Pebble]

  Thanks Noah.
  About the autopilot, that was it is my understanding the cost for a new one installed is about $1500.00 I will be lucky if it needs replaced to get $750.00 taken off my purchase price. I hope to be the owner before the week is out.

[Noah]

It depends what kind of new autopilot you go with as to what it will cost. When I bought my boat and installed a below deck hydraulic pilot I tossed my St4000 giving it away my to my electrician for him to cannibalizes for spare parts to help stranded cruisers in Mexico. A new Evo 100 or 200 linear drive can cost a lot more then $1500 and a below deck hydraulic can cost a lot more than that by the time you install.

[Patches]

I also had a non-working Autohelm 4000 which came with my boat.  These are not great units, and to fix it you will be sorting through replacement parts sold on eBay by folks who are parting there's out.   

Turns out mine, like many, had a disintegrated "pinion sprocket" which can only be purchased on eBay for $70, and will add a little life--but not much performance--to the 4000.  But these units also have a habit of eating belts (cheaper to replace aftermarket), as well as the pulleys.  Because the only thing needed to bring mine back to functioning was the pinion sprocket, I held my nose and bought one.  It works OK, but the design is definitely obsolete.

If you need to replace, consider the CPT autopilots which are also a belt-type drive and have a reputation of handling much tougher conditions. Most serious autopilots are the below deck-type and use a hydraulic ram to move the rudder post.  They are also much more expensive.  Given your priority list, it doesn't sound like something you'll necessarily want to tackle in Year 1.

So tear down the wheel autopilot--its really easy.  See what has failed inside.  If is is only a belt, you could be back in business for $30-40 on eBay.  If you have broken bits like the pinion sprocket or pulleys, you'll have to decide whether to throw more money at it to buy some time.  In the meantime you can start saving for a replacement.

Patches   

[SV Sand Pebble]

  Thanks guys.
  As of now we're still haggling at 6:30 p.m. California time. It looks like this may close tomorrow if all goes well. The old autopilot will have to do for now I asked for $400 for repairs to it, if not the money I'll go to my future new one. I hope I'm back on tomorrow saying I have myself a boat.

[SV Sand Pebble]

  Another long day, at least today ended with my final purchase of my Catalina 34. thanks everyone for your help, now the real work begins.
  First thing is repair an exhaust
Leak, all new rigging and the repair of the refrigerator, wish me luck. Did I mention the surveyor said above average condition, pride of ownership? Yet still I can see me sinking in $10,000 to get this boat to its hay day. I'm looking forword to the journey with all of your help here God willing.

[NewToTheRoad]

Congrats and enjoy!

[Jim Hardesty]

IMHO.  Don't get too hung-up on fixing up, repairing and replacing.  Certainly do the safety items and anything that will cause more trouble ie  deak leaks.  After that sail her as much as you can.
Hope you enjoy your new-to-you boat as much as I do Shamrock.
Jim

[SV Sand Pebble]

 Thanks Lori and Brian, Jim your right I can be obsessive  at times so it's nice to have a new friend point out the need to proceed with a little caution and to give this new adventure some time to till me what it needs before blindly throwing money at it. I maybe got a little pixie  dust in my eyes Lol. That  what we use to say about new employees starting at Disneyland, so much enthusiasm.

[scgunner]

     George,

         Congrats on the purchase of your "new" boat. The C34 is a great boat which is probably why I've had mine for 31yrs. If you need any help or advice I'm just a short walk away(Dock 12-#30)from you.