As they age

[kh3412]

I know most of us love our 34's but they are aging as we all are.
Sad to say came across one that is destined to be cut up .
Thought I would share some photos before it meets its end.
Story is that it grounded hard and cracked the bilge floor, it has also has what appears to be keel bolt corrosion.
Jumped up on it to see how sad it was, nothing a good cleaning would not take care of.
Went below (sorry no pictures) and found the mast step rotted and the stringers rotted with cracks in the keel floor.
Both the mast step and the strings had the glass off them and just mush wood.
The plus side is the fellow that cuts them up uses the money as a fundraiser for the Sea Scouts.
Guess the moral is enjoy and maintain our boats.

[Noah]

Very Sad...

[KWKloeber]

Nothing a little Bondo wouldn't fix.  LOL.
Very sad that no one had the wherewithal to bring it back to life.
😩😩😩

[mdidomenico]

if it does get cut up, tell whomever is doing it, there are people here that would probably be interested in the parts.  you should mention where the boat is.

[scgunner]

I'm surprised no one could be found to take on a project like this. While fixing the keel and bilge area would certainly run into several thousand dollars it seems like the offset on the cost of the boat would cover that cost especially since it's going to be broken up. Unless there are more issues than just the keel area, the drive train being trashed for example, it seems like someone could wind up with a nice boat and maybe get a deal at the same time.

[Ted Pounds]

Does the guy salvage the useful parts (rigging, systems, etc.)?  Seems like lots of value there.  He could list stuff for sale on this site. 

[ewengstrom]

All the boats in the photo's have Ohio registrations.

[kh3412]

The boat is on lake Erie. The marina allows him to cut the boats up for salvage to help fund the sea scouts. Do not believe he has the space or time to store parts for future sale. As I understand it the marina keeps the engine and transmission. I guess the point of my post originally was to highlight that the boats are not getting any younger and insurance companies are happy to scrap them for what used to be repairable.

[Stu Jackson]

.............
.........................
.........................
I guess the point of my post originally was to highlight that the boats are not getting any younger...

Neither am I and there are folks who would gladly cut me up, too.    I think my doctor is working on that now.   

[Sundance]

Hey, that's my old boat!  And yes, it was a hard grounding.  If familiar with the area, it was the old submerged break wall off Cedar Point that I hit. I owned it for 12 years.  Took good care of it, in fact the teak still looks great, it was just done the year it was totaled.  It was sold at salvage 2 years ago.  My current boat is also in the yard there.  I still periodically poke my head in there and make sure it isn't totally full of water.  The surveyor felt the boat could be repaired, but the crack in the keel is almost straight though and the stringers in the stern area of the keel had slight cracking.  It was a pretty sad day.

Seeing I bought another C34, should tell you I really liked it.  I can also tell you the MKI fin keel vs MKII wing keel are like night and day. Both have thre +/-'s.

[Ron Hill]

Guys : I agree with Jeff's surveyor that the boat is definitely repairable, but it does need a lot of work by someone that has the time and knows what they are doing!!  Otherwise there are a bunch of good parts!!

A few thoughts

[waughoo]

Jeff,

I'm curious what you mean by night and day with regards to the fin vs wing (the mk1 to mk2 is understandable).  I have always sailed fin keel boats and the wing i just bought is quite foreign to me.  Where i sail, the draft is less problematic, but i bet i will come to enjoy the flexibility.

[Stu Jackson]

Jeff,

I'm curious what you mean by night and day with regards to the fin vs wing (the mk1 to mk2 is understandable).  I have always sailed fin keel boats and the wing i just bought is quite foreign to me.  Where i sail, the draft is less problematic, but i bet i will come to enjoy the flexibility.

The general consensus is that pointing is affected by a few degrees.  My "read" is that unless you're racing with a LOT of upwind legs against fin keels in a wing keeled boat, you won't notice the difference.

[Sundance]

I had a 1989 MKI, fin keel, std rig with a 130 genny, now I have a 2001 MKII, wing keel, std rig with a 150 genny. 

With the MKI you "feel the boat when you sail", it heels more, points better (30 degrees off apparent), does much better in breezes <10K, but has weather helm as you approach 12-15K unless you lay off the main a bit, anything over 15k you are reefing.

The MKII sails like a tank. It heals less, points at least 5+ degrees less(close to 35-40 degrees off apparent wind), in breezes <10k you don't even attempt to sail, but as wind approaches 15-18K under full sail you have little to no weather helm and sails well.

Other factors, MKI w/ 25xp vs the MKII w/m35b, on the Great Lakes when you get 15-20k on the nose with a 3-4' chop, the MKI would do about 3k, the MKII will maintain 5+K.  We also sail in Sandusky Bay where the water depth maxes out at about 12-15', so the wing is the keel of choice.

I know others have different opinions, but that's my 2 cents.

[scgunner]

Jeff,

Very interesting comparison of the two marks, I think this is the first time I've actually seen one. When I was racing I always felt we had a better advantage against the fleet in lighter air, at least that's where I usually got my best results.