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Sparr bought a boat, day 1
Mar. 21st, 2017 09:06 pmSurely no one will let me win this boat with a bid as ridiculously low as $1000. Surely...
OK, so now I own a boat, and I’m out about $1000 total after paying $800 for the boat, some auction fees, and some DMV fees for the boat and trailer titles. It’s a Cruisers (Mirro Marine) Holiday 25, which is not an especially reliable set of terms to search for. Here’s what survey I could do while still at the auction facility. I’ll get my hands on it with tools and documentation in a week or so.
The interior upholstery and wood and plastic is all very aged. Sadly the previous owner and/or visitors to the auction site left the cabin open to the elements for a month or three during the SF rainy season. There’s a lot of probably-teak wood that hasn't been treated in years, maybe decades. Lots of stuff to clean there, lots to replace, but nothing in such bad shape that I was afraid to touch it.
The bathroom looks serviceable, as does the kitchen and dining area and the other padded sleeping areas. TBD if there is any mildew in/under the cushions and whether I need to replace them or not.
There are 4 sleeping berths. The dining table drops down to make one. The “couch” area converts into bunkbeds. And there’s a cozy wide but not-tall space under the stairs and pilot’s feet with cushions. All of them have lots of windows and natural light. Nothing inside feels trapped, despite a lot of it being cramped in the usual inside-a-boat way.
It has two batteries. #2 is totally dead. #1 reads ~11.5V, enough to run the bilge pump and make the volt meter needle on the dash rise. Turning the key to ignition causes a small voltage dip, no sound from the engine bay that I could hear. A future test will involve jumping 12V directly to the starter, probing the various places to see what’s getting power or might be disconnected, etc.
There are a few wasps. I saw a couple of detached/dead nests, one wasp flying, and one wasp starting a brand new single-cell nest. Maybe they will be lost during the transport, or I can deal with them soon and get the entrances sealed to keep more out.
The trailer tires are all holding air, some a bit low. The trailer itself looks to be in good condition, with significant surface rust around the more-often-touched parts.
The hull appears to be in decent shape, but I don't have much knowledge there. There are a few deeper-than-cosmetic scratches where I can see the not-surface layer of material. I expect I can seal those over with relatively simple off the shelf products. TBD whether there are any holes in places I can't easily see. I expect I'll need to clean and coat the whole thing, regardless.
If I can get the engine running, this will be my boat for Ephemerisle this year. If I can’t, it might still be, just towed to/from the site. Either way, it’s also possible we will park it at Buspatch for a month or three to work on it, and let someone live in it while we do.
Photos on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sparr0/posts/10211089973782037
OK, so now I own a boat, and I’m out about $1000 total after paying $800 for the boat, some auction fees, and some DMV fees for the boat and trailer titles. It’s a Cruisers (Mirro Marine) Holiday 25, which is not an especially reliable set of terms to search for. Here’s what survey I could do while still at the auction facility. I’ll get my hands on it with tools and documentation in a week or so.
The interior upholstery and wood and plastic is all very aged. Sadly the previous owner and/or visitors to the auction site left the cabin open to the elements for a month or three during the SF rainy season. There’s a lot of probably-teak wood that hasn't been treated in years, maybe decades. Lots of stuff to clean there, lots to replace, but nothing in such bad shape that I was afraid to touch it.
The bathroom looks serviceable, as does the kitchen and dining area and the other padded sleeping areas. TBD if there is any mildew in/under the cushions and whether I need to replace them or not.
There are 4 sleeping berths. The dining table drops down to make one. The “couch” area converts into bunkbeds. And there’s a cozy wide but not-tall space under the stairs and pilot’s feet with cushions. All of them have lots of windows and natural light. Nothing inside feels trapped, despite a lot of it being cramped in the usual inside-a-boat way.
It has two batteries. #2 is totally dead. #1 reads ~11.5V, enough to run the bilge pump and make the volt meter needle on the dash rise. Turning the key to ignition causes a small voltage dip, no sound from the engine bay that I could hear. A future test will involve jumping 12V directly to the starter, probing the various places to see what’s getting power or might be disconnected, etc.
There are a few wasps. I saw a couple of detached/dead nests, one wasp flying, and one wasp starting a brand new single-cell nest. Maybe they will be lost during the transport, or I can deal with them soon and get the entrances sealed to keep more out.
The trailer tires are all holding air, some a bit low. The trailer itself looks to be in good condition, with significant surface rust around the more-often-touched parts.
The hull appears to be in decent shape, but I don't have much knowledge there. There are a few deeper-than-cosmetic scratches where I can see the not-surface layer of material. I expect I can seal those over with relatively simple off the shelf products. TBD whether there are any holes in places I can't easily see. I expect I'll need to clean and coat the whole thing, regardless.
If I can get the engine running, this will be my boat for Ephemerisle this year. If I can’t, it might still be, just towed to/from the site. Either way, it’s also possible we will park it at Buspatch for a month or three to work on it, and let someone live in it while we do.
Photos on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sparr0/posts/10211089973782037