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Random Quote: Fishing is not a matter of life or death.......Its much more important than that!!!!
I'm considering moving up from large open fishermen’s to a sportfish. I've been looking at an old 46" Guthrie convertible and a 40 ft Cubavich day boat. They are at the minimum price you could expect to pay a boat. They appear to be boats that with a little work could still be a good head turner at the dock.
I don’t have $300K to spend on a boat. I not expecting to go fast, but will I be satisfied with the ride and performance of these old boats or I’m I getting what I’m paying for and along with high maintenance fees? Thanks.
If you can do it all yourself, a wood boat will always create something for you to do. If you need to hire stuff out, I'd run away. That Cubavitch has been for sale and on Ebay forever and they generally have zero resale.
I've thought about one of the classics for years, I have the resources to take care of them, but I have run away. I'd suggest an old Hatteras, they are indestructable, classic, and FIBERGLASS!
I have a 20 foot wood boat that is a continual project. Wood is pretty and it is classic but it is work. I you still want to go that route hire a good/great surveyor.
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I couldn't give a fat rat's ...
If discriminating taste is a good thing why is discrimination a bad thing?
It's a labor of love with old woooden boats. If you're into projects and self performing work then a wood boat may be for you. I have a friend who has a 36 footer and it's been a lot of work (as he expected) but he loves it. A good surveyor is definitely a must.
Questions about that Rybo for sale: It is a beautiful boat.
Are they "traditional" wood boats? meaning do they need to be recaulked, painted, etc almost every year? I read that boat has been glassed up to the spray rail, the bilge has been epoxied and the hull painted with Awlgrip. Isn't that more like a "cold-molded" boat?
I am pretty naive about these works of art. I grew up with wooden sportfishers but they were certainly not in this class. We had to paint almost every year and every spring we would find more rot that had to be fixed, including replacing the transom on a 38' Post one year. Are boats like this Rybo much different?
Ahhh the joy of old wooden boat maintenance.... YES makosteve... if it is a wooden hulled boat it needs to be hauled annually. Now I am sure that there are folks that will tell you they haul every other year etc.. as I am sure there are plenty. The satsifaction of reefing butt joints and twisting cotton. "Stop-em with cotton, Choke-em with oakum" I can hear Jack C hollering it out as he walked his yard.
There are several ways to safely glass a wooden hull, but it is daunting and if you are doing it I strongly recommend you read up on it. Wooden hulls that are meant to 'flex' don't take kindly to NOT flexing.... (Hence the sea-flex method beds the mat into 5200 troweled on). A wooden boat will not save you money in the long run, but it will make you a better skipper. You will be forced to learn how to wire a bilge pump in the dark and while it is submerged. You will learn about limber holes, graving around fasteners, re-nailing and of course where to get the best lumber.
I can admit that I once changed a 6' plank that was maybe 2" above the water line while the boat was in the water. Risky; even dumb, all it would have taken was a jack ass and a large wake and I woulda had a really big lesson.
Go for it...but don't expect to save any money.
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Generally inadvisable to eject over an area you have just bombed.
I have always been a fan and admirer of those Rybos, but I would imaging that the 44 in the post would need to have a full time Captain and mate to keep it looking like that for more than a year or 2.
Thanks Capt. Dean, but I am still a little confused - that boat has an Awlgrip paint job. That is not the type of paint job to be done annually. same with an epoxy coated bilge. What are the annual things that must be done to a boat such as that, and the new Rybos, Merrits, Carolina's, etc. What are the fifference bewtween the construction of the modern classics vs the older classics like this one?
In short: I dunno. I am supposing that if it was awlgripped then it has been glassed over. Then I am assuming that epoxying the bilge is non other than covering the bilge with a 2 part....I suppose you could go into the bilge with a chopper gun and fiberglass the inside. I would prolly treat that like a fiberglass boat.... The potential for rot in between the epoxy & glass is what would get me. I would have to really do some research on that practice.
Haven't heard from the current owner....But I know of a 40+ wooden lugger, that the previous owner ran a circular saw blade between all the planks and then epoxied in paint stirrers (yes the flat wooden stick you get with a gallon of paint). This west system project was supposed to turn a hull designed to flex...into a hull that does not flex.... I would like to know how THAT turned out!
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Generally inadvisable to eject over an area you have just bombed.
CJMMIA,
My list is at my office, so I don't know if the 44' Rybo above is a framed boat or cold molded. About the time this hull was built Rybovich switched from plank and frame hulls to cold molded and epoxied hulls. The cold-molded hulls from early 60's through today have held up beautifully and I would dare to say require little or no more maintenance than a 40 year old glass boat. The planked boats from 1948 to about 1960 do require more watch, although most have been glassed/fared and awlgripped.
Plenty of old glass hull project boats around. Can spend your time and $ on engines electronics etc and end up with a more user friendly rig.......................My .02..............
This boat is glassed below the waterline...it's a 9. Not my boat, belongs to a friend.
You will not find a better deal on a repowered classic. Try 200...
Go outside right now and take a bunch of deep breaths!!!
Now that your head is clear, slap yourself in the face for ever thinking about buying a wooden boat!
As mentioned, there are plenty of deals on fiberglass boats to even consider a wood boat.
Go to any marina and walk the docks. You think there are a lot of home foreclosures around the neighborhood, think about how many of those big beautiful sportfish yachts are one payment away from the repo sale.
You don't even have to look to find a deal on a large sportfish. Go to yachtworld.com pick the boat model you want and start making ridiculous (to you) offers and then get the check book out. You will own a boat within a week!
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Go outside right now and take a bunch of deep breaths!!!
Now that your head is clear, slap yourself in the face for ever thinking about buying a wooden boat!
As mentioned, there are plenty of deals on fiberglass boats to even consider a wood boat.
Go to any marina and walk the docks. You think there are a lot of home foreclosures around the neighborhood, think about how many of those big beautiful sportfish yachts are one payment away from the repo sale.
You don't even have to look to find a deal on a large sportfish. Go to yachtworld.com pick the boat model you want and start making ridiculous (to you) offers and then get the check book out. You will own a boat within a week!
Glad you slapped him or I would have!
Growing up we had a 26' American Finn mahogany lapstrake boat with T-120hp dual carb Volvo Penta stern drives. When it ran it was great and FAST! I gained character as
a youth sanding and finishing teak and painting the bottom. It was a work of art and a labor of love for my Dad but more like SLAVE labor to me!
But we caught some fish.
He sold it 30 years ago.
I haven't seen an American Finn or found any references to them thru net searches.
I'd love to go for a ride on one again...
Anyway if you've got the time, desire, talent, $$$$, and cheap family slave labor I'd
STILL STAY A MILE AWAY FROM IT!
Capt. Dean - again thanks for the answers - more of curiosity on my part at present - if I could afford a boat like that, I couldn't handle the dockage, maintenance and running expenses - but it is a beautiful boat.
RumRum - that is a rare find! good looking boat and it looks like it was done right. I had a 35' custom express and I can tell you that for them to have put all of that stuff in that boat and still managed to keep it looking like that - well, let's just say they did a much better job than me - mine was loaded but it certainly did not look as "graceful"
It looks like it was used commercially - or at least charter - for Giant Bluefin - but it certainly looks none worse for the wear. I am dying to go for a ride on that boat.
I also would like to learn more about the "military-spec" engines they are talking about. I have always heard that 3208s in the higher HP configuration are "short hour" motors and those have a bunch. That is a pretty bold claim that they make "useful engine life expected to be 20,000 hours" I am also curious as to why such an extensive ad has no pix of the engine compartment.
All my questions are just out of sheer curiosity and my love of classic sportfishers as I am not in market, so thanks for all of the answers.
I have a 20 foot wood boat that is a continual project. Wood is pretty and it is classic but it is work. I you still want to go that route hire a good/great surveyor.
Love a wood boat appearance but not sure I would like to do the maintenance
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Cubavich is a piece of sportfishing history. Unfortunately no demand for them. The inner framing is built from Lignum Vitae, a tropical hardwood known as ironwood. They are very strong hulls and have beautiful lines. Would be a great project boat. There was one down here that sold for 5K. (totally bare)
Will prob not be as good a rough water boat as a Guthrie
Wooden Sportfishing boats
