Boats we didn't buy

We were searching through our files for an old business-related photo and came up with some CDs that had pictures of the boats we looked at during the spring and summer of 2009 prior to buying Act Three (then known as "Popeye").

We drove all over New England and even down to south Jersey to look at boats and we'll describe two of them here, just for fun.

We found the first one in early spring on Craig's List. (Note to anyone who reads this: Never, ever buy a boat listed on Craig's List.) Anyway, it had two things going for it: first, it was a Viking and second, it was at Pine Island Marina in Groton. I made a solo trip to see it. Research revealed that it was among the first all fiberglass small flybridge convertible that Viking ever made. This was a 1972 model and I loved the lines and look of the boat. In fact, I have never seen an older Viking - wood or fiberglass - that I didn't like. The guy who owned the boat ran the bait and tackle shop at Pine Island and after borrowing a ladder from him, I eagerly climbed aboard.  You have to admit, while a little dated, this was a nice looking boat.

I could immediately see myself sitting up on the bridge under that $10,000 hard top, crashing through 4-6 footers.

Of course I looked at the important stuff first: the engines. It had a pair of nice new Mercruiser 454s with less than 100 hours on them. Running gear? Nice big 4-blade props on 1-1/2" Nibral shafts.

The cabin? Looked all good to me! It even had a full sized shower with a glass door. Oh, it needed a little cleanup but nothing that I couldn't handle. Before I had to change my shorts, I went home to describe my find to Frances.

Now, just for those who don't know her, Frances is nothing if not an excellent shopper. She can bring a checkout clerk to his or her knees over the difference between the price that was scanned and the sale price. After listening to my glowing description, she agreed to take a look at the boat the following weekend.

We arrived at Pine Island on a sunny June morning and after borrowing the same ladder, we climbed aboard. Frances had her camera, something that I would come to appreciate over the next few months. She walked through the boat, sniffed, probed and opened every door and drawer. I was not getting back enthusiastic vibes. "The stove looks OK," was about the best thing I heard. Then, "pull back those curtains," she said as she snapped another picture.

"That's nothing I can't fix," I offered.  The Viking was beginning to look not-so good.

Then I led her up the ladder to the bridge, my favorite spot.  Frances began taking more pictures. I'll only show a couple here but that morning, she took 127 pictures of that boat. A marine surveyor couldn't have documented the problems more thoroughly.

There were cracks. Lots of them.

I guess I'd also overlooked the damage to the starboard rub rail.  Frances didn't.

How could I have not seen the missing window? The Viking was not to be our new boat.

I did do some research (there is a Viking forum on Internet) and it seems that back then, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Viking had figured out how to mold a solid fiberglass hull.  What they didn't know was how to build molds for the cabin and interior. So, they did what they knew how to do; they built those parts out of plywood and covered the plywood with fiberglass. Not so good after all these years.

So, it was off to check out some other boats. Among them was 1978 Chris Craft Corinthian that I found on Ebay. Note to readers: Don't ever buy a boat listed on Ebay. I think we can demonstrate why.

Chris Craft Corinthians were aft cabin boats and they came in several sizes.  This one was a 38 ft. version and it wasn't the first one I had been through. The listing on Ebay showed a pristine boat, obviously very well cared for. I followed the auction until the boat was sold. Unfortunately for the buyer, who lives in Oklahoma, a transport by truck to said location was not to be, due to the size.  A few says later, it was re-listed and since it was in New Jersey, I convinced Frances to take ride and just take a look at it to see what we could learn.

The ride to New Jersey - on Barnagat Bay to be precise - on a Friday in August was very long and after four hours of driving, we finally found the tiny marina where the boat was located. My goodness. I guess I'd sort of forgotten how big a 38 ft. Chris Craft Corinthian really was.

We brought our own ladder and went around back to climb aboard. Hmmm. Seems this boat had some storm damage. Oh well, there was enough of the swim platform left to be able to get aboard.

The inside of the boat held a few more surprises. It looked as though the person who last owned the boat had simply walked away, or something more mysterious happened. Clothes were still in the closets and the remainder of a card game was on the dinette table. Fairly creepy.  Frances suggested that the former owner had probably been murdered. We laughed as we continued our tour and Frances took pictures - 131 in all.

These boats had a large aft cabin with two single beds, an aft head with enclosed shower, a large v-berth forward with another head and shower.  In this boat, a previous owner had hacked out the shower partitions and turned the aft head into a storage closet.

The engines were mounted under the salon floor. These were among the very first 454 cubic inch engines that Chris Craft marinized and yes, those are the original Chris Craft exhaust manifolds, now more than 30 years old.

Many boats of this size and type end up being floating summer cottages and this one was no exception. Apparently, good TV reception was more important to the owner than bottom maintenance.

The fly bridge on these boats was also a very spacious lounge and this appeared to be the original upholstery. Looked like some elbow grease would be required to bring it back.

The bridge also had a large stainless steel gas cooker mounted right behind the pilot seat. Must have been something when someone threw a dozen burgers on the grill! Bet it got smoky up there.

Aside from the accumulated junk and the poor maintenance, this boat had numerous other problems including about 12 feet of rotted deck structure on the starboard side.  The deck-to-hull joint was also open right at the stem.  Looks like someone bumped something pretty hard to open that joint.

This boat had been a top of  line Chris Craft once and had obviously been taken care of by someone for the first 20 years or so of its life.  After that, it had gone down hill and was now not worth saving.  If the boat had been given to us at no cost, we'd estimate that to roughly restore it would have cost about $40,000, $15,000 of which would spent just on engines. Even getting it back from New Jersey would have been difficult since we'd need insurance and no surveyor in his right mind would ever recommend it for underwriting.

But, we learned a lot from looking at this old boat.  Frances hated it: too big and too much to fix. Like the Viking, I loved the boat's hull design, however antiquated it was by today's standards. Having owned Chris Crafts before, I'm always interested in seeing how well they designed things and what good use they made of the available space.

As luck would have it, our next boat inspection trip was to Long Island and that's where we found the Silverton.