Bad me. I can't resist a good deal.
Yea, I know I have too many projects, but there is no rule that I have a deadline to finish them or can't change my mind and not finish some and instead choose to just sell them as projects. BTW, I haven't abandoned plans on finishing the 14'skiff. At my age I have no problem with changing my mind and moving on. The older one gets there is less time to waste. Boat projects should be fun and not stressful anyway.
Well, I hope it's a good deal, since I had to buy it based on conversation with the seller and pictures and sorta knowing what I was looking at. Of course figuring it would serve a particular use was part of it and also the price. In my opinion it was seriously priced low.
I figured I would just commit to the purchase and get the seller to give his word he would sell it to me, since I couldn't go fetch it right away. I haven't picked it up yet, but the deal is still on. My favorite cousin is fetching it for me next weekend. Part of the reason, or perhaps the main reason the seller chose me as the buyer, (he had lots of others to choose from) is that we talked about hog hunting and how he was having great difficulty to find a place for himself and his teenage son. I told him I had lots of hogs, and emailed pictures from the trail camera. His son intercepted the pictures and told his dad to sell the boat to me. I promised to fix him up with a hog hunt, presumably until they both get one. IMO, that's the best kind of deals, where both are happy and new friends are made too.
I've been dreaming of a boat to use during my summers in Alaska, for close in halibut, some trolling for salmon, crab pots, shrimping, etc. I don't like to run long distances and don't need to anyway. The boat needs to be sturdy, stable, tough, roomy, economical, and easily rigged out. It doesn't have to be fast, but of course it has to be able to handle three to four ft waves easily, not necessarily comfortable, but safely. It's not that I regularly go out in such conditions, but I like knowing my Alaska boat can handle it if need be. I don't like the kind of nervousness that growing whitecaps generate when the adequacy of the boat I'm in is questionable. In AK, the places I go, there are places where I call nervous water, where in the right conditions of tide and wind, the waves just seem to hop up and down, going nowhere, but real difficult to run through.
Another thing is that the boat needs to winter over well under shelter and be easily winterized and easily readied for service in June. Portable gas tanks are a plus, since old boats and in-floor tanks are not a good combo. Being easily launched and retrieved is a real plus, since I may not want to pay the slip fees to keep it in the harbor all summer, and launch it each time. I like the fiberglass much better than aluminum due to electrolysis and pitting of aluminum. If I choose to keep this boat in the harbor, a coat of the bottom paint that sheds barnacles and marine growth will be sufficient for two or more summers, and the normal zincs.
The boat is in Georgia and I plan on going over it, repairs, rigging, outboard, etc. there. I've been thinking of driving to Alaska again next summer. Now this boat gives me a good excuse, as though I really needed one.
The boat I found and couldn't resist is an old 19' commercial fiberglass net boat made by Atlantic Skiff in NC. I don't know the actual age, but I think it was made in the early 80's. It was never actually used commercially but as a pleasure boat mostly on lake Lanier, of all places. It's a well boat, with the outboard in a well, not hung on the transom as usual. It's got a V bow, and the hull transitions from the V, back to a flat bottom stern. It comes with a good trailer that actually fits the boat, with good tires, but no motor. I don't want to deal with an old motor anyway, and certainly don't want to pay for one as a package deal.
I don't know yet for sure since I haven't studied the boat up close, but I'm thinking a high thrust or big foot 60 hp tiller will do the trick with this boat. It may come close if not actually get the boat on step. Maybe a 70 hp tiller, with a thrust prop. Trim tabs may be the trick in this app. I don't know for sure about the tiller yet. It depends on how comfortable I can get for operation, and visibility too. It's a planing hull, but heavy. I have no intention or need to feed this boat with enough HP to plane off. If I get 12 knots I'll be happy. I'm more concerned that it will go slow enough to troll with the one main motor without the need for a kicker. I'm not sure a high thrust prop will run slow enough.
I think the seller is legit and the boat doesn't require massive reconstruction, repairs, transom or floor replacement. I think it just needs cleaning up, perhaps a little fiberglass work, moving or taking out the console, paint, and rod holders. The thing is setup for a canopy of some sort, with the holes for about 2" tubing molded into the fiberglass from the factory. For the purchase price, if it's a total loss, the loss of the use of the boat will hurt more than the loss of the money.
Of course, I plan on trying it out on the GA coast first. If I like it too much, it may just stay in the South East.
I'll try to post some pictures
Yea, I know I have too many projects, but there is no rule that I have a deadline to finish them or can't change my mind and not finish some and instead choose to just sell them as projects. BTW, I haven't abandoned plans on finishing the 14'skiff. At my age I have no problem with changing my mind and moving on. The older one gets there is less time to waste. Boat projects should be fun and not stressful anyway.
Well, I hope it's a good deal, since I had to buy it based on conversation with the seller and pictures and sorta knowing what I was looking at. Of course figuring it would serve a particular use was part of it and also the price. In my opinion it was seriously priced low.
I figured I would just commit to the purchase and get the seller to give his word he would sell it to me, since I couldn't go fetch it right away. I haven't picked it up yet, but the deal is still on. My favorite cousin is fetching it for me next weekend. Part of the reason, or perhaps the main reason the seller chose me as the buyer, (he had lots of others to choose from) is that we talked about hog hunting and how he was having great difficulty to find a place for himself and his teenage son. I told him I had lots of hogs, and emailed pictures from the trail camera. His son intercepted the pictures and told his dad to sell the boat to me. I promised to fix him up with a hog hunt, presumably until they both get one. IMO, that's the best kind of deals, where both are happy and new friends are made too.
I've been dreaming of a boat to use during my summers in Alaska, for close in halibut, some trolling for salmon, crab pots, shrimping, etc. I don't like to run long distances and don't need to anyway. The boat needs to be sturdy, stable, tough, roomy, economical, and easily rigged out. It doesn't have to be fast, but of course it has to be able to handle three to four ft waves easily, not necessarily comfortable, but safely. It's not that I regularly go out in such conditions, but I like knowing my Alaska boat can handle it if need be. I don't like the kind of nervousness that growing whitecaps generate when the adequacy of the boat I'm in is questionable. In AK, the places I go, there are places where I call nervous water, where in the right conditions of tide and wind, the waves just seem to hop up and down, going nowhere, but real difficult to run through.
Another thing is that the boat needs to winter over well under shelter and be easily winterized and easily readied for service in June. Portable gas tanks are a plus, since old boats and in-floor tanks are not a good combo. Being easily launched and retrieved is a real plus, since I may not want to pay the slip fees to keep it in the harbor all summer, and launch it each time. I like the fiberglass much better than aluminum due to electrolysis and pitting of aluminum. If I choose to keep this boat in the harbor, a coat of the bottom paint that sheds barnacles and marine growth will be sufficient for two or more summers, and the normal zincs.
The boat is in Georgia and I plan on going over it, repairs, rigging, outboard, etc. there. I've been thinking of driving to Alaska again next summer. Now this boat gives me a good excuse, as though I really needed one.
The boat I found and couldn't resist is an old 19' commercial fiberglass net boat made by Atlantic Skiff in NC. I don't know the actual age, but I think it was made in the early 80's. It was never actually used commercially but as a pleasure boat mostly on lake Lanier, of all places. It's a well boat, with the outboard in a well, not hung on the transom as usual. It's got a V bow, and the hull transitions from the V, back to a flat bottom stern. It comes with a good trailer that actually fits the boat, with good tires, but no motor. I don't want to deal with an old motor anyway, and certainly don't want to pay for one as a package deal.
I don't know yet for sure since I haven't studied the boat up close, but I'm thinking a high thrust or big foot 60 hp tiller will do the trick with this boat. It may come close if not actually get the boat on step. Maybe a 70 hp tiller, with a thrust prop. Trim tabs may be the trick in this app. I don't know for sure about the tiller yet. It depends on how comfortable I can get for operation, and visibility too. It's a planing hull, but heavy. I have no intention or need to feed this boat with enough HP to plane off. If I get 12 knots I'll be happy. I'm more concerned that it will go slow enough to troll with the one main motor without the need for a kicker. I'm not sure a high thrust prop will run slow enough.
I think the seller is legit and the boat doesn't require massive reconstruction, repairs, transom or floor replacement. I think it just needs cleaning up, perhaps a little fiberglass work, moving or taking out the console, paint, and rod holders. The thing is setup for a canopy of some sort, with the holes for about 2" tubing molded into the fiberglass from the factory. For the purchase price, if it's a total loss, the loss of the use of the boat will hurt more than the loss of the money.
Of course, I plan on trying it out on the GA coast first. If I like it too much, it may just stay in the South East.
I'll try to post some pictures
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