A friend and I have been discussing an idea I have for rehabbing an old small classic plastic design and turning it into a VolksCruiser…
The boat in question happens to be a Columbia 26.
As it happens I’ve always liked the Columbia 26…
Studying the current crop of the C26 for sale floating around, my calculator tells me that the price for a boat in good or better condition falls somewhere in the $3-6K zone and we might safely say the average is right around $4500 (+ or -).
The $2000 boat I have my eye on however is a far cry from being in good or better condition and the amount of money needed to make it right, not to mention the large amount of labor involved, actually makes it quite a lot more expensive than the various boats in that $3-6K zone. My hope is that the guy who’s been selling it for a couple of years now will wake up one morning and just sell the thing for what it is currently worth (about $500 or so) in which case I’ll pounce.
You might say I have a cunning plan…
So, what would I do to turn a fixer-upper Columbia 26 into a proper VolksCruiser?
Tune in for the next post and I’ll get into it and yes, dear reader, there will be lists!
Hi RLW,
I find the flush deck to be especially attractive for a VC… opens up the interior for a much roomier feel, and allows a substantial tender to be carried aboard.
Maybe most important, a good-sized onboard work surface for such projects as sail repair.
Looking forward to your thoughts on the conversion!
Dave Z
PS. Thanks for the comments tip… works (obviously)!