PBO (AKA Practical Boat Owner) has been a great resource for me since I first started reading the magazine in 1980. While, these days, I feel their subscription rates are now akin to piracy but their website still has excellent content. For example, this simple how to rehab a sailboat article is just what most …
Most late 60s and early 70s classic plastic sailboats of the 34-foot variety are actually pretty good boats but exceptionally challenged in the cruising stowage department. It’s not that they are too small but that the long-term cruising stowage was just not part of the design brief. So if you’re looking at buying a …
I know I’ve talked about the Bill Lapworth designed CAL 34 more than a time or two but it is the boat I happen to be sitting on while writing this. Back in 1969, when “So it Goes” was new, the boat sold for $15,950. or thereabouts. Today, a turnkey CAL 34 in good shape …
Over the last five years or so I’ve regularly watched a YouTube channel of a guy who’s bought a boat and embarked in a restoration. On one hand it’s been very entertaining as the guy in question makes good shows and does a better than most exposition of how to do stuff. While on the …
Checking Craigslist this morning I saw there was a Pearson Triton being sold off at a marina in the San Francisco Bay area for $750. You might say it caught my attention. It’s a great design, Dan Spurr used the Triton as his main example of how to fix up a small boat for …
I mentioned this book by Keith Carver a couple of years ago but “Sailboat Cowboys Flipping Sail Post-Sandy: The Art of Buying, Repairing and Selling Storm-Damaged Sailboats” is still an excellent read on the subject of buying boats cheap, fixing them up, and selling them for a profit. As it happens I just read it …
So you’ve done your research, sorted out that an Ericson 26 would be an appropriate small cruising boat you could live with, and within your budget. Hell, you even built a dinghy to prove to yourself you were not a tyro, had the mindset and needful skills to fix up the Ericson, and you’re ready …
and in the “Are we ready to look at that Ericson yet?” department… Read More »
OK, I get it. “Everyone” says that if you buy a fixer-upper sailboat with the goal of turning it into a cruising boat it will all end in tears. Some will tell you that you’ll wind up with nothing but an expensive disaster that you’ll have to pay someone to dispose of it in some …
On that big hole in the water you throw money into… Read More »
So, here’s a couple of interesting project boats someone might be interested in… For starters there’s a Crealock designed Ericson 26 selling for $400 bucks up in the no man’s land between Port Townsend and Anacortes. The Crealock design is, in my opinion, a better boat than the Pacific Seacraft Dana. The beauty of a …
So here’s a sketch from Michael (you know the Proa guy) to give you an idea what the first few projects entail… The first order of business is to downsize the companion way and reduce some of the cockpit’s floodable volume. As you can see, we’re talking super simple as it’s just filling up a …
