# A 60 foot sailboat for $2,600 found on Craigslist



## khammett (Sep 20, 2013)

Just came across quite a deal on Craigslist. A 60 foot sailboat for not even $3K. Do you know what you could do with such a boat. Sail around the world, sail to exotic islands. If you fix it up some first.

60' SAILBOAT KETCH NEEDS WORK BUT HUGE POTENTIAL REDUCED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## Seaduction (Oct 24, 2011)

Why? Are you considering it?


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## azguy (Jul 17, 2012)

That poor boat needs to be sunk and put out of its misery. It would make a good reef for divers to play around...


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## Rhapsody-NS27 (Apr 8, 2012)

I wouldn't even if someone (1) gave me the boat, (2) gave me the money to work on it.


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## Sal Paradise (Sep 14, 2012)

That was even worse that I expected. This could be used in those "bigger means safer" arguments. LOL!!!


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## Fstbttms (Feb 25, 2003)

The $2600 purchase price is simply a downpayment on the $50,000 in TLC the thing needs. And even then you're stuck with a $50,000 cement boat.


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## kd3pc (Oct 19, 2006)

I am glad to be in my home office, as I can not imagine what it smells like, especially below decks or in the bilge...

sink it..


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## Chas H (Sep 6, 2013)

Looks a bit like the Frechman's boat that was stuck in NC.

My vote: sink it.


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## overbored (Oct 8, 2010)

can't vote because there is no category labeled HELL NO


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## capttb (Dec 13, 2003)

They had to close down the problematic free anchorage A8, this looks like one of the problems left over.
Good foresight to make the default answer to the poll no, BTW.


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## Siamese (May 9, 2007)

I recently, and successfully concluded my summer long search for my current boat. Based on the ads I pursued and the boats I looked at, after long drives, I'm surprised the ad for that boat didn't say "mint condition".


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## T34C (Sep 14, 2006)

I voted NO, because " Not a chance in hell" wasn't an option.


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## Stumble (Feb 2, 2012)

I can't image anything about that boat that would be desirable. It would probably be cheaper to just strip it to the bare hull and rebuild it than try and fix everything. I would guess it would cost $250,000 to return it to decent shape, possibly more.


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## overbored (Oct 8, 2010)

Siamese said:


> I recently, and successfully concluded my summer long search for my current boat. Based on the ads I pursued and the boats I looked at, after long drives, I'm surprised the ad for that boat didn't say "mint condition".


I think it did not say mint condition because it probably does not have much of a minty smell left, either above or below decks


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## ehlsail (Dec 17, 2012)

Whoever buys this could get Capt. Ron to help them move it, sailing lessons included.


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## benesailor (Dec 27, 2012)

Please BUY it! Save this boat. You should sail around the world on this beast! 

Please PM your personal info so that i can underwrite your life insurance policy. (Be aware that i will be the benefactor)


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## Shinook (Jul 13, 2012)

This boat was listed for $5k several months ago, there was a thread on CruisersForum about the boat that went a little bit into her history. 

I don't recall specifics, but I believe it was determined that sinking would pose an environmental risk and require some work before being dragged off and sunk, probably more work than $2500 is going to cover.


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## eherlihy (Jan 2, 2007)

For posterity, here is the text of the ad;


> Hello... 60' Ferro cement pilothouse ketch rigged sailboat for sale that comes with everything onboard. It needs work but the price is super cheap! Gigantic interior, sails, anchors. Does NOT come with the current mooring ball and it will need to be towed off as soon as possible. CASH ONLY and please do not contact me unless you have the money are serious and have a place to move it to. Located in San Diego bay. Send me an email and I will respond with my phone number. Someone could build this into a world cruising sailboat with some work. Thanks


For the record, I wouldn't touch that thing with a 60' stick. By the looks of it, the seagulls would miss their dumping ground should it move.


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## Skipper Jer (Aug 26, 2008)

1 person voted they would buy it and 1 person voted maybe they would. Ok, the results tell me we have two people on this forum that are smoking a lot of something, not that that is a bad thing but I tend to postpone financial decisions until the morning after.


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## benesailor (Dec 27, 2012)

I heard that some one from Seattle was seriously looking for a new home.

Local News | Eagle Harbor liveaboards: Their water world may end | Seattle Times Newspaper


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## arvicola-amphibius (Apr 14, 2012)

If the owner PAID me double his asking price, and I figured there were a few thousand bucks in scrap parts to salvage, still I would not take it on.

The cost of moving and disposing of so much junk could run in to the many thousands.

He has himself quite an environmental liability there.

Maybe offer it free to the Navy for gunnery practice?


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## benesailor (Dec 27, 2012)

I believe that we should encourage the OP to buy this. 

Think positive......

Visualize....


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## benesailor (Dec 27, 2012)

> Maybe offer it free to the Navy for gunnery practice?


Good option; they are stationed there, would be convenient. They could run it over when heading out the bay.

Oh oh; i'm not thinking positive.


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## TerryBradley (Feb 28, 2006)

Wait! Wait! This was once somebody's pride and Joy. Just think of all the memories floating around in this poor old hulk. Ah if only that boat could talk. But I guess I wax sentimental. Oh well.


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## Capt Len (Oct 9, 2011)

John Samson made a few hundred bucks on the sale of the plans for that fine vessel.Pure profit and all downhill from there. The old Viking must be chortling still.


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## gamayun (Aug 20, 2009)

The ad says, "It needs work...". This should be added to that posting about the funny things brokers say.


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## steel (Sep 1, 2010)

Say the hull is in good shape, the sails are usable but need to be replaced, the engine runs and the boat can be moved under her own power, the anchors are usable, the navigation lights are working, and the mandatory safety equipment is on board.

Would the boat still be worth a negative value?


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## Stumble (Feb 2, 2012)

steel said:


> Say the hull is in good shape, the sails are usable but need to be replaced, the engine runs and the boat can be moved under her own power, the anchors are usable, the navigation lights are working, and the mandatory safety equipment is on board.
> 
> Would the boat still be worth a negative value?


Yes.

Lets assume everything you say is working. But what about all the other systems? The generator, the water system, the black water system, the fuel system, the rest of the electrical system, the rigging, ect. Any one of those systems could cost tens of thousands of dollars, and if the owner doesn't consider the boat worth enough to even bother cleaning it up before putting it on the market, why should I?

Assuming I was in the market for a boat like this I would consider taking it off the owners hands for the disposal cost. So in the worst case I could just deliver it to the local dump and wash my hands of it.


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## Ajax_MD (Nov 24, 2009)

khammett said:


> Just came across quite a deal on Craigslist. A 60 foot sailboat for not even $3K. Do you know what you could do with such a boat. Sail around the world, sail to exotic islands. If you fix it up some first.
> 
> 60' SAILBOAT KETCH NEEDS WORK BUT HUGE POTENTIAL REDUCED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


You should definitely buy it.

Steel can explain how to anchor it safely, for extended periods in deep water. He can also explain why it's no big deal if your deep-water anchoring system should fail, and why it's no biggie if the boat sinks or drifts into other vessels.


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## Group9 (Oct 3, 2010)

I wouldn't take it if they gave me $2600 to do it.


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## mstern (May 26, 2002)

That is one sweet steering wheel.


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## JimMcGee (Jun 23, 2005)

steel said:


> Say the hull is in good shape, the sails are usable but need to be replaced, the engine runs and the boat can be moved under her own power, the anchors are usable, the navigation lights are working, and the mandatory safety equipment is on board.
> 
> Would the boat still be worth a negative value?


Hmm, just for kicks lets say all that's true. Just to make it more interesting lets say the keel is lead and not just rusted scrap iron. Then lets say you can find a marina owner drunk enough to let you park this thing in his yard.

You pay to tow this beast to the travel lift because the 30 year old diesel clogs the filters and the sails that are stowed in blue tarps fall apart when you try to raise them. You get it hauled, pay for the dumpsters and tools to cut up a cement boat, pay the yard fees, rent a truck to haul metal to the scrap yard, and spend a ton of hours dickering over the value of each 40 year old winch (assuming anyone wants them); then try to find someone who will come and pick up a diesel of indeterminate age and condition.

Hmm, when all is said and done if you make anything it will be less than the minimum wage when this beast was built ! :laugher

Yep good investment!


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## night0wl (Mar 20, 2006)

I stopped reading at Ferro-Cement


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## capta (Jun 27, 2011)

It's a Sampson design; not worth scrapping costs. I know people who have built and sailed these boats and they are so unseakindly that they couldn't sleep in the bunks underway.
There's one here in the yard in Trinidad they can't even give away.
If you spent a million bucks on refurbishing one, you'd still have a piece of garbage when you're done.
It wouldn't even make a good reef; it'd disintegrate in a couple of years. Not all ferro boats are garbage, but the Sampsons are definitely just plain "bad" boats, from the design on up.


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## eherlihy (Jan 2, 2007)

... also for posterity:

Here is a picture of the beast;









This will not work as a reef. Fish have minimum standards....


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## JimMcGee (Jun 23, 2005)

eherlihy said:


> ... also for posterity:
> 
> Here is a picture of the beast;
> 
> ...


It's just amazing to me that someone put in all the time, effort and money required to build something this ugly.


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## smurphny (Feb 20, 2009)

Takes my breath away just looking at it!


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## miatapaul (Dec 15, 2006)

steel said:


> Say the hull is in good shape, the sails are usable but need to be replaced, the engine runs and the boat can be moved under her own power, the anchors are usable, the navigation lights are working, and the mandatory safety equipment is on board.
> 
> Would the boat still be worth a negative value?


I doubt you could even find a yard to hull this thing, to tear it down for scrap parts. No yard I know would let you put it in the yard, as they know it will likely be abandoned. You would never be able to even get liability insurance. The listing says it has to be towed off the mooring so the motor is obviously shot. as far as safety equipment goes, there is an old flair on one cabin sole in one of the shots so you should be all set there.

If it had brand new sails, a new motor, new electronics and a clean interior redone interior, everything functioning you could likely not sell it for more than $20,000 in the current market if you could even find a buyer. Floating sidewalks are not exactly selling like hotcakes (I know there are some good fero cement boats out there, but very few). Considering a "new" motor for this beast would cost more than that, or a decent set of sails, or interior upholstery, and that is just one of the many projects that would cost more than it could ever be worth.

Yes, this thing will never have positive value. Not to mention what it would cost to put it in a slip.


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## Sublime (Sep 11, 2010)

Ack! That things hideous! Oh bless her heart...


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## hellosailor (Apr 11, 2006)

Where else can you buy 20,000# of clean landfill for under three grand?!

Incredible bargain, run, do not walk, and snap it right up.


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## CaptMikey (Dec 11, 2011)

Interesting. Verrry interesting.


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## steel (Sep 1, 2010)

BubbleheadMd said:


> You should definitely buy it.
> 
> Steel can explain how to anchor it safely, for extended periods in deep water. He can also explain why it's no big deal if your deep-water anchoring system should fail, and why it's no biggie if the boat sinks or drifts into other vessels.


I was given some ideas about the bums in the anchoring thread. I assume that includes hobos and the homeless. The thing could be taken and put in to a long term anchoring setup! Then it could serve as a homeless shelter. It would surely beat sleeping under a bridge and eating out of garbage cans. Teach the homeless how to fish, and they'll have fish for life!


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## capta (Jun 27, 2011)

steel said:


> I was given some ideas about the bums in the anchoring thread. I assume that includes hobos and the homeless. The thing could be taken and put in to a long term anchoring setup! Then it could serve as a homeless shelter. It would surely beat sleeping under a bridge and eating out of garbage cans. Teach the homeless how to fish, and they'll have fish for life!


I suppose you're going to ferry these bums and hobos back and forth to shore in your dinghy every time they want to use the bathroom or get some booze? How nice of you.


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## duchess of montrose (Nov 26, 2011)

Someone offered to give me a much better condition 60 foot ferro boat that had new rigging a new diesel good sails but needed electrical and interior work done for free. i still said no, you could pour 100 grand into it and still be left with an unsellable ferro boat and i don't have anything against ferro but most people don't want ferro boats and they are not very fun to sail, a lot of there weight is up high where you don't want it but in good condition they can be decent boats but you will never get ever get a cent you put into it. If you spend 100 grabd on it it will still need work and it might be worth 10 grand. Now boats are never good investments but i would like to get at least 25 cents on every dollar i invest. That being said i am a fan of wood boats and they have bad resale value too, but wood is a much better building material than ferro cement strength wise.


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## ShoalFinder (May 18, 2012)

capta said:


> I suppose you're going to ferry these bums and hobos back and forth to shore in your dinghy every time they want to use the bathroom or get some booze? How nice of you.


It's not such a bad idea...

I suggest we chain them to an oar and tape a bottle of Mad Dog to the forward bulkhead. The one who can row to the bottle gets it.

One of them ought to show some initiative. He can be promoted to "drum beater" to help the lazy ones keep time.


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