GB 36 Europa on EBay

Anyone have any thoughts about the 36' Grand Banks Europa on EBay? Apparently it sank in its mooring due to failure of a below-the-waterline fitting, and was raised and water damage remediated to one degree or another. I can only imagine that this sort of event would have dire implications for just about every system on the boat. But on the other hand, maybe this is a good way to pick up a good boat for cheap. Thoughts?

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=181913200977&globalID=EBAY-US

Greetings,
Mr. OT. Depends on what "sank in it's mooring" means. Was she right under to the FB or just the engines submerged? Fresh water or salt water intrusion? Many questions...

Good questions, to be sure. The eBay listing says "submerged at her slip." Submerged implies, well, submersion. The listing has a video that shows both Cummins diesels running post-incident, albeit drawing their fuel from a Jerry can. I asked the seller about electronics, and he replied that they "haven't been tested." By which I assume he means "they are toast." Just an intriguing possibility....

Boat is currently in Washington State on the coast (Anacortes) and owner is likely in British Columbia. More likely than not the sinking was in salt water.

Sunk in saltwater? Do you feel lucky? You get to rewire the boat and replace the fuel tanks within a couple years in the best case. Who would insure it?
I would bet someone does the minimum work to make it run then flips it to an unsuspecting buyer.

Probably end up in Australia we also get Jeeps sent here

Maybe it would be good as a dock queen, $100,000 would be my TOP number to have invested in the boat, all in.

High Wire said:

Sunk in saltwater? Do you feel lucky? You get to rewire the boat and replace the fuel tanks within a couple years in the best case. Who would insure it?
I would bet someone does the minimum work to make it run then flips it to an unsuspecting buyer.

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I wonder what the insurance settlement was and where the money went?

Cut a ticket, come out and take a look! Bidding ends in 2+ days.

I would bring a few screwdrivers, good headlamp and be looking/smelling inside everything, lots of places for mold problems. Wiring, electronics, gauges, anything with a motor, rough budget that in, plus a lot of your time to work on this in the yard, place to live, etc.

I have cleaned up/fixed a lot of stuff flooded by hurricanes, but the stuff is never the same; flooding takes life out of stuff, measured in dog years.

There are those that build/restore boats, and those that run/skipper boats; most often they are not the same men.

The mother-of-all sunk/raised/restoration projects is across the sound in Port Townsend, the old Hemingway fishing boat.

GoneFarrell said:

I have cleaned up/fixed a lot of stuff flooded by hurricanes, but the stuff is never the same; flooding takes life out of stuff, measured in dog years.

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Do you have any sense if hurricane boats made it to NW WA and BC over the years? I was aware of at least a couple Andrew boats finding their way here.

Well for under 30K........ Definitely would have to have the multimeter in a holster though.....

My thought is that pretty much all the electronics and most of the electrics are kaput. What about the fuel tanks? Would submersion necessarily mess them up beyond redemption? Can the interior wood survive such an event?

My interest in this boat would be in relocating it to fresh water, with really not much need for lots of electronics, but keeping it at the dock would not be an option.

I've had a couple sink back in the Woody days. Saving this boat would be a nightmare of long term problems that will haunt the owner to the grave. Think of it, the salt water intrusion would be insidious. Everything has been filled with salt water, the winch, electronics, genny, guages, switches, door latches, even inside the control cables and a thousand other places that you wouldn't think of. To be remotely feasible financially, you would have to buy it as virtually nothing more than a hull, motors and superstructure, anything beyond that which could be saved is simply a bonus.

Capt Kangeroo said:

I've had a couple sink back in the Woody days. Saving this boat would be a nightmare of long term problems that will haunt the owner to the grave. Think of it, the salt water intrusion would be insidious. Everything has been filled with salt water, the winch, electronics, genny, guages, switches, door latches, even inside the control cables and a thousand other places that you wouldn't think of. To be remotely feasible financially, you would have to buy it as virtually nothing more than a hull, motors and superstructure, anything beyond that which could be saved is simply a bonus.

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Anyone looking on WA Craigslist for marine equipment and electronics better beware. Or BC for that matter, since the owner is in greater Vancouver.

I think I can tell about how far it sank - look at these two snaps from the video.




There's also some (freshwater) damage from above - you can see the typical discoloration below the exposed windshield (epic design fail, but some folks like the look).



In all of the pictures and the two videos there is not one electrical anything that is on. The port engine appears to have been jumpered from a separate battery (and is running off a jerry can as noted previously).

So every wire - every everything - below about 18" above the saloon floor was submerged in salt water. This boat might be a reasonable restoration candidate for someone looking for an extreme project. Too bad it's twins - twice the renovation and no space to do it in, so they're going to have to come out. Which should make replacing the tanks easier (they may be at end of life anyway at 24 years old, though the Europa design would keep the side decks - and fillers - relatively dry).

It's a real shame that sank - there aren't very many of these 36 Europas.

I really appreciate everyone's thoughts on this. I admit to being a little over-enthusiastic about the idea of getting a really good deal on a potentially very fine boat, but the comments here have brought me back to terra firma. While I don't mind (and even enjoy) upkeep, maintenance and some minor repair, I'm not up for years of battling a varied host of gremlins, no doubt at considerable cost in blood and treasure.

The search continues...

OldToby said:

Apparently it sank in its mooring due to failure of a below-the-waterline fitting...Thoughts?

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Stern tube/shaft log?

...from a failed through-hull fitting to the Grunert refrigeration.

[QUOTE
The mother-of-all sunk/raised/restoration projects is across the sound in Port Townsend, the old Hemingway fishing boat.[/QUOTE]

Word on the street here is that "project" may sink again while on the hard!..it is a p.o.s. boat
that should be busted up and hauled away.. some folks have too much money and not enough sense..
Hollywood

Here ya go the old Western Flyer. Recent picture of Hemingway's fishing boat on the hard in Port Townsend.

A little paint and polish and that will be good to go......

Seriously, many have seen real wood restoration projects..... sometimes all that's left after demo is the keel, all or part of stem and stern, some or most of the ribs, rarely any of the planks and hopefully most of the deck frame and the frame of the superstructure and the interior, and that's on a boat that didn't spend too much time under water.

There's tens of thousands of hours and hundreds of thousands of dollars of work there, IF there is enough sound wood to work with.

Of course all of the systems, and much if not most of the hardware need replacing.

Edit: This boat has quite the history, but it appears we're dealing with John Steinbeck here and not Hemingway...

http://response.restoration.noaa.go...ken-piece-literary-history-raised-depths.html

Update....

This listing was ended by the seller because the item is no longer available.

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captn H said:

Here ya go the old Western Flyer. Recent picture of Hemingway's fishing boat on the hard in Port Townsend.

View attachment 46068

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"The purchase price of the boat, combined with the cost of the restoration, is expected to exceed $2 million. The Greggs said it will most likely will be used for educational purposes"

Hawgwash said:

Do you have any sense if hurricane boats made it to NW WA and BC over the years? I was aware of at least a couple Andrew boats finding their way here.

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Hawg, I have no knowledge of such boats. My experience with hurricane flooded stuff is all down in baja sur.

"Word on the street here is that "project" may sink again while on the hard!..it is a p.o.s. boat that should be busted up and hauled away.. some folks have too much money and not enough sense.."
Hollywood

Hollywood, couldn't agree more. I took a close look at it during the Wood Boat show in Sept with the bottom planks peeled off. Total sunken wreckage parked on the hard to me. Every stick on that boat is shot. Finding new sticks would become an enviornmental destruct project too. I would slice it up and make bookend sets for the dreamy bookworms. Even those would have to be encased in epoxy! And my apologies for naming the wrong author! Better with boats than books I s'pose!

Next time I'm in PT I'll let you know, walk around that thing, then we can go over to the brewpub, hoist one and thank our lucky stars!