Island Gypsy

[reefdrifter]

Hello all,
My wife and I have our eyes on a couple of Island Gypsy Trawlers and we are wondering if anyone has any experience and comments on either one.* The first one is a 1986, 32 ft. sedan for $68,900.00 and the other one is a 1990 Mark II Europa for $89,900.00.* We are in SW Florida so will want to cruise to the Keys from time to time.* Any comments will be welcomed since this willbe our first Trawler type boat.

Thanks,
Bob

[FF]

Marine Traider is the place to look.

Those prices seem very high.

[Codger2]

Bob:

Your choice of boats to be your first trawler is a great one! I have a 2005 Island Gypsy 32' Gourmet Cruiser that, after owning 7 boats since 1995, both my wife and I love. She (the boat) is solid glass, no coring, and has all the comforts one could ask for. Although my boat has no flybridge, she has a generous cockpit and a great master stateroom. Separate shower from the head is a big plus.

There are several people on this site that have Gypsies, one who comes to mind is Dave Hawkins in New England. (Look him up on this site or read the posts under Halvorsen Designs.)

My advice would be to buy the Europa as access to the bow for anchoring is a lot easier.

Walt


-- Edited by SeaHorse II on Sunday 29th of November 2009 09:22:36 AM

[Codger2]

"Those prices seem very high."
__________________
FF

A review of similar boats on YachtWorld 2 would seem to indicate that those prices are not high!

Walt

[dwhatty]

Bob: Feel free to ask me anything about our IG32 Eurosedan. Still getting to know her after only one year of ownership after downsizing from a 38'+ woodie, but so far we like her a lot.



Walt: I see that the Island Gypsy brand is now under the new ownership of Maxi Marine. Hope that that bodes positive for the brand. I guess time will tell.

Finished my Garmin install and, if not too cold, will take some pics.

Question Walt: Did your boat come with engine room gratings? I've read that many IGs did but ours doesn't have them. Clambering over the transverses can be somewhat uncomfortable but not sure if gratings would make things better or worse.

[Codger2]

Dave:

No engine room grates here. These are the only two pics I have of the ER.

Walt

[FF]

Yachtworld or the non restricted brokerage sites cover a huge area.

This fellow is in SW Florida , prices should be 30 to 50% below Annopolis , Seattle or Newport.

Why pay extra?

FF

[reefdrifter]

Thanks for your posts guys.....I have been studying the various websites including*Yachtworld and cannot find much of anything that costs less.* When we find lower costs and go take a look we usually see junk!!!!*

The 32 ft. 1986 Island Gypsy Sedan with flybridge at $68,000.00 asking price has teak decks and that is a little worrysome.* I don't think it has leaks but you just don't know.* The survey*hopefully will let me know about that.* The single Lehman has 3500 hours but from what I read that is just beginning to be broken-in.* It has a bow thruster for easy maneuvering.

The 36 ft. 1990 Island Gypsy MkII Europa does not have teak decks so that is good I guess.* It does have two engines at 1200 hrs but then that is twice the maintenance plus another $21K.*

I am also concidering a 1978 Mainship MKI with a Perkins at 825 original hours (At least that is what the hour meter says) for about $49,500.00 asking price.* This trawler does need some extra cleaning and shining but I don't mind the work.* Good way to make it your own.

What do you guys think about teak decks vrs. fiberglass?* Are these prices really all that bad?*

We have looked at several Grand Banks and Marine Traders but they seem to have window leak problems.* I did find a 1985 35 ft. President at $35K but she got away.* The lady lost her husband and was giving the boat away from what I can see.** You snooze....you loose!!!

Your comments will be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Bob

[sunchaser]

I hate to say this, but ----------------- run and hide from teak decks on 20+ year old boats unless* you are 100.00% sure of the substructure integrity. Note the posts on fuel tanks destroyed by teak deck leaks.

[Marin]

A fellow on our dock has a 36' (I think) Island Gypsy. I believe it's a single but I could be mistaken. A couple of years ago he replaced the teak decks with fiberglass. To restore the stiffness the teak had*provided he added four layers of fiberglass plus the non-skid surface.* Not all types of boats*need this but apparently Island Gypsies do. *The main deck is as strong as a battleship now.* A marine engineer with a boat on our dock said that, in his opinion, two additional layers of glass would have been sufficient to restore the stiffness the Island Gypsy's deck lost when the teak was removed, and that four was a bit overkill.

In any event, the end result is extremely well done. It took him a summer and a half of steady work to accomplish it, however, and he recently told me that if he had known what the job entailed to do it correctly he never would have started it.

If a GB has leaking windows, it is an easily repaired problem. Any boat that is neglected or not given proper maintenance can have window problems---- this seems a common trait among almost all boats as they get older no matter how their windows are constructed.* Over the years we have overhauled almost all of the windows on our* fiberglass GB although none of them were leaking-- the overhauls were to refinish frames, replace old glass, or replace worn out tracks on the opening windows. Once we learned how to do it it's a pretty straightforward process and the overhauled windows should be good for a couple of decades or more before needing any further*attention.

We much prefer a teak deck to a fiberglass surface because of its far superior traction, wet or dry. Plus we like the look of a teak deck. But an older teak deck can need some maintenance, and sometimes pretty intense maintenance if the deck has not been cared for properly or if repairs to the seams have not been done correctly. Our boat still has its original teak decks, which are now more than 36 years old. Previous owners sanded it too much and it was in pretty bad shape when we bought the boat--- seams had pulled loose from the sides of the grooves, half the deck screw plugs were missing, etc. A shipwright with a lot of teak deck experience determined that there was still barely enough plank thickness left to make the deck serviceable so he recut all the grooves and re-seamed the deck.

In the case of a GB, removing a teak deck makes the boat harder to sell, or requires the price to be dropped accordingly unless one is lucky enough to find a buyer who prefers a fiberglass deck. But the teak deck is part of the appeal of the boat to almost all GB buyers and the few GBs that have come through our local GB dealer that had fiberglass decks took a long time to sell and the price had to be reduced accordingly. One boat's*price had to be dropped by the cost of replacing the teak deck before it sold.* *I cannot say if this*sort of thing*holds true for the "Taiwan trawler" brands like CHB, Puget Trawler, etc.

Teak decks are incredibly expensive to replace. Some ten years ago the quoted cost to replace the teak planking on a GB36 ranged from $20,000 to $30,000 depending on who gave you the quote, and it's for sure a lot more now given the skyrocketing cost of proper Burmese teak (as opposed to plantation teak which is considerably inferior). So we are very conscientious about properly maintaining the deck we have now. So far, so good.

Here's a photo showing our then 32-year old deck from a few years ago. This was a few years after we'd had it re-seamed and we'd replaced many, many*hundreds of deck screw plugs.

PS-- It appears in the photo that the seam lines are squiggley, at least on my computer.* If they look this way on the computer you're using, it's something to do with the photo file.* The seams on the actual boat are straight and even.



-- Edited by Marin on Monday 30th of November 2009 06:26:38 PM

[Baker]

Oh man, there's that boat again!!!! I want that thing so badly and cannot sell my boat!!!

[sunvale]

We purchased a 36 IG last February. Our cost was significatly less than the $$ mentioned. Ours has a single diesel with bow thruster and 1200 hours on the engine and 450 on the gen set. This boat is solid as they could come. Solid core, no fillers in the hull or any deck structures and the boat was very clean. Only complaint I have is the flimsy bow thruster and the way the prop is fastened to the shaft. But I'm having that addressed.

[BruceK]

Originally Posted by sunvale

We purchased a 36 IG last February....Ours has a single diesel with bow thruster and 1200 hours on the engine and 450 on the gen set. This boat is solid as they could come. Solid core, no fillers in the hull or any deck structures and the boat was very clean. Only complaint I have is the flimsy bow thruster and the way the prop is fastened to the shaft...

Congratulations. AndyG will be impressed. Can you tell us the build year and hull number?
When you say "solid core', do you mean the hull is solid f/g?
The decks can be an issue, I hope yours are good. See "IG teak decks" thread.

[Andy G]

Congratulations Sunvale, don't believe a thing Bruce says about deck issues, I know for a fact that no IG has ever experienced deck issues, it's all in the mind of the owners, they can be a pretty fragile lot.

How about a bit more info, pic's etc. What's the issue with the prop?

[dwhatty]

Originally Posted by BruceK

Congratulations. AndyG will be impressed. Can you tell us the build year and hull number?
When you say "solid core', do you mean the hull is solid f/g?
The decks can be an issue, I hope yours are good. See "IG teak decks" thread.

Ours is solid core hull. No teak decks. They too are solid with no core. House is another matter.

[BruceK]

Originally Posted by Andy G

Congratulations Sunvale, don't believe a thing Bruce says about deck issues, I know for a fact that no IG has ever experienced deck issues, it's all in the mind of the owners...

Ask Andy for a copy of his deck spend list. On second thoughts, don`t,you`ll just upset him.
We were lucky, our composite decks were foam cored (rare,previously unknown fit-out). About to go to check progress on the deck reno nearing completion.
David, glad to hear later IGs sold in USA had solid f/g decks, a great improvement of the product.

[motion30]

I know nothing of IG boats but do know for that money you can buy much more boat then 32' For me a queen birth was a big deal...I slept in a v berth for 4 years

[BruceK]

Our IG36 is configured with a semi island queen bed in the forward(only)sleeping cabin. I call it the "selfish couple`s" fit out; it has the shower compartment separate from head too. The saloon converts to a big double/queen.
The IG32 is a surprisingly big boat, maybe that affects pricing. IGs were not your typical "Taiwanese trawler", closer to a GB in many ways, maybe due to the Halvorsen design/quality antecedents and input.
I admit to being a biased owner.

[Marin]

The "Kong" in Kong and Halvorsen, who built the Island Gypsy, worked for American Marine in Kowloon first, where he was instrumental in designing that company's new line of diesel cruisers in the 1960s, a line they named "Grand Banks." He was with American Marine for some years before leaving and teaming up with Halvorsen to create their own line of diesel cruisers. So there is good reason for the many similarities between GB and IG.

[Andy G]

Is that Peter Kong your referring to? Well live and learn, I always thought that he provided the finance for the operation and the Halvorsen's the boat building expertise.

Yes, there is a strong similarity between the GB and IG's of that era. I wonder where they got the mould for the classic 36' IG's from, bet there is a story there.