Good By Commodave

[psneeld]

Payback is a *itch.

 

[Comodave]

Hope the survey works out this time, but I always suspect that there is some sinister motive when one trades-in one’s trawler license for a thousand cubic inches of wake producing machine.:lol:

Come on now, it is 1004 cubic inches…

 

[Comodave]

Comodave, Here's hoping the survey goes well. And on vintage, the most "vintagie" think on our boat, unfortunately, is ME!

Yes, my wife had a birthday on Wednesday and I told her that I was giving her a new boat. She didn’t buy that idea. And while I tease her about getting old, i am 3 months older than her. We will have our 50th anniversary in August. I do keep telling her she has a good deal and not to mess it up…

 

[rslifkin]

Hope the survey works out this time, but I always suspect that there is some sinister motive when one trades-in one’s trawler license for a thousand cubic inches of wake producing machine.:lol:

Hey... Not all of us planing hull owners have hulls that throw a huge, steep, nasty wake like the big Sea Rays all seem to. And most of us hate the awful wakes (and people who throw huge wakes too close to other boats) just as much.

I do expect Comodave's hopeful new boat will make some good speed with those 502s. It certainly shouldn't have trouble getting that hull plenty far enough out of the water to throw a clean wake, and it's not like Formula is any slouch in the hull design department. It's a lighter boat than mine and with a good bit more power (my 454s are rated at 340hp each).

Compare the pictures below for my wake at 6.5 kts vs 17 kts.

 

[Miz Trom]

Hi Dave:

Good luck with the survey!

And I am so sorry to read that your back issues have required multiple surgeries. Sigh. Getting old is definitely not for sissies.

We are in a very similar next-boat dilemma, only my Mom is a youngster compared to yours: 88 years young.

I am wondering (aside from the available speed and local mechanic resources you mentioned) if there are certain features of the Formula that you think your Mom might enjoy?

You are in Wisconsin, and we are in Florida, so there's one big different factor for us in choosing our next boat-that-Mom-might-enjoy-with-us.

Right now I am looking at day boats with roomy cockpits and small cabins; cabins primarily for the ladies to have a privacy loo.

Fortunately that describes many fishing boats, of which there are a ton for sale down here. Unfortunately, most of these fishing boats seem overpowered to me and Hubby Dan.

Cheers,
Mrs. Trombley

 

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
I can't help but think the androposial "need for speed" could be more inexpensively achieved with...

 

[BandB]

We did a sea trial and survey Monday on a Formula 34PC with 7.4 MPIs in it. They wouldn’t turn over 3100RPMs and then we found the entire engine room bulkheads and stringers would peg the moisture meters. That deal was toast. We are going to look at a 36PC tomorrow. It has 502s in it. I hope it is in better condition.

Wifey B: Speed. YAY.

 

[Bud]

Yes, my wife had a birthday on Wednesday and I told her that I was giving her a new boat. She didn’t buy that idea. And while I tease her about getting old, i am 3 months older than her. We will have our 50th anniversary in August. I do keep telling her she has a good deal and not to mess it up…

Is this the boat?
https://www.boattrader.com/boats/make-formula/model-36-pc/

 

[Comodave]

Hi Dave:

Good luck with the survey!

And I am so sorry to read that your back issues have required multiple surgeries. Sigh. Getting old is definitely not for sissies.

We are in a very similar next-boat dilemma, only my Mom is a youngster compared to yours: 88 years young.

I am wondering (aside from the available speed and local mechanic resources you mentioned) if there are certain features of the Formula that you think your Mom might enjoy?

You are in Wisconsin, and we are in Florida, so there's one big different factor for us in choosing our next boat-that-Mom-might-enjoy-with-us.

Right now I am looking at day boats with roomy cockpits and small cabins; cabins primarily for the ladies to have a privacy loo.

Fortunately that describes many fishing boats, of which there are a ton for sale down here. Unfortunately, most of these fishing boats seem overpowered to me and Hubby Dan.

Cheers,
Mrs. Trombley

My Mom will never get on the boat. She only leaves the house to go to the doctor and that under protest. But we can not go cruising anywhere with the trawler because it takes 3 to 5 hours to get to any destination from here in it. We are going to a faster boat so that we can get there in an hour rather than 3 or 2 hours rather than 5 so that if she activities her call button we can get home faster and get to the hospital. We loved our trawler but it is time to move on. And the next boat will be the 24th boat we have owned in the 50 years we have been married. Maybe part of it is I like getting new boats and making them into what I like. As we get older we want a single level express cruiser, easier on us and our furry child (Radar). We will most likely put bow and stern thrusters on the new boat. It will make it easier to dock and then my wife may not even have to go on the bow when docking. It will need all new canvas and most likely all new upholstery (and there are acres of vinyl in the cockpit). It has reportedly had both engines rebuild 200 hours ago. They say they have all maintenance receipts. Survey and sea trial a week from Monday.

 

[Comodave]

Is this the boat?
https://www.boattrader.com/boats/make-formula/model-36-pc/

Yes, that is it. Pretty poor job of listing it. It is also on Yachtworld. I amazes me that people will list a boat for sale and not even clean it. Or remove all their crap from the jammed lockers. When we sold our boat the surveyor told me it was a pleasure to survey a clean well maintained boat.

 

[Bud]

Yes, that is it. Pretty poor job of listing it. It is also on Yachtworld. I amazes me that people will list a boat for sale and not even clean it. Or remove all their crap from the jammed lockers. When we sold our boat the surveyor told me it was a pleasure to survey a clean well maintained boat.

I know They don't even have any pics of the engines or any of the systems.

 

[Comodave]

The engine room actually looks pretty nice. It needs a bit of cleaning but it appears that the PO didn’t hack things up. I will end up replacing the electronics, canvas and all the upholstery. Adding bow and stern thrusters. I hope it passes the survey. If not we have a Formula 41PC on standby. It is having all the headliner in the cabins replaced and is still not ready. But the 41 has 450 Cummins in it and we don’t have a marine diesel mechanic here. And I don’t want to work on the engines anyway.

 

[Comodave]

When we made the offer the broker didn’t want a check for the deposit. I asked about a contract, he said no they just do a verbal agreement until everything was agreed on. Humm…. I told him to email the routing and account numbers and I would wire him the deposit, still waiting. Not a very tightly run brokerage.

 

[Bud]

The engine room actually looks pretty nice. It needs a bit of cleaning but it appears that the PO didn’t hack things up. I will end up replacing the electronics, canvas and all the upholstery. Adding bow and stern thrusters. I hope it passes the survey. If not we have a Formula 41PC on standby. It is having all the headliner in the cabins replaced and is still not ready. But the 41 has 450 Cummins in it and we don’t have a marine diesel mechanic here. And I don’t want to work on the engines anyway.

Does that boat have a cored hull?

 

[Comodave]

I don’t think the hull below the waterline is cored but am not absolutely sure.

 

[Bud]

I don’t think the hull below the waterline is cored but am not absolutely sure.

I am sure the surveyer will know and will check it for any intrusion.

Bud

 

[Fletcher500]

Our first boat was a Sea Ray 36 Express Cruiser with Mercruiser gas engines. Loved that boat and it never gave me any headaches. Our kids were still in the nest at that time, and we spent just about every weekend on it. The aft cockpit area is great for bringing groups of people aboard and hanging out and swims. We would often have 4 to 5 wet kids aboard and it didn’t feel cramped in the aft cockpit. I drove it at trawler speeds most of the time. You have owned more boats than most of us, so you probably know all of this already. Good luck with the back.

 

[Comodave]

Thanks, the back is doing better now that I haven’t been working on the boat. When I get the new boat it will likely get somewhat worse…

 

[Wayfarer]

I hear you on the overuse of vintage as an adjective. But in this case I read Dave's use of "that vintage" to mean "that year range," and not that it "is" vintage.

Yes! That's what I was going for. No shade intended

Hell, Dave's new boat is almost 10 years newer than mine. What luxury!

 

[Comodave]

Well, we are on our 3rd boat now. The first one failed sea trial and survey dramatically. All stringers and bulkheads in the engine room rotten. Engines wouldn’t turn up over 3100 RPMs.

The second boat, we had a verbal agreement with the seller and the broker texted me that they sold it to someone else.

We wanted a smaller boat and gas powered because I didn’t want to do all the maintenance. The first boat was 34’, second boat was 36’ and now we made an offer on a 1998 Formula 41PC with 450 Cummins. Oh well, hope it works out because there isn’t another boat in the Great Lakes area that I would consider.

The Formula is 11 years newer than the 41’ President that we sold and the buyer left this morning on his way to Green Bay with it.

 

[rslifkin]

Well, we are on our 3rd boat now. The first one failed sea trial and survey dramatically. All stringers and bulkheads in the engine room rotten. Engines wouldn’t turn up over 3100 RPMs.

The second boat, we had a verbal agreement with the seller and the broker texted me that they sold it to someone else.

We wanted a smaller boat and gas powered because I didn’t want to do all the maintenance. The first boat was 34’, second boat was 36’ and now we made an offer on a 1998 Formula 41PC with 450 Cummins. Oh well, hope it works out because there isn’t another boat in the Great Lakes area that I would consider.

The Formula is 11 years newer than the 41’ President that we sold and the buyer left this morning on his way to Green Bay with it.

Beyond a 20+ kt cruise and preferably gas engines, what other criteria are you looking for? Maybe one of us will stumble across something to send your way if this one doesn't work out.

 

[Comodave]

I don’t want to jinx this deal by looking just yet.

 

[rsn48]

You will love the speed and hate the fuel bills. But you can go further in a shorter amount of time, arrive before most and have more time on the anchor to relax.

You are probably convincing yourself you won't go that fast to conserve fuel and money. You'll find this plan vanishes quickly as you learn to appreciate more speed.

There is one negative that might surprise you, speed shrinks your cruising area. An example, I'll use local Vancouver reference but you'll get the spirit of what I am saying. So you plan your cruise in your sailboat or trawler, you are going from Royal Vancouver Yacht Club over to the Gulf Islands, Salt Spring Island to be specific and Fulford Harbour. In your head this big cruise will be 6 to 8 hours in the sailboat depending on winds, maybe 5 to 6 hours in a trawler, and probably 2 1/2 hours in the express/sedan cruiser. Your perception of far away changes as speed reduces hours to destination.

Going slow in an express/sedan cruiser is going 12 to 14 knots. You will have a hard time putting along a 8 knots for extended hours at a time.

 

[Comodave]

I am not convincing myself that I will go slow. We have reasons for getting a faster boat and will use that speed.

 

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
Mr. C. I like your way of thinking.