1972 GS 36: Buying a boat with flaws... Determining if boat is worth hiring surveyor.

[Blissboat]

Good sleuthing, Limulus! I think you're making a wise call by moving on. Hope Last Shot finds a good home, but not every old boat can or should become a restoration project.

[CharlieO.]

You should offer your services as a boat detective.

[Greg QS]

Good call sounds like the last guy made the mistake of buying it ant tried to pass it on to you. Potential disaster avoided. Good luck in your search.

[BluewaterN47]

Those old GBs were built like tanks! However, caveat emptor.



Good advice on checking the fuel tank tops. Take it from me because I had to replace both fuel tanks in my 1988 Grand Banks 42, a disruptive and very expensive job. The starboard side leak was stemmed from a problem at the factory where the tank was never properly fastened in place and, over 15 years, and managed to rock back and forth just enough to wear a hole in the lower outboad side. We knew the tank was leaking but we didn't discover exactly where the leak was until the tank was cut up and removed. The port tank also leaked, but the leaking there was at and near from the top, thanks to rust on top of the tank. Back in those days GB's black iron fuel tanks had flat tops, so once water leaked in from the the hole in the deck for the fill hose, the water just stayed there and rusted the black iron.



My GBs both had aluminum water tanks, and all three of the water tanks in my 42 had to be removed because chlorine in the water corroded the tanks at the bottom. I was able to have the tanks re-bottomed with new aluminum.


Be sure to have an expert check the teak decks carefully, and keep in mind that removing teak decks from an old GB takes many more hours than you can imagine. Unlike many old Taiwan boats where whole pieces of teak could be removed, the old GB teak decks were so well bedded that the teak is removed in small pieces, three or four inches at a time--there's no way to get a large strip of teak off. I watched the process on a friend's 1978 GB42, and removing the teak decking took a highly experienced marine carpenter in excess of two weeks.


Good luck,


Milt Baker, former 1988 GB41 and 1986 GB32

[MVDarlin]

Best to have someone else pour the resorstion $$$ into the vessel. Buy one that is already restored. It will be less expensive.

[BluewaterN47]

The question is whether you want to go cruising or, instead, you want to work on the boat. Both are legit pastimes, but very different from one another. Routine maintenance provides me all the working on the boat that I need. Refitting a 40- or 50-year old boat is a rabbit hole too deep for most of us.

[Andiamo2018]

DIY boat repair can be huge fun or a huge drag. If you have a time limit or hard cap on money for the repairs the stress can be high. If you enjoy fixing things and learning it can be a good way to de-stress.

I'd say for your first effort find the smallest and cheapest boat you could 'camp' on for a year. Something that allows you to do most if not all improvements while the boat is in the water is a big plus. Then you can see what you enjoy about the work and about the boat. After you have some time and experience you can better decide what you might want to do 'next time' before you are already neck deep in 'this time'.

As this is a forum to tell stories here is mine about a 'fixer upper'. A friend bought a 28ft boat with twin gas engines that more or less ran. The boat had a massive stereo that no longer worked and nothing else worked either. No water, only two outlets when on shore power, heads didn't work etc. She cleaned and cleaned and most systems came back to life with minimal expense. New hoses, new fresh water pump, some new wiring and new shore power inlet - things like that. She lived on the boat for a year and then bought a 50 + foot Hatteras tri-cabin and sold the first boat for a profit.

That story isn't the norm but it could be. Get something small and cheap first so at least you aren't stressed about losing the money if it sinks. While you are messing about on it another opportunity will come along.

[gulfstar3659]

Hello
I own a gulfstar 36 trawler mark 1 1974 with the original double 4236 perkins engines appr 5200 ours

Did a complete refit 2 years ago incl parts of the decks
-Hulls are solid , cabins walls are solid , only flybridge floor , cabin roofs part of front deck and aft deck is sandwich , had to renew about 1/4 of the flybridge deck , 1/2 of the frontdeck rest was ok , the sandwich is about 34 mm thick , uppersurface 4 mm grp than about 28 mm balsa than 2 mm grp
Fixed all with special filling foam plates wich bend easily and epoxy
Are these boats bad ? No they are sturdy build but lack of maintenance couses water coming into the balsa
Blsters ? Not one
Tanks diesel and water : are grp moulded under the flour with distance to the hull no issues at all much much better than steel wich can give you a lot of problems with older boats
Teak parts ( this is the more expensive model with a lot of teak but not on the decks) apart from the part around the boat perfect , the part around the boat near the gangway was worn not rot i fixed that too
Leaking windows? It seemed lake that but the water came from the roof on the topside of the windows fixed that too and a lot more total cost €80.000, wharf did 80 % 😢 bit she is a beauty now and there are only 4 in europe 😬
The GS you are looking at has a crack in the hull but that is not too much work to repair 4 days i think . But the structure of the hull should not be weakend
The hull is cleaned with high pressure if you do this wrong it will peal off the paint and damage the barriercoating of many boats also new ones !
But nevertheless

Your GS needs one ore two year of work in spare time and it is a moneypit i bought the boat becouse of her lines and charme and love her it is a classicer .

Succes joop

[fgarriso]

Just a word or two of advice from an old guy that has made the mistakes of buying an old boat with unknown history. DON"T DO IT!

[Comodave]

Originally Posted by BluewaterN47

Those old GBs were built like tanks! However, caveat emptor.



Good advice on checking the fuel tank tops. Take it from me because I had to replace both fuel tanks in my 1988 Grand Banks 42, a disruptive and very expensive job. The starboard side leak was stemmed from a problem at the factory where the tank was never properly fastened in place and, over 15 years, and managed to rock back and forth just enough to wear a hole in the lower outboad side. We knew the tank was leaking but we didn't discover exactly where the leak was until the tank was cut up and removed. The port tank also leaked, but the leaking there was at and near from the top, thanks to rust on top of the tank. Back in those days GB's black iron fuel tanks had flat tops, so once water leaked in from the the hole in the deck for the fill hose, the water just stayed there and rusted the black iron.



My GBs both had aluminum water tanks, and all three of the water tanks in my 42 had to be removed because chlorine in the water corroded the tanks at the bottom. I was able to have the tanks re-bottomed with new aluminum.


Be sure to have an expert check the teak decks carefully, and keep in mind that removing teak decks from an old GB takes many more hours than you can imagine. Unlike many old Taiwan boats where whole pieces of teak could be removed, the old GB teak decks were so well bedded that the teak is removed in small pieces, three or four inches at a time--there's no way to get a large strip of teak off. I watched the process on a friend's 1978 GB42, and removing the teak decking took a highly experienced marine carpenter in excess of two weeks.


Good luck,


Milt Baker, former 1988 GB41 and 1986 GB32

The boat in question wasn’t a Grand Banks it was a Gulf Star.