1996 President 43

[Dnnsmrgn]

Good evening all, I am back again.I need input and thoughts on this purchase.

43' President * Price Reduction* - boats - by owner - marine sale - craigslist

Was bought in 1996 by my in-laws they used it recreationally for 4 years before retiring in the Keys where at served as their house boat for 20 years. It has been on the hard in Marathon Florida for...

boston.craigslist.org

It has been on the hard for over two years ,being sold due to age and health reasons .Is a one owner. I know I will have to drain fuel ,change filters ,change oil and oil filters and buy new batteries just to get it running.Stated it ran when put on the hard. Any and all info and things to check and look for would be appreciated.

 

[CharlieO.]

I would be all over the engine room and lazarette looking for any sizes of corrosion and the stuffing boxes - rudders -shafts - props - fuel tanks ect. I would make sure the engines are serviceable. Check for rotten/waterlogged stringers ect. Check the condition of all the hoses. Plan on putting in new bilge pumps also.
You really need to be sure you have the funds and ambition to bring it up to be safe and reliable. Do you have a place to work on it and a slip to park it in and have you priced insurance.?
I jumped in and bought a budget trawler, and I have learned a lot. I have put more money into maintenance and repairs than what I paid for the boat in the three years we've owned it and that's not including operational cost, slip fees, winter storage, insurance. We have used it every season cruising since we bought her. We love it. Just be prepared.

Disclaimer- I am not an expert in anything.

 

[heysteve]

Without pictures of the engine room and related equipment it's hard to say much. That's where the big-ticket items live. If this was a broker listing, I'd be very suspicious. But as a by-owner it might just be a relative that doesn't know much about selling a boat.

 

[Dnnsmrgn]

Good Moning CharlieO , What you have mentioned are my main concerns and focus. I will be flying down to Key West Thursday to go over it.I have friends who live on Summerland Key and I have 4 days until my return flight to go over every nook and cranny of it. While it is still on the hard ($645 a month) i will have a new bottom job done. I also plan on changing out all seacocks and thru hulls, I know it wont be cheap but I do all my own labor except bottom paint, yard wont let me paint, they have to do it $$$$$. I have a marina located for $450 a month 3 hours from where I live in South Carolina and it is a hurricane hole in fresh water. Based on the last three insurance quotes that I DID NOT buy it should be between $600-800 a yr.My concern due to lack of actual knowledge is fuel consumtion. I have read .04 pounds of diesel per HP, 1 gallon per cylider per hour, 2- 4 gallons per hour up to 15 gallons per hour. So, to me they are all over the spectrum. I will be doing 8 - 10 knots depending on whats the most economical. I am retired and in no rush LOL.
I have a LARGE skillset,from welding for 15 yrs ,My Dad taught me how to build engines, and i have built quite a few. I have electronics degree and computer degree. I have done fiberglass work on my previous boats and painted them.
As my friends know, there aint nothing I wont tear up LOL

 

[Dnnsmrgn]

HeySteve, is not listed by broker, Son in law and daughter are trying to sell it.
Story is the Father was a Mechanic for Federal Government in the Keys and bought the boat in 96. Then he retired there and moved boat to Marathon and lived on it until he and his wife got to old and health got too bad and they couldnt get on and off the boat. Daughter and Son in law bought them a house in Southern Florida and the Daughter and Son In Law live in Boston. So, owner has been paying storage fees all this time and they finally convinced him to sell it. I also convinced them to drop price by $5k due to sitting so long, ALL systems would have to be gone thru. So wish me luck and lets hope all is true and boat is good. I am hoping since owner was a mechanic it was maintained

 

[heysteve]

HeySteve, is not listed by broker, Son in law and daughter are trying to sell it.
Story is the Father was a Mechanic for Federal Government in the Keys and bought the boat in 96. Then he retired there and moved boat to Marathon and lived on it until he and his wife got to old and health got too bad and they couldnt get on and off the boat. Daughter and Son in law bought them a house in Southern Florida and the Daughter and Son In Law live in Boston. So, owner has been paying storage fees all this time and they finally convinced him to sell it. I also convinced them to drop price by $5k due to sitting so long, ALL systems would have to be gone thru. So wish me luck and lets hope all is true and boat is good. I am hoping since owner was a mechanic it was maintained

I occasionally watch the YouTube channel "Will Fix That" and I think he's located in Key West (website). Seems very good. If you're not local, it might be worth having them do an initial assessment.

 

[TJM]

At that price and what it sounds like you are capable of doing, it is a good deal. I have the smaller 41' and my boat is great, marine plywood everywhere. All of the soft stuff can be repaired. What are the engines and genny ? 2 yrs on the hard does not concern me. How long did it sit in the water and was it used ?
maybe it just needs alot of TLC?

 

[CharlieO.]

Good Moning CharlieO , What you have mentioned are my main concerns and focus. I will be flying down to Key West Thursday to go over it.I have friends who live on Summerland Key and I have 4 days until my return flight to go over every nook and cranny of it. While it is still on the hard ($645 a month) i will have a new bottom job done. I also plan on changing out all seacocks and thru hulls, I know it wont be cheap but I do all my own labor except bottom paint, yard wont let me paint, they have to do it $$$$$. I have a marina located for $450 a month 3 hours from where I live in South Carolina and it is a hurricane hole in fresh water. Based on the last three insurance quotes that I DID NOT buy it should be between $600-800 a yr.My concern due to lack of actual knowledge is fuel consumtion. I have read .04 pounds of diesel per HP, 1 gallon per cylider per hour, 2- 4 gallons per hour up to 15 gallons per hour. So, to me they are all over the spectrum. I will be doing 8 - 10 knots depending on whats the most economical. I am retired and in no rush LOL.
I have a LARGE skillset,from welding for 15 yrs ,My Dad taught me how to build engines, and i have built quite a few. I have electronics degree and computer degree. I have done fiberglass work on my previous boats and painted them.
As my friends know, there aint nothing I wont tear up LOL

South Carolina Marina is 3 driving hours or boating hours away? What does it have for engines? I wouldn't be worried about the fuel consumption, you'll have plenty of other things to think about. I'm sure you can handle the work but I would have a contingency plan for after you put the boat in the water to address anything that comes up. I assume you are not getting a survey or sea trial. Don't worry I didn't either but I did hear the engine run before I bought it. I also didn't get to see the bottom before I purchased it. It got hauled out but I wasn't there and the yard was closed for the weekend when we drove down with the payment. Sometimes you roll the dice and make out, I feel like that is what we did.
My contingency plan was to leave it in the marina we bought it from to get more maintenance/repair done if we needed. Luckily all I needed to do after purchase (we kept it hauled out at the marina we bought it from for the winter, we bought her in November.) was replace the fuel tanks and bilge floor repair and new bilge pumps. The first trip I hired a captain to move the boat with me aboard to a cheaper marina 35 miles away so that if there were any issues I could attend to the mechanical end of things while I had a licensed captain on board and in charge. A few weeks after that that I loaded up my girlfriend and 9-year-old son and we moved it the remaining 200 miles up the Hudson and through Lake Champlain to our home marina. It was all new to us.

 

[gettaway]

"The most expensive boats you'll ever buy is a cheap one" (unknown)

Looks like a decent boat, Check the fuel tanks closely, bring an inspection camera that you can fish to the outboard side of the tanks. Also check the fresh water and holding tanks, they may be in floor below the galley, make sure they haven't corroded through at the welds. You have to rip up the flooring to get them out if they are leaking. Some of these Taiwanese boats were built with copper plumbing, if not bonded correctly they will corrode through and leak at a joint. Check the bonding wiring as well.
Also check the wiring at the breaker panel, shore power inlet, and pull a few lights and see if the connections are badly corroded.

 

[Dnnsmrgn]

Since I typed this ,this morning.I have arranged to have a marine survey minus sea trial and motors obviously. I have a quote of $1400 + paint for bottom anti-foul while it is out of the water. I will be replacing sea cocks and thru hulls. Insurance quote is $485 a year $500,000 liability.
Have determined the engines are SP275 Ford Lehmans
Drive of 3 hrs from where i live is by car , Marina is up the Cooper River in SC , go thru a set of locks at Lake Moultrie and a channel that joins Lake Marion. About a 150 miles inland. Fresh water and hurricane hole.

 

[Dnnsmrgn]

I occasionally watch the YouTube channel "Will Fix That" and I think he's located in Key West (website). Seems very good. If you're not local, it might be worth having them do an initial assessment.

 

[Dnnsmrgn]

Since I typed this ,this morning.I have arranged to have a marine survey minus sea trial and motors obviously. I have a quote of $1400 + paint for bottom anti-foul while it is out of the water. I will be replacing sea cocks and thru hulls. Insurance quote is $485 a year $500,000 liability.
Have determined the engines are SP275 Ford Lehmans
Drive of 3 hrs from where i live is by car , Marina is up the Cooper River in SC , go thru a set of locks at Lake Moultrie and a channel that joins Lake Marion. About a 150 miles inland. Fresh water and hurricane hole.

 

[mvweebles]

Here is a checklist of stuff to review on a sea trial. I know it's on the hard but the list might be helpful as you crawl through.

Check-list during Sea Trial

I developed this in the early 2000's when I was a delivery skipper and an instructor at TrawlerFest. It's a bit dated - pay attention to modern electronics (if present on the boat) as they can be very expensive to tweak if needed. Frequently...

www.trawlerforum.com

BTW - can you share where you got a liability-only quote on insurance for $485/yr?

Good luck.

Peter

 

[BruceK]

Engine hours? Turbo Ford Lehman SP275s can work quite hard, not huge blocks for output. One TF member deleted the aftercoolers, derating the power output. Lehman parts are available from American.

 

[Comodave]

I had SP225s and derated them to 180hp. However the SP275 isn’t that easy to derate like the 225 is. Check with Brian at American Diesel.

 

[Dnnsmrgn]

Here is a checklist of stuff to review on a sea trial. I know it's on the hard but the list might be helpful as you crawl through.

Check-list during Sea Trial

I developed this in the early 2000's when I was a delivery skipper and an instructor at TrawlerFest. It's a bit dated - pay attention to modern electronics (if present on the boat) as they can be very expensive to tweak if needed. Frequently...

www.trawlerforum.com

BTW - can you share where you got a liability-only quote on insurance for $485/yr?

Good luck.

 

[Dnnsmrgn]

State Farm,Alotta boats on our lake 5 large Marinas.Byt she knows whereI am gonna keep it.

 

[Dnnsmrgn]

Mr mvweebles thank for the check list ,guaranteed I will print it out and use it. The quote was for 500k liability,30k for boat and 1k deductible.

 

[Jeff F]

Have you seen the boat? I'd plan to spend a few hours poking around before calling the surveyor in.

This could be a great find. Just take things one step at a time.

Interesting that you can get up into Lake Moultrie/Marion. Sounds like maybe a nice place to visit! I have a pet project to climb all the east coast rivers to their navigable headwaters.

 

[Dnnsmrgn]

I Am sitting in airport now to fly to Marathon..I have all day tomorrow to go thru boat by myself . I will be pulling all sole flooring and all drawers and cabinets looking for water damage . I will be spending a lot of time in engine room. Checking bilge ,sump pumps,sescocks and thru hulls. And anything else I can squirrel into. Then will decide whether or not to buy it upon Certfied Surveyor going thru it again. Final sale dependent on Survey.All has been agreed upon by seller.

 

[Dnnsmrgn]

Does anyone in this group have twin SP275 Ford Lehmans that can give me an idea on fuel burn running at 8knts

 

[heysteve]

Be sure to post some pictures of the engine room! We love that kind of stuff.

 

[Jeff F]

Does anyone in this group have twin SP275 Ford Lehmans that can give me an idea on fuel burn running at 8knts

I'd suggest that 2 mpg is a reasonable guess at 8 knots. Slow down from that and mileage goes up, speed up and it goes down.

7 knots or less will be a much more economic speed, if you care about fuel burn.

 

[mvweebles]

Does anyone in this group have twin SP275 Ford Lehmans that can give me an idea on fuel burn running at 8knts

Since no one responded with direct experience, an educated estimate is that 7-1/2 kts (1.2 SL) will be the sweet spot burning around 3.5-4.0 gph. 8-kts will likely be a bit over 4.0 gph.

Good luck with the adventure.

Peter

 

[Dnnsmrgn]

I will post engine pics ...no matter how ugly it may be LOL

 

[Dnnsmrgn]

Ok everyone I am in Key West and looked at boat. False advertising for sure or Son in law just doesn't have a clue. Coast Guard docs state a 1987. And boat is in bad shape ,told him I wouldn't give but $2500.00 and still would have to think long and hard on it. Sole in forward bow cabin rotted out back to under shower in head.Aft teak deck bad leaking into aft cabin two interior walls would have to be replaced and possible sub floor under teak deck. Ever piece of rub rail and wood trim on exterior would have to be replace. Motors have not been run in at least 6 years and has steel fuel tanks 3mm thick .Tanks were high and dry but could not visually see they are wrapped in some kind of insulation but looked good.I guess LOL. I will attach some ugly pics. I will show more later gotta go for now

 

[mvweebles]

Ok everyone I am in Key West and looked at boat. False advertising for sure...boat is in bad shape/

False Internet ad for a boat??? Shocked!!! Given the cost of housing in KW and the number of kids who come for service jobs, boat has to be pretty bad for it not to be slurped-up as cheap housing.

Nice time of year to be in KW - trip won't be a total loss.

Peter

 

[Comodave]

Too bad it was in such rough shape. Well you can always have a nice trip to Key West. I have always loved the Keys.