Trojan Boat Forum

Okay so I stumbled across a 1972 F36 Tri Cabin Project that has caught my interest but was looking for a little advice before I make the leap. I currently have a 1975 F-25 that I have been very happy with but my wife and I have been very tempted to move up in size and gain dual engines.

The boat is a basket case to say the least. I went over it pretty thorough last night and here is what I can say about it.

The stringers and hull are solid for as far as I can inspect, I sounded out the stringers and found no rot, and crawled along pretty much the entire hull and found no damage, just a lot of old bottom paint to take off. Above the water lines the hull actually is in pretty good shape, dusty and in need of a light polish but still has a decent sheen to it.

The real problems are on the insides. The aft deck is completely shot and gone, rotted right out and has been removed from the boat. The cockpit deck was surprisingly solid but I think I will find issues if I dig deep enough. The interior of the boat is currently in a state of being semi gutted. The aft cabin is bare, and has a lot of wood work to be done. The bulkhead is shot along the bathroom wall, and the bulkhead seperating the aft cabin from the kitchen has some rot in in and needs ot be replaced.

The Kitchen area is intact in so far as the cupboards, sink and stove are there but nothing else is. Front v berth cabin has the cushions in it but is otherwise bare as well.

All of the fiberglass on the upper decks and walls is solid as far as I have been able to inspect.

Mechanicals are shot. This has two chrysler 280 engines and one is definitely seized up, someone pulled the head and intake and let it sit that way and water got in the engine and the pistons are rusted in place. Second engine has no carb on it and has lots of rust in the intake so I am assuming I will find the same kind of condition there. There are no cracks in the manifolds or the blocks so I would guess they could be rebuilt but I am not sure I would want to go that route if I did this. Lastly the generator under the floor is in unknown condition, pulled the spark plug and it was used but otherwise clean, and the engine rolls over, thats all I know at this point.

So All of that said, the guy wants $1500 or best offer for this boat. I am considering a best offer scenario, and spending a couple years rehabing the old girl and modernizing some. If I did do it I would be leaning towards putting in under a large shrinkwrap cover putting a door in it and working on it over the next 1 to 3 years depending on how long things take. I would be updating the living quarters to more modern themes, and the I was thinking of putting in a pair of chevy 350's out of an omc or mercruiser setup instead of the original chryslers. I am wondering if it is worth it though. My wife and I are interested in the boat, but not sold on it yet and dont know if it is really what we will want when we are done. I am thinking this project will run anywhere from 4000-10000 dollars by the time I am finished and if we do a bang up job do these boats have the resale value to return on that investment?

Any advice is appreciated.
Mike

Run as fast as you can away from this.

http://www.yachtworld.com/core/listing/ ... elected=-1

Look at what is on the market now at less than $20,000... buyers at this time can get boats for much less than the asking price.

My question is why would anyone want to take on that much work..... to do the work you listed will take a lot of your time when you could be sitting on one of the above or even your existing boat.
Getting your money back??? not in my experience, the only reason to put money into a 30+ yr old boat is to make it serviceable for one's own use IMO. Putting money in means it is likely to be purchased but not to cover the upgrades, it just allows you to get the base $$ back out.

I suggest you run away from that one......

I agree with the run statement.......I think your $$ estimate needs to be multiplied by at least 5X........I have 40K in receipts that the previous owner put into my F30 and it was floating and running when he started...........and he did most of it himself..............

RUN and take your $10,000 and buy som GM stock and in a year or two you will have $20,000 to buy a boat all fixed up and won't have to work in the cold of winter or work at all. GM is not going bankrupt nor is Ford or Chrysler. They are just trying to milk the government for whatever they can get.

Relax and have a cold beer. All is well with the USA. Greatest place on Earth

I agree strongly with all that has been said here. (including the auto makers bailout scam). I have restored several older boats and I can tell you, no, guarantee you, that you will spend more on this boat than it will ever be worth! Maybe even double!! The owner would be better selling parts off, but, I guess he needs some one to take it away. These project boats are available for free all over the place. Sorry that your bubble has to burst. Like all of us, you probably have had a dream of what could be. Also, if you like the F36 Tricabin (I love mine)go 1974 or newer. Trojan went to all fiberglass (except the cockpit) and, in 1977, eleminated the aft cockpit (Teak) and moved the engines amidships eliminating V-drives. Personally, I like the cockpit for practical reasons. ie. line handling, visability, extra aft deck space for lounging or fishing. Just my opinion.Good luck, Jim

A boat is a hole in the water surrounded by glass in which one throws money. This one sounds like the Grand Canyon.

Boats are not investments!!!

Do you want to buy a job? Probably not. A boat is not an investment, it is a hobby, an expensive hobby that is easy to fall in love with as long as it doesn't become a job. I agree with the rest of the guys. There are too many good boats for a good price that can be enjoyed. I would take the $1500. (or best offer) and put a down payment on something good and enjoy what the payments are going to instead of watching the payments go to something stressful. I'd rather update a Gps than replace fuel tanks in something I can't even use.... I'm sure everybody here would jump at the chance to help you find a GOOD Trojan at a good price.

if you love it go for it,,, dont be discouraged if its going to be a hobby and you love the boat, sometimes its not about money,,,,just a thought

Still considering her, to be honest I love buying jobs lol. Never bought a boat that didnt take at least a year to get into floating condition. I like taking old girls that someone forgot to love and making em beautiful again. Just never tackled one of this size before. That coupled with my insecurities when it comes to inboards has had me debating this one deeply. I understand the engines, but I dont know much about the trans etc.

What are the disadvantages to the vdrive units, and what kinds of difficulties would I run into if I wanted to oust the chrysler big blocks for 350s per say.

Mikesboatsupply wrote:Still considering her, to be honest I love buying jobs lol. Never bought a boat that didnt take at least a year to get into floating condition. I like taking old girls that someone forgot to love and making em beautiful again. Just never tackled one of this size before. That coupled with my insecurities when it comes to inboards has had me debating this one deeply. I understand the engines, but I dont know much about the trans etc.

What are the disadvantages to the vdrive units, and what kinds of difficulties would I run into if I wanted to oust the chrysler big blocks for 350s per say.

Now you have me worried.... look at this one:
http://www.yachtworld.com/boats/1977/Tr ... ted-States
you could probably get her for 15/16K. And there are others with a lower price too.
Do you think you can make that $1,500 one look like this one for ONLY another 13K? I doubt it...

I think you are being blinded by the $1500 price... will you put 13K more into her? and that is without charging anything for your time!

I think you have grossly understimated the time and money that $1,500 boat needs to get it running.
Of course if you really are just looking for a project rather than something to go boating in then go for it why spend more than $1500 which is easy to walk away from later.

To be honest I might be able to. Going back this weekend to look into her further. I have a fully outfitted marine repair business so I do have a few tricks up my sleeve on some of the repairs. I really need to determine the condition of the hull for sure. The real cost on this appears to be in the engines at this point and I want to verify that before I move ahead. At this point I wont pay 1500 for the boat. You are correct in that it is not worth it. I am in no rush to put her in the water as I have a f25 that I am using at this time.

I derrive a lot of joy from the work process, at times I think I have more fun resurecting them than I do using them. I do understand your concerns on the amt going in to it but after thinking this over for a while we feel we would not be selling the boat any time in the near future. My experience with buying a good used boat is that you pay more, get to use it sooner, and get to fix it just as much over time as you do buying a project and completely rehabing it before you put it into use.

I am probably going to get in over my head if I go with this one, but that just means that I will be spending a lot of time doing research and learning some new skills. The electrical does not bother me at all, that is something I do daily as part of repairs at our shop. The hull I dont want to have to get into even though I could do it. I am going to spend some serious time inspecting that this weekend. As for the engines, I am far from an expert on chrysler, but that is not a huge problem I have solid experience and training on gm and ford (omc, mercruiser, volvo etc). I am going to do a good inspection of the engines this weekend, I have assumed htey are toast and guess that my inspection will just reinforce that fact.

Where I know I will run into trouble will be the v-drives. I know absolutely nothing about them. The theory of how they function is about the extent of my knowledge. I dont know what I will have to do to do an engine swap etc, but I figure I can learn that in time.

Dont worry I am going to spend at least a month deciding what direction to go here and sounding the whole thing out. Don't Feel I am making light of your concerns, I appreciate them deeply, and right now am split between my desire to save her, and the points you and other users have made. Any advice you have for things to look at when I am in her would be helpful, maybe you can save me yet lol. I will probably grab some pics so that you will have even more reasons to be horified by what is probably another one of my lunatic ideas

if you love it go for it,,, dont be discouraged if its going to be a hobby and you love the boat, sometimes its not about money,,,,just a thought