Trojan Boat Forum

Good Day - I'm Ross Warren here in Vermont. For several years now i have wanted to "upgrade" to a bit larger boat. For the last 15 years I have been the proud owner of a 1976 20' Reinell Cuddy that I completely overhauled in 1994. Stripped her down to bare FG,then new stringers, fueltank, engine and outdrive...you know the story. Anyway, I now have an opportunity to purchase a 1975 F-26 with a 351 that's been here on Lake Champlain, probably since new. I've just looked at photos and have spoken to the owner; need to wait for all the snow to melt before I can actually board her and do an inspection. So, my question is: once I can get on board are there any areas of the hull/decks/floors that may be soft/punky? Are there specific things on this particular model that I need to be made aware of when inspecting? I have no idea how many hours she has on the engine either as there is no hourmemter i am told. And, since I have always owned boats with outbaords or outdrives, what can you all tell me about the powerplant and transmission on the F-26. Any help will be much appreciated as i am pretty excited about this possible purchase, but am smart enough to know that all old boats have their idiosyncrasies. Thanks...and btw, great forum here.

Hi Ross. Your right, this is a good forum. I have a 75 F26 that I'm happy to own. I just purchased last fall. My cockpit floor and engine compartment were redone before I purchased. The engine rebuilt also. I'd definitely take a sea triall before purchase but you probably won't see all problems. Mine was love at first sight so I was sort of blinded. I hear these velvet drive trannys are practically bullet proof though. You should know that the original gas tanks are galvanized and you'll probably want to replace for safety reasons. Mine has some fiberglass issues that are in another post here recently. My cockpit is noisier than the I/O's that I've owned and feel vibrations from the engine more too. I wish I could overlook my wife's faults so easily. If you get the boat I'd be happy to send you a copy of some of the info that came with mine. A lot of info can be searched out here too. Good luck

Hello Ross You have found a great forum to ask and seek info on any trojan boat problems or advice here. The members are the Pros in my book they have been there done that. You can search the previous posts for some of your answers there's a good amount of F-25 & F-26 owners listed. I'm also another new guy just saved a 1978 F-26 Hardtop for the boatyard graveyard. Hope to talk to later. pilgrim32

Fairly new Trojan owner myself. Purchased our F30 in May of 2008. Use your best mechanical knowledge or bring a buddy who is a mechanich. I have 2 351 Windsors on my boat. They where very well built tough engines. Check the compression, that will tell you a lot. Inspect the fluids etc. If you can test drive that would be the best. Listen to the tranny shift. If you can get some idea of how much the owner used the boat you can roughly calculate hours. Every 1000 hours roughly equals 50,000 miles in a car. One thing you will find out is points, cond, rotors caps, plug wires are all diferent for marine use. Car parts don't work and Marine parts are double or tripple the price.

Good Luck

Welcome aboard and looking forward to hearing your input also. It takes great people to make a great forum but I have to warn you that checking this forum two or three times a day can be habbit forming and the honey-do list can get pretty long from being neglected. A old cowboy I once knew told me that he neglected his honey-do list too long and when he fell asleep after coming in snockered one night his wife sewed him in the sheets and beat him with a frying pan. After things calmed down she cut him out of the sheets, kissed him and cooked him breakfast. From then on he added her projects to his project list and they lived happily ever after. Hell hath no furry like the rath of a woman scorned. Don't let this happen to you.

Indeed

Hey! Another F-26 from the great North Country! Ours in on Sacandaga Lake just a bit south of Champlain (are you in NY or VT?). Some things to look for are (indeed) soft areas on the foredeck, especially near the anchor chocks. These were put on with little or no caulk. Anywhere there is a mount or hardward mounted on the deck or topsides there is a potential for water intrusion into the balsa core. This is something that many of the forum members have tackled. Not a fun job, but something you can do yourself. Another area to look at are the stingers under the cabin floor and in the engine compartment. The hulls on these boats are usually "bullet-proof" since they're all fiberglass, and back then they really overdid it (which is a good thing!).

Best advice I can give you is have it surveyed by a qualified person. The report will be worth the couple of hundred bucks it will cost you, and then you'll know what kind of work needs to be done. Knowing that you can rest assured that just about everyone on this forum had "been there, done that" so there's plenty of good tips and advice to go around.

Hope there's and F-26 in your future soon.