Looking for advice on F26

Max · Post by **Max** » Sat Aug 27, 2011 7:38 pm

Hello all,
I am looking at possibly purchasing a 1980 F26 express. The link is below. I spoke to the owner and he stated that the rudder was broken while removing it from the water. He also told me that he has many recent receipts for work that has been done to the boat including a new fuel tank and interior remodel. My question to the forum members is the price. Is it in the ballpark or out of line. I have boating experience and don't expect a new boat for that price but I Am looking for opinions from F26 owners. I am also very experienced on the mechanical/electrical side of things. Thanks for everyones input.

http://providence.craigslist.org/bar/2529020703.html

k9th · Post by **k9th** » Sat Aug 27, 2011 8:06 pm

Welcome to the forum & it is a nice looking boat. Many here have an F-26 so I'm sure you will get some good advice.

jddens · Post by **jddens** » Sat Aug 27, 2011 8:18 pm

Welcome.......Hard to say on the price without survey and sea trial.......might only needs $100's but most likely will need $1000's.......I wouldn't buy it without without seeing it float and run............John

foofer b · Post by **foofer b** » Sun Aug 28, 2011 11:05 am

It is a buyers market, and your seller seems very motivated, almost desperate. I would negotiate aggressively. Absolutely get a survey. Damage that is concealed or not readily obvious can cost your thousands or even make the boat worthless (or at least not worth fixing). Getting a sea trial should be the first step- but without a rudder it might be tough. That in itself will scare off most buyers, so selling it will be very tough. You could get her for a song.

Have you been able to climb aboard and poke around? If possible try to do so without the owner so you can take your time without distractions.

Max · Post by **Max** » Sun Aug 28, 2011 12:41 pm

foofer b wrote:It is a buyers market, and your seller seems very motivated, almost desperate. I would negotiate aggressively. Absolutely get a survey. Damage that is concealed or not readily obvious can cost your thousands or even make the boat worthless (or at least not worth fixing). Getting a sea trial should be the first step- but without a rudder it might be tough. That in itself will scare off most buyers, so selling it will be very tough. You could get her for a song.

Have you been able to climb aboard and poke around? If possible try to do so without the owner so you can take your time without distractions.

Thanks for the input. That is my plan to "get her for a song "As the rudder problem really doesn't scare me. When I talked to the owner on the phone he did seem sort of desperate to sell. The sea trial will be impossible because of the rudder situation. He did state that he had thousands in recipts from a marine repair yard over the last couple of years. I am really going to
look at those carefully. I will probably look at her next weekend and then progress from there.

Thanks

akwalker · Post by **akwalker** » Sun Aug 28, 2011 2:49 pm

Mine is an '81, and I picked it up for $5000.00. The previous owner was asking 8000.00. I offered 5 , and they accepted it. Couldn't be happier.

Nolbry · Post by **Nolbry** » Thu Sep 01, 2011 5:11 pm

Hello Max,

When I had my F26 surveyed prior to purchase, the surveyor found that the foredeck and the forward couple of feet of the sidedecks had wet cores. I negotiated a much lower price and fixed that myself by installing a new balsa core from beneath the decks, and re-fiberglassing.

I decided to strip out all of the vinyl cabin ceiling and sidewalls. It was then that I found something that the surveyor could not possibly have seen due to the vinyl coverings. The stanchion bases are anchored to "T" nuts imbedded in plywood blocks under the decks, using machine screws (the cleats are bolted through the deck and their own under-deck plywood blocks). Clearly the stanchion bases and cleats had not been properly caulked for some time, because all of the plywood blocks were rotten and all of the nuts without exception were rusted and crumbling. Moreover, nearly all of the machine screws were corroded and thus thinned down to a fraction of their original diameter. Clearly the builder had not used stainless fasteners. I had to drill out some of these machine screws.

I then replaced all of the blocks with marine grade mahogany plywood and used stainlesss crews, washers and nuts. I have installed a new ceiling throughout the cabin, making provision to be able to get at and tighten all through-deck fasteners from beneath.

I could post some photos if only I knew how to do that!

Bryan

foofer b · Post by **foofer b** » Fri Sep 02, 2011 3:33 am

Nolbry, pleazse post some pics of your work on your f26. Just post them to a photobucket account and then copy and paste the bottom most address that pops up under the photo when you hold your mouse pointer over it. (paste it right onto your reply here on the forum.

Lawman · Post by **Lawman** » Fri Sep 02, 2011 7:58 am

Max... Here's another one in Quincy Ma. not to far from Providence. Might be worth a call ??

Nolbry · Post by **Nolbry** » Fri Sep 02, 2011 9:57 am

Hi foofer b,
I don't know what a "photobucket account" is, but I assume this is something on the Web and not on my computer. Once I find out I'll try to post some pics. Can you (or anyone) give me any further guidance?
Nolbry

Scorpyon · Post by **Scorpyon** » Fri Sep 02, 2011 10:01 am

http://www.photobucket.com

follow the sign up instructions.

Nolbry · Post by **Nolbry** » Fri Sep 02, 2011 9:34 pm

Thanks. I have signed up for photobucket but it wil take me a while to search through my photo files.

Nolbry

Max · Post by **Max** » Sat Sep 03, 2011 2:10 pm

So I took a look at the F26 I posted about. Here are some of the issues. I stopped looking after about 15 min. Some of the wiring had wirenut connections. Rudder, rudder port, rudder plate, propshaft, cutlass bearing, propstrut, soft around the foward hatch and foward deck area, (looks like it was previously repaired but still soft) , soft on the underside of the flybridge, overall hull finish in very poor condition. it looks like it was bouncing off the dock for a year or two. Swim platform hanging off, interior was in fair to poor condition, and to top it off the seller told me the starter was bad. I couldn't hear it run. I suspect maybe a locked motor. All for the low price of $4500.00. He did say he was negotiable. I would say it might be worth $450.00 to $1000 in it's present condition.It may make a good parts boat for sombody looking for F26 parts but I will keep looking. Thanks for all your input.

Nolbry · Post by **Nolbry** » Sun Sep 04, 2011 7:31 pm

I am having some problems with Photobucket. I have tried several times to add titles to the photos that I want to let you see, but the titles keep disappearing. I'll be away for a few days and will try again when I return. So far, I am not finding it to be a user friendly site.
Nolbry

Nolbry · Post by **Nolbry** » Mon Sep 05, 2011 9:59 am

Here are a few photos that indicate the issues to which I referred, concerning the damaged backing blocks, corroded T-nuts, and corroded machine screws holding the stanchion bases to the deck. Also shown are the corroded bolts holding the side cleats (I was wrong in saying that there was an original backing block for these). All of these were concealed and inaccessible under the vinyl coverings. The third photo indicates the new backing blocks and stainless fasteners that I installed. The next pic shows the original standard vinyl covers. The final few indicate some of the improvements that I have made, including the new side shelves. All fasteners are now accessible from below for tightening etc.

Nolbry

Trojan Boat Forum