1974 F36 Tri-cabin - my FREE boat
Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2011 9:18 pm
Here's the story about my boat...
Found an ad on craigslist, a guy giving away a 1974 Trojan 36' Tri-cabin. He bought it from the insurance company to get his hands on one of the engines. He knows the previous owner who spent about seven years and thousands restoring the boat. The beginning of September they were on the boat celebrating that it was ALL done...everything, nothing left to do! Three days later he got a call from the fire department telling him to come down to his boat..it was on fire! It was an electrical fire that started in the galley. The firemen did more damage than the fire itself. Half the galley needs to be reconstructed and all of the flooring in the salon that the fire fighters chopped up. They didn't have one of those fancy heat cameras to tell if there was any heat sources under the flooring so they hacked it all up. Met the guy about a month ago, I was the lucky guy to respond first, and met with him at the boat. It was immediately apparent that he was telling the truth. The outside of the boat was immaculate! After spending an hour with him it became apparent that he was going to have to cut away some of the aft deck and superstructure to get an engine out. He finally said, "This is way too much work and I can't be bothered. Just take it all." So instead of just a hull I have a boat that has twin 454's with 950 hours on them and brand new exhaust manifolds. Walter V-Drives, Borg Warner velvet drives, Onan genset and Wabasto diesel cabin heater...none of which were damaged. Gonna be re-wiring the boat and am not sure if I might find a wiring harness for it or just do my own. Need a swim platform as it was removed before I got the boat. All of the instrumentation on the helm is gone as well as it was directly above the fire. Long story, but wanted to share how I came across a FREE boat that is far from the first thing that comes to mind when you say free! Looking forward to help, suggestions and advice here!
Cheers,
Doug
[/img]
Found an ad on craigslist, a guy giving away a 1974 Trojan 36' Tri-cabin. He bought it from the insurance company to get his hands on one of the engines. He knows the previous owner who spent about seven years and thousands restoring the boat. The beginning of September they were on the boat celebrating that it was ALL done...everything, nothing left to do! Three days later he got a call from the fire department telling him to come down to his boat..it was on fire! It was an electrical fire that started in the galley. The firemen did more damage than the fire itself. Half the galley needs to be reconstructed and all of the flooring in the salon that the fire fighters chopped up. They didn't have one of those fancy heat cameras to tell if there was any heat sources under the flooring so they hacked it all up. Met the guy about a month ago, I was the lucky guy to respond first, and met with him at the boat. It was immediately apparent that he was telling the truth. The outside of the boat was immaculate! After spending an hour with him it became apparent that he was going to have to cut away some of the aft deck and superstructure to get an engine out. He finally said, "This is way too much work and I can't be bothered. Just take it all." So instead of just a hull I have a boat that has twin 454's with 950 hours on them and brand new exhaust manifolds. Walter V-Drives, Borg Warner velvet drives, Onan genset and Wabasto diesel cabin heater...none of which were damaged. Gonna be re-wiring the boat and am not sure if I might find a wiring harness for it or just do my own. Need a swim platform as it was removed before I got the boat. All of the instrumentation on the helm is gone as well as it was directly above the fire. Long story, but wanted to share how I came across a FREE boat that is far from the first thing that comes to mind when you say free! Looking forward to help, suggestions and advice here!
Cheers,
Doug
[/img]
