Last month I sold my 26 CC and have decided that I am going to buy a pocket sportfisher. I think it fit my needs the best, and there are some nice deals to be had.
Clearly a deal is relative and not the same for every person. Some want less work and are willing to spend more to get it. Others want to save the money and do the work themselves. While I feel i am very handy, I want to be in the middle of these two and buy something close to ready to rock, but not overpay.
By this I mean the boats I have been looking at are older boats with solid hulls, primarily newer Cummins power, and pretty solid mechanicals all the way around. I don’t mind doing a little work on the cosmetics or even a little major work, but some things I have just never experienced and don’t really know where to start.
So I need help…
The Boats…one is a 34 Hatteras in Florida with 330 Cummins that have only start up time on them. The other is a 35 Bertram with 2006 300 Cummins with 500hrs on them in SC. The Hatteras is about $5k more.
Hatteras- Boat systems are solid and the boat is in the process of being redone properly. Most of the stuff I am not scared of but this boat has been prepped for new paint and that is a must. Painting a sportfish like this scares me. I figure minimum 5-6 grand to get someone to roll and tip it. Spray can get retarded expensive. I would try it myself on something smaller, but doing my first paint job on a boat like this is iffy at best.
Other than the paint, this boat is not that far off from being fully restored. I figure another 3 grand would get it finished out, and have a really nice boat.
Bertram- This boat also has pretty solid mechanical systems. It is not in need of paint nearly as bad and could go for 5 years with just some touch up. Interior is not in the process of redo, but I can do the needed things for 8 grand or so.
This boat would be the no doubter if it weren’t for the deck. The deck has a few soft spots and needs to be replaced. I have price
You need to look at the 32 Albemarle that Carla Dee has for sale. It is on the C dock at Toler’s and is priced right. He is on this site so you should have no trouble finding him.
I used to own a 35’ Bertram, very solid build great all around Bote. I had 3116 Cats 350 hp 26 Knot cruise. Now while a great bote she was not the best riding Bote in her class, lots of room for cruising etc so very versatile, hopefully the Gen Set and AC units has been relocated from the Cockpit to the engine room because that was a real problem.
Have you looked at the Downeast/ Lobster Botes?. Fantastic ride, slow but economical, that will be my choice if I ever get back in to the Big Botes again.
Thanks for the response dinnertime. This boat cruises right at 22knots, so a little on the slow side compared to yours, but not too bad. The boat has a gen, but it isn’t in the boat right now. I was going to move it to the engine room. I always heard these boats were wave smashers, just rolled a good bit on the drift due to the deadrise. Lobster boats are cool, but a little too hard core.
Any idea how bad it would be to change the cockpit deck sole.
I put gen set center fwd of engines where h20 tank was and put h20 rear transom where gen was, also took both A/C unit and put fwd of stb engine, never rode on 34, 35 Hat, good looking bote.
As far as replacing Cockpit Sole thats not a big deal, and provides an excellent opportunity to clean up old wiring and plumbing issues.
Also very important to realize that you will be in a Fly Bridge Bote, so depending on who your crew is and what you enjoy bout fishing realize you will be relegated to the bridge or the cockpit, I am in a Regulator CC because I like full control of both places, it takes Capt and a mate to run a Fly bridge bote, the rest of the crew are fish crankers, so it can be frusturating if you don’t have that team right when the bite goes off.
Don’t be scared about rolling and tipping the Hatteras, with todays paints they make it a lot easier to get a top notch job, the prep work is 90% of the work involved and sounds like a lot of that is done allready. That definitly sounds like a lot less work then replacing the entire deck on the Bertram.
Russ B. Formerly known here as “Top2Bottom1” www.joinrfa.org
God is great, Beer is good, People are crazy
“Never argue with an idiot…he will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.”
Oh my…heck of a deal…
No kidding…I have watched the price on this boat drop…and drop…and drop. Something tells me this isn’t the bottom, either.
Someone is going to get a helluva deal. I wish I was going to be able to get into another boat after mine is sold…
“Never argue with an idiot…he will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.”
That is a nice boat, and I have seen it a few places, but a little more moolah than what I’m looking to put down.
With the rolling and tipping, once the prep work is done, on a scale of 1-10 how hard is it to get a good finish? I know you have to go slow and all, but I’m scared of messing it up and having to start all over again.
I sprayed mine with an HVLP and Urithane 2 part paint about 10 coats had no problem! Had to scaffold and walk board to do topside. I was in construction so I had all the resorces, but you can rent all u need
you might start doing a sheet on masonite befor you start boat It is easy to wet sand out any runs. Wet down first so you can see any imperfection befor you paint
