Pete Chiano
02-16-2011, 11:59 PM
I have been offered this boat for free, if I remove it from the backyard it's occupied for 5 years. I am fairly certain I can negotiate to keep her where she is for a period of time, which would be required, so that hull repairs could be carried out before attempting to move her. I've never seen this model before, with a big cockpit with a small deckhouse in the center, with double doors and steps leading to an aft cabin with windows on 3 sides. A great layout, but she is ROUGH. If she is savable at all, it's because the aft deck has had the canvas enclosure in place all these years (mostly). That said, the fordeck has been glassed long ago and is showing signs of rot all over. The windshield is also rough as is the entire front window section on the house. A good part of the interior has been removed...I think she was a liveaboard for many years, and the idea was to make her into a studio apartment. There is a cleverly designed island double bed in place of what shows as twin single bunks P & S in the original ad reprint I have. Again, IF she is saveable, maybe the way to go is to remove the remaining interior, and take advantage of an empty hull and go for a full-on epoxy bottom. The absence of an interior during this project I would think would make a hard job a bit easier, and I would expect she would need new floor timbers. Another saving grace (I think) is that she has twin 353 Detroit Diesels, and the hours meters show just over 400 hours. The owners says they started the motors every year or so, but I have not tested and aspect of the machinery yet. With the exception of the missing dinette and home depot kitchen unit (!!!) she seems to be all there, including all chrome clamshell vents, hardware, etc. The teak deck in the cockpit seem serviceable as well. Another concern is that she was inadequately blocked, and the part of the keel just aft of the stem now has a slight (?) curve, but the rest of the keel looks OK, but some of the side planking is pulling away from the stem and some of the battens. I would want to strip all the bottom planking off anyway, and expect to replace lots of frame. Past boats include a 40' Richardson FCFB, 1950, an Owens 32' FB Cruiser, 1967 (?), and a 54' Chris Craft Conqueror, 1956. She may be a lost cause but it makes me sad that such a lady would have to be parted out and turned into compost. If this has to be done I can take the engines, hardware and whatever I want if I get rid of the boat. I would then look to find a similar vintage Chris that could benefit from this harvest.