Buying aluminum yacht with fiberglassed bottom?

[madman2021]

My father and I are looking at buying a custom yacht built by halter marine in 1971 called the September Song. It's a 65x20 custom aluminum yacht. My father actually use to fish off this boat as a kid with Harold halter and remembers the boat vividly so it brought back memories when we went to look at the boat today. About 13 years ago the current owner who owns a crew boat company fiberglassed the hull to just above the waterline. He tells us this was to prevent galvanic corrosion of the hull. Unfortunately when you do this the hull cannot be mic'd for thickness even from the inside of the boat so a surveyor tells us. There isn't any corrosion on the inside of this boat that we can find and the stringers and framing are all in excellent shape. He tells us that the fiberglass is 3/8's thick, 3 layers of woven roving. Is the fiberglassed bottom a common practice in aging aluminum boats? Any down side to owning a boat with a a fiberglassed bottom?

 

[Scott Danforth]

there is no such thing as "common practice" with older yachts. each yard has their own repairs, and each ship builder did things a little different from the other.

who first laid the hull?

 

[madman2021]

Halter marine laid the hull. This was halters private fishing yacht so no expense was spared and the boat was built on the commercial philosophy keep it simple. Air powered controls etc. Halters been all over in this boat. Up and down the coast, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Bahamas. So the boat is extremely well built. Our broker was telling us that halter had his yard fiberglass the hull in 1982 then removed in 1987 just before he sold the boat but he can't give us proof that it was. The broker told us this was done at their yard from what he remembers.

 

[madman2021]

Edit. The removal of the fiberglass was done in 1987 by the brokers yard.

 

[Ned L]

As I was reading your heading I was beginning to think about the same concerns. -- Wow!, .. Halter Marine sounds familiar as name from way out of the past. I remember it as a good reputation. Aluminum construction from the early 70's (of that size) should be checked out carefully. It sounds as if you are not being able to verify if the glass has been removed? I can envision someone doing it, but I've not heard of glassing a good size aluminum hull before (then you really can't tell what's happening.) I'm thinking that for a boat like this you need to consult with some real experts. Have you thought about talking with the people at Burger for their thoughts?

 

[madman2021]

Our broker says the glass was removed before the current owner bought it. But the current owner claims Harold halter never glassed the boat back in 1982. He's disagreeing with our broker. And about older aluminum boats. Around here there are lots of older custom aluminum boats. I only live about 10 minutes from trinity yachts who builds luxury aluminum and steel yachts.

 

[madman2021]

Just got the specs back on the aluminum construction. Hull is 1/2 thick aluminum with 3/16 sides and 3/16 deck, superstructure, and hatches. The top deck where the dingys are kept is 1/2 aluminum. The water tight bulk heads are 1/2. Stringers are 3/4 inch aluminum.