Houseboat question

[spdracr39]

Thinking of buying a 36' house boat with fiberglass hull. It is a 1981 holiday mansion and looks to be in good shape. Are there any special things to look out for in a houseboat that can be expensive to repair ? I will get a marine survey before we close the deal but what should be a deal breaker before I spend the money on a survey.

 

[soggy_feet]

Re: Houseboat question

I think I'd treat a glass houseboat the same as any glass boat.

Minor headache stuff... make sure water lines and gas lines are in good shape, make sure shore power is intact and working, in general, make sure the engine/drive maintenance has been kept up on.

I have a 1970 steel hulled Stardust Cruiser 40. My most recent drinking binge was brought on by drilling thru the hull and having a little geyser of water shoot up. I should mention that I'm still on blocks in the marina yard.... Sections of my hull have been plated over, leaving these pockets to trap water. Bilge looks dry, but under that steel is a 1" airgap... or should I say water gap...

90% of my wiring has been replaced with romex house wiring somewhere along the line, waterline pinholes have been patched with bondo, dunno the last time the gimbal bearing was greased before I got it, but the bearing all but fell apart. Shore power was hacked up (I removed it), water tank was left without a cap on it for years, full of dead bugs and crud (removed and acid washed).

I can't complain (too much), as I picked the boat up for $3700, didn't bother with a survey, and just figured I'd deal with it as I went. I wouldn't have even considered it if not for my welding abilities.

 

[Bondo]

Re: Houseboat question

Thinking of buying a 36' house boat with fiberglass hull. It is a 1981 holiday mansion and looks to be in good shape. Are there any special things to look out for in a houseboat that can be expensive to repair ? I will get a marine survey before we close the deal but what should be a deal breaker before I spend the money on a survey.

Ayuh,..... As with any boat,....

Everything is Special, 'n Everything aboard is Expensive...

Assume nothing, 'n expect the Worst...

 

[jeffnick]

Re: Houseboat question

Marine shops around here get $80 - 100/hr. Even the smallest repair can be expensive if you can't do it yourself.

 

[Bravo]

Re: Houseboat question

Double the issues. You are buying a boat, and a house. Think of all the things that can be wrong with both and you have a pretty good idea what to look for.

You hit the nail on the head with that one... I want a houseboat myself but the idea of the problems they can bring are a bit scary. I see the problems I've gone through with my current, uh.. "floating money pits", (dubbed by the lady of the house) and it makes me question my sanity, lol.

 

[cdwhit]

Re: Houseboat question

The BIG problem on the fiberglass houseboats seems to be rot. Since most of the boats STAY in the water, any wood that tends to get wet tends to stay wet and rot out. This can be a VERY expensive repair depending on the location and extent of rot. I have seen several 30-50 foot boats abandoned because the owner could not afford the disposal, and couldn't even give the things away.

Assuming the hull and deck is in good shape, you can probably repair everything else, but as mentioned, it can be costly.

Some hits I've avoided or seen others get caught with - make sure the toilet is legal for the area you are in. Many areas now require holding tanks or incinerators, but you still find boats that dump into the water (still legal in some areas with treatment, but not other areas) and we even saw some that dumped untreated into the water. THESE ARE ILLEGAL EVERYWHERE I KNOW OF IN THE US.

Another common issue that is debatable about how severe it really is is blistering of the fiberglass. Once again, since the boats seldom get to dry out water blisters tend to form under the glass. Some say you can safely ignore these, others say it's critical to grind down and repair these.

Anyplace you have a small leak on the top, you have a GREATLY increased chance of rot in the hull.

A decent survey should show up all these problems, but it's good to catch as many of these as you can yourself to save the cost of extra surveys.

 

[jeffnick]

Re: Houseboat question

Sometimes you can get a winner.
http://72land-n-sea.blogspot.com/2011/05/introduction.html

 

[cdwhit]

Re: Houseboat question

Sometimes you can get a winner.
http://72land-n-sea.blogspot.com/2011/05/introduction.html

Yep. There are a lot of boats out there with no problems or minor easy to fix problems, but it's definitely "buyer beware". We were happy with our Kingscraft 33 ft, but when we had financial problems we HAD to get rid of it. The boat was paid for, but the slip rental was killing us. Someone got a STEAL on that boat. We pretty much gave it away for what was owed on the slip and taxes. I really wish we had been able to keep it, but didn't happen.

 

[jeffnick]

Re: Houseboat question

The trailer is our answer to the slip fees. There's still a houseboat being built today on a trailer.
http://www.adventurecraft.com/
Of course then you need something to pull it with...?