Long introduction, with apologies!

[AlexDz]

Below is the response I wrote to a fellow on Sailnet, who was asking if it would be a good idea to bid on the Cape Dory 28 that was on eBay recently. I bought that boat, and I'd planned to introduce myself here at some point, but I guess this is as good an introduction as any. I look forward to any help and advice and encouragement (lots of that please!) I can get here, and hopefully to meeting some of you out on the water in the not too distant future.

This boat is in the Registry here, Emerald, hull #200, so if anybody knows anything about her history I'd love to hear. Those two details are what pushed me over the edge into bidding. Green is my favorite color, and I love nice round numbers. Had either detail been different, someone else may have been writing this note!

The "original question," by the way, was "Is it too good to be true?"

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I can answer the original question!

Quote:
Originally Posted by strandedsooner
...I'm looking to buy a boat before next season and ran across this listing on ebay for a 70's model Cape Dory 28...
Eric

And the answer is yes, it just might be (too good to be true). I bought that boat, sight-unseen. I placed what I thought was a low-ball bid (for a CD28 in good shape) and "accidentally" won the thing! Got out to see it last weekend, and after a good look around my impression can be summed up as: Not as good as I'd hoped, but not as bad as I'd feared.

The boat has been on the hard at least a year (nobody at the marina seems to remember, so I've heard a few different stories). There's a high-water mark inside a few inches above the floor, and I found everything under the settees still very wet, and a thin layer of mud. I also found the prior owner's maintenance and sailing logs, which each have exactly one page completed, all the way back in April 2005, when they bought the boat. I get the impression the boat hasn't been used much, if at all, since then. The varnish in particular has clearly not been touched in years, so any other maintenance is doubtful.

I had it surveyed this week, and the surveyor's initial reaction was "well, it's almost certainly worth the $4600." That was heartening, especially considering he assumed I'd be paying to have all of the needed work done, which I won't. The hull is in very good shape (dry), and the deck is in good shape, with just a couple of soft-ish spots. The cockpit floor is very wet, and will need recoring, although it feels fine underfoot.

He believes the hull-deck joint is leaking, which is a condition I hadn't seen to be a problem in the research I've done, but the starboard teak rub strake has all it's teak plugs removed, so obviously some work was being done there.

The engine does look nasty where the thermostat goes (as seen in pics), but he didn't seem too concerned about that, so maybe it's not as bad as I thought. He did note that the hoses needed replacing, but that's no surprise. Either way, when I bid I assumed a new (or rebuilt more likely) engine would be a strong possibility.

The mainsail looks brand spanking new. I really don't think it was used much, or possibly at all, since purchase. The genny is supposed to be of the same vintage, so I have high hopes for that as well, although it was too windy for me to try to unfurl it the day I was there. Even the old, original, sails don't look bad--well used but not bad at all, good spares.

There's a lot of new-ish running rigging on board, although much like the winches, I believe most of it is TOO BIG! The mainsheet looks brand new, but it's clearly larger than what belongs in that gear, and won't run freely at all. In fact, I'll have to pull it out of the cam-cleat to use it at all for the time being. So, good lines, which I'll end up having to replace anyway.

Oh, and as I suspected due to the carefully selected pictures, there's no marine head, just a PortaPotti. So she'll need a new complete and legal (my first!) head installation. I've never dealt with a PortaPotti, and I don't want to.

My first order of business is to get her across the Bay back to my (western) side. I've asked the marina to get the engine back into running (if indeed possible!) condition, and asked for a rigger to inspect and tune the rig. Even though she's going back on the hard immediately, I don't trust the condition of the engine, so would like to have some faith in the rig.

My apologies for the long post, but I'm hoping to get some good advice here over the next few months on what to do with what and how. I've been lurking here for some time now, so it's good to finally come out of the closet. This boat was on my short list of candidates to buy and go places on when my youngest graduates high school in a couple of years. I'd budgeted much more to begin with, but the market crash sort of changed that. In all the research I've done I've sort of concluded that I could spend $20K on an old boat, and end up needing another $15-20K to get her ready; or I could spend $5K on a boat, and still end up needing the same $15-20 to get to the same place. Am I delusional? Well, I bought this one, didn't I?

I guess I'm going to be doing more work that I'd hope--which I don't really mind except for the time issue. The exact issue which caused me to give up my last boat 8 years ago! Oh well.

[Dixon Hemphill]

I too bought a CD28 not on Ebay but thru a classified in the Washingto Post several years ago. Best move I've ever made.

Call me at 703 250 9277 and I'll answer most of the questions you asked in the CDSOA website.

Dixon Hemphill

[mgphl52]

Alex,

Welcome aboard and Congrats!!! With a solid hull, some time and, of course, patience, you will have a great sailing boat!

-michael

[Queen Elvis]

For what it's worth, I sent a message to the seller of this boat, asking if the original club-footed boom was included in the auction, and his reply was:

"i am not a sailer and realy not familiar with the equipment i wrote the listing on what the donor had told me about it also i do know that the boat does come with the original main and jib sail"

I have the same boat, also with a roller furling, and that's probably what you'll want to sail. But mine came with the original self-tending boom, and I might get a sail for it one day and try it out. It supposedly points higher with it than a roller furling, and self-tending - wow, that would be nice.

And I removed my head and stinky holding tank in, and installed a porta-potti, and it was the best 2 hours work I ever did. I'm looking at building a composting head, but who knows if the job will ever make it to the top of the list when I could just go sailing!

I bet at the end of the day, you're going to do fine with the price you paid. I was a little envious when I saw how much it went for!

Enjoy your boat. I know you will.

Malcolm

[bgephart]

If you have not already found them, there are several posts in the archive regarding this boat. If you just put "Crisfield" in the Search box, you will see some posts by Craig Scott detailing some of his experiences with Emerald. Good luck with you boat.

[AlexDz]

Dixon, thanks for your number, I'll definitely try to call you this week, I'd love to hear about your experience.

Malcolm (who's Michael? ), I also emailed the guy to ask about the jib boom and got the same response. Interestingly, today I was going through all the sail bags I'd taken off the boat, and found what must be the original jib. It has short battens--which I've never seen on a jib, but which I guess makes sense in this case. It's also a Vector sail, just like the old main. It appears to be in really good condition, as though it was never used much. I got the impression the original owner must've been a racer, as I found a 110, a 120, and a 130--also in really good condition although the 110 at least is signed and dated 1977.

I'm curious to know what the consensus is as far as loose vs. jib boom. Here on the Chesapeake with all the light air you really need the genny, but what about the rest of the world? I mostly sail single-handed, so self-tending sounds really attractive.

The only sails looking really worn out are the old mainsail and an old genoa. I guess I'll see if Bacon's can sell the set of three headsails, and I'll keep the old main as a spare. The original jib (if that's what it is) I'll keep in case I ever get the chance to try the jib boom. The hardware for it is still on the boat, although the boom itself would probably be too expensive to buy just to try it. The worn out genoa I thought should go in the trash, but I haven't been able to get it there. I've never thrown a sail away before!

As for the head, I understand not wanting to deal with the holding system aromas. Don't you have to stay pretty close to marinas with a Potti though? I chartered a Sabre 30 a few months ago and between my son and a couple of buddies we filled that tank the third day. We were not legal for that last day I'm sorry to say.

[AlexDz]

If you have not already found them, there are several posts in the archive regarding this boat. If you just put "Crisfield" in the Search box, you will see some posts by Craig Scott detailing some of his experiences with Emerald. Good luck with you boat.

Good idea, and no I hadn't thought to do it, so thank you. Seems he did a lot of work. The interior woodwork looks great, I was surprised to see that he'd done that much work to it, since it all looks "factory" to me.

As far as the deck joint leaks, I'm afraid he wasn't entirely successful. It's definitely still leaking, although going by his description, not nearly as bad as he had. Is this a problem on these boats? I saw a couple of other people had leaks in their CD28, but it didn't seem like many. Have those who had the leaks found satisfactory solutions?

[Queen Elvis]

Mine doesn't leak at all. (Fortunately.)