Sailboat Cowboys Flipping Sail Post-Sandy: The Art of Buying, Repairing and Selling Storm-Damaged Sailboats

Now take a piece of easily formed aluminum from Home Depot and attach it to the hull over the outside damaged area using self-tapping screws. I’ve used cardboard. Conform this to the hull shape the best you can, be artistic. Leave it and move to the inside where you have also cleaned the damaged area with your grinder and sterilized the wound with

We prowled the auction sites, craigslist up the east coast, then across the gulf coast, then large cities up and down the Mississippi River and Tombigbee internal waterway system, Chicago Nautical Donations, Deltaville Maritime Museum (field of Dreams), Cooper Specialty Salvage, eBay, Certified Sales and the other auction outlets. After a week we w

Add a battery charger, Shop-Vac and hand tools and you are off to a good start. Buy any specialty tools as you need them and add the cost to the project’s total expenses.

I contracted to scrap some junked and abandoned sailboats for the lead in the keels while we were there, sawed one up and sold the lead keel and netted $750 for ourselves the first day.

If a buyer is getting financing they will want a survey. This happens less than half the time, so play along. Part of the boating public still thinks highly of these frauds and some prospective buyers believe they can gain leverage from any defects found to lower the price. Remember that they are paying for this, so when they ask if you have a copy

A Westerbeke W30 diesel is based on a British Leyland 1500D and the recirculating pump is the same as for an MGB automobile for $29.95

patches of fiberglass matte to cover and fill the actual damage from the inside. You’ll soon learn the amount of mixed epoxy you can manage. Proceed slowly and you will learn, just like with the other skills you will master. The tools and materials will teach you. Right now you are forming a level foundation in the damage area for the overlying lay

Epoxy is the way to go when doing any structural repair. Within a week we had the boat ready to paint. The life-line stanchions were welded straight for sixty-five dollars at a local shop. The wooden toe-rail was spliced with Home Depot oak and stained to match. The black anti-fouling paint was applied. The Yanmar 4JHE was lifted in place with my p

You won’t need as much equipment as you are led to believe. A grinder, sander, skill-saw, jigsaw and drill will be your power tools,