What do you do when the world is shut down with a global pandemic and your travel plans are halted for the foreseeable future? You buy a boat! Well at least that is what we did!
Let me preface this by saying that prior to August of 2020, I had owned a boat while living on a lake prior to meeting Lynn - but Lynn was NOT a boat person (or so she thought). She wasn't afraid of boats, and we would occasionally rent a boat on Lake Norman which is near our home - but she certainly didn't grow up boating at all.
To give you a timeline - August 1st we had some good friends in town from Ohio who were interested in seeing Lake Norman "from the water", so we rented a pontoon for the day (that was Covid approved to be on the water with just our people). What a fantastic day of sunshine, playing in the water and somewhere during the day Lynn made some offhanded comment like "I could get used to this" about enjoying boating - and THAT was all I needed to hear!
Well, there are a lot of reasons not to buy a boat - but we have never been inclined to shy away from a challenge. My thought was to buy an old boat and fix it up. I mean, what could possibly go wrong? (insert snickering from anyone who has ever owned a boat). Of course the first challenge was finding a decent boat for sale. Apparently we weren't the only ones who thought this was a great time to buy a boat. Finding a reasonably priced one was next to impossible since boating was one of the only things that you could spend your time doing away from others during Covid. After scouring the internet for anyone on the eastern coast selling a used boat, I found this one for sale at a marina in Gainesville, GA.
A 2000 Crownline 248. This is a 25 foot bowrider that is the perfect size for our lake. The ad said it had recently undergone an engine rebuild. Perfect (or so I thought)! Cheap boat with a rebuilt motor (a 5.7L V8!!) for a decent price. "If it sounds too good to be true...." should have been ringing in my head - but more on that later. Bonus that our good friends just moved to Lake Lanier (in Gainesville), so we made the plan to drive down and check her out with the plan to bring her home if everything checked out. When we arrived, I would be lying if I didn't admit that I was a bit taken aback by the poor condition she was in. The photos did not show the actual condition very well.
Big burn and tear in the sun deck.
Busted dash board and a really worn steering wheel with the foam showing through.
The photos in the sun do not show it but the entire interior was greyish due to mildew. The condition of the upholstery, however, was really good for such an old boat with the exception of the sun deck.
Gelcoat faded badly with the decals peeling off.
During a test run on Lake Lanier I noticed that the steering was really tight in one direction, but the engine seemed to run well. Also none of the gauges worked except for the depth finder and tachometer. Since those 2 are the most important I was not too worried, and considering the condition of the dash I was not surprised. At this point we had a decision to make. The paperwork showed proof of the engine rebuild, so we decided to go for it. It was really cheap, after all.
Loading up and heading for home...
Homecoming for the old girl!
This is us celebrating finding our diamond in the rough...
Now let the cleanup begin!
Well it did not take long for a noise in the engine bay to rear its ugly head. Sounded like the power steering pump. I checked the fluid. Empty. It turns out the steering actuator had a leak, all the fluid leaked out, and now the power steering pump was shot. After some research and a few weeks to get the parts I replaced the actuator and the pump. I also took the opportunity to replace the steering wheel. At that point we were ready to enjoy what was left of the season.
New power steering pump:
After the DIY repairs we were back on the water. Sunset cruises. Sunny afternoons. Good friends. We were making the most of the season that was quickly coming to a close...
Well we did not get far until the engine died. Would not turn over and smoke was coming out of the engine bay. Wow. All manner of things were running through my head. None of them positive and many thoughts I don't care to put in writing. A call to Towboat US got us back to the boat ramp and we got the boat home. A once over by my mechanic (who shall remain nameless to protect the innocent) confirmed my worst fear. This engine was blown and needed a rebuild. I cannot emphasize enough how stupid I felt at that moment. I had been either gullible and lied to about the rebuild, or the mechanic that did the rebuild was not a competent mechanic. I chose to believe the latter as that made it a little less painful. This was going to cost almost as much as I paid for the boat to begin with. So much for buying a cheap boat. We now had to choose between a cheap boat that was going to become an expensive one or we just count our losses and walk away.
I had also dinged the prop on something at some point. Not surprising as it had been a long time since I owned a boat, and it was almost like learning all over again how to navigate. When my mechanic asked if I had insurance, thankfully my answer was yes although I was pretty sure a blown engine would not be covered. The mechanic suggested I take a photo of the bent prop, make a claim, and leave the rest to him. Umm, he worked his magic.
When my insurance adjuster called me it was with good news and bad news, as he put it. The good news was the boat was worth considerably more than I paid for it. The bad news was I only insured it for what I actually paid for it. The adjuster then explained to me that yes this would be covered and in most cases like this they declare the boat a total loss and give you a check. Ok, so how will this go? He also explained that since I only insured it for what I paid for it, he could only give me that amount and not declare it totaled.
"Hang on" I said. You are going to give me a check for the amount that I paid for the boat, and since it is not a total loss, I keep the boat? Yes, he confirmed. Well this is all good news! I immediately called my mechanic and set in motion the repairs.
As a result I was able to:
1) Rebuild the engine properly
2) Refurbish the prop and rebuild the internals of the outdrive
3) Replace all of the gauges
4) Send the console to a company in California that refurbishes old dashboards for classic cars, boats, etc., and received back what is basically a new console
5) Install a new sound system (the old one did not work at all)
6) Get the sun deck re-upholstered
New console with new gauges installed. That was a learning process as I did these myself, but the gauges worked after I installed them!
New sun deck. We also added a table and you can see in the pic some of the new speakers for the sound system:
After all this we still only had in the boat what we paid for it plus the power steering parts. I was ecstatic! The rebuild took a long time but we eventually got it done and were able to enjoy most of the next season.
As of this writing we are in July 2022. We are now on our 3rd season, which is our first full boating season due to all of the above. We have moved her to a dry dock marina and all is well. We recently had some cooling system issues that were just repaired. Not cheap but we are still so far from being upside down with this project that we are not concerned. We can now add that new cooling system to the mechanical upgrades. We expect to enjoy her into late fall this year before putting her up for the winter.
We christened her Bonum Ossa, which is Latin for "Good Bones".
Update 11/22/23:
Well we just put her up for the winter after our 4th season with Bonum Ossa. All of the rebuild work is performing strong. We now have 180 trouble free hours on that new motor. Closing this page out as I do not intend to do any more upgrades. We are just enjoying the adventure at this point!
Feel free to post in the comment section below. Also, I can be reached at Rocky@Rocklyns.com if you want to contact me.
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