Looking at a 31 any thoughts

[scenarioL113]

This 31 is in South Jersey and I am thinking about making an offer and kind of trying to get an idea what this is worth as she sits.

The current owner has had her since the 1980's and repowered in 1990 with Cummins CPL970. Engines have upgraded after coolers but do show their age appearance wise . She has been out of the water for a number of years but owners maintains that they get turned often. The front windshield has been professionally glassed in. The struts and shaft tubes have been upgraded as well (you can see in video). The front deck and bridge seem to have been sanded down to the glass. I guess when they did windshield and they also added some length to the bridge where it hangs over the cockpit???

The hull itself is smooth and in very good condition as far as I can tell (except for the dirt and mold)
Owner states that engines and tramsmissions are good (zf220a with 1:1.25 ratio) and in good running condition (so base any advice on that)

The wiring is stripped as well as cockpit deck and interior deck are not with the boat and in need of new.

ALL running gear is there though. 1-1/2 shafts and 2 sets of props (one set new in box) Rudders and tiller arm is there as well. All the railing and and trim is there also, it was just removed when they were doing the renovation that they never finished

I did ask his permission to video the boat to discuss since I do not live near him.

This is a ton of work and that is if the engines are good to go.

Here are TWO videos. They are not great quality but you should get the picture.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWth8c9Oe0s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SeIZ19EqZU

[mike ohlstein]

It's going to cost more to restore than it would cost to buy a finished boat. Tell him you'll take it off his hands if he pays to have it delivered to you.....

Seriously.

[Tony Meola]

Frank

After seeing the pictures, I have to agree with Mike. Who ever was doing the work did them selves no favors. Looks like it was just ripped apart with no thought on how they were going to proceed.

I would walk from this one. Unless the engines are in better shape then they look then offer him 5,000 and sell the engines for 10,000 but then you have to get rid of the hull. You could find a good running gasser, that is fishable and in decent cosmetic shape. You could repower with diesels without taking on such a big project and be ahead of the game. Then you could slowly take on the cosmetic piece a section at a time.

I would have to say after seeing it the starting cost is $100,000. You could be in to a repowered clean boat for $70,000.

[Tommy]

What Mike and Tony said......

[neil]

What tommy said

[Carl]

"Looking at a 31 any thoughts"


keep looking



If mounting the "new motors" on the old original wood stringers meant for gas motors is indicative of the "professional" quality work...buy knowing everything done was most likely done at that level. To me, that means to rip it all out and start over. Luckily just about everything is already ripped apart.
As you are asking, I get the feeling your not quite up to speed on Boat Restoration Projects, what each of the many projects the owner started involves. If you are in any way thinking you can just start putting stuff together again, wire it up, hook up shafts and be ready for the 2021 Spring Bass Season you are way off base. If your thinking most of the stuff is already there, just a few bucks to bring it together, again your way off base. My gut says you can buy a good clean running boat for less then it will cost to get that one finished.


Want a total refit project and boat is priced accordingly...


Want a boat you can use and enjoy, buy a good running boat gas or diesel.

[coolair]

I would have to agree with everyone. That's going to take a boat load of money and time. the only "advantage" if you want to call it that, is - the boat would be exactly how you want it.

[ktm_2000]

looks rough, I'm not sure I would trust the statements about how long it was sitting based upon the look of the turbo.

What was the gash in the bottom from? did it go aground hard and rip out the prop support?

this part is in jest.... good candidate if you wanted to convert a B31 to outboards a lot of the ripping out has already been done

[cariedl]

Look for another one. Woof.

[SaltH2OHokie]

I'll go devil's advocate: Do you want a big project? I did, and bought one accordingly. Though in my case not much was missing/removed except the gas motors, but no sense in paying extra for a running boat if you're not planning to continue running it. And in my prior experience, selling used marine gassers is not terribly profitable (to counter the idea of buying a cheaper running gasser). Could you get it cheap cheap?

[CamB25]

2 words: outboard conversion!

[scenarioL113]

Thank you for the opinions guys. I dont know if I will make an offer or not. I am in the market for a 31 and the markets seems to be all over the place. Lots of 31's with asking prices FAR NORTH of $100 grand...FAR.
I am def NOT in "that" market (LOL). Timing (for me) was not right on Vinces boat (MY LOSS)

I been searching this forum on some of the modifications and wow very costly. Like glassing in the front windhield, wow that is costly. I am SURE it is a bear of a job but either way. That was def one positive on this particular hull I was looking at and the modified bridge (widened) is a pretty useful modification. Although the videos do not do it justice the bridge, the forward decks and topsides are not terribly far off to finish them up and paint.

My prob with this vessel is the engines have been sitting for a few years on the hard. Even if they are turned often (like the owner says) nothing good comes of diesel engines sitting from lack of use. The injector pumps def dont like to have stagnant fuel sitting in them.

CPL970 is not Cummins best either. Although these have upgraded aftercoolers (which is a homerun) they still have 9mm heads and injectors which are a weak point when they were new and these are 30yrs old. They do not tolerate overheating or overpropping very well.

I can do pretty much everything rebuild engines, fabricate and weld, wiring and generally troubleshoot but fiberglass work is not one of my better traits BUT this has a lot of it done.

I was kind of hoping a member here had CPL970's and was gonna tell me they have had nothing but good luck with them but that has not been the case...

I have 4BTs in my B28 now and about 4 yrs ago I had an exhaust valve in the rear cylinder basically disintegrate. It took the block and head with it. That was a 9MM HEAD. I put together another engine and it has the newer 7mm head and injectors.
My other engine which I bought as a rebuildable core had already had an upgraded head with the 7mm injectors.

My point is that those 9MM heads were discontinued for a reason. Both my CPL741 (4BTs) are circa 1988 engines.

On a sour note, I was out with family today on my B28 and had my steering stop responding in the hard to port position. I limped to a safe area to drop the anchor and realized the hydraulic cylinder mounting bracket tore right out of the wood mounting shelf. I bolted it into the rudder shelf 20yrs ago and never had an issue. Luckily we were only on a joy ride. I layed it back in place and wrapped it in some old boat wiring I had in the bottom of a drawer. Tied a few half hitched and continued another 25 miles on our trip touring Fire Island and south bay....

Anyway....THANKS...

Frank V

[John F.]

If you can fabricate, weld,rewire, etc., you can fiberglass. It's not that hard, and you can grind it out if you screw it up and start again. I ask here how many layers of whatever I need for a particular project, look around Capt Patrick's tips page, or research old posts and see what Capt Patrick or Raybo or somebody else recommended.

That said, keep looking unless you have a lot of time and can get that boat super cheap. I wouldn't pay more than $10K. You're buying a hull and two cores. I'd wait even then. About every 6 months a decent runner with Cummins comes up for $40K or so. Get one of those and run it and improve it as you go along. Of course if you can afford it get a redone boat. I've never had the money for that

John

And Vince's B31 struck me as a really good deal, and it still took Vince awhile to sell. Be patient, the right boat is out there

[Charlie J]

frank
now that ive seen the pictures i have to agree with all of the above

[bob lico]

disregard the 970cpl cummins a and think no engines come with boat ,so total value about $5000.00 . you will be starting from scratch and will need time and money and quite a bit of talent in f/g, boat building ,wiring ,fabrication with coosa board ,PVC board and making templates for tempered glass installation.engine installation with knowledge of exhaust and proper raw water intake for engines.you will need knowledge of hydralics for complete steering system and last but not least the ability to prepare and paint the boat.

[Dug]

I’m with Mike. Run.