bertram31.com

It may not be pretty...


it may not be diesel...



It may not be that clean, waxed or polished...




it may not be backing down on a fish...





it may not be running on those inner strakes at a 30 knot cruise...






But after a several year hiatus brought to yours truly, by Miss Sandy...


The Boat IS FINALLY running and back in the water again.




Let the season begin.

Congrats!! Looks great in the water!

She looks pretty great to me. Congrats. Enjoy

More pictures please

Carl, the express cruiser is a favorite of mine as it was the 1st 31 I ever went to sea on. No other 31 is as "user friendly" as your model, especially for single-handling.

She's a flawless gem in my eyes!
Enjoy!
Stephan

Carl

Long time coming. She looks good. Now enjoy her.

Great news Carl!

Thanks guys...appreciate the kind words.

I made sure to take picture from a good distance as boat really needs alot of TLC to get back in shape.
But she is mechanically sound, seaworthy and finally wet in the right spot.

Felt good to take a howdy cruise around the harbor last night with the family...

Yay!!!! Congrats dude!!!!!

Carl,
The boat looks great, What year is she?. I sold my 1961 express 2 years ago after 37 years of stewardship. She is now in the Vigin Islands and the new owner repowered her with diesels. As far as I am concerned the Express is the easiest 31 model to handle by yourself or having a gang of 15 people on board. Miss being on the water but the knee is still keeping me land locked. I still have the engine box covers that have been re-cored with foam board, I gave the hardware hinges to Kevin(Marathon) but the covers are in great shape if you need them, I am using them as shelves in my storage unit right now.
Keep plugging away at the projects, however they never seem to go away.
Pete Fallon

Carl:

Congratulations getting her back on the wet and not the hard! Miss Sandy can kiss my hairy arse - -she came greeting the beach house way too intimately. I'm glad you said piss off to her as well.

Tom

looking great happy day for sure
interestingly enough I bought my boat with my insurance check from sandy
1 year to the day of closing on my house she came and washed out all my new everything on my first floor
I said you cant take the house fishing so i went shopping and spent every nickel on the boat

1962 31 wrote:looking great happy day for sure
interestingly enough I bought my boat with my insurance check from sandy
1 year to the day of closing on my house she came and washed out all my new everything on my first floor
I said you cant take the house fishing so i went shopping and spent every nickel on the boat

Try that now that you are married. We would be watching you being buried with the boat.

Nice, Carl ! Nice name too ! Enjoy !

Pete Fallon wrote:Carl,
The boat looks great, What year is she?. I sold my 1961 express 2 years ago after 37 years of stewardship. She is now in the Vigin Islands and the new owner repowered her with diesels. As far as I am concerned the Express is the easiest 31 model to handle by yourself or having a gang of 15 people on board. Miss being on the water but the knee is still keeping me land locked. I still have the engine box covers that have been re-cored with foam board, I gave the hardware hinges to Kevin(Marathon) but the covers are in great shape if you need them, I am using them as shelves in my storage unit right now.
Keep plugging away at the projects, however they never seem to go away.
Pete Fallon

Pete- shes a 1962.
I agree, the Express is a great boat to run alone...alone has accounted for a good deal of her use by me and her prior steward. Trawling does seem to keep many people away...
And for groups...yup it shines there too...if you want to be included in the conversations anyway. Or if you gotta go grab your friends who decided to go kayaking out far on a day with thunderstorms in the forecast...then a severe weather alert with fast approaching storms comes across...not too many other boats can fit 5 kayaks in the cockpit.

4 years away from the water for me...I did start missing it, especially as I got into yacht club last year, now back around people fishing again. This year the girls really missed and just started working on the washing and waxing to get it ready, so I begrudgingly went along and did the mechanicals and shoved her in. Kinda glad as it would not have gone in this year again without their push...but now its projects that gotta be done, projects that should be done and the projects I'd like to do, and of course the ones that remain on the wish list.

All in all, it still runs well, shows ok from a distance...went fishing Sunday, 14 fluke, a couple were keepers, all went back in...felt good to get out and wet the lines....catch something besides a cold.
But that run sprung leaks on both intake valley pans...so today we go change' em.

Cored engine box covers? Is that what they were? Mine are just a heavy layer of glass. They are in ok shape, appreciate the offer though.

Hello Carl, one way or the other, back on the water is what matters. I have the much smaller brother, the 25 express, and it too, at this point looks pretty good from 100 feet............The express just works for me as well. Good headroom inside for me at just over 6 foot, but very very limited space. I have looked for interior shots of the 31 express, but have found none so far. Not sure of the hassle to post pictures, so if you have any to email, I would sure like to get a feel for the inside space on the 31 express in case one ever becomes available on the west coast. I am missfit45@gmail.com

Enjoy,..... Steve

I will get you some pictures.
If your familiar with the FBC, the interiors are the same as the Express. The Express just puts the helm at the starboard bulkhead with windshield.
31 Bertram is a tight cabin, nobody buys'em for the accommodations. That said, it works.

NICE !!

Carl,
They were cored with some kind of cardboard or homasote material that held water. I opened them up and removed the old wet coring and installed PVC foam core cell and re-glassed and epoxied the bottoms and had them shot with Awlgrip and non skid.They are almost perfect condition, if you or anyone else with an old express wants them let me know. The old chrome brass hinges are with Kevin Megan in Marathon Fl if he hasn't thrown them away.
Pete Fallon