Thanks Dave--I'll be in the PNW in a couple of weeks--assuming all goes well--both with the boat--and my health.
The boat is in Pensacola as of last night. I averaged 20 miles a gallon going to pick up the boat (Excursion 7.3 diesel, towing the trailer). Comming back I averaged 10 miles a gallon driving at about 60 mph. The boat towed much easier than the Tom Cat (weight).
I will be doing assesment on the deck--and fuel tank today and probably start repairs later today. The cockpit deck outer layer of fiberglass is cracked in a large craze pattern where a crew member jumped from the gunnel to the cockpit. This was not repaired and there was water intrusion into the core of the cockpit. There is some question about the plastic fuel tank in my mind, and I may cut out the entire cockpit deck and when we put it back together make it easy to replace the tank if ever necessary.
The general condition of the boat is much as the surveyor described. I'lll do a post about how one should prep a boat for sale. None of the surveyor's suggestions were repaired. The hull is basically in excellent conditon--it needs a good compound and wax job. The interior is as new--no soiling of the upholustery etc. However the previous owner did some strange things with the electrical and various installations (lack of knowlege), which have to be changed and corrected.
The assessment of "rode hard and put away wet" certainly apply--the outboard apparently was left down in the water, no galvanic isolator, power plugged in and there is some pitting of the lower leg of the Honda (125 hours on the meter)--otherwise the engine is fine. It had been winterized.
I'll do a series of posts with photos as I do improvements and fix the items.
Bob Austin