such unwise idea, even a super condition boat is a pit of money, and usually not wrth any invest, but this is not a boat anymore and even free it is not a gift. In fact, if you picked it up for free you would still have made a very big gift to the "owner". Drop this asap, it belongs to scrap, at least did not lost much yet.
nice boat!!!! don't listen to the negative people.. you can do this! 4 years ago i also bought a catamaran everybody said was garbage. now they all wish they owned her. the best part is that by the time you finish her you will be one with that boat. you will know every square inch of her. keep going and don't give up. but be a little nicer to her. boats are girls and need to be treated tenderly and with care. give her love and she will give you love back. good luck
you will find an oscillating saw a very handy tool to use in this project, where you start to cut out rot , chamfer the hole edges so a new piece will fit with a maximum glue surface, scarf all joints for max strength
So everything is rotten and needs to be replaced. The whole boat that is. Make yourself comfortable you will live in the boatyard for years, and spend more then 100k to fix it.
The start of a adventure or the start of a nightmare, you decide. I tell you what though the knowledge you will gain from fixing this pile of junk will be pricless. And i mean pricless. as in you couldnt pay for it, like at all. You cant buy it. It is the most valuable thing to a human. But its also alot of work. Rember you will do it right.... because your gonna do it twice.
I remember seeing this boat online (and local to me) a few years ago. You’re pretty gutsy taking it on. I went on to buy an epoxy/glass & ply tri that had it’s own share of rot. Nothing on the scale of this cat though. I’ve only just finished the refurb & refit and I’ve learnt a lot, spent a ton of money and time. I reckon since you’ve got the space to build, it could be worth building a new cat from kit or taking over someone elses kit build. At least then at the end of all your effort and outlay you’ll have something safe to sail, of considerable value and sellable.
Slap it together with as little cost possible sail it for a year close to shore ... sink before you need to spend more than $2,000. on a single repair after that year of fun sailing it. I hope you find sunken treasure while you are sailing it. ,,,,,,,,,,
Also a boatbuilder, I would agree 100% with you, I would look to find a new design he could reuse the rig and other stuff on, may be Mike Waller or one of the Roger Simpson cat, be worth more when he is done and much much less time__ this one is a lost cause.
