Looking for "Assisted Living" 1974 53 Flush deck

[Vintageboatfan]

Not too bad of a list. The boat was out of the water long enough during survey to determine the 'blistering' was in the paint and not laminate I hope. Paint blistering will go down as the hull dries out superficially, laminate blisters will not. Watch out for your eyes if you ever try to pop one, the resulting liquid is acidic. The hynautic systems will operate properly with very little air pressure. Sometimes finding a happy equilibrium between leaks and air pressure is what to do instead of finding a tiny leak that only occurs over 20 psi or such. The air charging port is a regular schrader valve on the reservoir. The fully green hoses said to me that they are perhaps original hoses. I hope he called out the hoses as an A finding. Overheating a detroit due to broken fresh water pump hose will crack the heads, hence place the boat in peril. Pump should come off to replace those hoses. As for the fire safety equip, the ABC hand helds are easy enough to have serviced/replace. The engine room Halon 1301 unit likely is hugely out of date. You will have a tough time finding anyone to service a Halon 1301. The solution though is pretty easy. The tank by regulation is supposed to be hydro tested after 12 years, this will cost more than replacing with a new unit. If the tank isn't rusty and you can shake it and feel liquid inside just do this; find a precision digital scale such as a refrigerant scale and weight the tank. The tank will have a label on the side telling what its regulation weight is. If you weigh the tank and it is within 5% of its regulation weight that means its not leaking and still has its, within 5% or less, correct amount of halon inside. Sign the inspection tag yourself, with date and current weight at inspection and you'll save yourself a boatload of money and meet the insurance companies inspection requirement. They are supposed to be inspected every six months!

Thank you for the detailed reply, I will be adding these items to my notebook for the boat visit. I will watch for the bubbles on the hull when the time comes to remove them. The survey said it was not blistering, I am going to ask for pictures for an idea of the number of areas, is it 8 or 50 you know, big difference.
I can check those Halon tanks as described. I am not sure if they are manual or automatic, I would guess manual. I will add cameras in these critical areas as a must have. The surveyor called out ALL hoses. Some of the green ones looked like a paint over issue. I will be taking pics and making notes as I go. If the bottom and props were good I would be happy, I can sort out the rest. It was noted that struts, cutlass and thru hulls were well bedded and thru hull shut offs were all operational.
I look at every aspect of things to determine if a owner really took care of things, if the little things are in order and well maintained other items may be also, trust and verify. Thank you for the input, very much appreciated! Im planning on a site visit end of May.

 

[brettportzer]

It’s tough with these old boats, but, I have or am doing everything on your list and many other things… All doable, but, there will be plenty to do.

 

[Vintageboatfan]

It’s tough with these old boats, but, I have or am doing everything on your list and many other things… All doable, but, there will be plenty to do.

Hi Brett,
I took a 43 to sea trial years ago, loved that layout, that profile led me to this boat.

Have you worked on the 32V systems much? I am wanting to get some solar and a inverter set up to run some of these. Gus on "In Too Deep" you tube put in a really nice set up below decks when he had his 53. His panel mounting over the fly bridge was another story.

 

[brettportzer]

I've got a 43, so all 12v!

 

[bigbill]

Hi Brett,
I took a 43 to sea trial years ago, loved that layout, that profile led me to this boat.

Have you worked on the 32V systems much? I am wanting to get some solar and a inverter set up to run some of these. Gus on "In Too Deep" you tube put in a really nice set up below decks when he had his 53. His panel mounting over the fly bridge was another story.

check with boatsb (scott) on this forum, he is great with this kind of stuff

 

[HahnR]

I would not worry about the psi for the hynautic steering. When I had our flybridge helm rebuilt by the good folks at Southern Charm, I was told the air pressure was just to get the steering fluid up to the helm. Our tank says 25 - 30 psi, I was cautioned by Southern Charm to not go over 15 psi, 12 - 15 psi is more than adequate. You will blow seals & create leaks on an older boat pumping them up to 30 psi. Ours has been just under 15 psi for a good 3 years now and hasn't moved, steering has worked flawlessly

 

[Vintageboatfan]

I would not worry about the psi for the hynautic steering. When I had our flybridge helm rebuilt by the good folks at Southern Charm, I was told the air pressure was just to get the steering fluid up to the helm. Our tank says 25 - 30 psi, I was cautioned by Southern Charm to not go over 15 psi, 12 - 15 psi is more than adequate. You will blow seals & create leaks on an older boat pumping them up to 30 psi. Ours has been just under 15 psi for a good 3 years now and hasn't moved, steering has worked flawlessly

Thank you for the advice. It has been nice getting feedback on the forum. Lots of experience out there.

 

[SKYCHENEY]

The question is not "is it up to 30psi", the question is "is it going down"? The lower pressure alone is not the indication of a problem by itself. Leaking is indicated by a lowering of pressure over time. Temperature fluctuation will affect is some as well.