Ex Cray Boat

[trueblue]

Has anyone looked at buying an ex cray boat (monohull 28 ft+) and turning it into an all rounder leisure boat?

Just curious if it would be a worth while venture for a boat to keep in a marina, to be used for family day trips, overnighters, trolling for billfish, reef bottom bashing etc.

Thought crossed my mind that they have a ton of room that look like they could be easily dressed up into a nice looking boat with good cabin and amenities as well as a lot of deck space that could have heaps of shade etc. Would be easy to fit a zodiac tender onto and kayacks etc for camping trips etc.

Curious who I could talk to to find out about projects like this, to work out if it is viable. My rough guess was that a pretty versatile boat could be put together for $100k that would give a lot of boat compared to what $100k gets you in a newish big trailer boat.

Any thoughts?

Mick

[tigermullet]

That sounds like an interesting project and you would certainly be able to add the 'personal' touch but, at around $100,000, you could have a choice among thousands of boats up to 40ft, or maybe even bigger depending upon age, condition etc.

Have a look at the Mariners, Rivieras etc., at around 30ft on Boatpoint - Australia is awash in them. After helping a friend search for a boat around Brisbane and the Coasts I was amazed at just how many boats there are for sale in the 28 to 33ft range and at all sorts of prices.

Looking was fun but after that exercise of checking out production boats I am very pleased with ours which was purpose built for the Jumpinpin area. The building was enjoyable too so, if you go ahead, I hope you get great satisfaction from the project.

[trueblue]

A guy I know has family that work cray boats in WA, I was told that they are extremely fuel efficient (diesels). I also heard that they are not as heavy as the big glass Rivieras of similar length and much cheaper to maintain and easier to work on because the cray boats are essentially built ground up as a tough and reliable work boat...

Food for thought.

Cheers

Mick

[poundalead]

I was talking to a mate about this on friday. He said he wanted to buy an ex-trawler and fit it out so he can go to the Swains etc. He reckons that eventually they will become rare as a lot of fishing licences have been bought out, subsequently the price of them should go up as they are generally really well built.
I think it would be an awesome project and I'm fairly certain they are reasonably priced at this point in time

Cheers Benny