Well after a few weeks of deciding "which boat' then deciding on an investigator 563 then spending a month or so looking and finally spending 3 hours today clambering over and under an Investigator 563, I purchased Bultaro, #41098 and I managed to save a few hundred on the already cheap price.
Pros
She looks to be very sound but I'll not have a chance to 'test' how sound until she is in the water as she was/is on her trailer. She is very solid to walk around her deck with NO flex on the deck especially from the mast forward (I'm a pretty big built bloke @ 98kg's) and with me 'bouncing up and down there was the faintest flex in the area between mast and anchor well and NO flex any where else and believe me I gave her a good bouncy walk
lol. She is an early version because the front hatch has 1 hinge. Her pop top raises easily enough and locks into position easily enough but I doubt one would sail with it raised because it's simply a big area that could quickly fill with water. However, on a weekend she will be a nice addition.
She came with a furling jib (Ronstan Brand) but the diameter of the drum is small so it's prob a furling and Not reefing furler. It will still be useful for dowsing the jib. It's a weird furler because the jib 'hanks' onto the stay but the stay swivels at the mast so the jib has to 'wrap' its self around the stay?
She has 2 mains that look in good nick, 2 number 1 Genoa, a spinnaker that looks virtually new and a number 2 jib (No storm jib)
She has a full compliment of MUST have safety equipment but no "recommended equipment; for the areas I'll be sailing. (I'll need to get a VHF although, my sailing area/requirements do not require a VHF (MAST - Tasmania) recommends one which I'll add.
Interesting
I've no History on her other than a single name strip on the Starboard side and her number. There is a Deviot Sailing Club sticker on her transom (The Deviot Sailing club is situated on the Lovely Tamar River, in Launceston Tasmania) I'll email the club to ask if anyone knows of her history there.
Cons
The interior cushion covers are past their use by date and ratty so I'll replace them and I own a sewing machine (hahahaha.. not many big built blokes own sewing machines let along know how to sew lol) so I'll sew some new covers with a bit of colour to brighten up the interior (but not so bright I'll not be able to sleep). I'll also replace the cushions as well just to keep things nice and new
I'll replace a few jam style cleats, some blocks and other items as I come across them as they look sun damaged and although, they still seem strong they are on my "replacement recommended"
I'll replace the grab rail on the cabin top as the wood looks rooted so I'll replace that with hopefully alloy or similar but if that proves too difficult I'll just use wood again.
As mentioned previously the wooden toe-rail has been removed so I'll look into replacing that with wood (Tassie is after all the land of wood
) or if not wood I'll look into alloy or similar. Miscellaneous
She came with a Volvo Penta 90, long shaft outboard (9hp I believe). I have NO idea about the engine but it fired up 2nd pull from cold and chugged along with out much effort. from the colour scheme and look it's definitely from the 80's. hell I don't even know if it's 2 stroke or 4 (but I'll have a look for an oil fill which will soon sort that)
She is on a "break style trailer" so I'll need to read up on this style of trailer.
Lastly, I was very proud of my little 1.6ltr Honda with a max towing capacity of 1200kg as she towed the 563 137km's today, up and down a fairly twisty road here in Tas (Frankford Rd) and the little 1.6ltr Honda did a fantastic job. About the only issue was starting from standstill, whilst parked on the hill we live on because it took me 3 goes to get the 563 backed nicely into my driveway. However, on the 3 attempts I had to start from stand still and move UP our hill to line up the 563 for our driveway so my little Honda struggled to move from stand still whilst pulling the 563 up our hill but a few good fist full's of revs and the Honda was away without burning out the clutch but I did not want to tempt fate with too many attempts at reverse parking. I was also proud of my reversing techniques as I'm not very good at reverse parking trailers... so very happy with my effort today (I'd been dreading reverse parking the 563 into our drive because, I'm not very good at reverse parking a trailer, I've never reverse parked a boat and our hill is steep so I was unsure if my little Honda would haul the 563 up our street.
Looking forward to getting out on the water soon (Easter I think by the time I do a few odd jobs)
Cheers, Pete
