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Next journey in boat ownership; Sailfish 236 walk-in-console

9K views 52 replies 11 participants last post by  greygoose 
#1 · (Edited)
So I sold the Key West with the intent to get into a slightly larger bay boat with a large center console with a porta-potty. What I ended up getting was far bigger than that.

We used the KW a ton last summer, however the intent was always to flip it if the right offer showed up. That offer did show up, and the boat was sold.

We knew the next boat needed to be a touch larger and with a 2 and 4 year old boys, an area with a porta potty would be a plus. I started looking for a 24' bay boat but they haven't made them for long enough for the used market to fall into my (cheap) budget. We started looking a WAC styles and really liked the hydrasport 2300 WAC. On that search, I stumbled on a first gen Sailfish 236 walk in console. These boats are extremely hard to find, mostly because they just didnt make that many. I liked the hull lines the first time I saw it, but the high freeboard on the bow isn't what I had in mind.... until it grew on me. I like the "Carolina Flair" the bow line has, and I love how the bow line slightly dips back toward the pulpit (hard to tell in the photos).

Fast forward another coupe weeks and 8+ phone calls to an extremely nice gentleman in FL, and we had a deal. He was the second owner and had it for 18 years. It was never slipped, never stored outdoors and was always stored in his barn in central FL. Never been bottom painted, never had storm damage and an owner I could seem to trust. I even send a local GL4x4 boating convert that lives in FL to go see it and he bluntly told me to buy it.

So here she is. A babied 1996 Sailfish 236 with a Yamaha 225 and a touch over 600 total hours. The console area is larger than I thought and comes with cushions to make a flat area about 4'x5'; perfect for the boys to nap or hide out a storm (or the sun). In todays measurements, this would be a 26' boat, plus a transom bracket. From the tip of the prop, trimmed down, to the tip of the pulpit to the prop is 29.5 feet.

On the winter hit list are the typical updates; Lowrance electronics, power pole and potentially an i-pilot trolling motor. Likely remove the bow rail. I like the looks but hate the function (always in the way).

Goals for this boat are still a lot of local day trips (yes, I'll be putting it on Whitmore Lake!) but we want to use the Detroit and Saginaw rivers more as well at St Clair more. We're also hoping to do some island trips this year... Lime Island, Beaver, Manitoulin, etc...







 

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#4 ·
No test drive. I talked to the guy enough to be comfortable with it. He lived about an hour from a place to put it in and offered it up but I declined. He did provide recent compression tests and a notebook of maintenance records, couple with the clean bill of health from the previously mentioned misplaced GL4x4 member... I felt comfortable with no test cruise.

Graphics are a dark teal. As is the bimini. I would prefer a dark blue, but hey, its what was popular in 1996. I'm just happy there aren't any neon greens, oranges or yellow!
 
#3 ·
as far as trip report; It was long.

22mph down at ~78 mph, 9.5 back at 70mph. Pulls great at 70.

the true trip time was a touch over 48 hours. the 49.5 shown includes a lot of idling time at home unpacking and squeezing this big gal into the barn...

 
#10 · (Edited)
It was a gulf boat for sure. Made regular weekend trips way out and many week long key trips, but it was never slipped for a summer, never in the water long enough to require bottom paint and always fresh water flushed at the boat launch. The owner was meticulous... it was his "other girl" as he said. Heads were pulled and cleaned 2 years ago as PM. Everything has been documented and all records kept.

I've learned there are certain things to look for in used boats down there;
-bottom paint being #1. bottom paint means it was water slipped on a coast. It's probably been wet. Really wet. And likely it has rode out a few storms that it shouldn't have...
-I would never buy one that wasn't an outboard
-never buy one that has the original tank, or a foamed in tank. The tank in this was replaced about 5 years ago.
-Original decals tell a lot about the boat. Neglected boats get weather checked hard in a short period of time. These are original decals and they are cracked, but not sun faded. The cowl of the motor still has the original shine to it. It's obvious it was stored inside out of the sun and rain.
-Even SS or aluminum corrodes heavy in salt water, the cleats and other metal on this boat is (for the most part) corrosion free. You can tell it has a freshwater wash at the boat ramps.
-The owner. With any boat, you have to have faith in the owner. This guy owned it for 18 years and is only selling it to slow down to a pontoon. He would still make 60 mile trips with this boat this year, so he obviously trusted it. He is retired Navy and I would take his word on anything at this point. Great guy to meet and work with. It's the only way to buy a boat 17 hours away.

This style boat is just far cheaper in FL if you can find a gem (compared to MI). Literally every backyard has some sort of CC or WAC style boat parked in it. We love an excuse for the roadtrip so they go well together. This boat isn't perfect by anymeans. It's not the engine I would have picked, I'm not a huge fan of pulpits and I'm not a fan of teal. But those were all minor compared to the positives.
 
#15 ·
I'll be taking you up on that. Even room to drag you out if you're ever free. I need to learn the bay and river a lot better, or take people that can teach me.

You and your salt water boats.... :sonicjay:
they haven't bit me yet! :sonicjay: I really wanted a 22-24' cat. I think that is next on the list if we stay with a CC or open boat. I could see us going to a 24-26' WAC next though.

Nice! That's one big long boat, but that means you got plenty of room for everybody and still small and shallow enough to take on the local chains. She's a beut man.
This won't fit under the bridge to get on your old chain, but really our only incentive for that chain was your place so there isn't a need lol. Being able to get on Whitmore was a requirement though.
 
#11 ·
this picture kind of shows the hull cap line angling back down near the bow pulpit. It's unique compared to other flare bow lines. It's what caught my eye seeing it the first time.

 
#16 · (Edited)
Well I had a long novel typed out and when I hit submit, the page crashed, so all you get are cliff notes now.

Talekd to sailfish; hull was built by SportCraft as their 252 fishmaster model. This was before SF had a fleet of large hull molds.

SF called this a 246, not a 236.



All the new parts are showing up, first step was to fix a long unsupported area in the front cap. I suspect this was left unsupported because the hull stringer style also had to fit the WAC console, not the open CC style. I'm sure it was stiff enough for a couple decades, but needs a little support now.

Repair was simple, but not much room to work.

Pics show the story; in the helm area is a hatch to the front, once you get through that hatch, there is an open access to the starboard side stringer. This is also where the fish box drains and front bilge pumps through.

floor supports are nothing more than old (but clean) 1x8" treated pine that has been inside my barn for a few years. very sold and already "shrunk". I could probably have fit 1x10" through the access area, but it would have been very tight. I used a handfull of treated screws with washers and a loctite product that has instant bond to nearly everything, fiberglass and resin included (has to be nasty stuff).

EDIT; I have no idea why the upload rotated the pics, but I assume you can figure it out.
 

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#18 ·
if the Ipilot was installed, I'd be on the saginaw river this weekend!
 
#24 · (Edited)
so we're well overdue for some updates here.

Major winter projects were;
  • remove pulpit and fab a ipilot mount
  • built battery holds in the belly and wire the troller
  • update the oooold electronics
  • instal a powerpole
  • reinforce unsupported floor areas
  • remove all decals and restore the gelcoat

first up will be the i pilot. This required removing the old bow rail and pulpit. The pulpit ended up weighing a ton, way more than I thought it would. It makes me feel better knowing that I'm adding a lot of weight with the bracket and ipilot in it's place. I figured it would be a significant weight increase to the cap area, but its not at all.



battery holds; The reason this boat was on our like list is the walk in helm. through the small cuddy area gives you pretty good access under the can and insualted fish box. that's were I decided to mount the batteries. All wiring under the cap is 4 ga wire, cut to fit. I bought a swage lug crimp tool long ago and it's been used a ton. If you do a lot of heavy wiring, this is worth the $20
https://mobileimages.lowes.com/product/converted/725636/725636414921.jpg

the current electronic were really old and had to go. The PO had a pretty trick set-up though, the electronics were mounted to a sheet of HDPE from the bottom up. meaning the holes were drilled, with a chamfer relieve for the head and the nut goes on the bracket side. This keeps the top deck of the helm clean with not a lot of holes (only 2 that hold the HDPE down). So I kept that theme and added 7" Hook2 units. One will be dedicated GPS, other will be for sonar and scanning. I'll put the transducer from the dedicated GPS unit onto a portable mount and use it on the row boat/pontoon on some of the other lakes were use.
OLD;

new



10' powerpole is installed. Fairly simple project once I decided on how to build the bracket. The lower the mount of the PP is, obviously the lower is will deploy into the water, and the deeper the water it will actually hold the boat in. So its key to keep it low. I didn't want to put holes below the water line, so I built the bracket so the through hull holes are above the water line but the PP unit will sit below the water line. Bought me about another 8" of usable depth.
hmmm, I aparently don't have any pics of this yet. I'll take some soon.

So this is what the hull looks like with no rail, no pulpit, no decals, but very chalky and not shiny yet...



I have a legit 30 hours in the exterior of the hull. AT LEAST. Ugh.
  1. First step was to start spraying the decals with the goo gone for about 3 days, once a day, before the start.
  2. second is a heat gun (or old hair dryer in my case) and a razor blade to remove the decals.
  3. third is to spray the remaining residue with goo gone again and repeat with a razor blade.
  4. then wet sand any severely "ghosted" areas to try to blend the gelcoat
  5. then scrub the entire exterior with soft scrub with bleach.
  6. then scrub it all again and rinse heavily to be sure the hull is clean and you're down to gelcoat.
  7. next up is the compounding. I'm a big aquabuff fan. I went with their 2000 compound (instead of the 1000) because I really wasnt sure how think the gelcoat was and didn't want to damage it. Key to the compounding is the pad. Get a good quality 100% wool pad. it will have better heat control, less swirling, more even cutting, etc. don't get anything except 100% wool. so after 1 round of AB2000, the hull wasn't even close.
  8. so then another scrub with soft scrub with bleach
  9. and another round of AB2000, this time I used less of the compound and a slightly higher speed (still pretty slow though).
  10. From there, I could tell the gelcoat was coming alive. There were some areas that the gelcoat was buffed back to gloss but I could see residue from the decals again, so out came the goo gone and razor. I also wet sanded a couple areas again and scrubbed clean.
  11. Then the areas I wet sanded were cut again with AB2000, and thats where we are today.
  12. Next up will be a couple go-arounds of mequires marine wax. Just waiting on slightly better weather!

 

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#27 ·
I'm not a huge fan of the high bow rail. It's a PITA on most docks or launches where the dock is so short you have the jump the bow and not farther back.

I'll likely put a low profile bow rail on, which is a more modern look. Something like this
 
#39 ·
I had the same thoughts! Felt good putting the MCs on.

I've been staying in touch with the PO through all of this. To say he's happy the boat is being refinished is putting it mildly. I basically had to promise him when I bought it that she had a good home lol. He's been impressed with the updating.
 
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