Whaler Guardian?

[Poseidons Playground]

I found a guardian for sale and am very interested. I have been looking at / for these boats for a while and know how hard they are to find.

Advertised as 27' with 2x225 and runs great. Dive door with no problems.

I live 3000 miles from it. If i take this serious and buy it for a private charter boat what should I be thinking? What should I be worried about before I pay for shipping?

 

[Hickdive]

I presume you'll be getting a surveyor to look it over before purchase? I wouldn't contemplate buying any used boat, let alone a GRP one, without seeing it myself or getting a surveyor to go over it for me.

Here's just a taste of the problems you can't really assess just by looking at the seller's pictures;

Boat Surveys - Faults Found

 

[Slater]

Contact Shad Burke on Bloody Decks via pm. Very knowledgable when it comes to whalers especially. He has built & sold many over the years & recently. Im sure he is willing to answer your questions & help you with your concerns. He is up in san Clemente so not to far from you...
He purchases them via auctions & eastcoast, & gets them shipped over also..

Fishing Forums | Fish Reports | BD Outdoors

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

The whaler crowd hangs out at
http://continuouswave.com/cgi-bin/Ultimate.cgi?action=intro

 

[Poseidons Playground]

I would definitely pay a surveyor. I am trying not to let my excitement get the best of me. I have been looking at these boats for a while and know they dont come up often. This one happens to be cheap which makes me wander what if anything is wrong with it.

 

[Tom Winters]

The only Whalers I've ever seen that were pretty much shot were the military surplus ones at DRMO - hulls that NO other government agencies or military people with 1st dib access wanted. Because of the flotation, they couldn't even used for gunnery practice. So unless this hull got dropped out of an airplane, it's going to most likely be ok.

But you want to use it for charters? The Guardians are kinda utilitarian. I wouldn't be all that thrilled to show up for a dive and find out we were going out on one of them. For private use - they're pretty good though.

 

[Poseidons Playground]

What do you mean? Why wouldnt you be thrilled? Ive been out on RHIB's, catamarans, Sport fishers etc. . . and each has its own ups and downs. I am curious about your take.

 

[Tom Winters]

Ok. you said it's for private charters. The interior of a 27' Guardian defines "spartan". Paying charter clients kinda like gear benches, maybe some type of top, a head, a place to store dry gear. By the time you put all that in a Guardian, it's pretty crowded.

I'm not sure what your clientèle base is, that's all. Figure out who your customers are and then find a boat to deliver them to the dives. I did dive charters for a long time, but I've also been out of the biz happily retired for a long time as well.

That would be a great boat for diving with friends. You're gonna need a healthy truck to haul it. I hauled a 30' Century with an F-150. It worked ok - the total load was under 5 tons - but a bigger truck would have been easier.

 

[Adventure-Ocean]

To directly answer your question I'd say you should be thinking about the deck, the transom, the console etc etc. Whaler's are awesome but in time they still sustain damage and require maintanance. Anyone can clean and paint a boat to make it look pretty for a picture but that doesn't mean there are no problems. Normally it's what you cannot see is where you find trouble. To do private charters you have to be licensed by the coast guard and hopefully know how to safely take out divers. There's a lot to it. I agree once you load all your safety gear (02,1st aid,spare tank,jackets etc) and the dive gear, the boat will be limited on space but you could do a couple easily enough. I was a dive boat captain for over 30 years and again I'll mention, there's a lot to it. Be Safe Adventure-Ocean

 

[mmcdanie]

I presume you'll be getting a surveyor to look it over before purchase? I wouldn't contemplate buying any used boat, let alone a GRP one, without seeing it myself or getting a surveyor to go over it for me.

Here's just a taste of the problems you can't really assess just by looking at the seller's pictures;

Boat Surveys - Faults Found

Many surveyors do not do engine surveys so if there are any engine issues during a sea trail, stop and get an engine survey also.