Larger vessel

My wife and I are looking at a 1970 35 foot Bertran for family get togethers, over night stays on the lake and I'd eventually like to use it to go down the Mississippi to New Orleans for a vacation stay, etc.. One thing about the boat is it has a 100 gallon fuel tank for two 427 engines. That doesn't seem like enough capacity to me but I'm not sure either. Anyone with any experience with a larger boat like this???

I've also never had one this large and it comes without a trailer which I consider a negative. Any idea what the marinas charge to dry dock a boat this size when winter comes? I ask because I'm debating buying a used trailer and renting a tractor (semi) and doing it myself when the time comes. I have a CDL so that's not a problem.

Any advice is appreciated.

I know to pull, dry dock and launch back in spring our 30' Southport it's about $2000 on the coast of Maine. I would assume location makes a big difference in price. You will be buying a pretty expensive trailer for that big boat and I don't know what a tractor costs to rent but I would imagine it not to be cheap. The 100 gallon tank doesn't sound that far off to me. I don't really even know what motor is in the Southport exactly but last time I filled it it was $450 in diesel and I had less than a few inches in the tank so I'm thinking ours is maybe 150 gallons or so? We burn less than 2 gallons an hour at about 15 knots, so that is a lot of motoring. See if the seller can tell you what it burns per hour, you may be surprised when you do the math.

Thanks for the reply Jethro. Gives me some information for comparison sake. Just out of curiosity, does yours have bow thrusters? We have lots of farmers around that have tractors so pulling it wouldn't be that big of a deal. I also have a place a couple miles from the marina that I could dry dock it if need be. I think I also need to check and see what a slip rental would be also.

Don't mean to rain on your parade, but big boats can be a PIA.

My brother is trying to sell his motor yacht, which turned into a money pit.

Before you buy, run the spreadsheet at twice the cost & 1/2 the usage, If it still is in the black, go for it.

You might also want to consider diesel power for that size boat.

You can also rent big house boats on the larger bodies of water, you might want to try it out 1st.

BTW, the lower Mississippi is heavy commercial traffic & not fun for pleasure craft to navigate.

The lower Mississippi is not a nice ride. No gas or beaches. It's all rock jetty lined. When you fight the current on the way back you might be lucky to go 100 miles on a tank of gas. The way to go is thru Alabama. As far as old boats go Bertram was one of the best ones. I hope you get it. Read about the lower Misissippi bypass here.
https://captainjohn.org/GL-5-Scoop.html

Thanks for that link Stumpalump, informative read. Looks like the Lower Mississippi is a good place to avoid. I'd read that article you linked me to before. Makes it sound like a once in a lifetime event. I still haven't done anything to set this in stone yet and am going to take my time before I do anything radical. Appreciate the insight and advice guys.

CedarRiverScooter thanks for the heads up on the traffic on the river, I'm not looking for headaches!

Not the same, but....I used to keep a 27 foot Catalina Sailboat in a slip near Galveston Bay, Texas. Way back then, over 20 years ago, monthly slip rental was something like 200 to 300. That was year-around as we had no freeze issues during the Winter here.

The other expense was hauling her and having the barnacles scraped off, and applying new bottom paint. It seemed that I had to have her hauled and scraped once each year, and re-painted every two or three years. I don't remember the costs, but just to have her pulled out and put on some frames was at least $400.00. then, a similar cost to put her back. That wasn't counting the actual cost of the scraping and repainting.

A money pit for me at the time, that is for sure.

Since my numbers are all 20years old, and Texas is a pretty inexpensive place to keep a boat, your costs may be double, triple or more

Wander by a shipyard and just talk to some of the boaters there. You may find some working on their boat's bottom ( if the marina allows self-work, which many do not). they'll give you the right skinny.

rich

My old boss used to pay 150 a month in Norfolk, va. For slip rental. BOAT= Break out another thousand. A hole you throw money into. But it's fun.

Large boats cost a lot. My Dad had a 42 footer for years. It has twin Ford Lehman diesels and held 400 gallons of fuel in 3 different tanks for cruising in the San Juan Islands of Washington. Filling the tanks could cost $1,600 or more.

I would not want to run the Miss R in a boat like yours.
Its kind of like RVs. Some people love big rigs. But they are hard to tow and do not fit everywhere.
Depending on how it has been taken care of, a 1970 vintage power boat can cost a lot to keep in shape. I wish you nothing but good luck with your purchase. You may need some.

This is one of the best sites a boater can read. He surveys quite a few Bertram's but not a 35 specifically. https://www.yachtsurvey.com/boatreviews/BertramYacht.htm

Thanks for all the replies guys, really, really appreciate it. The more I read and delve into this the more I find I don't like about it. One thing that is really turning me off to it is the fuel. I don't like the idea of being held captive at a pump! The boats I have now I can bring gas to them or take them where I want, not so at marinas. I knew I hadn't thought of something! I may put off a purchase for a while and just keep looking and reading more. I don't want to take a cruise because then I have to follow someone else's schedule. To me that's no way to vacation. I don't care for airlines either because of all the crap associated with them. Maybe road trips with a smaller boat? That may be the ticket. I could still go to Canada and Mexico that way. Sorry, thinking out loud now.

A road trip with a smaller boat can be just fine. I made a ten hour drive to Michigan from TN. this Summer. Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate. I made the big mistake of only leaving two or three days to fish.

I'd make the trip again, but leave more time for wind and weather.

Just one hint. By early afternoon, call ahead for a motel room. I was stuck once without a room. It meant an extra 45 minute drive to a town I didn't want to go to, just for a place to sleep. With the booming economy, lots of workers are on the road again.

My life long friend used to fish on Chesapeake Bay all the time with an older fiberglass boat around 17 feet with an outboard.

After much searching, his friend bought a brand new Sea Ray with a cuddy cabin around 28 feet with twin inboard/outboards.

After a few trips they realized how much more fuel the bigger boat burned for the same trip to go after rockfish.

They went back to the outboard and the Sea Ray got sold.

There is a lesson in there somewhere.

eshaw said:

Thanks for the reply Jethro. Gives me some information for comparison sake. Just out of curiosity, does yours have bow thrusters? We have lots of farmers around that have tractors so pulling it wouldn't be that big of a deal. I also have a place a couple miles from the marina that I could dry dock it if need be. I think I also need to check and see what a slip rental would be also.

Click to expand...

Yes, it does have a bow thruster. You have to look real close as it's in the dark part of the shadow. It's been a real nightmare actually, it was making a real bad noise so the marina said I needed to rebuild the motor. Well turns out it was actually the bearing, not the motor. Would have cost less to just replace the entire thing.