"mmc" wrote in
g.com:

is a Freedom 33 Cat Ketch. I like the semi-traditional look, the
uniqueness (is this a word?) of the cat ketch rig in a (more) modern
yachts and, from following the Yahoo owners group, the dedication
displayed by the owners for these boats.
I like the 36 too but not real fond of the big bump out in the cockpit
created by the aft cabin. We (the family and I) enjoy a large(r)
cockpit and this arrangement wouldn't work for us.
I'd like a shoal draft/swing keel but like the openess of the cabin
with the fixed keel (swing keel version has the trunk bisecting the
salon), but can't have everything so probably settle for the fixed
keel. I've seen other more recent cat ketches but most look like most
other modern boats that just happen to have this rig, almost as an
after thought while the Freedoms maintain some of the "chunkyness" of
the old cat boats. Not looking for screaming speed or to wow the dock
walkers, but more the comfort, design, ease of use and style of these
boats. Just trying to start a boat/cruising related discussion.
What do you guys think?

I'd suggest that you go to http://www.FreedomYachts.org/ and ask any
questions that you may have. You'll get much more detailed answers than
you'll get in here.

-- Geoff
www.GeoffSchultz.org

Here is a sad story!

Boats Too Costly to Keep Are Littering Coastlines

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/01/bu...s.html?_r=1&hp



They often sandpaper over the names and file off the registry numbers, doing
their best to render the boats, and themselves, untraceable. Then they casually
ditch the vessels in the middle of busy harbors, beach them at low tide on the
banks of creeks or occasionally scuttle them outright.

The bad economy is creating a flotilla of forsaken boats. While there is no
national census of abandoned boats, officials in coastal states are worried the
problem will only grow worse as unemployment and financial stress continue to
rise. Several states are even drafting laws against derelicts and say they are
aggressively starting to pursue delinquent owners.

“Our waters have become dumping grounds,” said Maj. Paul R. Ouellette of the
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. “It’s got to the point where
something has to be done.”

Derelict boats are environmental and navigational hazards, leaking toxins and
posing obstacles for other craft, especially at night. Thieves plunder them for
scrap metal. In a storm, these runabouts and sailboats, cruisers and houseboats
can break free or break up, causing havoc.

Some of those disposing of their boats are in the same bind as overstretched
homeowners: they face steep payments on an asset that is diminishing in value
and decide not to continue. They either default on the debt or take bolder measures.

Marina and maritime officials around the country say they believe, however, that
most of the abandoned vessels cluttering their waters are fully paid for. They
are expensive-to-maintain toys that have lost their appeal.

The owners cannot sell them, because the secondhand market is overwhelmed. They
cannot afford to spend hundreds of dollars a month mooring and maintaining them.
And they do not have the thousands of dollars required to properly dispose of them.

When Brian A. Lewis of Seattle tried to sell his boat, Jubilee, no one would pay
his asking price of $28,500. Mr. Lewis told police investigators that
maintaining the boat caused “extreme anxiety,” which led him to him drill a
two-inch hole in Jubilee’s hull last March.

The boat sank in Puget Sound, and Mr. Lewis informed his insurance company it
was an accident. His scheme came undone when the state, seeking to prevent
environmental damage, raised Jubilee. Mr. Lewis pleaded guilty last week to
insurance fraud.

While there are no reliable national statistics on boating fraud, Todd Schwede,
an insurance investigator in San Diego, said the number of suspicious cases he
was handling had roughly tripled in the last year, to around 70.

In many cases, he said, the boater is following this logic: “I am overinsured on
this boat. If I make it go away so no one will find it, the insurance company
will give me enough to cover the debt and I’ll make something on the deal as well.”

Lt. David Dipre, who coordinates Florida’s derelict vessel program, said the
handful of owners he had managed to track down were guilty more of negligence
than fraud.

“They say, ‘I had a dream of sailing around the world, I just never got around
to it.’ Then they have some bad times and they leave it to someone else to clean
up the mess,” Lieutenant Dipre said.

Florida officials say they are moving more aggressively to track down owners and
are also starting to unclog the local inlets, harbors, swamps and rivers. The
state appropriated funds to remove 118 derelicts this summer, up from only a
handful last year.

In South Carolina, four government investigators started canvassing the state’s
waterways in January. They quickly identified 150 likely derelicts.

“There are a lot more than we thought there would be,” said Lt. Robert
McCullough of the state Department of Natural Resources. “There were a few boats
that have always been there, and now all of a sudden they’ve added up and added up.”

In January, it became illegal in South Carolina to abandon a boat on a public
waterway. Violators can be fined $5,000 and jailed for 30 days.

“We never needed a law before,” said Gary Santos, a Mount Pleasant councilman.
Not that having one is necessarily proving much of a deterrent. Mr. Santos
took a spin on a friend’s motorboat the other day and saw a newly abandoned
catamaran within seconds of leaving the dock.

It had been run aground at an awkward angle, a weathered “for sale” sign
testament to the owner’s inability to get rid of it. Local watermen said the
boat had abruptly appeared one day in February, and had not been touched in weeks.

“Boats are luxuries,” Mr. Santos said. “This isn’t a good moment for luxuries.”

South Carolina’s unemployment rate in February was 11 percent, the
second-highest in the nation after Michigan. The online classified ad service
Craigslist in Charleston, S.C., features dozens of boats for sale every day.
“Wife’s employer is downsizing and we are forced to do the same,” read one post.

Mr. Santos, 50, grew up in this well-to-do community on the northern side of
Charleston harbor. In his youth, he never saw an abandoned boat. As recently as
a decade ago, they were no more than an occasional nuisance.

Now they are proliferating. Crab Bank, a protected bird rookery in the harbor
within sight of Fort Sumter, is home to a dozen derelicts — two sunken, two
beached, the other eight still afloat. They range from houseboats to a
two-masted sailboat.

State officers have placed placards on each, warning that the vessels have been
identified as abandoned. Thanks to a local ordinance sponsored by Mr. Santos,
the Mount Pleasant police are also tagging the vessels. After 45 days, they will
be removed and junked.

California is taking a more benign approach, with plans in the legislature for a
boater bailout of sorts. Under a law proposed by state Representative Ted Lieu,
owners of marginally seaworthy vessels would be encouraged to surrender them to
the state. If they abandoned the boat anyway, the bill would double the fine to
$1,000.

The legislature passed the bill last year, but Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
returned it and many others unsigned during the state’s long struggle to settle
on a budget. The measure has been reintroduced this year, and unanimously passed
the assembly’s transportation committee last week and could become law as early
as this summer.

Kevin Ketchum, general manager of California Yacht Marina, which operates six
marinas in the state, predicted that the law “is going to be phenomenally
popular. It will help honorable people who want to do the right thing but can’t
afford it.”

The cost of the disposals would be paid by existing fees on boat owners.
Representative Lieu said that “in a perfect world” the fear of punishment would
be enough to get people to stop abandoning their boats.

“But to actually enforce that would take way more governmental resources than we
have,” he said.

"cavelamb" wrote in message
m...
Here is a sad story!

Boats Too Costly to Keep Are Littering Coastlines

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/01/bu...s.html?_r=1&hp


Add the pressures of home owners groups to outlaw anchorages to the expense
of dock space and we're going to see a much bigger problem in FL that we
have now.

In article , cavelamb wrote:
When Brian A. Lewis of Seattle tried to sell his boat, Jubilee, no one would pay
his asking price of $28,500. Mr. Lewis told police investigators that
maintaining the boat caused “extreme anxiety,” which led him to him drill a
two-inch hole in Jubilee’s hull last March.

Jeebus, the mind absolutely boggles. REDUCE THE PRICE!

There are some of us who'd bite the hand off these people. I'm not a
poor man, but neither am I that wealthy that I can afford the boat of my
dreams. At the moment I'm looking for a boat, and my budget is about
$17k (12k of our British pounds). There's not an awful lot you can get
this side of the pond for that money.

I can understand that people don't want to make a loss on these things,
but surely it's better to get *some* money for a boat than lose it and
gain a criminal record?

What is happening to these boats abandoned in the US? Are salvage
companies taking them and re-selling them? Are they being scrapped? What
is the law regarding finding an abandoned boat - especially one with
it's identification erased? Are there cherries to be found in the
everglades?! Should I come for a holiday in the hope of finding
something?

Justin.

--
Justin C, by the sea.

Justin C wrote:
In article , cavelamb wrote:
When Brian A. Lewis of Seattle tried to sell his boat, Jubilee, no one would pay
his asking price of $28,500. Mr. Lewis told police investigators that
maintaining the boat caused “extreme anxiety,” which led him to him drill a
two-inch hole in Jubilee’s hull last March.

Jeebus, the mind absolutely boggles. REDUCE THE PRICE!

There are some of us who'd bite the hand off these people. I'm not a
poor man, but neither am I that wealthy that I can afford the boat of my
dreams. At the moment I'm looking for a boat, and my budget is about
$17k (12k of our British pounds). There's not an awful lot you can get
this side of the pond for that money.

I can understand that people don't want to make a loss on these things,
but surely it's better to get *some* money for a boat than lose it and
gain a criminal record?

What is happening to these boats abandoned in the US? Are salvage
companies taking them and re-selling them? Are they being scrapped? What
is the law regarding finding an abandoned boat - especially one with
it's identification erased? Are there cherries to be found in the
everglades?! Should I come for a holiday in the hope of finding
something?

Justin.



My wild guess would be that they are going to be considered salvage.

Wish I were there and had a good sized tug handy!

On Wed, 01 Apr 2009 19:23:57 -0000, Justin C
wrote:


I can understand that people don't want to make a loss on these things,
but surely it's better to get *some* money for a boat than lose it and
gain a criminal record?

Crims think they will get away with it.
Many do.
Look at Wall Street.

--Vic

I'd suggest that you go to http://www.FreedomYachts.org/ and ask any
questions that you may have. You'll get much more detailed answers than
you'll get in here.

-- Geoff
www.GeoffSchultz.org

Thanks. I follow the Yahoo owners group. This looks better.