On Thu, 14 Dec 2006 16:50:23 GMT, Short Wave Sportfishing
wrote:
I spied a late sixties '68 GB42 (don't know the exact year) this
morning when I was down south. Chatting with the yard owner, it
apparently has been retrofitted with relatively new Yanmar diesels -
180 hp each. He didn't know the hours, but it's probably somewhere
around 500 hours on both engines. I'm going down tomorrow morning with
the broker to look at it.

I know this sounds like heresy for a small boat, outboard guy, but I
really liked the look of the boat - for some reason, it looks
"different" than the usual GB - the boat just appealed to me.

Anyway...

Is there anything I should look for when prowling the boat tomorrow?
Anything peculiar to GBs? What should I expect for fuel mileage in
terms of gph?

Any advice would be appreciated.

They don't call them "classics" for nothing. :-)

A 1968 GB is likely to be a woody. If so, it might be a great boat
but I'd be inclined to look for something a bit newer and with a
fiberglass hull of course.

The 180 Yanmars are good engines but overkill on a 42. At 1/2 power
they would burn about 4 gph each and give you a cruising speed close
to 9 kts. At hull speed around 7 to 7 1/2 kts, I'd expect something
like 3 or 4 gph total. If the 180s are turbos, you will need to
cruise them at 70 to 80% of WOT to avoid carbon build up.

The weak links on older GBs are the iron fuel tanks, the AC/DC wiring,
window frames, and the high maintenance teak trim.

"Wayne.B" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 14 Dec 2006 16:50:23 GMT, Short Wave Sportfishing
wrote:
I spied a late sixties '68 GB42 (don't know the exact year) this
morning when I was down south. Chatting with the yard owner, it
apparently has been retrofitted with relatively new Yanmar diesels -
180 hp each. He didn't know the hours, but it's probably somewhere
around 500 hours on both engines. I'm going down tomorrow morning with
the broker to look at it.

I know this sounds like heresy for a small boat, outboard guy, but I
really liked the look of the boat - for some reason, it looks
"different" than the usual GB - the boat just appealed to me.

Anyway...

Is there anything I should look for when prowling the boat tomorrow?
Anything peculiar to GBs? What should I expect for fuel mileage in
terms of gph?

Any advice would be appreciated.

They don't call them "classics" for nothing. :-)

A 1968 GB is likely to be a woody. If so, it might be a great boat
but I'd be inclined to look for something a bit newer and with a
fiberglass hull of course.

The 180 Yanmars are good engines but overkill on a 42. At 1/2 power
they would burn about 4 gph each and give you a cruising speed close
to 9 kts. At hull speed around 7 to 7 1/2 kts, I'd expect something
like 3 or 4 gph total. If the 180s are turbos, you will need to
cruise them at 70 to 80% of WOT to avoid carbon build up.

The weak links on older GBs are the iron fuel tanks, the AC/DC wiring,
window frames, and the high maintenance teak trim.


Should have read your post first, before sending mine. I think a '68 *is*
wood.

Eisboch

"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...

I say it's a '68 - that's what the yard guy told me, but it sure
didn't look like a wood boat - if it is a wood boat, it's been babied
- the finish is amazing and the bottom paint is damn near perfect.

I'll know tomorrow.

It should have the hull number on a plaque above the windows in the lower
station. With that you can identify exactly what it is and it's history. If
it is indeed a '72 or older, it will be wood. The transition to glass was
done during the '73 builds on the 42'.

Your post caused me to recall a event from years ago. I was home on leave
from the Navy one spring and my father-in-law was getting his old, wood
Owens ready for splashing after the winter lay up. I spent a weekend with
him in the yard repacking the hull with oakum and cotton. He took the
following Monday off and he and I launched it with great fanfare. I
remember it was rough, cold and raining like crazy. We got halfway out of
Hingham harbor before we both realized we were sinking fast.
The water was pouring through the planking. He grounded the boat and we sat
on it drinking coffee and pailing for hours. Ended up spending the night on
it and by the next morning it had swelled up enough that the bilge pump
could keep up with the remaining small seepage. After that, the hull was
tight with no leaks.

Eisboch