[sbw1]

A friend of mine sold his 38 Bert a few years ago to a person who was visiting the US from New Zeeland. It was a high hour older aft cabin. The hull was probably 2" thick at the bottom--way over engineered. The buyer put it in a container ship and sent it down under. After its arrival, the yard ripped everything out of the interrior and put it in a dumpster. He rebuilt the diesels. The entire project cost around $150,000 and the boat showed and surveyed as new. Market value at the conclusion of the refit was his purchase price plus the costs of the improvements. You don't need to worry about factory support on these project boats. The hulls are strong and go through the water well. The equipment is all new when you are done. This project would not have been economically feasible on the Trojan or SR as the market value would not be what you put into the refit.

Just prior the refit, I had a chance to run the boat on Lake Michigan in rough seas for 10 miles or so. It was a very impressive sea boat on all points of sail. Tried to talk the wife into taking it on a project. She could not visualize the final outcome so we passed on it and bought the Tiara. I think she would have enjoyed that boat as much as the one we ended up with, but that's water over the dam. The old Berts are very livable and good performers. One point has not been made, and that is the bottom. Many of them need to be blasted, fared and sealed with a barrier coat. That used to cost about $10,000 a few years ago. Have no idea what it would be today, but if you go the Bert route, it's worth looking into.