The 60' Big M

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javalin390
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The 60' Big M

Post by javalin390 »

Surfing the net again and found the infamous 60' Marinette catamaran, still up for sale, has once again been reduced to $70,000. This was Sorry Dog's old boat that he and his late son "built". Looks pretty bad now but was beautiful when Sorry Dog finished it, he sent me before and after pictures of her. I think it is still dry docked in Deale MD.
Jim Elias
1974 37' SedanFlybridge
Twin 360 Chryslers.
Marblehead, Ohio
javalin390
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Re: The 60' Big M

Post by javalin390 »

Looked at google maps/satellite photo's (not sure how old the satellite photo is) and she is still sitting at the boat yard across from the canvas shop on Olde Deale Rd. way the back.
Jim Elias
1974 37' SedanFlybridge
Twin 360 Chryslers.
Marblehead, Ohio
Fastjeff
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Re: The 60' Big M

Post by Fastjeff »

Hey, that's not far from where I live. I'll try to take some photos of her.

Fastjeff
"We live at the bottom of an ocean of air, not at the top." General Marvage Slatington
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Re: The 60' Big M

Post by jralbert »

Sorry Dog was quite proud of the boat and detailed some adventures. A true labor of love and adventure and, well, love
-joel-
former owner 1988 '32 FB Sedan
Chesapeake Bay
twin 318 / 240 hp
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javalin390
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Re: The 60' Big M

Post by javalin390 »

Took an interesting road trip over the holidays to Deale MD and checked out Sorry Dog's old boat. Between chatting with him, the marina where she is stored and the broker trying to sell her, I was able to piece together a bit of history. After the sale, the new owner sailed her to the Chesapeake Bay and pulled her out for an inspection of the hull. Unfortunately, due to life changes, marriage, moving to a new city, the current owner has left her in dry dock ever since. The years of sitting have not been kind. With the broker, I was able to give her a good inspection and here is what I found:
The exterior - The paint is faded, chalky, and in some places peeling off down to the aluminum. There is some corrosion damage around the front of both hulls, which may be why the owner wanted to pull her out. It doesn't look like the corrosion has poked through, but and easy fix would be to simply tack on new plate over top of the existing AL. The rest of the hull looks OK, but some of the corrosion I'm guessing was caused by salt water, but I also noticed that there is only two pieces of 12" long anode on each hull. Thought that was a bit inadequate. There is a hot-tub on the front deck that has been stagnant the entire time, so it would likely need replaced.
The interior - The walls inside were decorated with wall paper and are peeling of due to the lack of climate control. The winters in that area are cold and damp, right on the bay and a lot of the wood trim is warped, peeling veneer and falling apart. The photo's on the web site are probably 4-5 years old, so it's a bit worse than it looks. The galley floor which is hardwood is badly warped due to standing water in the starboard hull directly below it (more on that later). Sorry Dog did a beautiful job inside, but will need a lot of work to bring it back.
The hulls - Each hull is divided into 3 separate "cabins". The rears house the engines and fuel tanks, the middle is home to the domestics, like heat, A/C, water and sewer tanks and the fronts is storage for anchors, chains, rope and bumpers. Each separate chamber has two bilge pumps, one 12 volt bilge and one larger 110 volt electric sump pump similar to the one in your house. Since it has not been hooked to a shoreline for many years, some of the chambers have standing water in them from rain. And the starboard middle one has a trap door under the galley floor, thus the warp floor in the kitchen. The engines are old school Supercharged Detroit 671's, not normally aspirated as advertised. The dampness has caused many of the stamped steel, steel lines and cast iron pasts to rust badly, such as crimped fuel lines, etc... Not sure if the dampness could have done any damage to the internal parts of the engine, which is sad because Sorry Dog replaced them.
An interesting note is that the original Aluminum Cruisers hull data plate with ALC serial number is still intact, attached to the rear starboard hull, dated 1960. Then up in the pilot house a "new" ALC plate, dated 2003 and is attached to the dashboard. I'm guessing Sorry Dog may have been able to get the second ALC plate from John Althouse, back in the day, after he finished the upgrade of her.
The current price is probably on par with the way she currently sits. She needs a LOT of work, but... She is a Marinette, so She won't rot away like an old wood boat. And she is BIG, seeing her in person is the only way to get a true measure (I took pictures with my car sitting next to it). She looks like a miniature cruise ship! I talked with the marina about the storage situation and the current owner has been paying the storage fee the entire time, so there are no liens on her, but...the marina charges $800.00 a MONTH to store her ! Tried to talk numbers, but the gal at the front desk wouldn't have it, the storage fee is what it is. That's $9,600 a year until someone could get her sea worthy again.
All in all it was a fun trip. Maybe if I win the Lottery... Sure would hate to see her sold for scrap. If anyone has any questions, drop me a line.
Jim Elias
1974 37' SedanFlybridge
Twin 360 Chryslers.
Marblehead, Ohio
javalin390
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Re: The 60' Big M

Post by javalin390 »

Jim Elias
1974 37' SedanFlybridge
Twin 360 Chryslers.
Marblehead, Ohio
djbarkow
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Re: The 60' Big M

Post by djbarkow »

Some friends and I are planning a trip to Deale to view this boat. Are the pictures representative of the actual condition of the boat today? Does anyone have current knowledge regarding the boats condition? Any information would be helpful.
javalin390
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Re: The 60' Big M

Post by javalin390 »

Yes, see my post above. Took that trip to see her in January. If you want to call just send me a message and exchange phone numbers, and I can give even more details than I have posted above. Jim
Jim Elias
1974 37' SedanFlybridge
Twin 360 Chryslers.
Marblehead, Ohio
Tracy
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Re: The 60' Big M

Post by Tracy »

javalin390 wrote: Mon Jan 15, 2024 2:49 pm The engines are old school Supercharged Detroit 671's, not normally aspirated as advertised.
As just an FYI, supercharged 671s are indeed naturals. They need superchargers to run. You could also get them with turbochargers as well. The naturals were the best for longevity. 30,000 hours isn't uncommon in stationary equipment and would tend to last at least 10k in marine applications.
The turbo models were still good engines, but they didn't last forever like the naturals.
HoHum 1969 Marinette 28 Sportsman dive boat with twin 250hp outboards
Andianna 1977 Marinette 32 Express
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