I'm contemplating a 2000 to 2002 Taipan 4.9. Things to look for? What should this boat weigh? $5 to $6K a reasonable price for a boat in good cond (no trl)?
Dave
SC20
Boyer A
Flight Risk
Not too many really.
One thing I would do is replace the beam bolts if that hadn't been recently, especially the inside rear. They tend to go due to boat flexing around its rear beam. Not a costly replacement and should be replaced every few years depending on what type of sailing you do. More often if you sail offshore, less often if in flat water. Absolute pain in the butt if they break as they shear off. Choice of a 5 min maintenance job or a 1 to 2 hour painful fix.
Otherwise all the wires.
Check underneath the front beam. They generally put a saddle just inside the hull for the righting line next to the bolt holding the dolphin striker. So you have 3 holes in close proximity all in a straight line. The older Taipans see cracks forming joining all 3 holes. Easily prevented by putting the saddle slightly more inboard and not making it parallel with the other big bolt.
Check rudder gudgeons. If there have been a few crashes/groundings with the rudders, the bolts tend to get rounded out causing leakages. I glued in big steel plates inside my old Taipan so there was no change of this happening. Easy fix.
I am sure there will be other Taipan owners that will mention aspects that you should check.
But the boats are great. Last a very long time which the new models (eg Blade, Viper) haven't had a chance to prove. When hull #3 is still in the top 3 at the Aussie Nationals each year and it must be 20 years old now, you know the boats last.
TaipanFC covered it mostly.
The rest is just plain inspection of the sails, general condition, whether the mast is straight etc.
With regard to price ex. trailor, the rule of thumb is
-1- 15 % off the new price for the first year
-2- 10 % off the new price for each additional year of age
-3- when (very) old then a minimal cost 15 % of new price if in reasonably well conditions.
2000-2002 Taipan should indeed be about 7000-5000 USD mark. I think they were just over 15.000 USD when bought new back then.
Wouter
Great! Thanks guys! I've gotten some other positive comments about the boat. If I can get it across country affordably, I'll do it!
Dave