Chinook 34 Sailboat – Cinnamon

What is it that possesses a man to buy an old sailboat? It’s some kind of fever that creeps in and takes over the mind and imagination. I find myself searching online on Craig’s List, Yacht World and other sailboat listings looking at the myriad of boats available. Walking the docks at our Marina looking at neglected boats, thinking with just a little TLC she could be back on the water.

Of course I have a budget so searching in my price range means either lowering expectations on size or be willing to put in a lot of sweat equity. Being from Portland and knowing the reputation for their bullet proof hulls and reasonable price, I centered my search on Cascades. I came to the realization that you can’t expect to have a 42 foot blue water sailboat ready to cruise for $40,000. We looked at a Cascade 42 in that price range, but quickly realized that she had many mile on all her systems and by the time I added it all up I was coming in closer to $80,000. Then we looked at a Cascade 36 that was being refit. She was well on her way to being a nice cruiser again, but had only depth gauge and Compass, sail suit was looking a little tired, no roller fuller on the headsail or windless for the anchor and so with a $30,000 base price again it was coming up to closer to $60,000.

As I was searching Google for information on Cascade Yacht’s Inc. I saw that they had change the name of the company from Yacht Constructors. Yacht Constructors had started in the late 1950’s by a group of Portland, Oregon sailboat enthusiast that got together to build themselves sailboats and had evolved into building their Cascade production line. When I did a Google search for Yacht Constructors it brought up an interesting link “1968 Yacht Constructors Chinook sailboat for sale in California”.

Chinook hull #68 was sent to Bay in 1968 from Portland, but wasn’t launched until 1993. Judging by the workmanship on the deck hardwood, electrical, etc., this is believable. Built with great care and well maintained. Moving forces sale. The Chinook hulls were mostly full keel/centerboard, but this one has no centerboard with an additional foot of keel and ballast glassed in for more stability and less hassle.

475 hours on 27hp Yanmar fresh water diesel, Lewmar self-tailing winches, single hand running rig, Dutchman flaking system on main, Harken roller furling, 40 gallon diesel tank, 20 gallon water bladder, water heater, electric pump, Jabsco head, Luke Heritage gimballed propane 2-burner stove/oven, propane heater, spare main and jib in good cond, 3 marine batteries, Garmin GPSMap, Rayethon autohelm 5000, 30lb. CQR, Simpson Lawrence manual windlass, ICom VHF, Signet Marine depth sounder, mini-fridge, microwave, 12V stereo/DVD player. Transferrable slip at Richardson Bay Marina. More photos at sausalitocruisingclub.com

WOW!!! and all that and what cool boat, I thought to myself. I contacted the owner to get more information and then started searching online to find out more about the Chinook 34.