Phantom 21ft - 1995 ?

[Toffy]

Bad news (for the 2nd time today, it's just one of those days I guess...)

The German seller has trouble in his personal life and suddenly insists on selling the complete boat+engine. I just hate it when people don't keep their promises, he even send me an email 'out of the blue' with an offer to sell only his engine...

Pitty... the search for a 250hp engine continues...
Thanks for the tips though, I learned about these Mercs

[Toffy]

Hi guys! I made a trip to North Holland today to see that blue Phantom (yes it is blue )
I made a lot of pictures, I'll post a few of them below...
I 'd like you guys opinion on my comment and pics.
Thanks T.

First impression :
It was lying on wooden pallets in the rain, awfull sight to see !
Owner says it's been there for a few months. I think max 1 year.
Second impression : I think we could bring this one to life again.
But it 'll take some time and work (and a trailer and engine)

Hull :
it's seems a dutch Jan Korteland Phantom (there's no plug at the back)
No HINnr, I believe JK's don't have that kind of number on them...
repainted from yellow to blue. Special nice colour. You can see some yellow at some small damages.
was damaged at the front, but properly repaired! still to be repainted on that spot.
some small damages at the bottom. shiney deck, some chrome parts, all in excellent condition. Nice "Phantom 21ft" plate at the back. No trimtabs.
Owner says it's quite heavy in comparison to his friends P21. NO chinewalk whatsoever doing 125km/h with a Merc 250hp. It seems a solid strong rig. Single cable steering works fine, but in my opinion not good enough for 250hp.
conlusion: it still looks rather good but must get a local repaint... Don't think a whole repaint is necessary.

Interior :
The cover didn't seal of the interior properly. There was water at the back inside the boat (the disadvantages of NO plug )
Moisty atmosphere : saw some mushrooms growing I think these are in the (nice) carpet and not the wood underneath. Not certain though ! Seats, steering wheel,... all dirty but still in rather good condition. A lot of holes in the dashboard...
conclusion : it's good enough

Transom :
Looks and feels very solid. Certainly a lot better than the wreck I looked at a few weeks back. Metal cover. see the transom-pics. However I don't know how a P21 transom should look. I see there are transversal beems in the polyester which give extra strength, guess all P21's have this? Some very small cracks at starbord side. I see they used silicone to make everything waterproof. As said above, at the inside there was a lot of water... Wonder if it hurted the transom wood. On the other hand : it shows the polyester coat is waterproof...
There's a useable jackplate. Mounts seem solid. At the inside you can see an support plate under the bolts... Think it should be a bit bigger.
conslusion : Transom looks OK

[Toffy]

Hull pics. Note the repair.

[Toffy]

Interior pics. Note the big white mushroom on the carpet in the front part... There was one in between the front seats too...

[Toffy]

Some transom pics. Think it looks quite nice and solid...
Note the waterlevel at the inside + the support plate for the jackplate bolts... Is this support plate big enough ?

[Burty]

How much money do they want for it?
do you really want a painted boat when there are lots of other good unpainted ones out there?
the transom has been cut down to allow to run a 15" mid section
You will need new steering for sure
Its got no bow tank!
are the internal structures ok if its had water sat in it for a year???

[Toffy]

Originally Posted by Burty

How much money do they want for it?
do you really want a painted boat when there are lots of other good unpainted ones out there?
the transom has been cut down to allow to run a 15" mid section
You will need new steering for sure
Its got no bow tank!
are the internal structures ok if its had water sat in it for a year???

Owner asks 1600€ for it. (price of a new one is about 15000€)
Are there lots of other good unpainted boats out there ?? I've been looking for a few months now here in Belgium and Holland, and I haven't found one yet... Painted, original gelcoat,... it doesn't matter, I just can't seem to find a P21 within the budget I wanna spend. Also Importing a boat from GB is too expensive and complicated I think...

Thanks for pointing out that the transom has been cut down. I know they do that to run shorter mid section engines, I just didn't know what it looked like. I guess cut transoms are weaker and therefore not so good ?

No bow tank indeed... but owner says it runs really stable... and bow (water)tanks are only needed in the rough ?? I can always put one in, but then I also would have to move the bow fuel tank (not installed in the picture) to the back... A lot of work

Are the internal structures ok ? I don't know. I can only hope so.
The mushrooms and the water in the back don't look good... What's your opinion ? Please advise.

Thanks so far Burty

[Wild Thing]

Forty foot bardge pole springs to mind. (UK wording for buyer beware) You will be out the price of a good boat by the time you get it the way you want it.

[Burty]

buying a boat from GB is easy, just turn up pay cash and tow it back home. Easy see

[Toffy]

Originally Posted by Burty

buying a boat from GB is easy, just turn up pay cash and tow it back home. Easy see

+
OK the buying in itself seems easy, but I think this is the same everwhere. Prices also seem a bit lower in GB.

-
But there are some cons : distance and travel time, travel insurance for boat and trailer, extra importtaxes (are there ???), the paperwork on the trailer : in Belgium they have to have a chasis-number otherwise we cannot get it legally registered. So no number => trailer = scrap...

I just don't know how 'importing boats from the UK' works...
But when my search for a payable rig continues to go bad here on the land ( ) I'm gonna turn to GB I guess...

[FabFour]

Avoid this boat with the mushroom.

Mushrooms are the external representation of the mycelium - the 'plant' that is fungi. It eats wood, and grows throughout the wood. If it has 'friuted' ie it has external mushroom, then the fungi has been active for around 18 months. All the wooden sections of this boat that are exposed in any way will have been infected by the spoors. They are rotten. They are also wet. The mushroom required damp wood to grow, and the mushroom eats the wood.

So you have very weak, incurable wood sections that are also damp. - all under the fibreglass and everything...

[Toffy]

Originally Posted by FabFour

Avoid this boat with the mushroom.
...
and the mushroom eats the wood.
So you have very weak, incurable wood sections that are also damp. - all under the fibreglass and everything...

Thanks for that info FabFour. As I'm learning about natures flora, I'm getting more and more sad about this boat Thought it was alot better than the P18 disappointment I got a few weeks back (and it probably IS), but you guys seem to rate this blue P21 as "not good enough". It is rather cheap but has a cut transom, rotten wood structures, too much cost and trouble to make it good again... I wonder, does anyone has any positive comment on this boat at all

Think I must leave this as it is.
Thanks for your usefull comments . I am disappointed, but happy not to buy a mistake.
T.

PS : foto of the other 10cm mushroom between the front seats.

[Burty]

cut transoms are ok if done properly, the problem you would of had is unless you were planing on running a 15" mid it would have been difficult to fix the top engine bolts of a 20 as they would have been in thin air

[Lars T]

The seller should be paying you for the boat..
I would never buy a boat without a plug.!?

You need to rethink your budget