1973 Columbia Center Cockpit - Brand new engine and genset

PRICE DROP 7/20/20 ~ FIRESALE! Owner’s loss is your gain!! 

BRAND NEW ENGINE AND GENSET!!! AS IS MOST EVERYTHING ON THE BOAT! NEW AND UNUSED! FINISH THE REFIT OF THIS GORGEOUS COLUMBIA 45, AND GET CRUISING!!!

Description from the owner, because as the broker, I could never do justice to the labor of love that the owner has poured into this boat, as well as the hundreds of thousands of dollars, he will never see back. virtually everything is new! There is some work to finish, like completing engine install, genset install, some headliner etc, but most is complete, and very nicely done.

Pease note, this boat is unfinished, and is about 90% complete  

"Over fifteen years ago my wife and I decided to take early retirement and go on an adventure.  We downsized our home and purchased a ranch style home in a retirement community.  At the same time we purchased a used sailboat.  A Columbia 45 Hull #52.

How did we choose the Columbia 45?  My son found an article on the internet and showed it to us.  The story was about a boat nicknamed “The Tank”.  In 1988 Porto Rico had a very bad hurricane.  The pictures and article was about a boat, the lone survivor of this hurricane.  They showed a Columbia 45 a half a  mile inland from its moorage.  It was laying in among a pile of debris to include about 8 large boats that were totally destroyed.  Then it showed them examining the Columbia 45 and surprisingly found nothing structurally wrong with the boat and put it back in the water.  That was enough for me.  I wanted that boat.

When we purchased the boat in Washington, my intention was to sail it back to Oregon in the dead of winter.  At the Washington marina, I was having a transducer installed and I was expressing regrets about buying an older boat.  The marina owner showed me 4 salvaged sail boats totally destroyed.  All boats where less then (8) years old and cost over $250,000. He first showed me his latest salvage.  The boat was moored out on a buoy.  It got loose during a clear night and drifted ashore hitting a large bolder on the portside.  It had a four foot hole on the port hull.  A witness said it sank in about two minutes.

What the marina owner wanted to show me was how thin the hulls are now.  He then showed me the plug he just cut from our boat to install the new transducer.  That plug was about three times as thick as the salvage boat.  He told me to keep the plug and pull it out and look at it if I ever begin to regret my decision again.

Then the owner gave me a history lesson on boat construction and manufacturers.  It turns out our boat was designed by the infamous Navel Architect, William Tripp.  The Columbia 45 was named “Boat of the Year” in the 70’s, designed by one of the most famous Naval Architects in the US.  Also, he told me that in the early days of fiberglass manufacturing of boats they did not know how much fiberglass to put into the hull construction nor how many layers was needed to hold bulkheads in place.  He said because they didn’t know, most manufacturers over engineered by today’s standard." 

Working on this boat has been my life for (10) years.  It has truly been a labor of love or me.  A reason to keep going.  During the rebuild I went through (9) major surgeries, a heart attack and a mild stroke.  My life is now in a wheel chair.  It is very difficult for me to call it quits and walk away with the boat not completed and our dream of circumnavigating the world coming to an end.  I hope the new owner completes it and is as proud to sail it as I would be.

Frank

Please call the listing broker now to view a true labor of love that is looking for her forever home! 

Please contact Jason Whitaker on 971-244-2667, or [email protected]