It started with a simple question: “Want a free boat?” I said yes before my brain caught up with my mouth.
What I got was a 33-foot Chris-Craft cruiser — fully stripped down. The previous owner planned a full rebuild, started taking it apart, and never got to the putting-it-back-together part. So now that’s my job. With zero boating experience.
Right now she’s sitting on stands in a boatyard, shrink-wrapped like a giant leftover. Inside: a MerCruiser 260 that hasn’t run in years, batteries that look like a science experiment, and a lot of parts I can’t name yet.
Free boat. Expensive hobby. Let’s go.
I’m documenting all of it — every fix, every fail — so other new boaters can learn from my mistakes (and laugh at them). Follow along on YouTube.
[…] the owner of a fully stripped-down 33-foot Chris-Craft with twin 350s and zero boating experience (the full origin story is here). This first time boat owner checklist is everything I should have looked at before I said yes. […]