The story of "Impulsive" is a pretty good tale. After getting the 1970 Commander without power, I was in the market for two complete drivetrains. I came across this boat in my travels, it had been sitting at an oilfield machine shop for about 7 years. It was some funky as you can see, here's another view:
It was a 28' 1979 Catalina, I think the plate called it a 280. It had been repowered in 1994 with the Vovlo Penta, 350's up from twin 305's. As it sat, the hour meters were reading 160 & 175. During an offshore fishing trip, they hit something and one of the 1" shafts wrung off at the strut. It was a long ride home and the boat was parked at the shop. New shafts were made, also there was one new prop with the other refurbished. It was also sitting on a galvanized 3 axle trailer. Not a real good one, but something that would move it. I made the deal got it home.
We stopped at a carwash on the way back and spent about $20 cleaning off the gradoo. My brother and I used a neighbor's backhoe and pulled the engines. I ended up removing the repower wiring harness, instruments, all major engine / battery wiring, the trim tabs with controls and motor, the seawater strainers and all the Hynautic steering components. That seemed like all I could use from the boat and leave it as intact as possible. I cleaned up the interior and put ads for sale in local sale papers. It looked pretty good, here's some shots:
It took a while before anyone got serious about the deal. I had some lookers, but the final buyer took the deal for the trailer. He already had a running version of the same boat, but needed a trailer. They bought it, took the hardtop off for their boat and gave the boat to one of my neighbor's friends. I got rid of it and got a major part of the investment back plus all the extra parts. To sum things up and give a happy ending to the whole story, the guy they gave it to and his mechanic buddy got the boat back on the water. Here it is:
I'd still rather have the Commander.
Mike Burdette
