Regal

 

 

 

 

Fontaine Pagot Motor Catamaran

 

 

 

 

Cranchi

 

 

 

 

Sunseeker Manhattan

 

 

 

 

Sealine 365

 

 

 

 

Pershing 62

 

 

 

 

Fairline Targa 52

 

 

 

 

Beneteau Monte Carlo 32

 

 

 

 

Sunseeker Manhattan 60

 

 

 

 

Trader 41

 

 

 

 

Astondoa 46

After 14 months Rafiki II appeared out of the boatyard looking beautiful.

She has had osmosis treatment, new standing rigging and the engine was treated to a 5000 hour overhaul.

She had been fitted with a new teak deck only a few years earlier and this only required a good clean (no sanding)

The topside stripes were repainted and the original topside gel coat was polished up.

 

 

The first job was to blast the hull with sand to remove the old antifouling paint and uncover the gel coat.

What appeared  was mositure bleeding though the weakened gel coat

It is what we expected from the initial moisture readings so no one was really surprised

 

 

Now the rough stuff starts and a sand / slurry blast removes the gel coat and weak laminate.

A bit of manual grinding is also needed to shape out some weakened areas and expose some more material around the voids.

 

 

 

 

 

Voids are now opened up and thorough, repeated high pressure washing starts, then just leave to dry……….

That,s what is so great with Portugal, just leave her out and the hot, dry weather will do the job without the need for tents and hot vacs.

 

 

 

As would be expected the rudder required quite some rebuilding. Here we had wrap  fibre glass rovings around the leading edge of the rudder and substantially build up the deteriorated surface.

 

 

 

 

Some months later, giving her plenty of time to dry out, we can start the epoxy paint system.  Where there has been heavy grinding back and weakened  laminate repairs are carried out with fibreglass rovings to build up the surface.  Working in small manageable sections areas are wetted out, ensuring the resin  penetrates  the small voids and open laminate. Then epoxy  filler is applied. Once the entire hull has been coated it can be sanded down to take another fairing  filler.

 

 

 

A final sanding is carried out and then layers of epoxy resin are applied, again working in small sections so that the surface never dries out.

The epoxy paint system is applied when the temperature and humidity are at acceptable levels.

Finally the blue stripes were painted on, the topside gel coat polished up and the underwater hull primed to take antifouling paint.

 

 

Contractors:

Hull: Slick Hull

Engine and machinery: Bluewater Marine Serices

Rigging: Just Boats

Electrical: John Holloway

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lovely old Westerly. Fitted out to cruise, just needed some cosmetics.

 

 

 

 

Beneteau Oceanis Clipper 43

Lots of room, well maintained, good value for money.

 

 

 

Another old one, a Nicholson 38 Ketch from 1972

Pre purchase survey

Project Management; sandblasted hull, removed some old skin fittings, cleaned the fuel tank

and fitted a new holding tank.

 

Insurance survey on an old Warrior 35

well maintained just needed a new standing rigging and some gas pipes

 

 

 

and a modern one, so different……

RM1350 new build warranty survey

 

 

 

Bavaria Ocean 47, a big boat for the money, built for crossing oceans

Cockpit drains are stainless steel tubes straight through to the hull; these had corroded at the hull face and were leaking

 

 

 

 

Another good example of an old, but unloved, more traditional yacht, a Tradewind 33.

 

 

 

Great old Nicholson, well travelled, still in great shape

 

 

 

 

Bavaria 37, lots for your money

 

 

 

 

Sigma 33, always a winner

 

 

 

 

Fontaine Pajot 36, lots of space and very simple.

 

 

 

 

Westerley 38, always a popular boat

 

 

 

 

 

Nauticat, another popular boat, take you anywhere you want to go,  sold quickly

 

 

 

 

Ovni 43, sought after aluminium, lifting keel, sail anywhere yacht

 

 

 

 

A classic wine glass hull shape, the Contessa 32 in need of some TLC

 

This boat had just been refitted with a new teak deck six months earlier and had sailed from Sweden to Portugal with increasing amounts of water entering the accommodation. Close examination revealed a number of defects.

 

Deck scuppers fitted by HR are usually good quality, bronze top hat type fittings. These had been ground off at the top during lifting the old teak deck and refitted using sealant.  A visible source of water entry

 

The new teak deck had been screwed down which is an unusual method as many shipwrights would now use glue.

Some screw holes had been drilled oversize and filled with sealant without bothering to shape a teak plug. Some plugs were missing and some were loose.

 

Chain plate deck fittings were not square to the deck and the raised edges were filled with sealant. Some screws could not be tightened down and sealant had been used to make up for the lack of thread.

The same defect was also evident on the filler caps.

The mast is deck stepped and the foot was bent out of shape and sat unevenly on the teak deck. Sealant was used to fill the raised edges and two screws were actually loose.

There were cracks in some planks, the grain orientation showed that poor quality teak had been used, the caulking width was not always even, planks were not always square cut and the sealant on to the coach roof had come away from the fibre glass.

A decision was taken to remove the teak deck. It was found to be poorly bonded to the deck and the deck had been poorly prepared to take a new teak deck. The moisture readings were high and the yacht had to be tented and dried out using dehumidifiers and hot vacs.

After drying core samples were taken and the deck repaired using epoxy resin filler. The screw holes were drilled out oversize and with so many screw holes both from the original and recent teak deck there was a lot of painstaking filling to do.

 

A new teak deck was laid using glue with just a few screws to enable fixing which were later removed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Always trying to spot one

Left :Failure of a brass ( unlikely to be  bronze) skin fitting on a 2004 fast motor cruiser, discovered on the pre sea trial check.

Right: This sea cock just came off in my hands ! Plastic skin fitting at fault.

 

 

 

 

 

Damage to longitudinal and floor on a 2006 fast motor cruiser. No signs of collision and the hull externally was good.

 

 

 

Gate valve used as a sea cock on a  1975 sailing yacht.

Maybe its been there for years but they are not recommended as if the collar and thread fail it will most likely fail in the open position and you cannot close it.

 

 

 

Sea water inlet hose nearly melted through, seen here forced against the hot exhaust pipe on a Mercruiser.

 

 

 

 

Not much chance of getting to these sea cocks….. trying to hide behind the exhaust pipe. Did they close ? Did they……..

 

 

 

 

Bad paint job. Lifted out of the water, chocked up and oh dear ! all the paint slides off.

Just been painted in Germany, had to blast the entire hull, fill the damaged hull, fair and repaint.

 

 

 

One way to stop those drips……..whats underneath ?

 

 

 

 

Not recommended and rarely seen.

Not seized and anyway D Shackles should not be used on standing rigging.

 

 

 

Fuel header tank situated above and behind the engine without the correct valves.

It is recommended to fit a valve on the outlet which can be closed remotely from the cockpit and isloating valves on the sight glass which should only be opened when the level needs to be observed.

 

 

 

One propeller of a twin screw yacht; galvanic corrosion caused by failure of shaft earth strap

 

 

 

 

Sail drive leg corroded due to a stray current from ground plate (used as 12 volt earth) on the same yacht .

A fault was traced where 12 volts was passing to the earth wire connected to the ground plate.

 

 

 

Just the one propeller, of a twin screw yacht, where zinc has been depleted.

This shaft was fitted with a flexible coupling, the other not.

 

 

 

 

 

Just occasionally a really good boat comes along with everything on board you could ask for without a long list of  defects.  Fitted out for blue water cruising this boat had it all. The only major defects were a seized sea cock located deep down in a locker housing the generator and a rusty fuel tank.

The sole boards were extremely difficult to lift and the new Owner accepted the Survey recommendations to fit access panels so that the keel bolts and bilges could be accessed.

Purchased in 2008 as a Project having no engine installed and obvious blisters which had been partially ground out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With only the gel coat ground away with a rotary sander many voids were visible which required sand blasting to open up.

Due to the length of time the lamiante had been exposed and the favourable ambient temperatures in Portugal the moisture readings were generally at acceptable levels.

After preparing a repair specification and obtaining quotations from both boatyyards in the UK and Portugal the Owner decided to return the yacht to the UK , closer to home.