450: Lagoon 450F - Refit for a Cruising Boat

[Catapault]

Thanks everyone for the great comments ! I'm glad its usefull to post.

We got all our stuff (41 boxes worth !) delivered in Rhodos on Thursday, and are now safely back in Marmaris. Boat swallowed the lot just fine, just as long as we don't look in the pt-aft cabin...

Unfortunately it was a motor trip, as I blew out the lashing on the clew of the main sail and didn't get a chance to fix it. That has now been done. Replaced (what we think was) 3mm kevlar cored lashing line which had chafed and snapped, with 6mm spectra.

Also fixed how the reefing lines were done.

Massive thanks to PaulinOz and Emerald Sea for a drawing and details on how their main was rigged at the back. I'm not sure what the previous owner of this boat was smoking, but the rigging of the main and sail bag was 'special'.


There area couple other jobs going on, which I'll post pics for once complete.

One that I forgot to mention, is a new Swim ladder, custom built by the stainless guys here. Wider, with high handholds, not folding, and 5 steps (longer). Saw it today for a test fit. Looks great !.

Today they glassed in a large reinforcing plate under the stbd-aft step to support it and stop the transom bending whenever someone (me) climbs up. - I'm not the lightest person in the universe....
One guy was upside down in the engine room fitting it !.

Also underway are a new microwave shelf, mods to the master shower drain system to ditch that stupid 15sec timer button, mods to the transom shower, and some extra power points going in this week.

Pics to follow !

[Catapault]

Originally Posted by SB Doug

Wow, just beautiful! Thanks for sharing in such great detail.

We're about a year or so behind you, with a used owners 450 on the very short list. So watching your refit with great interest.

Also eager to hear any info you can share on costs. How are yard and refit costs in Turkey compared to what you'd expect in other areas?

This is one area in which I'm a novice. I have no experience in other locations, or even other work on boats to compare whether the prices here are high, low, or medium. This is our first boat, so I have no benchmark other than google....

That said, they seem ok to me, given its custom work of high quality. Anything Marine is expensive, and anything custom is expensive, combine the two and..... Some things seemed to cost more than I would of thought they would, but we are very happy with the end results.

Couple of things were a bit eye-watering, The SD 60 electric winch
conversion was one. Water maker another. But most of that was the cost of the parts themselves.

Where as the complete rigging check, replacement of all standing rigging and tune (with electronic strain gauges) was quite a bit less than expected. Even though they up-sized most of the terminals.

Based on comments from a couple of other boats who have been in here for work, the prices are upper side of reasonable, but quality is much higher than found elsewhere in eastern med. (NOTE: Major generalisation of course!). Hope they can comment when they get a chance.

You get what you pay for though. I'd rather pay more for a quality job that won't fall apart in the first storm. Although our solar frame could also be used as a climbing gym...

There was a new Helia 44 in here a week or two back who needed a number of small jobs done and it got pretty much swarmed with tech staff to knock off a bunch of jobs in just a couple days. I know they left pretty happy.

Once I can separate 'maintenance' from 'new work' I'll post a general figure of the new work.

Individual costs are a tricky one, I'm not keen on sharing detailed prices publicly, just seems to cause more angst than it solves. PM me if you want specifics.

Regards

Mark.

[PaulinOz]

Mark, Post the pictures if you rec them from WOC also interested to have a look.

[Steve_C]

These are the pics I received from WOC. I have no idea why some are upside down. I have removed them twice and they are not upside down until I preview them.?????

[Catapault]

Thanks Steve / WoC, interesting mod there !.

WoC, looks like you have the hard-top from the guys in Florida ? How do you find it ?


In other news. Mainsail fixed, and new Swim ladder and mods to transom shower went in today.

Rest will be finished off whilst I'm away. 6 days till I fly to a ship in the high arctic for two weeks... , time to ditch the t-shirt for layers...

3 1/2 week still we actually kick off cruising. Can't wait.

Regards

Mark.

[SB Doug]

Mark, thanks for sharing the additional info and opinions on quality of work versus cost at the yard you're using. Sounds like you've found a great balance! This is good feedback.

Nice to see things coming along so well, and thanks again for the great detail and photos. Sounds like you'll be off soon!

[ranchero76]

Originally Posted by Steve_C

These are the pics I received from WOC. I have no idea why some are upside down. I have removed them twice and they are not upside down until I preview them.?????

That's nice lift! Is it fully custom or have you used some of the shelf parts?

[Catapault]

Update: Office Finished

They did a great Job on the office furniture, looks great and for a quick test, works great. Chair fits, can swivel (just). Key to that was the left and right cut-outs which are both to allow swivel, and to give a secondary work area on the left.

I did have to take the arms off my Aeron chair to fit and swivel comfortably, but thats ok.

Hatch to access the A/C and fwd storage is totally flush, with a flush pull up, and hinged for easy access.

Air inlet Vent for A/C was moved to under the desk. (from the sides).

Couple extra power points go in tomorrow.
And, as a bonus, it actually wouldn't be hard at all to turn it back into a berth if needed in future. Just need an infill piece and supports where the chair goes.

[Catapault]

Update: Kitchen Microwave Shelf

Kitchen mods completed with shelf for our large Panasonic Microwave / Convection oven.

What is weird, is it is actually less than 1/2 the weight of the original one that came with the boat, but is larger, with a LOT more functions. We've had this MW for quite a few years and love it. Will easily run off the inverter / solar.

Shelf looks like it was designed to go there. They matched the existing timber and trim quite well. - Custom located power point goes in tomorrow (on bench at rear of MW).

Securing: Microwave feet are sitting in 4 custom machines nylon discs, which are screwed down to the shelf. Then there is an Inox right angle bracket on each side which bolts it down. Legs are connected front to back by a plate, so as not to rock. Its not moving.

Bonus: Significantly adds to the storage in the kitchen.

[Steve_C]

Originally Posted by Catapault

Update: Office Finished

They did a great Job on the office furniture, looks great and for a quick test, works great. Chair fits, can swivel (just). Key to that was the left and right cut-outs which are both to allow swivel, and to give a secondary work area on the left.

I did have to take the arms off my Aeron chair to fit and swivel comfortably, but thats ok.

Hatch to access the A/C and fwd storage is totally flush, with a flush pull up, and hinged for easy access.

Air inlet Vent for A/C was moved to under the desk. (from the sides).

Couple extra power points go in tomorrow.
And, as a bonus, it actually wouldn't be hard at all to turn it back into a berth if needed in future. Just need an infill piece and supports where the chair goes.

Very nice job, I was thinking about doing the same thing. It's great to see it worked so well. It looks like you could also add some storage behind the monitor if needed. Maybe a great spot for a printer and such.

The Microwave looks nice also, they did a great job matching the finish.

Thanks for sharing!

[PaulinOz]

Awesome job mate,thanks for sharing.

[Valiente]

Awesome.

I am refloating this thread to help the member considering transforming a 4 cabin 420 into 3 cabin, as your conversion of a fwd cabin is worth to see!

[CatNewBee]

Well thank you very much for refloating this thread!

Your office fwd looks great!

The L420 has unfortunately a complete different design of the hulls fwd, the fwd beds are under the deck in 90° angle. The owner version is somehow inserting a wall in the mid of the cavity and implementing there the bathroom.



vs Owners Version:



Probably the rest of the forward bed is accessible through the hatch on the deck, just like the middle compartment in the nose - that is often used as an optional skipper berth having the 5th. head for the skipper installed in the one bow compartment / crash box and the shower in the other one.

I will have to figure out how to use this spaces efficiently once I have bought the boat. The Admiral wants to have a nice & spacious head / shower room - I assume it will become a bigger re-fit project.

Very well done, your modifications indeed. I like you solar setup and the carpenter work in the galley / office. Looks like it has been there just out of the factory, despite you lose the aft windows by the TV / microwave.

Please continue posting your improvements with pictures, they are a great inspiration for us!

[On The Brink]

Wooowser! What cool projects! Love the solar addition and of course all of the space creating ideas. I want to come to Turkey and park right next you. Great job!

Jeanette

[matt w]

Really well done on the thoughtful layout of everything! So practical and great use of the available space. Thanks for posting everything, it is very inspirational to see what can be done to make a boat more suited to specific needs. Congrats on finding such high quality craftsmanship, that makes such a huge difference to the outcome.