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Old 25-02-2018, 09:34   #1
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Boat: Custom Benford Liveaboard/Cruiser Price reduced to $90,000
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Custom Benford Mercedes Liveaboard/Cruiser $75,000

Kahana is an on deck 38’3”custom Benford Mercedes built by a cruising couple to circumnavigate. The brass wheel inside hooks up to cockpit tiller for dual steering to provide maximum comfort if motoring at night or to enjoy good weather outside while under sail. Hull was launched in 1995 and finished enough for a shakedown from San Diego CA to San Clemente and Catalina islands in 1997. A heart transplant followed by two more major surgeries kept us secured to a mooring delaying completion to 2010. Coast Guard inspectors said Kahana is the safest boat in the San Diego Bay. Sailed very little, she has been professionally maintained since the skipper went to heaven in 2013. The rig was inspected and hull surveyed in 2017. Questions may be emailed to [email]svkahana@hotmail.com Kahana is priced at US $149,000.

Price is changed to $129,000 as of 3/31/18

CUSTOM CONSTUCTION POINTS NOT FOUND IN PRODUCTION VESSELS
The hull was laid up on a one-off mold upside down so that the bottom is overlapped making the hull one piece. Double hull layup; inner mat and fiberglass cloth with isophthalic polyester resin to 3/8” thickness, ¾” airex core vacuum bagged, outer matt and fiberglass cloth layup with epoxy resin to 3/8” thickness. San Diego boat builder labels this a sledge hammer hull. Cutwater is 3” thick. Hull is lined with copper to improve radio transmission.
Lifeline stanchions are mounted into two brackets thru bolted in the bulwark. Stanchions are up off the deck as opposed to going through the deck. This prevents leaking decks. The teak caprail is screwed into a 1 x 4” board inside the top of the glass bulwark.
Cockpit decks are Port Orford cedar and teak. Rough sawn cedar planks were shipped from Oregon, stacked and air dried for 3 years before milling.
The bronze chain plates are thru bolted to a stainless backing plate inside the hull. This prevents any chewing of the fiberglass/epoxy layups from shrouds.
The rub rail is laminated teak and iron bark thru bolted to the ramin shear clamp inside the hull. Ramin, more expensive than teak, is the slowest growing, most valuable Indonesian hardwood and is no longer allowed to be harvested.
Bulkheads were taped in with resin saturated into 3 overlapping strips of roving of different widths. Each overlapping strip is wider than the previous strip. The top strip extended 8” on both the hull and bulkhead. Starboard bulkhead paneling, port bulkhead paneling and sole are teak. Fore and aft bulkheads are ramin. Deck beams are laminated teak and ramin 16” on center.
There is a primary and a secondary bilge pump with the secondary to come on should the water rise approx. 8” from bottom of the bilge.
Hanging locker shelves are glassed in between bulkheads making bulkheads immovable. The L-shaped vanity has 3 shelves glassed in tying the port bulkhead to the main bulkhead. The extra strength allowed for a privacy wall around the commode instead of a center bulkhead.
SPECS:
KAHANA Custom Jay Benford Mercedes Cutter 50’ overall 38’3” on deck 33’ waterline DRAW
DISPLACEMENT 32,000 #
POWER Perkins 4-108 diesel rebuilt on the bench in 2004 less than 200 engine hours
SAILS Jib, staysail and main were new in 1997. Jib flew 4 times, main twice, staysail not used.
ANCHORS 45# Bruce with 200’ chain – 70# plough with 30’ chain and rope rode.
FUEL 300 gallon main tank with pump to fill 10 gallon day tank
BALLAST 8500# lead with additional trim
WATER 130 gallons HEAD HOLD 90 gallons
HOUSE POWER 3 large solar panels 8 AGM house batteries & designated starter battery
Air Breeze Wind Generator Air Heart Inverter Link 2000
ELECTRONICS installed 2004, never used Furuno Radar, Garmin GPS Chart Plotter, VHS radio
REFER AC/DC/ICE Vitrifrigo installed 3/2015
COOKING Force 10 three burner with two rack oven that can hold a ten pound turkey
MANUALS Available for all
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svkahana is offline  
Old 25-02-2018, 09:55   #2
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re: Custom Benford Mercedes Liveaboard/Cruiser $75,000

Howdy!

That is a very interesting boat, and I do like Benford designs.

The interior wood looks very nice, so does the canvas sun/rain cover.

My friendly suggestions for adding to your post:

Upload photos of:
Cockpit or areas for sitting outside, if any.
Saloon (showing settees or space for sitting/sleeping) [the photo you uploaded makes the area seem dark]
Sleeping Berths (if in separate cabins)
Profile of boat (photos or a drawing showing hull shape would be good too).
Deck
Pilot House view forward (from inside), since you have an inside steering position).
___________

You will not be able to add photos to your top post (once posted you only have about 5 minutes to make changes to it). But, you can add additional photos in following comment posts. That is what I suggest.
___________

Good luck.
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Old 25-02-2018, 10:30   #3
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Boat: Custom Benford Liveaboard/Cruiser Price reduced to $90,000
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re: Custom Benford Mercedes Liveaboard/Cruiser $75,000

Good suggestions....have tons of photos in folders and would email to interested people. Email to svkahana@hotmail.com

I am 80 yr old widow and just couldn't figure out how to add more photos.

Thanks!
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Old 25-02-2018, 11:08   #4
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re: Custom Benford Mercedes Liveaboard/Cruiser $75,000

Quote:
Originally Posted by svkahana View Post
Good suggestions....have tons of photos in folders and would email to interested people. Email to svkahana@hotmail.com

I am 80 yr old widow and just couldn't figure out how to add more photos.

Thanks!
I understand. I had difficulty uploading photos too, but have developed some simple ways to do so. See my tips below. Hope they help you.
__________

How to post a photo or multiple photos on CF threads:

I encourage everyone to post photos in CF because everyone enjoys seeing photos of boats and photos of gear helps to clarify communications about problems and helps others help one another with answers that fit questions. When you post a comment, you can use the "Post Reply / Advanced / Manage Attachments" function to add up to 12 photos to your post. It first allows 6 photos, but if you upload six first, you can then add another 6 for a total of 12, if you want, all embedded in a single post, and all uploaded at one editing time.

Warning!
Be careful not to take too long to upload and edit your posts, as the forum software "times out" after a few minutes (and no one knows how long that is, but I suspect about 5-10 minutes), and all that writing effort can be lost. This is a common problem for members who write detailed or long posts.

Safest Method for Long Posts
If your post will be long or complex, or involve original writing, it is a smart idea to write your post on a text document using an off-forum text editor, then when you are finished writing it, copy and paste that Long text block into a new post. This is safer. I know, because I have lost original writing efforts due to the forum software timing out on me, causing a total loss of effort. This has happened to other CF Members too. So, if your post is long, or detailed, or complex, or important original writing, then make sure you write it off the forum first. That is what I do, after learning the hard way.
-----------------------

You can find a very easy to follow video instruction about how to post photos on CF by going to the FAQ here or look on YouTube for a very clear video that shows how to do it. It is easy, but not intuitive. The video is a big help. Here is a link to the video.
https://youtu.be/NW5n8vZM34c

Watch and it is very easy to do. You can also post other types of content (videos, etc.) and photo files of many kinds.

Speedy Tip 1:
I usually post a jpg photo file that is about 1200x800 pixels, because that is what I consider a nice large size for web viewing. Most files can be downsized to about 100kb - 400kb or some larger. If my original photo file is high resolution (like a photo I take with my iPad), I prefer to first use some software (an app) to downsize the image file so that it is smaller and faster to upload. Since I use my iPad for most of my web surfing and CF surfing too, I use a free app called "Image Size" (by www.vsmedia.de) which is very easy, fast, and has multiple options. It does have some ads in the free version, but $1.99 removes the ads. I have no connection to that app other than being a happy user. It works for me and is intuitive and flexible.

Speedy Tip 2:
If you think you might refer to that photo in the future (e.g. Photos of your own boat or boat projects or gear), you could also upload it to your CF Profile and start a photo album there to contain your boat photos.

Speedy Tip 3:
Some people will upload photos to their own blog or website or a photo hosting site, and then use that photo or want to embed that photo in a post. Since I do most of my surfing from my iPad, I simply copy a photo and save it to my iPad, then upload it to my posts from my iPad, or Mac if I am using it instead. In other words, I temporarily have the photo on my iPad, and then after I upload it in my post I delete it from my iPad.

_________________

Here is another method recommended by one of the CF mods:

1. upload the image you want to attach to an online service or your own website or blog.
2. use the "insert image" tool and enter the url of the image you have uploaded.

3. Conversely, if the image is on an existing website, right click on the image and select copy image location url or similar wording, and again enter it into the image tool field.

Here is a topic on CF with the video embedded.
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...st-133457.html
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Old 26-02-2018, 10:06   #5
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re: Custom Benford Mercedes Liveaboard/Cruiser $75,000

What a beautiful boat. Obviously a work of love.
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Old 26-02-2018, 10:59   #6
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re: Custom Benford Mercedes Liveaboard/Cruiser $75,000

Wow, this boat not will stay long here...
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Old 03-03-2018, 21:04   #7
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re: Custom Benford Mercedes Liveaboard/Cruiser $75,000

email address didn't work
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Old 04-03-2018, 03:59   #8
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re: Custom Benford Mercedes Liveaboard/Cruiser $75,000

Try again...I have received emails from others from this site.

svkahana@hotmail.com
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Old 31-03-2018, 03:15   #9
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Boat: Custom Benford Liveaboard/Cruiser Price reduced to $90,000
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re: Custom Benford Mercedes Liveaboard/Cruiser $75,000

Price is changed to $129,000 as of 3/31/18
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Old 05-04-2018, 06:51   #10
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Boat: Custom Benford Liveaboard/Cruiser Price reduced to $90,000
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re: Custom Benford Mercedes Liveaboard/Cruiser $75,000

Received an email from a forum member who commented about Kahana being 1 cabin. As explained she was built for a cruising couple who occasionally had guests. The SETTEES/COUCHES in main salon slide out to double berths making Kahana more livable full time. Also noted the boat was just hauled to check thru hulls, sand and paint the bottom.
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Old 22-04-2018, 01:50   #11
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Boat: Custom Benford Liveaboard/Cruiser Price reduced to $90,000
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re: Custom Benford Mercedes Liveaboard/Cruiser $75,000

Cutting price to $119,000
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Old 19-05-2018, 07:28   #12
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re: Custom Benford Mercedes Liveaboard/Cruiser $75,000

If you think you might be interested, email me for survey result. Also, reducing price to $115,000
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Old 26-05-2018, 17:22   #13
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re: Custom Benford Mercedes Liveaboard/Cruiser $75,000

She looks like a real blue water boat. The chainplates and rigging suggest well suited for transoceanic crossing. I would like to know more about her Keel configuration and ballast. Her specs put this vessel in the heavy displacement catagory. Is the vessel documented? Would love to see more photos (in and out of the water)


Nick
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Old 27-05-2018, 05:36   #14
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re: Custom Benford Mercedes Liveaboard/Cruiser $75,000

Email me at svkahana@hotmail.com Kahana is Coast Guard documented, full keel permanent ballast 8500#. Below the water line is the engine, water and 300 gal fuel tank.
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Old 28-05-2018, 15:33   #15
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re: Custom Benford Mercedes Liveaboard/Cruiser $75,000

I’d like to see the survey if you receive this message. Thanks❤️
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