Survey Complete

[JRM]

Greetings all,

We finished the survey on the boat, and as expected it was good and bad news. I had done a fairly extensive inspection myself, and also had an experienced cruiser friend have a pretty good look. There were only a few surprises in the survey, and most of those were good . I'm definitely no expert, but with enough reading and a few years slave labor on our current vessel, I think I did OK. Worth every penny to have a real professional, especially one so familiar with the make.

When we did the haulout, I got estimates from the yard for them doing all the work. The yard folks were super cool, and were willing to allow me to pick bits and pieces out of the quotes for them to do, while I did the rest. They're happy to do as much or as little as I'd like them to. That's great, and they don't mind people working in the yard, even on weekends.

My plan going into the survey was simple. I know the boat is a project. It's almost 40 years old, so how could it not be. The admiral and I set a dollar figure for work required as discovered by the survey and our previous estimates. If at any point, the tally went above that amount, we'd pass on the boat. Even with the yard doing significant work (which I plan to do, but stuff happens), the estimated figure was about a third of the max budget. I figure if I double it, that should be about right, so we're still in business.

We're in the paperwork and escrow phase. Hopefully we'll close everything next week. I'm a bit hesitant to offer too many specifics until the deal is done (personal hangup, I guess) but it seems that I'm the guy buying the Valiant in Ventura after all. I kept waiting for someone else to bail me out and buy it, but eventually it's siren song just became too much.

JRM

[David_Old_Jersey]

Fingers crossed the paperwork goes ok.....and then lots of pics and details please!

[JRM]

It's official. We now own Valiant 40 hull #114, built in 1975 for the '76 OSTAR. She's one of the pre-blister Valiants. I've got to replace the batteries before I take her home, as they're completely shot. Hopefully I can get that done tomorrow... Pics to come.

JRM

[DSDman]

Congrats and welcome to the I got a new, old boat club. Let the repairs begin and the money flow!

[Cruising Moxy]

That's good news for sure. We are 2 years into the ownership of our Gozzard G41 hull#1 and have been pleasantly surprised with the$$$ spent on repairs. Most of the 10 year old stuff failed as planned but we've only reinvested about 10% of the purchase price after she spent 3.5 years on the hard.

We have been living aboard 18 months now n Lovin the dream.

Best of luck you.

[JRM]

Originally Posted by DSDman

Congrats and welcome to the I got a new, old boat club. Let the repairs begin and the money flow!

No joke!

I conned a very experienced sailor friend to help me bring it up from Ventura to Santa Barbara on Thursday. That's a straight upwind trip, and we planned to motor it more like a delivery than a sail. Planned, that is.

During the sea trial, we noted that the engine overheated when driven at full throttle, but maintained cruising RPM just fine. Since we bought "as-is" I knew at some point I would have to deal with the overheating issue after I moved the boat up to SB.

What we found is that we were in fact able to cruise at decent RPM for about 45 minutes, until the engine started overheating. After reducing back down to idle, I found that the max I could sustain and not overheat was 1000 RPM, which with the wind and waves was about 1.8 knots. Having left 3 hours late, we were not prepared for an 11 hour trip...

So, being a sailboat, we put up the sails and had an amazing sail at around 6.5 knots in between 12 and 15 knots of wind (according to the instrument, which seemed a bit generous). We balanced her out and let the tiller pilot drive for a bit. Unfortunately the wind died about 3 miles out, so it was back on the slow boat for the last part.

After further thought, I have a theory. I think the problem is in the heat exchanger, which I will be removing (along with a new impeller in the raw water pump) next week when I finally get a day off of work that isn't spoken for. The boat has engine driven hot water, and I think this was acting as a functional heat exchanger until the water was hot, then the engine started over heating. Since we didn't run for more than half an hour on the test sail or survey, and we didn't run the revs up till the end of the survey anyway, I missed it. The surveyor suggested an engine survey, but since I budgeted a repower into my three year plan I didn't get one. I think I'll go ahead with the oil analysis as soon as I change it (after the impeller and heat exchanger fixes).

In other news I found a treasure trove of gear in the aft lazarette, including a para-anchor and gale rider drogue, along with bags of warps, all brand new. That was the top layer. I haven't even started trying to ID what's underneath it.

Also, BoatUS decided to cancel my insurance based on the survey write-up. The surveyor noted, and we spoke at length, about a repair to a chainplate mount. He put it in the "recommended" and not "required" categories and told me I could fix it when I pulled the mast this winter. Not good enough for BoatUS. They declared that I was only insured while in the slip, and not covered in any way while under way, motor or sail. They wanted another survey or a yard bill from the repair. And they refused to answer my simple question: "how can I get to the yard to have the repair made if I'm only insured while in the slip?" They're not interested in any sort of customer service, unless it's the customer servicing accounts receivable. Called another company and had insurance in an hour.

Other than that, the admiral is down cleaning up the inside while I'm stuck here at work for three days. Given what we've discovered lurking in the easily accessible places, I can't wait to see what treasures await us in the darker recesses... Here's a pic of what the surveyor found after digging out all the pots and pans in his quest to access the chainplates... He even added it to the list of "navigation equipment"...

[JRM]

OK, so I should have posted this earlier...

Here's a photo of me setting foot aboard for the first time as the owner, one week ago today...

[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by JRM

OK, so I should have posted this earlier...

Here's a photo of me setting foot aboard for the first time as the owner, one week ago today...

The hole next to your foot - that's the one for the thousands, doesn't look too big for a 40 f'ter ;-)))

Seriously though, congrats! Buying a boat is such a happy moment!

Cheers,
b.

[Astral Blue]

Congrats on the new boat! The chain plate is a very minor issue. I'm not sure why the insurance underwriters went out of their way to make such a big deal about it. But then again, it is BoatUS. They imposed restrictions on my policy that rendered them a very unattractive choice. They were undoubtedly the priciest and most expensive insurer when I was shopping around. I ended up with Foremost (owned by Farmers) and have been very happy with them.

Do post some more pics. Congrats again!

[DSDman]

Yes it is awsome! I just plooped another 4 k down for new refer and fidge guts. Now I get to install it all. but hey gotta keep the beer cold and the ice cream froze!

[SkiprJohn]

Congratulations!!!

I'll bet the engine overheating problem can be solved without a repower. Check all the hoses and impellers and the mixing elbow and then you may have to recore the heat exchanger.

What kind of engine?

[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by JRM

Here's a pic of what the surveyor found after digging out all the pots and pans in his quest to access the chainplates... He even added it to the list of "navigation equipment"...

First...congrats on your Valiant 40. Great cruising boat. My money faucet is now down to a maintenance trickle but for the last year it was full flow!

You'd be surprised what a sextant goes for used these days. I found a C.Plath Navistar Classic. Only 1600 made and worth a few pounds of electronics. I plan to keep it.

[bobconnie]

Ya got a Sweet cruiseing boat there ! for sure !! always been one of our favorites!! Connie and I deliverd one in 1990 to Seattle from Cabo, one of the best offshore trips we ever took !! We would love to find one ourselfs, but they are a little over buget for us ! at least the ones we would buy LOL Have fun with your new boat !!

[JRM]

Originally Posted by SkiprJohn

Congratulations!!!

I'll bet the engine overheating problem can be solved without a repower. Check all the hoses and impellers and the mixing elbow and then you may have to recore the heat exchanger.

What kind of engine?

Oh, I'm sure it can. I've just finished reading the entire operator's manual, perusing the technical manual, and doing some google work. In the spares bin are several impellers, rebuild kits for the pumps, and an entire raw water pump (that I've found so far). I wouldn't be surprised to find a whole new heat exchanger, the PPO (prior-prior owner) was a belt and suspenders kind of guy. I'm stuck at work for another 36 hours before I can get back to the boat and get dirty. I plan to replace all the belts while I'm at it (since I apparently have 5 sets of spares), and possibly pull the heat exchanger and head for the radiator shop.

The engine is the original W40. It was rebuilt sometime around 10-12 years ago. The issue is that there has been little maintenance in the last several years. I went in to purchase with a "worst case" fiscal analysis to ensure that I didn't end up in over my head. I'm figuring I've got years left in the engine as soon as I get caught up on all the maintenance. But when/if it does go I've got a plan.

JRM

[Chenega]

Originally Posted by JRM

Oh, I'm sure it can. I've just finished reading the entire operator's manual, perusing the technical manual, and doing some google work. In the spares bin are several impellers, rebuild kits for the pumps, and an entire raw water pump (that I've found so far). I wouldn't be surprised to find a whole new heat exchanger, the PPO (prior-prior owner) was a belt and suspenders kind of guy. I'm stuck at work for another 36 hours before I can get back to the boat and get dirty. I plan to replace all the belts while I'm at it (since I apparently have 5 sets of spares), and possibly pull the heat exchanger and head for the radiator shop.

The engine is the original W40. It was rebuilt sometime around 10-12 years ago. The issue is that there has been little maintenance in the last several years. I went in to purchase with a "worst case" fiscal analysis to ensure that I didn't end up in over my head. I'm figuring I've got years left in the engine as soon as I get caught up on all the maintenance. But when/if it does go I've got a plan.

JRM

I'm quite sure I worked on hull114. I built interior cabinet work - galley, nav -table, salon etc. I would often put my name on inconspicuous places such as the outboard edge of the opening nav table top. Always wondered if I would ever run into one of them...