Refit/Restoration of 1985 62' Aluminium Yacht

[Reefmagnet]

Originally Posted by kryg

Nice lines, but your going to experience real expense and lots of time invested in a boat with a negative history that no amount of love or money can alter..

...

I dunno. An ex drug smuggler boat with a colourful past would be kind of cool. Kind of like owning an ex-pirate ship. Now if some had died aboard, that would be creepy.




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[carlsails58]

Two thumbs up! Enjoyed the posts and hope to see your progress.

[carlsails58]

That is a beautiful yacht and well worth the time and expense. Repair everything you can and only replace what you absolutely have to have. Shop for used equipment because that is a buyer's market. Best wishes. Would love to see this overhaul in person/would love to help!

[tropicalescape]

I bought a black Chevy Corvette from a gov. auction once and I regret the day I took ownership..Many police stops one was in Greencove Springs Fla. one in Lakeland Fla. one in Jacksonville Fla. one in Yulee Fla. and several times in Georgia..After two yrs. of getting pulled for driving a black drug auction Corvette I was glad some butt head slashed the tires ,I then sold it.. I wonder if it would have happend if it had been an Escort...? I agree , it may well become trouble.. I hope not good luck ...

[RozDev]

Originally Posted by kryg

Nice lines, but your going to experience real expense and lots of time invested in a boat with a negative history that no amount of love or money can alter..

Let say you rebuild and refit this boat with lots of love and expense, question you need to ask is what you will own? An ex drug boat owned by jail birds a name change will not remove the boats reputation even if you change the color from white to Blue.

After all that effort you will then be a proud owner of a nice but expensive 80's boat that will take a few years out of your life and possibly your entire spare cash to get every thing right and sailing again.

In my view now it is time to re think your priorities; do you really want to sink your time and hard earned money into a boat that can never shake its reputation?

My Advise is yes she looks sound nice lines, if it was not a drug boat I would consider investing in her, but just maybe but there are seaworthy nice sound boats available at far less then your up for in the refit .

Consider this in the end no matter how much you invest it will not change the boats history.

Thanks for the encouragement Kryg!

Really after the name change, who is going to know it's history? I think that only becomes relevant if your looking to sell it, and even then, I have always believed right through my entire professional career, that honesty is the best policy.

In my sailing life i've moored next to some perfectly fine yachts with some despicable characters on board and vice versa! so there is no real indication of integrity being linked to yacht history.

Firstly let me start by saying if I was embarrassed or ashamed of this yachts history, I wouldn't be posting it on the largest cruising forum in the world! I have nothing to hide and neither has the yacht!

In reality the boat has led a charmed and fulfilled life on charter in the caribbean from 1985 to 2013, when a 70 yr old and his son decided to purchase it and do something illegal with it. Their total ownership of the vessel was for 4 months out of nearly 30 years! It's a colourful chapter in the boats history, nothing more than that!

If that puts you off, then that's your opinion, personally I think this is a great project, and its been on my bucket list to restore a sizeable yacht for many years. I do hear you on the 'go and buy one that's already sorted' vibe though. I did also consider changing the colour, but I've decided that the poor judgement of a couple of individuals shouldn't really dictate anything to do with the destiny of this yacht.

Sure I could go and buy a brand new Oyster if I wanted to, but I don't, and it's not the purpose of this exercise.

The purpose of this exercise is to restore/refit/update a fine custom built aluminium hull by a world renowned naval architect, which if you were to build from scratch today would cost in excess of $1.5 million. This vessel as it stands owes me less than 0.5% of that figure. I get to dictate what goes into her, more importantly I'm around when its installed, I oversee all work, and hopefully I'm left with a boat that I know 100% inside and out, that is a safe, capable ocean going vessel for me and my family to enjoy.

Sure the super structure is a little dated, and not to everyones taste, but nothing wrong with a little variety! and yes, it is on the large side, and without 'in-mast or 'in-boom' furling it will need more than 2 to sail it, but I don't like push button sailing, there's nothing wrong with it, it's just not me, and not how I or my family have ever sailed. For us sailing is enjoyable work, no professional crews, just competent family and friends, always!

There's nothing negative in my response to yours and love to hear everyones opinions otherwise I would be posting here!

I shall continue! Actually, just being new to the forum means I'm playing catch up with my posts, the vessel has been out and in refit since Sept 2015, so I have about 500 photo's of its progress to post.

[sepeteus]

That's going to be interesting project. Welcome onboard!

[carlsails58]

When I was a younger man, I owned a 1966 Ford Fairlane 500. It was candy-apple red and high performance everything. I must have gotten pulled over every other week and at one point I asked the officer why so many stops and he said, if your car looks fast we are really looking closely at you. That thinking could have contributed to your stops as well.

[RozDev]

So mast stepped into the shed she goes!













Probably a good time to talk about whats on the refit agenda, well, pretty much everything as it turns out. Initially I was going to go minimal to get it sea worthy, but decided I might as well go for it and see where it takes me!

Initially the Sails, engine, electrical, geneset, water maker, heating/aircon, plumbing, nav, electronics and guidance, steering were all due some degree of attention, but after having the rigging inspected, this really dictated my direction.

The first serious question was raised when the stainless rigging was inspected, it was fine and in perfect working order...but it was renewed about 10 yrs ago so started to come within the 10-15 year replacement recommendation. This really forced me to think about the direction of the refit, was I happy to go through the expense of a mast removal, only for all the rigging not to be replaced? Was I happy just to put it back as is, and see how it turns out over the next couple of years? My wife and kids will be on this yacht, and could I in all honesty let my cheapness impact their safety? The answer was no, on all counts, and I decided there and then that anything that was sub-standard or nearing end of life on the yacht would be replace with new.

Suddenly what had been a, 'I'll just polish her up and she how she goes', has morphed into a professional refit/replace and a general update. I guess that decision almost quadrupled (ehrm...and some) the amount of funds I'll have to hide from the wife!

[carlsails58]

Sounds like sound conclusions. When you consider family and friends' welfare, I guess no amount of concern is too much. No cost too much to bear. Still, all expenses considered, you should still realize a tremendous savings had you bought this on the open market. I was on the internet looking at all the stunning google images of her, in her glory years. Quite a history as a Charter in the Carribean. And plenty of life left. The designer had few peers. Oh, almost forgot. Do you have a FB page or Twitter account?

[RozDev]

As part of its new identity, as mentioned in an earlier post, along with a name change I was going to change the colour of the hull too, so she is booked in for a full respray. I was going AWL grip dark blue on the hull, but a couple of comments/insights changed my mind.

1. A dark paint in a hot sunny tropical setting does add a couple of degrees to overall inside hull temperature, especially with it being aluminium? Sounds logical?

2. With it being Ally no matter how much time you spend fairing and filling you are never going to match a one piece glass moulded hull for paint perfection, you will always see sheet undulations manufacturing and minor defects in a ally hull of this size.

3. Dark paint always shows the scuffs, the fender rub score marks and anything else more prevalently that a lighter colour.

So it's still being repainted, but in the AWL matterhorn white she currently is, I wanted the hull done, as there are a few dents and some general wear and tear that I wanted taking care of, whilst we do the inside mechanicals, the painters can work away on the outside.

There is a god bit of galvanic reaction corrosion occurring topside, which I will detail in a later post, so the painters are addressing everything we can find.

The repaint instructions are as follows:

1.Rub down, fill and fair any dents on hull with Awlfair LW
2.Grind out any corrosion back to bare aluminium, prime with AWL Max Cor CF
3.Coat treated areas with Hullguard
4. Key whole hull and coat with 545 epoxy primer rubdown and cover with high build rub down as necessary and finish with topcoat.

Same process for deck, however final finish will be with a synthetic teak covering as opposed to awl grip deck coating, as that's what I prefer.

Firstly, had to build safe working environment around boat so all areas could be accessed from keel up without any undue stress being placed on the old body! (mine that is!) This meant a multi level scaffold had to erected covering the entire vessel. This will also be sealed at the top when the repaint occurs and heaters brought in to maintaining a constant 'bake' temperature for the respray.

Here's the scaffolding in place:

[RozDev]

Originally Posted by carlsails58

Sounds like sound conclusions. When you consider family and friends' welfare, I guess no amount of concern is too much. No cost too much to bear. Still, all expenses considered, you should still realize a tremendous savings had you bought this on the open market. I was on the internet looking at all the stunning google images of her, in her glory years. Quite a history as a Charter in the Carribean. And plenty of life left. The designer had few peers. Oh, almost forgot. Do you have a FB page or Twitter account?

I do personally, but not for the boat just yet. I'm not a massive one for publicity in my private life, but I have no issue sharing on the forums in relative anonymity to like minded enthusiasts. If you have looked at the national coverage in Ireland and on the BBC in the UK the boat auction received, I purchased her anonymously through a solicitor and didn't give a single press interview concerning my plans for it. I just find 'head down' is the best policy.

[captlloyd]

Looks like a great project to me. Beautiful boat. Sorry about the negativity which is sometimes displayed on this forum. I have worked in metals most of my life, including aluminum. I built a 64' steel sailboat. Sandblast, sand or whatever that bottom and do some tapping around and you will soon find any thin/soft spots. But I wouldn't be surprised if you found little or nothing at all. Even if you do it isn't the end off the world. And yes, there are tons and tons of used equipment out there for sale. Put your head down and go for it, best of luck. (I love to see people do these things).

[RozDev]

Thanks for the encouragement and enthusiasm chaps!

[RozDev]

Ok getting carried away here with my sequencing!

Before the scaffold went up, a was very keen to inspect the hull below water line and asses the true state of any corrosion that had occurred. It was evident there was no antifouling left anywhere on the hull, and everyone thought the grey showing through was the bare aluminium, and I was in for a nightmare trying to repair it.

However on close inspection, the hull was in fact in near perfect condition! The grey was the 545 epoxy primer underneath the anti foul. So a day spent with some starbrite and an orbital sander had the whole keel and rudder completely sanded and ready for a new coat of 545 prior to new antifoul going on.

You'll see on the first photo below, i actually over-sanded a single spot, this was on purpose as I wanted to see the actual depth of the primer, it has at least 4 different layers on it before the Aluminium shows up!













Will do the rest of the hull myself when I'm next down at the boat as I found it strangely therapeutic!

[Matt Johnson]

Our aluminum boat is an ex-drug boat too! Hello, My Name is Daze Off, and I Have a Drug Problem | Matt & Jessica's Sailing Page Unfortunately, it's not nearly in as good condition as your new boat. Good luck and keep us updated!

Matt