Refit/Restoration of 1985 62' Aluminium Yacht

[hellosailor]

I think there's a difference to be drawn between a boat which had routinely been under surveillance for a long time, i.e. making routine trips on a certain route and being observed to get a log of the connections at both ends, and a boat that was just caught, once, for whatever reason, carrying a load.


The former might be a continuing problem. But with the latter, the name is not likely to be on watch lists, and keeping some copies of a clean bill of sale--detailing the circumstances--as well as looking to inviting a local agency to please come aboard and actually DO a drug test, a canine search, just to ensure that nothing was missed, and again documenting the requests and results of that, would go a long way in the event you were stopped again. Some agencies can't do a search that way, others will be happy to conduct a training exercise.




Of course if you are really paranoid....Have a welder change the cabintop, the stem and stern, and make it look like something else, so it won't be mistaken for the old boat visually, either.(G)


ll depend on the situation.


So far it sounds like one of the all-too-rare tales of actually getting a bargain!

[captlloyd]

Originally Posted by 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!

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

What did I tell you !

[RozDev]

Originally Posted by funjohnson

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

Thanks Matt

I had come across your blog before too! very informative and some nice articles on there, good luck with the current restoration, and keep us informed.

[RozDev]

Ok Scaffolding up, and work started on preping the hull.

The yard is doing the hull and I'm doing the deck.













Some more Pics

[RozDev]

Deck issues!

Ok, there was no way I was getting out of this without some major work! Obviously over the last 30 yrs at sea, the vessel as a whole had been very well looked after, receiving many repaints by the looks of it numerous times.

However there was some sever galvanic reaction occurring on pretty much every stainless through fitting on the deck. Main due to poor isolation and installation. The biggest area of concern to deal with was the bases of the stainless steel guardrail stanchion housings, they must of had at some stage a drain hole in each of them, but layers of paint over the years have blocked them up.

The stanchion bases are all isolated in rubber/plastic where they fit into the locators, but that hasn't stopped the surround areas of aluminium reacting over time. I think with the stainless tubes sitting in the salt water at the base, and with nowhere for the water to drain off it has acted as a huge catalyst to bubble and flake the immediate area. See pics below:





Here's all the other galvanic corrosion issues covering everything from winch bases to bimini hood

[RozDev]

Forward Sail Locker and Watertight Bulkhead

I wasn't going to mess with the yacht visually, as it is a road with no end!

But one of the things I did do was remove the old type forward hatch, it looked completely over engineered and worthy of an atlantic trawler rather than a yacht. I was replacing the windlass, as the 24v model currently installed was way too bulky, and once again although working fine, it was an old model, no longer manufactured and spares for servicing not available either.

The housing it sat in, and the chain locker was taking up a massive amount of space in the forward bulkhead, so I am going for an on deck windlass with a vertical motor and a self draining chain locker a bit further forward.

This serves two purposes I allows me to fit either a drop down or tube type bow thruster, again, I wasn't going to do this, but someone pointed out, either spend the money and fit one, or put the same amount of money aside to repair your yacht and other yachts you crash into in the harbour!!!...sound advice me thinks!

It's current a work in progress so bear with me, Here's how it did look









And now with the hatch and big chunky lip cut off. The idea being to fit a flush hatch to free up foredeck space.









You can see the amount of space now in the forward locker with the outline of the old chain locker frame visible. The ladder in the hole is 6 ft long!

[RozDev]

Here's the old windlass and the offcuts of the chain locker removal. Good to see a sample of the nice solid 8-10mm aluminium plate that has been used in the entire construction on this ship.







Small win too, over 300ft of stainless steel anchor chain came out of the chain locker! Gotta take the wins where you can!

[Scout 30]

I hope you change your mind about the hull color before it's too late. Dark blue, or better yet black, would be absolutely gorgeous. I've changed from white to black before & even in Florida the temperature change was not noticeable for us. We also never had a problem with it showing scuffs or dirt because it's so reflective. I also think that when you go to sell her you'd be very glad you went with a dark color. She should look like the star she is.

[Scout 30]

Here's something that would look good up on her bow: Lighthouse 1501 WGGP Stainless Steel Windlass | eBay

[RozDev]

Mast and Boom

On further inspection of the boom there appears to be a potential structural failure around the gooseneck shoulders, which will require further examination.





It's tricky one this, aluminium is significantly weakened by heat so any weld in this area may do more harm than good, but it has to be repaired, so I be sending it to a structural aluminium specialist to effect the repair.

Other than that, the internal tracks and carriages are good, there's a bit of bubbling/corrosion which will facilitate a repaint, over overall not too bad.

[Ribbit]

Originally Posted by 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.

Friend has had a Shelby Mustang for a very long time (here in the UK).

Absolutely sparkling condition.

Every serving traffic cop pulls him once. Every new traffic cop pulls him once.

He knows what they want to see, so as soon as he comes to a halt, he pops the bonnet and lifts if for them to have a look (he's also put under bonnet lights in to help with the view).

Then they just stand there for a few minutes drooling, and then strike up a conversation about the car.

Noddy doesn't mind a bit, he loves the car, and loves talking about it.

Beautiful boat, great to see how it is cleaning up and being restored.

[RozDev]

Originally Posted by Scout 30

Here's something that would look good up on her bow: Lighthouse 1501 WGGP Stainless Steel Windlass | eBay

Thanks for the link! Yep that sure is nice! I'm about three months behind on posting where I'm at, so unfortunately a lot of progress I'm posting here has long been surpassed, I'm trying to get it up to date to harness the power of the forums suggestions to allow me to make better decisions going forward.

We fitted this model windlass in the end, Horizontal Windlass - Titan

[RozDev]

Originally Posted by Scout 30

I hope you change your mind about the hull color before it's too late. Dark blue, or better yet black, would be absolutely gorgeous. I've changed from white to black before & even in Florida the temperature change was not noticeable for us. We also never had a problem with it showing scuffs or dirt because it's so reflective. I also think that when you go to sell her you'd be very glad you went with a dark color. She should look like the star she is.

Ahh don't say that Scout30! The colour decision has me haunted, I don't think final paint has been applied yet, but I think it has been purchased, it's the white unfortunately!

[Ribbit]

Originally Posted by RozDev

Ahh don't say that Scout30! The colour decision has me haunted, I don't think final paint has been applied yet, but I think it has been purchased, it's the white unfortunately!

Ahh she'll look like Rhiannan's horse, she'll be fine.

[Scout 30]

Originally Posted by RozDev

Ahh don't say that Scout30! The colour decision has me haunted, I don't think final paint has been applied yet, but I think it has been purchased, it's the white unfortunately!

Perhaps a dark blue sheer stripe to dress her up.