SV Downwind Dogs: Lagoon 420 Hurricane Salvage, Restoration, and Refit

[AZ Parothead]

Hello Phriends,

This thread will document the salvage, repair, and refit of a Hurricane Irma insurance total loss from Tortola. We just put a deposit down on the vessel and are working through the transfer of ownership items now.

Some things about us:

A married couple with kids out of the house. We have long term plans to see the world on a "condomaran" starting with the Caribbean, Bahamas, and Europe.

I am 38 and have been sailing since I was 5. I've owned many sail and power boats over the years. My wife is 57 and in her "Life, Part 1" owned several boats with her ex and parents.

We are both experienced and certified project managers. My background is in Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) of complex assets including aircraft and aerospace components. My wife has extensive PM and purchasing, distribution and manufacturing experience. We both have consulted extensively to industrial distributors and manufacturers including shop floor design, inventory management, build process, and quality control.

During the project, DW will be the project manager (budget, plan, and scope owner) and I will be the "business owner" providing input to the planning and supervising the crews on the project, selecting materials, and approving/accepting deliverables.

We are currently employed full time in the software industry and plan to continue working during the project to pay for the refit in cash while topping off our cruising kitty.

This is the second phase of a "life overhaul" that began in January. This has included reprioritization of work/life balance, elimination of extra expenses, minimizing our day to day costs, and generally "living smaller." We moved full time to our condo in Puerto Penasco, Mexico where we work from home and rented our "real house" in Phoenix freeing up 1/2 of our gross monthly take home to pay bills, eliminate debt, and finance the sailing dream.

As former boaters and St Thomas USVI residents, we understand the damage and devastation from the storms and have been actively involved in the relief effort by shipping supplies to hurricane victims and raising awareness.

During this hurricane relief process, we were put in touch with folks on Tortola who were working to raise and re-sell insurance write offs. Our original plan was to save, save, save and purchase a catamaran in early 2019 with a "set sail" date of 6/1/2020.

We have established a total budget for the cat (with a management contingency) plus 5 years of living and boat maintenance expenses.

As experienced MRO project managers, we understand the risk we are undertaking in restoring a vessel. We do not expect this project to go "perfectly" and we feel we have realistic expectations. They are:

1. To have a sound, functional vessel with updated systems and amenities capable of taking us to the places we want to see. We are picky people and like the idea of "knowing our boat" from the fiberglass core out. (YES! We know we'll have to check for water inside the core!)

2. To build a brand and a "following" so that we can share our dream and inspire others. We've been truly impacted by The Wynns, The Shards, Sailing Doodles, Ruby Rose, Matt and Jessica, Riley and Elena at SV La Vagabonde, Sailing Uma, Ran Sailing and so many others.

I hope that I can use this thread to share our adventures, triumphs and frustrations as we go through this process.

Our first step is to complete transfer of ownership, establish liability and towing coverage, and planning the process to take possession imminently. After we are officially "boat owners" once again, we will update you on next steps and provide some detailed photos of the boat and the damage that we'll be fixing.

To the internet experts out there, first question:

1. Do you have a recommendation on which yard to use for the initial teardown and inspection of the boat? We are thinking Nanny Cay (as they're operational). Any thoughts on Soper's Hole?

So that's it! THANK YOU and we'd appreciate your comments and questions

[Fence Man]

Subscribed. This will be exciting and interesting to see in detail. Good luck with your project!

[kristjan]

Nanny Cay all the way,⎌far more convenient for runs to town, and close to machinists etc.. I spent 14 months doing s major refit there. More reasons than I can list, Nanny Cay would be my choice.

[kristjan]

Also good would be Wickhams Cay, behind Golden Hind. Gets a bit packed tight in hurricane season, but very close to everything you need. But Nanny Cay still my first choice. I lived in BVI for several years, a bit cheaper is Spanish town but a pain in the ass for getting other stuff done.

[tankersteve]

Really looking forward to this thread.

Care to share any details involved in your evaluation of the boat, experience with any surveyors, and weighting of strengths/weaknesses of major/minor deficiencies you were told about and/or found?

Best of luck.

Tankersteve

[flyingnut40]

Following..... pics please!!

[woc]

Originally Posted by AZ Parothead

Hello Phriends,

This thread will document the salvage, repair, and refit of a Hurricane Irma insurance total loss from Tortola. We just put a deposit down on the vessel and are working through the transfer of ownership items now.

Some things about us:

A married couple with kids out of the house. We have long term plans to see the world on a "condomaran" starting with the Caribbean, Bahamas, and Europe.

I am 38 and have been sailing since I was 5. I've owned many sail and power boats over the years. My wife is 57 and in her "Life, Part 1" owned several boats with her ex and parents.

We are both experienced and certified project managers. My background is in Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) of complex assets including aircraft and aerospace components. My wife has extensive PM and purchasing, distribution and manufacturing experience. We both have consulted extensively to industrial distributors and manufacturers including shop floor design, inventory management, build process, and quality control.

During the project, DW will be the project manager (budget, plan, and scope owner) and I will be the "business owner" providing input to the planning and supervising the crews on the project, selecting materials, and approving/accepting deliverables.

We are currently employed full time in the software industry and plan to continue working during the project to pay for the refit in cash while topping off our cruising kitty.

This is the second phase of a "life overhaul" that began in January. This has included reprioritization of work/life balance, elimination of extra expenses, minimizing our day to day costs, and generally "living smaller." We moved full time to our condo in Puerto Penasco, Mexico where we work from home and rented our "real house" in Phoenix freeing up 1/2 of our gross monthly take home to pay bills, eliminate debt, and finance the sailing dream.

As former boaters and St Thomas USVI residents, we understand the damage and devastation from the storms and have been actively involved in the relief effort by shipping supplies to hurricane victims and raising awareness.

During this hurricane relief process, we were put in touch with folks on Tortola who were working to raise and re-sell insurance write offs. Our original plan was to save, save, save and purchase a catamaran in early 2019 with a "set sail" date of 6/1/2020.

We have established a total budget for the cat (with a management contingency) plus 5 years of living and boat maintenance expenses.

As experienced MRO project managers, we understand the risk we are undertaking in restoring a vessel. We do not expect this project to go "perfectly" and we feel we have realistic expectations. They are:

1. To have a sound, functional vessel with updated systems and amenities capable of taking us to the places we want to see. We are picky people and like the idea of "knowing our boat" from the fiberglass core out. (YES! We know we'll have to check for water inside the core!)

2. To build a brand and a "following" so that we can share our dream and inspire others. We've been truly impacted by The Wynns, The Shards, Sailing Doodles, Ruby Rose, Matt and Jessica, Riley and Elena at SV La Vagabonde, Sailing Uma, Ran Sailing and so many others.

I hope that I can use this thread to share our adventures, triumphs and frustrations as we go through this process.

Our first step is to complete transfer of ownership, establish liability and towing coverage, and planning the process to take possession imminently. After we are officially "boat owners" once again, we will update you on next steps and provide some detailed photos of the boat and the damage that we'll be fixing.

To the internet experts out there, first question:

1. Do you have a recommendation on which yard to use for the initial teardown and inspection of the boat? We are thinking Nanny Cay (as they're operational). Any thoughts on Soper's Hole?

So that's it! THANK YOU and we'd appreciate your comments and questions

Sounds like you have done your homework. Out of interest, how does your estimated cost to restore compare with buying a comparable used on the market. Wishing you the best of success

[Nani Kai]

Originally Posted by AZ Parothead

To the internet experts out there, first question:

1. Do you have a recommendation on which yard to use for the initial teardown and inspection of the boat? We are thinking Nanny Cay (as they're operational). Any thoughts on Soper's Hole?

So that's it! THANK YOU and we'd appreciate your comments and questions

Congratulations on moving forward on such an exciting adventure. My wife and I are pursuing a similar dream. We are also looking at repairable boats in the BVI, hopefully a Leopard 444. I spoke with someone very recently who said that the yards in the BVI are charging extremely excessive fees for their services (up to 5x their usual rates) in light of the huge demand. So excessive, according to this source, that the insurance companies got tired of dealing with them and have brought in their own cranes and personnel. I only have this second hand information which I have yet to verify but thought it might be worth mentioning. I will PM you with additional info as I don't want to malign anyone specifically based on second hand reports. I wish you the greatest of outcomes.

[hellosailor]

With the OP's background I rashly assume they've had experience with the issues involved in hiring out work, especially inspections and surveys and qc, to alleged experts. And given the long-term and intense stresses and time squeezes that anyone in the Irma-affected areas will be under...Really, you're going to have a yard do the initial tear-down and inspections, rather than doing that personally?

Considering the "oops" with Sailing Doodles and the structural steering failure on the catamaran...That should be a reminder that even hiring a pro, you need to get hands-on about the initial inspection and gutting, before assuming anything and before purchasing the wreck.

Supervising the work by remote control from Mexico also seems to put a lot of faith in the yard. (Unless, of course, you've taken hostages.(G)

It will be interesting to see how and when this ends up. And the balance sheet for it. Going to install some webcams in the yard?

[alansmith]

To do this remotely.. if I understand you... I've just spent half a year doing most of the work myself on a 30 foot Sharpie....may I ask you how you will keep track of billing hours charged versus billing hours actually worked? How will you know that they put product A in at 150/gallon? Versus using product B on at 90 dollars/gallon? How will you know they used 100 pieces of 80 grit @ 1.00/ each versus 50 pieces of 40 grit at .37/ wholesale each?

There are so many ways to fleece you it isn't even funny. For a one gallon can of acetone at the marina it cost $25. At Home Depot it is $12. How will you know what weight and bias of cloth they are using? How will you know how many coats of Interlux they are actually laying on?

I know u r experienced people. Curious minds want to know what/how u will exact performance. Boat yards will do their best to make money. U r just one of the many who r in this gold rush. What are your thoughts?

[ghendoaus]

Looking forward to this thread please post photos when they become available - will you also be setting up a website to document the process?

[ranchero76]

I wish you luck, but given circumstances, I'm very skeptic regarding this project (at least, from financial point of view). Looks like painful and/or very expensive hobby.
"Get project done" and "get project done within little budget" are two very different things.
According to YW, good 2008 Lagoon 420 can be purchased for less than $280K, and that number will be lower in 2020.

[kristjan]

Nanny Cay marina and the contractors who work there are very upstanding, I’m offended that someone suggested they would rip you off, I basically lived there and know/knew the yard manager, contractors and marina manager on a daily basis and I can’t imagine they would take advantage of a customer. It’s isn’t a third world cowboy facility.

[captlloyd]

Originally Posted by ranchero76

I wish you luck, but given circumstances, I'm very skeptic regarding this project (at least, from financial point of view). Looks like painful and/or very expensive hobby.
"Get project done" and "get project done within little budget" are two very different things.
According to YW, good 2008 Lagoon 420 can be purchased for less than $280K, and that number will be lower in 2020.

Don’t understand your post, I thought you were interested in doing the same thing a week or two ago ? Now you seem to be poo pooing the concept now.

[ranchero76]

Originally Posted by captlloyd

Don’t understand your post, I thought you were interested in doing the same thing a week or two ago ? Now you seem to be poo pooing the concept now.

Not same. I was talking about DIY, not relying on marinas out there (or anywhere, for that matter). Make only very necessary repairs and then sail/motor it home, then actually repair all the damage, again - mostly DIY. It's very clear that it is complete mess out there on the islands, finding place to fix it there (let alone at reasonable cost) in near future will be impossible.
Salvage is no joke, not some "refit project". I've been dealing with salvage cars (and other stuff like homes), so I know that for a fact.
It's all about money - it only makes sense if at the end you can save significant amount of money (unless someone doing this for fun?). And 20K or even 50K is not significant amount of savings here considering hassle involved, because at the end it still will be salvage-repaired catamaran with lower resale value.