Hello fellow sailors
It's been a tough couple of years for us, as it's been for so many people. The lovely
boat we bought before covid has been sitting in the boatyard since then, without us able to get to it to do
maintenance.
Since then, I've had a back injury and we're not
boating anymore. So much for our dreams of cruising European waters.
The problem is, the boat's in northern
France and we're in
Canada. It's been impossible to try to sell her from here. We're not rich, and we've got to cut out something so we can stop bending our
budget into little origami shapes, so that's one of the somethings.
But she's still good for sailing. We got a
survey done last year, which you're welcome to see. I've included photos of her before we left, looking good, and after, from the
survey, when she's looking very sad. Happily, belowdecks she looks the same, except for a small area below one of the vents which leaked. A small part of the panelling overhead got
water damaged from the rain.
What's nice about
steel boats is you can see the shape the hull's in. Not like fibreglass, capable of hiding a host of trouble. And the survey includes measurements for
hull thickness, so you know what you're dealing with. We asked the
surveyor to concentrate on the
hull and any potential problem areas, so people would know what's what. We've got loads more photos, but no room on this post for them.
She needs the hull sandblasting. The engine's in good shape. I'll include the full write-up below. If we could afford to fly over to
France, we'd at least be able to sell off the valuable bits for
parts, like the 30hp Lister
engine, the Taylors brass kerosene
oven, the
Aries lift-up
wind vane, and more. But we can't afford it, neither financially nor temporally.
This is where you come in. If you're serious, take her and let her live again. I'd rather give her to you than see her cut up for scrap. If you're not serious, please don't contact us. It's already been enough hassle and heartache dealing with this. I can't deal with tire-kickers as well.
Okay?
Here's the blurb:
Commissioned: 1978
LOA: 35.5 ft (10.82m) (plus bowsprit)
Beam: 10 ft 8” / 3.3m
Draught: 5.5 ft / 1.7m
Displacement: 18,000 lbs / 8160 kg
The
engine is a Lister SR4, four cylinder
diesel, 30 horse - Clydesdales, not show ponies. It's one of the most reliable engines made. It is air cooled so you have no underwater fittings, no heat exchangers to clog up, or cylinder
head warping or
overheating. It is in excellent condition. As long as the
fuel is not frozen or waxy Listers will start in all conditions. There's two 30 gallon (135L)
steel fuel tanks. The
gearbox is hydraulic in neutral and reverse
gear but manual in forward
gear, so if there was ever a problem, you can start the engine in gear to get you home. At the end of the
gearbox is a 2:1 reduction gear which drives a 1 3/4”
stainless steel shaft which is in turn in a
stainless steel tube. It is of
commercial fishing boat standards. She swings a 2 bladed, 19.5”
propeller. There are lots of spare engine
parts.
Structurally, the bottom of the
keel is 3/4" thick, the
keel is 6mm, hull is 4mm, chines are 5mm, decks are 1/8" plate,
cabin sides are 4mm. She is framed every 18 inches with 1 1/2" x 1/4" bar. All surfaces are curved on the hull and she has 1" by 1" square profile thick wall tubing every 18” on the
deck. The original Charybdis Mk II design had a 4 ft draught, but that was modified on this boat and extended to 5' 6”. The keel is a long fin, with skeg hung
rudder, and she tracks and manoeuvres superbly.
For
sails, there's a cruising chute with snuffer, 180% tri-radial on a
Harken furler, a hanked-on
genoa on the forestay, a heavy
weather foresail with hanks, a
storm jib and other jibs, plus a spare set of main and mizzen
sails. All the sails are in great condition, except for the main and the
furling genoa which are in good condition. Most are from Quay Sails of Poole. The foresail
sheets lead to a pair of Gibbs two speed
self tailing winches in the
cockpit. All chain cable with Bruce and Danforth
anchor, Moyle
single action/anchor
windlass. There's also an
Aries lift-up
wind vane included.
Belowdecks, there is an aft
cabin, not connected to the main cabin, a
galley and
saloon in the main cabin, and the forepeak area houses (boats?) the heads,
heater, and sail and hanging locker areas. The forepeak heater's a Refleks
diesel drip feed with hotplate, and the
galley boasts a lovely brass Taylors kerosene
oven. There's an Eberspacher diesel
heater for the main cabin, but we haven't tried it. The
interior is fitted out with Burmese
teak and Australian jarrah woods - not the flimsy stuff you get these days, but heavy solid planking. As previously mentioned, the
plumbing and
electrical systems are rudimentary, as is the nav system (charts) and olde style depthfinder. There are some quite nice brass kerosene lamps for illumination.
Most of the standing
rigging was replaced in 2016.
There's a fairly recent survey for the boat, from July of 2022. It's structurally sound, but, as we said, could use some
plumbing and
electrical upgrading, as well as a full sandblast and
paint job.
So that's where it stands.
If you're interested, I'm not sure if you can PM me, never having used it before, but at least reply to the post and we'll communicate further.
Cheers
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