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Refit One- Before and after
I should make clear before we start that this is a sad story. The boat was being completely ripped apart for a refit so the previous owners could take her down to the Mediterranean. She had been completely demolished inside and they were just starting the refit when the husband died unexpectedly of a heart attack. The wife was so devastated that she could never set foot on the boat again. It meant that, when we bought her, we had to sift through piles and piles of boat bits and pieces, while finding loads of personal things. There were tools laid down as if waiting to be used again and lots of drawings, plans and dreams which could no longer be fulfilled. It had been five years between his death and our purchase, and in that time things had rotted, fallen down and most of the boat was 3 foot deep in water. We certainly had our work cut out!
Aft cabin- notice the white mould in the centre. This is the only part of the boat which was wooden, and it was totally rotted through. Here was where most of the stuff was dumped and it took ages to sort through it all- not helped by the number of creepy crawlies which had taken up residence!
The saloon- one side was unfinished and the other side was rotten, so we ripped it out and started again. Most of the wiring was half completed and it was easier to start again then try to follow someone else's plan. So we redid the entire electrical system on board. We installed TV and freeview and put in a fridge. We cut up our 3 piece leather sofa (much to the consternation of our parents) and polished the floors. This was one of the easiest spaces to transform- once we had the floor dried out. The bilge space beneath these floorboards is a good 2 foot deep and while they are designed to be wet bilges, they were definitely overflowing!
Again, on the subject of wiring, the hardest part was by far the cockpit. Our engine was in pieces, and we quickly realised most of the pieces were missing; a lot of the dials and switches either didn't work, or were connected in ways we didn't like, so we ripped out all of it and started again. Although there were a lot of switched to start with, now it looks like a 737's cockpit!
The galley was the one space which needed very little initial work. There was a nearly new Neptune 2000 two-burner oven, a low watt microwave and some cupboard space. All we needed to do was add a sink and plumbing and couple up the lights and plug sockets and wire in the electrical systems. But, as always with the fairly 'easy' jobs, they take the longest to complete.
The heads was a tiny cramped little room which was dark, smelly and about 5ft8 high (we're both taller than that). Cleaning your teeth was a real delight. However, we cleaned this area out and left it pretty much as it was- it was still better than the heads on our 22 footer!
The forecabin was your basic forepeak v-berth about 5ft11 long, with huge spaces underneath the berth. There was a little dressing table and mirror to starboard. Remember that the ceiling is also concrete, so redoing headlining- as we had to do in here- was a nightmare as nothing stuck. Eventually we found some brilliant stuff which did work, but we were both high for weeks afterwards.
Once the inside was 'getting there' and we could picture how she was going to look, we started on the outside. Jason claims this was not his master plan, but it was very clever, because by making her lovely inside, we were prepared to work extra hard to get her looking good outside. And boy, did it need it!
When we bought her, the concrete was bare and exposed, which was useful as we could examine it properly, not so good as it was being eroded slowly by the elements. First thing we did was add 2 coats of clear garage floor sealant from B and Q. This stuff is fantastic at sealing concrete and stopping any water damage. It's now been on there for 5 years and we've never had to put more on.
Once these coats had dried, we applied a coat of International Paint Primer. This thick grey layer created yet another barrier between us and the ocean- every little helps. We finished off with International Antifoul, which again worked fairly well and went on the concrete hull- something not every antifoul does!
We were amazed at the difference a coat of paint could make. As soon as the primer went on, she stopped looking like a wreck and started looking a lot happier!
We then started on the cabin and topsides- which was originally painted a cream colour and looked like faded photographs. We went for white to brighten it all up, and also painted the area of hull above the waterline white- we think she looks lovely! Initially, we used International Top Lac as it was supposed to be brilliant and the International antifoul had worked so well, but it was an expensive mistake. The Top Lac was too thin and would not stick to the surface, so we had to take it all off again and eventually used Dulux Weathershield exterior house paint- works brilliantly and is much cheaper than 'boat' paint.
(PS- just look at where the waterline is painted- well below the exhaust on the stern. Look at a picture from Refit 4- the line is much higher!)
Although we made some mistakes during this refit- most stemming from the fact that we tried to complete someone else's idea of what should be done- we were very pleased with the results. We did nearly all the work ourselves- the only thing we paid for was the engine to be reconditioned and put back together (you can see from our log how well that worked out!!)
By doing all this work ourselves, we have been able to fix anything which broke, or needed replacing, or things we just wanted to change. It gave us greater understanding of the boat and her systems and added hugely to our knowledge and confidence
See 'Renaming the Boat' for information on this most delicate of subjects and also her first splash!
The picture to the left is looking forward from the back of the saloon. There are two long settee berth on either side, a galley immediately on the port side. Through the door is the forward berth. The picture above shows the starboard side after the refit.
Above shows before the refit- most of these instruments weren't actually installed- just rested in place. To the left is the cockpit after we had ripped it all to pieces and started again- we made a new wooden board and added a lot of gear! We also installed the batteries to cope with it all!
The picture above shows before and the picture to the left shows after. As you can see, not much changed with this area intitally.
The picture above shows the original cushions- which we kept. There was a cushion for the 'v' part which made it into a double.
The picture to the right shows the area after the refit. The bed literally came to the doorway if it was made up as a double, so you had to scramble in from the saloon.
