refit a sailboat

What is Sailboat Refit? (A Comprehensive Guide)

Sailboat refit is an important part of boat ownership, and yet it is often an intimidating process for many boat owners.

Whether you are a new or experienced boat owner, understanding what is involved in a sailboat refit is key to making sure you get the most out of your boat.

In this comprehensive guide, you will learn what sailboat refit is, the benefits, different types, costs, steps, best practices and challenges involved in the process.

So, if youre ready to make sure your sailboat is properly refitted and ready for the open seas, lets dive in and explore the ins and outs of sailboat refit!

Table of Contents

Short Answer

Sailboat refit is the process of upgrading or renovating an existing sailboat.

This can include replacing parts, installing new equipment, repairing structural damage, and painting or varnishing the interior and exterior.

Refitting a sailboat can be a major undertaking, requiring specialized skills and tools, and can take anywhere from a few days to several months, depending on the scope of the project.

What is a Sailboat Refit?

A sailboat refit is the process of renovating an existing sailboat to make it look and perform better.

This may involve repairs, upgrades, and modifications to the boat’s interior, exterior, and systems.

Refits are a popular way to extend the life of an existing sailboat and ensure it can keep up with the latest technology.

Refitting a sailboat involves more than just making cosmetic changes.

It includes replacing worn out or damaged parts, rewiring electrical systems, updating navigation systems, and adding additional amenities and equipment.

Depending on the age and condition of the sailboat, a refit can be a simple job or an extensive project that requires professional help.

Refitting a sailboat can be a cost-effective alternative to buying a new boat.

It can also be a great way to customize a boat to suit individual tastes and preferences.

Refits can range from minor projects like replacing a few hardware items or a new coat of paint to more extensive projects that involve structural changes and the addition of new systems.

In addition to improving the look and performance of a sailboat, a refit can also improve its safety and value.

By replacing worn and damaged parts and updating navigation systems, a refit can help make a sailboat more reliable and seaworthy.

This not only increases the value of the boat, but also helps to ensure a safe and enjoyable sailing experience.

No matter what type of sailboat refit is desired, it is important to find a qualified professional to ensure the job is done correctly.

An experienced professional can help to ensure the job is completed to the highest standards and that the boat meets all safety standards.

What Are the Benefits of Refitting a Sailboat?

Refitting a sailboat can be a great way to extend the life of your boat and ensure it can keep up with the latest technology. Refits can range from minor cosmetic changes to a complete overhaul, depending on the goals of the owner. In addition to increased performance, refitting a sailboat can provide a number of benefits, including:

1. Improved Safety: One of the most important benefits of refitting a sailboat is improved safety. Refitting your boat can help ensure that it is up to date with the latest safety regulations and standards, so you can enjoy worry-free sailing. Refitting can also help reduce the risk of mechanical and structural failures due to wear and tear, which can be especially beneficial for boats that are more than a few years old.

2. Increased Comfort: Refitting a sailboat can also provide increased comfort while sailing. This can involve replacing worn out cushions, updating the cabinetry, and installing air conditioning. By making your boat more comfortable, youll be able to enjoy your sailing trips even more.

3. Increased Performance: Refitting your sailboat can also help improve its performance. This can involve upgrading the boats electronics, installing new sails, and replacing the engine. Improving the performance of your boat can help you sail faster and more efficiently.

4. Increased Value: Refitting your sailboat can also help increase its value. This can be especially beneficial if you are looking to sell your boat in the future. Refitting your boat can make it more attractive to potential buyers and can help you get a higher price.

Overall, refitting a sailboat can be a great way to extend the life of your boat and improve its performance and value.

Whether youre looking for minor cosmetic changes or a complete overhaul, refitting your sailboat can help you get the most out of your sailing experience.

What Are the Different Types of Sailboat Refits?

When it comes to sailboat refits, there are several different types of projects that can be undertaken.

Depending on the condition of the boat, the owners goals, budget, and other factors, the scope of the project can range from minor cosmetic changes to a complete overhaul.

One type of sailboat refit is a cosmetic refit.

This type of project focuses on the aesthetics of the boat, such as cleaning and waxing the exterior, replacing hardware and fixtures, and refreshing the interior.

The goal of this type of refit is to improve the aesthetics of the boat while also helping to protect it from the elements.

Another type of sailboat refit is a performance refit.

This type of project focuses on improving the performance of the boat by upgrading and replacing components such as the sails, rigging, and engine.

The goal of this type of refit is to make the boat faster and more efficient.

A third type of sailboat refit is a structural refit.

This type of project focuses on the structural elements of the boat, such as replacing rotten wood, repairing or replacing the hull, and strengthening the frames and bulkheads.

The goal of this type of refit is to make the boat stronger and more reliable.

Finally, a complete refit is a project that combines all of the above types of refits.

This type of project combines the aesthetics, performance, and structural elements of the boat to make it look and perform better.

The goal of this type of refit is to make the boat look and perform like new.

No matter what type of sailboat refit is undertaken, its important to have a clear plan and budget in mind before beginning.

A professional refit can be expensive, so its important to make sure that the project is planned out and that the budget is realistic.

Additionally, its important to make sure that the project is completed properly, as a poorly done refit can cause more harm than good.

What Are the Costs of a Sailboat Refit?

When it comes to sailboat refits, one of the most important considerations is the cost.

Depending on the scope of the project, refits can range from a few hundred dollars to tens of thousands of dollars, and the costs of a refit can vary widely depending on the boats size, condition, and the owners goals.

For a minor refit, the costs could include a few hundred dollars for a new coat of paint, new canvas, and new lines.

For a more extensive refit, the costs could easily climb into the thousands of dollars and include repairs to the hull, repainting the exterior, installing a new mast and rigging, upgrading the interior, and replacing the sails and electronics.

Its also important to consider the cost of labor when budgeting for a refit.

Professional services can cost thousands of dollars, depending on the complexity of the project.

If you plan on tackling the project yourself, you should consider the cost of tools, supplies, and time to complete the work.

Finally, its important to factor in the long-term cost of maintenance and upkeep for the boat.

Refits can extend a sailboats life, but its important to ensure that the boat is well-maintained to get the most out of the refit.

Regular maintenance and repairs can add up over time, so its important to factor in the cost of upkeep when budgeting for a refit.

Overall, the costs of a sailboat refit can vary widely depending on the boats size and condition, the owners goals, and the complexity of the project.

By researching the costs of materials, supplies, and labor, as well as the long-term costs of maintenance and upkeep, you can create a budget for your refit that will ensure your sailboat is looking and performing its best for years to come.

What Are the Steps Involved in a Sailboat Refit?

When it comes to a sailboat refit, it is important to understand the process and the steps involved.

Every refit is unique and will vary depending on the goals and scope of the project, but there are some common steps to consider.

The first step in any refit is to assess the boat and create a plan.

This will involve inspecting the boat for necessary repairs, upgrades, and modifications.

This is the time to decide what needs to be done and to create a budget.

The next step is to start the actual refit.

This will involve stripping the boat down to its bare bones and repairing any existing damage.

This includes replacing any unusable components and making any necessary repairs.

Once the repairs are complete, the boat is ready to be upgraded.

Upgrades can include new equipment such as sails, rigging, electronics, and other features that will improve performance and look.

Modifications to the interior and exterior can also be made to make the boat more comfortable or to give it a new look.

The final step in the refit is to launch the boat.

This involves putting the boat in the water, testing it out, and ensuring it is ready for use.

This is also the time to make any final adjustments or tweaks that may be needed.

A sailboat refit is a great way to extend the life of an existing sailboat and make sure it is up-to-date with the latest technology.

By understanding the process and the steps involved, you can ensure your refit project is a success.

What Are the Best Practices for Refitting a Sailboat?

Refitting a sailboat is a big undertaking, and its important to plan ahead and take the necessary precautions to ensure the job is done safely and correctly. The following are some of the best practices for refitting a sailboat:

1. Make sure you have the right tools and supplies. Youll need a variety of specialized tools and materials for any refit, including saws, drills, sanders, caulking, sealants, and marine paints. Make sure you have the right materials and tools for the job.

2. Get professional help. If youre not familiar with boatbuilding and repair, its best to hire a professional to help with the refit. Hiring a professional means you get the job done right the first time, and it will save you time and money in the long run.

3. Take safety precautions. Boats can be dangerous places to work, so make sure you take the proper safety precautions. Wear protective gear such as goggles, gloves, and ear protection. Make sure youre familiar with any hazardous materials, such as paint or fiberglass, and that youre taking the necessary steps to avoid harm.

4. Make a plan. Before you start the refit, make sure you have a plan. This should include a timeline, budget, and list of materials and tools youll need. Having a plan will help you stay organized and on track.

5. Focus on one task at a time. Refitting a sailboat is a complex process with many different tasks. To avoid getting overwhelmed, its best to focus on one task at a time and make sure its done correctly before moving on to the next task.

By following these best practices, you can ensure that your refit goes as smoothly as possible.

With the right tools, materials, and professional help, you can make sure your sailboat is safe, efficient, and reliable for years to come.

What Are the Challenges of Refitting a Sailboat?

Refitting a sailboat is no easy task.

It involves a significant amount of time, effort, and money.

Before embarking on such a project, it is important to consider all the potential challenges and determine if the benefits of the refit outweigh the costs.

One of the biggest challenges of a sailboat refit is the cost.

Depending on the type of refit and the desired outcome, the cost can range from a few hundred dollars for minor cosmetic changes to tens of thousands of dollars for a complete overhaul.

Other expenses may include tools, materials, and labor.

Another challenge is the complexity of the work.

Sailboat refits can involve a variety of tasks, from welding and carpentry to electrical work and plumbing.

Unless you are experienced in these areas, you may need to hire an expert to help with the refit.

Additionally, some refit projects may require specialized tools or parts that may not be available locally.

Finally, it is important to consider the amount of time involved in the refit.

Depending on the scope of the project, it can take anywhere from a few days to several weeks or even months to complete.

If you undertake a large refit project, you may need to factor in the cost of a marina stay while the project is in progress.

Refitting a sailboat can be a rewarding experience, but it is important to be aware of the challenges involved.

With a realistic budget, the right tools and materials, and a realistic timeline, you can make sure your sailboat refit project is a success.

Final Thoughts

A sailboat refit can be an exciting and rewarding experience.

By understanding the different types of refits available, the costs involved, and the steps and best practices to follow, owners can ensure their sailboat is up to date and ready to take on any adventure.

With a little bit of planning and the right guidance, a sailboat refit can be the perfect way to extend the life of your boat and make sure youre ready to hit the open waters.

James Frami

At the age of 15, he and four other friends from his neighborhood constructed their first boat. He has been sailing for almost 30 years and has a wealth of knowledge that he wants to share with others.

Recent Posts

When Was Banana Boat Song Released? (HISTORICAL INSIGHTS)

The "Banana Boat Song" was released in 1956 by Harry Belafonte. This calypso-style song, also known as "Day-O," became a huge hit and remains popular to this day for its catchy tune and upbeat...

How to Make Banana Boat Smoothie King? (DELICIOUS RECIPE REVEALED)

To make a Banana Boat Smoothie King smoothie at home, start by gathering the ingredients: a ripe banana, peanut butter, chocolate protein powder, almond milk, and ice. Blend the banana, a scoop of...

• Skip to content

Knowledge for Sailors

My Bluewater Sailboat’s 40 Year Refit

Cruising Sailboat Costs / October 7, 2021 by TJ / 3 Comments

If you’re looking at buying a 40 year old fiberglass cruising sailboat you’re probably wondering what kind of refit you’ll be looking at and how much that refit will cost.

In this article I am going to break down the refit I had done on S/V Counterpoint, my Bristol 45.5.  Per my pre-purchase survey :

The Bristol 45.5’s are a well-built and sturdy vessel. Attention to the larger issues will assure a long life ahead. These issues are common to any older vessel.

Now, of course, the boat you’re looking at might have had some of these refit items addressed already.  The boat’s pre-purchase survey is your best resource for figuring out what projects her refit will entail.

Every sailboat is different.  That’s even more true about 40 year old boats than it is about modern production sailboats.  Counterpoint’s 40 year refit is not a template; it is merely one example.

I knew buying a 40 year old boat that the refit would be substantial.  I could have searched for a boat where much of this work was already done but I preferred the opportunity to have the work done to my standards.  If you’re looking at a 40 year old boat you may be better served by finding one where the seller has kept up with some or all of these refit items.

I wasn’t trying to buy a project.  I set out to buy a sailboat that I could sail and eventually live aboard.  With a substantial refit I expected having the refit done professionally so that I could enjoy the boat instead of spending all my time working on it.  I was shopping for a yard to do the refit at the same time as I was shopping for Counterpoint herself.

40 Year Sailboat Refit Costs:

Let’s jump right in.  Here is how I spent $94,000 on S/V Counterpoint’s refit:

Later in this article I will go through each of these projects but first I’d like to discuss a few headlines before diving into the details.

Time vs. Money

I spent $53,000 on 883 hours of labor for this refit.  $53k is a lot of money no matter how you slice it.  $53k is 70% of Counterpoint’s purchase price.

I’m sure I’ll hear from plenty of people about how much money I could have saved if I had done the work myself.  I would certainly have spent less money on the refit, but what would it have cost me?

Let’s assume I worked 8 hour days every Saturday and Sunday since the day after my first sail aboard Counterpoint: July 5th, 2019.

I’m also going to give myself the benefit of the doubt and figure my labor is half as efficient as professional labor on these projects.  Even though I don’t have a yard full of tools and parts handy.  In spite of the fact that I’ve never before attempted jobs like these (except the bottom paint and additional bilge pump install).  That I’d be working solo on some jobs that would best be done with two or more people.  That I don’t have existing relationships with the sub-contractors necessary for these jobs.

This is an alternative story of my life since buying Counterpoint, in table form:

The last completion date is a project completion date projection assuming I missed two weekends in 2019, two weekends in 2020 and two weekends in 2021.

So $53,000 bought me just over two years of weekends back; not just two seasons but two entire years of weekends.  Bought me back sailing during the 2019, 2020 and 2021 sailing seasons.

Time and Money aren’t the only trade offs.  If I had spent nearly 2000 hours working on Counterpoint I think I would be well on my way to an entry level boat yard laborer; I still own Counterpoint so the knowledge and skills would not go to waste.  I would also have accumulated a substantial workshop worth of tools.

I’d also probably be a very bitter boat owner barely having the chance to sail my boat during the first 3 seasons owning it.

Am I ecstatic about having spent $53k to have a yard refit Counterpoint?  Not really.  But I am very happy with the results of the refit.  Even in hindsight if I had the chance for a do-over I’d approach the refit the same way.

Estimate vs. Actual Cost

I did not get estimates for every part of S/V Counterpoint’s refit.  But I spent a lot of time and effort getting estimates and evaluating boat yards for the most expensive projects in the refit .

With everything that the tank project would open up aboard Counterpoint I figured even if I got an estimate for fixing all the projects I knew about more work would come up.  My hope was that all of the work choosing the right yard for the big projects meant good quality and fair prices for the smaller, un-estimated ones.

Here I break down the $93k I spent on the refit to calculate how the estimates lined up with the actual cost:

Overall Johanson Boatworks came in under 113% of what they estimated.  I was satisfied with that level of accuracy.

I was also pleasantly surprised that the additional work came out to under $20k.

Refit Projects

I went into great detail of how I chose the right yard for the replacement of my diesel and water tanks in the bilge here .  All that’s left to discuss is the numbers.  

The tank replacement project came in 14% more than estimated which I was OK with.

The tank project was 54% labor.  The largest expenses for the project were the tanks themselves; they were custom fabricated on site using the original tanks as templates.  This way the only fuel and water capacity I lost was due to the additional thickness of the newer tanks.

Thru Hulls & Seacocks

The seacocks on S/V Counterpoint were in rough condition when I bought her.  Some of the newer plastic ones seeped seawater when they were closed and the bronze seacocks were as corroded as any seacocks I had ever seen (they did all work though).

I had all 15 of them replaced.  Johanson and I did not spend nearly as much on that part of the estimate as we did on the tank projects.  I erroneously told them there were only 12 seacocks to replace so I counted the $2,617 for the additional three as additional work.  So for the 12 seacocks quoted the quote was exceeded by 10%.

I opted for bronze seacocks, not fancy plastic.  The bronze seacocks are bombproof and the originals had lasted almost 40 years which worked for me.

I opted for the top of the line Groco BV seacocks because (1) I wanted them to last the full 40 years and (2) the thru-hulls and seacocks seemed like the absolute worst place to try to save money.  The seacocks and thru hulls themselves were the most expensive part of this project; parts were 54% of the cost of this project.

Chainplates

Chainplates were a survey item:

Before any long voyage, suggest removal, inspection and re-bedding of the port and stbd fwd lower shroud chainplates.

I figured getting them all inspected and re-bedded while the mast was down was a good thing to have checked.

This project was all labor and it cost less than half of what Johanson estimated.

This is my heading for the canvas work I had done.  None of this was on the survey nor on my radar really but Johanson noted some canvas work that should be done.

The jib was not going to last but the main sail, mainsail cover and dodger will probably last years if I take good care of them.   So I opted to have that work done.

Transmission

This was the biggest surprise.  I had the diesel inspected by a diesel mechanic and he did not notice any problems.  I had always felt the transmission shifted roughly but I figured it was merely showing its age.

Getting Counterpoint from the dock I dropped her off at into their hangar Max from Johanson also noticed the rough shifting and brought it up on our first call after they got the boat.  He found it concerning and wanted to pull the transmission and send it out to be serviced.  I didn’t want to run the chance of losing power maneuvering between million dollar yachts in a marina someday so I signed off on the work.

It turned out that the transmission needed a significant rebuild.  Johanson Boatworks also found that the shifting was so rough that several of the bolts connecting the transmission to the flywheel had sheared off.  The flywheel had to be pulled out of the engine to get everything put back together correctly.

Max Prop Service & Shaft Seal

These were both survey items.  The existing dripless shaft seal was corroding to the zinc used as a backup collar to keep it from leaking.  The Max Prop was working but the surveyor noticed it had enough play in its operation to justify servicing it.

Johanson installed a dripless stuffing box; I wasn’t even aware this was an option but given that the existing Dripless Shaft Seal was already setup to circulate engine cooling water it made sense.  A proper stainless steel collar was installed as a safety measure.

The Max Prop service was described by the max prop invoice as “routine”.

While the mast was down I had Johanson replace some of the wires and remove the old TV antenna.  

The survey noted I should inspect the base of the mast where it sits in the mast boot when it was next down.  It was in great shape.  Just to be safe the bottom of the mast that goes into the boot was painted to prevent corrosion.

Inspecting the base of the mast on a keel stepped mast is a very common note on surveys; it’s always suspect and unless the mast is out of the boat it’s impossible to truly inspect.

I did ask Johanson to fix the anchor light but they were unable to complete that project before Counterpoint left for the sailing season.  It’s some difficult to diagonse wiring problem that I still haven’t gotten to the bottom of 🙁

Paint Bottom

Johanson added a coat of ablative bottom paint to Counterpoint.  She was quicker early in the season due to this improvement in the bottom paint

During the season I had noted one of the deadlights and the centerboard block on deck were the most significant leaks.  I had Johanson rebed these while Counterpoint was being refit.  Not a drip since.

The deadlight could have been done whenever but the centerboard block was best done while she was on the hard and the centerboard supported.

Backup Bilge Pump

The survey indicated that the bilge pump would need to be replaced:

Recommend repairs to the automatic bilge pump.

It wasn’t actually broken though; it was just wired unusually.  The bilge pump has to be switched on at the breaker panel in order to work automatically.  Then there is a second switch to engage the bilge pump in manual mode.

I got it working the first day I stepped aboard.  The previous owner saw this recommendation and bought a replacement bilge pump and left it aboard; meaning Counterpoint came with a spare electric bilge pump.

While Johanson was comissioning the boat they noted that the bilge pump should be wired directly to the batteries and they wanted to fix it for me.  Instead I had them install a second bilge pump in the deep bilge above the existing “primary” bilge pump.  The secondary bilge pump is wired directly to the battery.  That way if the primary bilge pump fails the secondary bilge pump will kick in.  And if one pump of the two is working and can keep up with the water ingress the flooding will be limited to the deep bilge.

Miscellaneous

Johanson went over every system as a part of commissioning.  They found and fixed lots of little things.  The “full service boat yard” service was reassuring, like an additional post refit survey where they fixed all the little things (and a few medium things) they found.

They fixed a handful of small problems.  A new sump pump for the aft shower.  New strainers everywhere.  Replacing a shower head.  Other assorted bits.  But mostly this item was the time taken verifying each system and giving S/V Counterpoint a deep clean after her very dusty refit.

Diesel Leak

Unfortunately one problem snuck under the radar.  About an hour and a half into our delivery from Penobscot Bay to Boston Harbor I went below to look over the diesel and noticed a diesel leak in the fuel return system.  It looked to be an old problem that the previous owner had fixed with JBWeld but the repair had failed and diesel was spurting out.

The leak a seep at all at idle speeds but as the RPMs went up diesel was spurting out:

We could have completed the delivery under sail just using the diesel for maneuvering into the docks at low RPMs.  Unfortunately some internet sleuthing while underway indicated the part necessary was no longer available from Westerbeke so some custom fabricating or tricky repair would probably be necessary.

I decided to turn around, pass on a diesel shower to kick off the season and let the professionals take care of this final repair.

Johanson repaired the fuel return line and Counterpoint was ready to go again by the following weekend. I SAY AGAIN: Johanson repaired the fuel return line and Counterpoint was ready to go again by the following weekend! Somehow they managed to get Counterpoint ready in less than a week during the busiest part of their year. If you’ve ever tried to get ahold of a boat yard during that time of year you’ll understand how impressive that is.

Conclusions

Maybe what you take away from this article is don’t buy a project boat.  That’s a good lesson to learn with somebody else’s money.  Congratulations!

As I said above, knowing what I know about the refit and having lived with the results for two seasons I would do it the same way for the most part.

What Would I Have Done Differently?

If I had known that the transmission work would wind up costing $4k and that there was a diesel fuel leak on the engine that cost $1k to repair I probably would have had Counterpoint’s diesel replaced.  The back of the napkin numbers I’ve gotten for re-powering Counterpoint were all around $25k; the $5k of surprise diesel work was 20% of a re-power that I’ll probably want done during the next 5 years.

A re-power would have saved me getting a quick diesel shower from the leak, aborting my first delivery to Counterpoint’s summer slip (which was my most expensive cab ride ever on top of the 5k) and the adventure of sailing back onto the mooring after the sun had gone down.

I would have made the problem with the anchor light known to Johanson earlier so that it could have been remedied while the mast was down.

I can’t think of anything else. There were no issues with the boat that kept me from enjoying the 2020 sailing season or living aboard for two months during that season.

S/V Counterpoint Article Series

If you care to read more about my journey buying Counterpoint checkout the additional articles below:

• How I chose my Bluewater Sailboat
• Bluewater Sailboat Purchase Process
• Fuel Tank and Water Tank Replacement Project
• My Bristol 45.5’s 40 Year Refit (this article)
• 45’ Blue Water Boat Cost of Ownership
• S/V Counterpoint: Bluewater Sailboat Video Tour

Share this:

• Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)
• Click to print (Opens in new window)

Reader Interactions

May 24, 2022 at 12:28 pm

Did you quit blogging? I was looking forward to the rest of the story.

May 26, 2022 at 10:03 pm

Nope, just took the winter off sailing and blogging too. Season starts this weekend though 🙂

January 15, 2024 at 2:05 pm

Thanks for sharing your story! It really helps to get a feeling for all the costs and adventures on the technical side 🙂

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Notify me of follow-up comments by email.

Notify me of new posts by email.

Learn More About

Refit guide: Sailboat refit done right

Published April 7, 2023 · Updated April 7, 2023

If you’re planning a sailboat refit, you know it can be a daunting task. Whether you’re preparing for an offshore voyage, upgrading your vessel, or simply maintaining your boat’s systems, a comprehensive refit guide can be an invaluable resource. In this post, we’ll provide a detailed checklist for every sailboat refit, including tips and tricks to help ensure a successful outcome.

Introduction

A refit is the process of upgrading or restoring a boat to improve its functionality, safety, and overall appearance. This may involve anything from replacing outdated equipment and upgrading systems to overhauling the interior and exterior of the vessel.

Regular refits are essential for maintaining the safety and performance of a sailboat. Neglecting a vessel’s maintenance can result in costly repairs, decreased value, and even endangering the crew’s lives. A refit is a comprehensive maintenance plan that involves assessing the boat’s condition, identifying areas for improvement, and performing necessary repairs and upgrades.

Without regular refits, small issues can turn into major problems. This could include a deteriorating hull, failing rigging, or outdated electronics, which can put the boat at risk in heavy weather conditions. In addition, regular refits can help to maintain a boat’s value, and even increase it, as a well-maintained vessel is more appealing to potential buyers. A refit can also ensure that a boat is equipped with the latest technology, making it more efficient and easier to handle. Overall, regular refits are essential for keeping a sailboat in top condition and ensuring safe and enjoyable sailing experiences.

Pre-Refit Planning

Setting a budget:.

Before embarking on a refit project, it’s essential to read our refit guide and set a budget. It’s important to have a realistic idea of how much the project will cost, and to allocate funds accordingly. When setting a budget, consider the cost of materials, labor, and any unforeseen expenses that may arise. It’s also important to factor in any upgrades or improvements that may be necessary to meet safety standards or legal requirements.

Assessing the boat’s condition:

Assessing the boat’s condition is a critical step in the refit process. Before beginning any work, it’s important to thoroughly inspect the vessel to identify any areas of concern. This may include checking the hull, deck, rigging, and mechanical systems. Identifying any deficiencies or weaknesses early on can help prevent more significant issues down the road.

Identifying areas for improvement:

Once the boat’s condition has been assessed, it’s time to identify areas for improvement. This may include anything from upgrading outdated equipment to modernizing the interior or exterior of the vessel. Consider your goals for the refit and prioritize improvements based on their importance and feasibility.

Choosing the right time for a refit:

Timing is an important consideration when planning a refit. Many boaters choose to undertake a refit during the offseason, when the boat is not in use. This can help minimize the impact on the boater’s ability to sail or use the boat. It’s also important to consider the time required for the refit and ensure that it fits within your schedule and budget.

Developing a refit plan:

Developing a comprehensive refit plan is crucial to the success of the project. The plan should outline the scope of the work, budget, timeline, and any necessary permits or approvals. It’s also important to consider the skills and expertise required to complete the work and ensure that all necessary resources are in place.

Refit Guide: To-Do List

As part of our refit guide, we want to give you an example of interesting areas to cover in a refit. A refit plan usually brings up a to-do list. A generalized to-do list could look like this:

Hull and Deck

• Inspecting the hull and deck for damage
• Repairing any damage found
• Cleaning and painting the hull and deck
• Upgrading hardware and fittings
• Replacing lifelines and stanchions

Rigging and Sails

• Inspecting the rigging for damage
• Replacing any worn or damaged rigging components
• Upgrading to high-performance rigging
• Replacing worn or damaged sails
• Choosing the right sails for your sailing style

Electrical and Electronics

• Inspecting the electrical system for damage or wear
• Upgrading to a modern electrical system
• Installing new electronics, such as a chartplotter or autopilot
• Replacing old batteries
• Adding a battery monitoring system

Plumbing and Sanitation

• Inspecting the plumbing system for leaks or damage
• Replacing worn or damaged hoses and fittings
• Upgrading to a modern sanitation system
• Adding a watermaker or water filtration system
• Installing a holding tank for sewage

Interior and Comfort

• Inspecting the interior for damage or wear
• Upgrading to more comfortable cushions and bedding
• Installing heating or air conditioning
• Upgrading the galley appliances

Safety Equipment

• Inspecting all safety equipment, such as life jackets and fire extinguishers
• Replacing any expired or damaged equipment
• Installing additional safety features, such as a man overboard system
• Upgrading to a modern EPIRB and PLB

Deck and Cockpit Upgrades

The deck and cockpit of your sailboat are where you’ll spend most of your time, so it’s important to make sure they’re comfortable and functional. Consider adding or upgrading features such as a bimini top, cockpit cushions, or a swim platform.

Add or upgrade deck hardware such as winches, clutches, or tracks.

Paint and Cosmetic Upgrades

A refit can also provide an opportunity to improve the appearance of your boat.

Consider repainting the hull or topsides, or adding new graphics or logos. You can really go creative here.

A sailboat refit can be a daunting task, but with a comprehensive refit guide and checklist, you can ensure a successful outcome. By carefully planning your refit, addressing the hull and deck, upgrading electrical and plumbing systems, improving the interior, and enhancing safety and navigation, you’ll be well on your way to enjoying a safer, more comfortable, and more reliable sailing experience.

Tags: Guide technique

You may also like...

The youtube refit of “Duracell”

April 6, 2023

 by Christof Thierry · Published April 6, 2023 · Last modified April 5, 2023

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

• Next story  Bilge heaters: worth it or not?
• Previous story  Heaving to: A best practice in heavy wheater sailing

Recent Posts

• How to take care for your Boat’s Diesel Engine
• The best bluewater boat
• The best charter sailboat
• Sailboat Hulls: Fiberglass or steel?
• How to anchor a sailboat

Recent Comments

Sailing Techniques: How to Trim Your Sails for Optimal Performance

April 4, 2023

• Destinations
• Maneuvering

hi sailor It’s nice to meet you.

Sign up to receive awesome content in your inbox, every month.

Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

You are using an outdated browser. Please upgrade your browser or activate Google Chrome Frame to improve your experience.

• Practical Boat Owner
• Digital edition

How to buy an old boat as a project – DIY yacht restoration advice

• October 31, 2019

Yacht broker and part-time boat restorer Will Higgs shares his passion for buying old boats and making them as good as new

Firebird is a Mirage 28 restored then sold on

Growing up sailing on the East Coast it’s fair to say that I caught the bug pretty early on. Family sailing on my father’s yachts and starting in dinghies from the age of five, it was clear from the outset that boats were going to play a central role in my life in one form or another.

My first project boat was a dinghy which my dad brought home when I was around four years old. She was 7ft 6in length overall and far too wide to sail well, but she had a gunter rig, foils that needed varnishing, rubbing strakes to replace and a hull that needed painting. Her name was Jake and she was going to be my boat. I was hooked.

Through my teens the boats grew until at 18 I purchased my first yacht – a Hurley 20. I couldn’t have been prouder, she needed new windows and a complete repaint right through but she was mine and I poured every spare minute and penny I had into her for six months before she was ready for sea.

As time has gone on, the boats have got bigger, but the principle remains the same: buy a green one and polish the love into it. A Hunter 701, a Seamaster 23, a Mirage 28 and now a 32ft Barbary Ketch – all made possible by adding a little more value to each boat as I went along.

Now my family and I can cruise the West Country in relative comfort and have clocked up some respectable sea miles, not to mention a few stamps in the passport. But it all started from bailing out the cabin of that first Hurley and wondering where to start.

My first project boat: “She was 7ft 6in length overall and far too wide to sail well, but she had a gunter rig, foils that needed varnishing, rubbing strakes to replace and a hull that needed painting.”

Why refit a boat?

For some, the pleasure of bringing an old boat back to life is the driving force; for others it’s a means of getting afloat on a tight budget. Whatever the motivation, all boat restorers share a love of the sturdily built and seaworthy lines of craft designed, in many cases, over half a century ago.

Indeed it is the robust construction of these old hulls that has led to the wide availability of potential projects which can be found in the damp, dark corners of almost every boatyard in the country and I dare say the world over.

These are boats that were designed in the days when a family of four would have bravely put to sea in a 20-footer for their summer holiday and that are still robust enough to earn their keep not only as a vintage item to be varnished and polished, but also as originally intended – fully functional cruising yachts.

So what are the benefits? It’s clearly a major undertaking, a modest refit project could easily see you through six months’ worth of evenings and weekends – not to mention the expense. Why do so many start and fail to finish?

Firstly, a refit is an excellent way to get to know a boat. For the DIY boat owner it makes perfect sense to go through her with a fine-tooth comb and address any issues along the way. It’s an excellent way of stretching the budget: real value can be added to a project boat, so whether the plan is to keep it long term or trade up, the minimum result to aim for should be a newly refurbished boat for a similar cost to a tired one on the open market.

Those who undertake boat projects for the simple pleasure of returning something sore and neglected to its former glory can be seen standing back at the end of each day of work with the sun setting behind them and a satisfied smile on their face. The sweat and occasionally blood poured into their pride and joy barely registers against the surging pride at every inch closer the boat gets to touching down in the water.

Before and after images: This Dufour 2800 required a £3,500 restoration budget and 50 hours’ skilled labour

How much will a yacht restoration cost? Even if you can commit £1,500 and 1-2 days per week for three months, you should still only be considering project boats under 26ft long. · The skill level, budget and timescale requirements increase exponentially with the size of the boat so careful planning and a couple of attempts with smaller craft first would be well advised. · As a case in point this Dufour 2800 (above) required a budget of close to £3,500 as well as 50 hours’ skilled labour. Keep control of the costs on a project – it really is possible to keep spending if you are not careful.

Key considerations when choosing a boat for a restoration project

Selecting the right project boat carries many of the same criteria as any yacht purchase might, with a few specific additions. Scope of use and budget are fairly standard considerations as is the availability of a suitable mooring. However, it is easy to forget about these important points when looking at a boat that may be months or even years away from her launch date.

How will the boat be used?

Picking a boat that’ll meet your requirements when she’s ready for sea is critical to a successful refit. There will be times when walking away will seem like the easiest option. On the days when the paint won’t wash off, the splinters won’t come out and the head is sore from banging it repeatedly against the bank balance, even the most ardent enthusiasts need a vision of the finished article to remind themselves why they started down this road. There are plenty of tough moments restoring old boats, but for me, thinking about launch day sees me through every challenge.

What is my budget? What is my skill level? How much time can I commit?

It may sound obvious but blowing the entire budget on buying a boat that will require significant additional repairs is a recipe for failure. At best it will result in extensive and unnecessary storage fees that will further eat into the budget and add to the overall costs. There’s a certain principle of frugality at the heart of restoring boats and perhaps hand in hand with budget comes time. For these reasons it’s important to consider how big the boat really needs to be. A large project will incur far higher overheads and take much longer to complete. It is also more likely to require a higher level of expertise to tackle the more complex systems and structural issues.

Will it fit on my mooring?

It is advisable to have somewhere lined up to keep the boat before choosing one: the size and type of mooring available can play a part in the selection.

Pitfalls to avoid

The following hints and tips apply to beginner/intermediate standard DIYers on the majority of yachts. Ignore for boats with a high end value, or if you consider yourself to have a high skill level:

· Boats that are just a shell with no salvageable equipment. The cost of replacing gear can snowball very quickly so it’s important to factor this in before getting started

· Boats with faulty keelbolts can be expensive to put right and tackling it properly on a DIY basis is not for the faint-hearted.

· Avoid boats that are going to cost far more than their end value to put right. There’s nothing more soul destroying; check the market first!

· Boats that have major structural defects. There are plenty of boats out there that only need TLC.

· Boats that are too big for your budget and timescale will sap resources and demoralise. There are occasions where a refit could be programmed over months or even years, but as far as shoestring projects go, every week in the yard is added cost to be avoided.

Restoring a Leisure 20 for a client

A few months ago I decided that I wanted to take my lifelong passion to the next level, so I set up a brokerage through Imperial Yachtbrokers ( www.imperial-yachtbrokers.com ) and started refurbishing yachts in a local yard where I have some history of carrying out boat projects for myself.

So far we have refitted a Sadler 29 , a Dufour 28, and are in progress with a Westerly Centaur and a Westerly Griffin.

I was also approached by a lady at a local yacht club who wanted a daysailer/weekender to keep on a swinging mooring. We chatted about her requirements and settled on a Leisure 20 for its sailing characteristics and ease of handling while still providing overnight accommodation and somewhere to make a cup of tea!

She struggled to find a good example, so I had a look around and located one in a nearby yard that was in a sorry state but could be bought for £300 on condition we move it straight away. We sourced an engine, had her dropped in and motored her around to our base at the Lynher Boatyard in Torpoint to do the work, starting with emptying her of gear and cleaning her from end to end.

Leisure 20 as found in need of TLC – but was only £300 to buy

Hull was grubby but basically sound

Deck’s non-slip paint was looking worse for wear

Interior needed a good clean and a retrim to modernise

The brief with this boat was to keep her simple, set up for day sailing and with a minimum of potential failure points. One of our first jobs was to remove and glass in all of the through hull fittings as these would not be required.

We spent some time carrying out the usual sanding of woodwork and polishing of the hull. New vinyl decals were added to draw the eye and the deck paint was re-applied in a more modern looking light grey.

We also repaired the redundant screw holes in the mouldings and retrimmed the interior to make it functional and attractive.

Externally, we cleaned and applied silicone grease to all the fittings’ moving parts and replaced any fittings and lines that were broken or worn out. We then raised the mast, dressed it with sails and relaunched the boat ready for a shakedown en route to her new mooring.

There are few more satisfying moments than raising the sails for the first time on a resurrected boat.

Cleaned, polished and varnished – what a difference!

Launch day! There are few prouder moments…

Restored. Afloat. A Leisure 20 ready for new sailing adventures

Key figures

Initial purchase: £300 Yard costs: £330 Engine: £275 Misc parts: £400 Total : £1,305 Time commitment: 50 hours’ labour over four weeks

We had to allow for around 50 hours of labour as well as the costs of various parts and yard storage costs, but what is very clear from the figures is that refurbishing a modest yacht is an affordable undertaking.

DIY boating on a budget

With determination and a basic skill level, anyone can get on the water without going bankrupt. It’s simply a case of being sensible: pay attention to boat selection, programming and budgeting the project then stay focussed and work hard.

12 Tips For Restoring an Old Boat: Costs, Time, And Expert Advice

Looking at restoring an old boat chris mccall shares his expert advice..

So, you’re thinking of buying an old boat and bringing her back to her former glory? Awesome! Get ready for hard work and frustration culminating in an ultra-rewarding experience.

Buying and refitting an old sailboat is totally worth it! You won’t build a ton of equity in the boat, but you will know every square inch of that vessel, and the skills you gain will be invaluable.

My wife and I just finished the three-year refit of our 1972 Nauticat 38, Drifter, and now live aboard in Portland Oregon. As soon as the weather cooperates, we plan to take him (Yep, Drifter’s a fella) south and begin cruising full-time.

Feel free to check out our progress along the way and the results of our labor; you can find us on YouTube at YouTube.com/SailingAdrift

As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. We also earn from other affiliate programs. This means we may receive a small commission on products purchased through our links at no extra cost to you.

Here are my top tips to help with your refit. Most I followed; some I wish I would have.

During The Buying Process

Get one of the best knives for sailing

Before you buy your perfect renovation project boat, here are a few tips to follow so you don’t fall short at the first hurdle.

#1 Know what you’re getting into

Refitting a boat is not an easy undertaking, and the single biggest thing keeping you from success is your tenacity to see it through. There are so many boats for sale, half-finished, because the undertaking was a lot more than their owners predicted. So….

#2 Plan, Plan, Plan.

This post is a great place to start. Start taking notes and tour as many boats as you can to gather ideas.

Talk to people that know. Read books. Read articles. Watch YouTube refit videos. Join social media groups focusing on refits, interior design, electrical systems, electronics, and boat makes you’re interested in.

I know the excitement is high but take a beat and make sure you make a logic driven decision based on research. There will be time to fall in love later.

#3 Make a core list of what you want from restoring an old boat

List the makes, lengths, characteristics, and price range and stick to it.

Then make a list of “nice to haves” and look for boats that have as many as you can find. If you go in with a clear understanding of what you want, and the deal breakers associated, it’s much easier to make a smart decision.

#4 Let someone else take the depreciation if you can

If you’re going to be refitting, you’ll be taking on plenty of depreciation as soon as you start installing your new electronics, appliances, and equipment, so minimize it by finding a boat where the previous owner has installed as much of this stuff as possible.

New engine? Awesome! Just upgraded all the navigation equipment? Great. New refrigeration unit? That helps. Let the last guy take the hit for 50 cents on the dollar.

Wondering how much sailboats cost ? Get a rough idea here.

#5 Buy cheap and pay cash if you can

Boats are not like houses. There isn’t nearly as much competition for boats that need a fair bit of work, because you won’t build a bunch of equity refitting like you would flipping a home.

Don’t expect to save tons of money refitting the boat yourself. You may save yourself a little but the real value is in the knowledge of the vessel and the skills you’ll gain.

So be ready to offer significantly less than asking, and don’t be surprised if they take it.

#6 Include a survey contingency and evaluate your prospective project from top to bottom

Do you have to hire a surveyor? No. But if you don’t, get ready to learn all you can about the process, and go over every square inch.

Know someone super knowledgeable you can ask to help? DO IT! Do not be afraid to walk away. Getting attached leads to bad decisions.

Now That You’ve Got Your Boat Restoration Project

So you’ve found your dream boat (to be!) Here are the next steps in restoring an old boat.

#7 Create a conservative budget

Take your number and pad it by 30%. It is all too easy to let costs get out of hand. Do your homework. The more knowledge that goes into that budget, the less costs will surprise you. Front end work pays huge dividends.

#8 Come up with an educated guess at the timeline in total work hours

And then multiply it by 4 (If you know someone who does this work a lot, take their estimate and double it; they are faster than you)!

Then break it down into phases to make the overall project less daunting. Tracking your working time in hours keeps focus and doesn’t punish you for life getting in the way.

I made a game of it by tracking my active work-on-the-boat time in hours with an app called Toggl. If you’re at all competitive, this really pushes you to keep getting out there to beat your weekly and monthly bests. Celebrate the small victories; don’t punish the shortcomings.

#9 Build in expandability, especially in your electoral system (think battery space)

Make sure you have spare breakers on your panel and room in your conduits. Always install pull strings. No one in the 70s could have imagined the electrical needs of the modern boat, so don’t make the same mistake.

Future you will thank you.

If you’re reinstalling batteries then check out the best lithium marine batteries . Aim for a slightly bigger bank than you think you’ll need! ⚡ We highly recommend BattleBorn LiFePO4 batteries ⚡

#10 Experiment with clever ideas for maximizing your space

Keep what works. Tweak what needs adjusting. And scrap the flops. This is your opportunity to get creative. Test your original ideas.

Copy what others have done on their boats and modify what you find when researching tiny living and RV sources. Sometimes building a custom solution is the right way to go, but they often don’t work as expected.

If a production solution is available, it may cost slightly more but will save you more in time and headache.

As an example, we built our own propane alarm and on/off solenoid because the commercially available one seemed so expensive (and I thought it was ugly).

Finding all the components took hours and hours, and when I had collected them all, I’d only saved about 25%. Installing everything, and getting the sniffer, switches, and solenoid to all work together, was a huge headache. If I could do it all again, I’d just buy that ugly thing.

#11 Stick with it

The paradox of a major boat refit is that with little exception, every job sucks. Some suck a lot. You’ll have your head below your ass, sanding for hours, crammed in a tiny locker, but the satisfaction you’ll feel at the end of the day makes it all worthwhile.

Over the weeks and months of our old sailboat restoration, I experienced periods of high motivation where working on the boat was the only thing I wanted to do.

Things like eating, sleeping, and my day job just got in the way.

Other times, making myself get out there was like getting a 6-year-old to eat peas: damn near impossible. Motivational ebb and flow is a natural part of any long undertaking, but you have to push through it and keep going.

Don’t be another person selling a partially refitted boat. STICK WITH IT!

#12 Use perfection as the unachievable goal that it is

Instead, focus on safety and functionality. The goal is to get out there and enjoy your hard work, not worry away over every imperfection. You’re the only one that will notice anyway.

You’re never going to actually finish the boat refit; there will always be items on the to-do list. Once she’s fully functional and safe, go enjoy her. You can work on the never-ending list as you go.

Refitting Drifter was one of the single most rewarding undertakings I’ve ever done.

We live aboard, so every day I’m surrounded by the fruits of our labor. While there are flaws, the good far exceeds the bad. I know every system, and every nook and cranny. Get out there and find your opportunity. In the end, you’ll be so glad that you did!

Conclusion: Tips For Restoring an Old Boat

If you’re lucky enough to find an old boat that’s still in good shape, then you’re well on your way to having a great time out on the water. With just a little bit of elbow grease and know-how, you can have your boat sailing like new again.

Thanks for reading and we hope these tips helped!

Wondering what it’s like to live on a boat on land in a boatyard? Give this article a read to prepare you!

Chris and his wife Kelly bought their 1972 Nauticat 38 in April of 2017, and in May of 2019 went full steam ahead with an extensive refit in the driveway of their home in Portland OR.

They splashed and christened Drifter in the summer of 2022 and moved aboard full-time that September.

They are awaiting a weather window to tackle the wild west coast of the United States and begin cruising full-time starting with Mexico and Central America with the intent of continuing west.

Find their whole refit adventure documented along the way at YouTube.com/SailingAdrift. Feel free to contact them directly with any thoughts and questions through their website: www.SailingAdrift.com or by emailing [email protected]

Similar Posts

The Best Books For Liveaboards

Is Sailing Hard To Learn?

Can You Sleep While Sailing?

How To Cope With Spending Too Much Time With Your Partner

Is Sailing For The Rich?

How To Keep A Sailing Log

One comment.

Should be able to pay moorage before launching and make the rest of us look like vagrants with 3 kids

Comments are closed.

• BOAT OF THE YEAR
• Newsletters
• Sailboat Reviews
• Boating Safety
• Sails and Rigging
• Maintenance
• Sailing Totem
• Sailor & Galley
• Living Aboard
• Destinations
• Gear & Electronics
• Charter Resources

A Refit Reality Check

• By Nigel Calder
• Updated: August 7, 2002

Makeover368

In 1979, when Terrie and I began building our 39-foot William Atkin-designed double-ended ketch, Nada, we started with a bare hull — no deck, no ballast, no interior, no nothing; just a big, plastic outdoor bathtub! By launch time in 1982, all the systems were in place and functioning — not that there were that many; we adhered to the Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS) cruising principle of the early 1980s. Our electrical system consisted of a single 8D battery (200 amp-hours), charged by a standard engine-mounted alternator (nominal 55-amp output) with a typical automotive voltage regulator. This provided electricity for a modest complement of fluorescent lights, a couple of fans, navigation lights, and a VHF and Loran. We had no refrigeration, just a well-insulated icebox. We converted our galley stove, initially diesel-powered, to kerosene.

Seduced By Luxury Our systems worked well (excepting minor glitches, of course) throughout an extended cruise down the chain of the West Indies to Venezuela and back, but as I became more successful as a writer, we could afford and began to hanker after some of those gadgets and gilhickies we frequently encountered on more affluent boats.

We overhauled one system after another. Our first major upgrade was an engine-driven refrigeration unit, which we later replaced with a heavy-duty DC system. Life with both a fridge and a freezer is great! But more lights and fans, together with the DC refrigeration, necessitated a complete overhaul of the DC system. We doubled the size of our battery bank, installed a high-output alternator with a multi-step voltage regulator, and put in a sophisticated DC-monitoring device to track the DC system’s status. We had to rewire all the primary battery and charging circuits to accommodate the much higher amperages flowing through the cables. Also, we added a 1,000-watt DC-to-AC inverter, allowing us to install a hot-water heater and microwave. An electric windlass retired our manual unit. We backed up our Loran, first with a SatNav, then a GPS, and we installed a shortwave receiver. The two-burner kerosene galley stove gave way to a three-burner propane unit with oven and grill — what a wonderful change that was! With a wind generator mounted on the boat’s stern, solar panels on the coachroof and a roller furler replacing our hanked-on headsails, Nada began to look like all the other boats we met in our travels!

Our upgrades resulted in a more comfortable, less arduous cruising life. Surprisingly, they created few maintenance problems, largely, I suspect, because Nada is very dry below, and because I took the trouble to use first-class materials and do each job right the first time around. However, there is no question that Nada could have functioned fine and continued to travel far without all this expense and effort, and we had done perfectly well before we had all these systems. Our cruising philosophy had changed, and our boat changed along with it.

Crunch Time By 1995 at least 30,000 miles had passed under Nada’s keel. The detailed surveys for cruising guides on which we worked had required us to run the engine an unusually long 5,000 hours. The core equipment — rig, sails, winches, and so on — had suffered 15 years of reasonably hard use. Most of the add-on equipment was over 10 years old. As someone who makes a living writing about preventive maintenance, I had to take a long, hard look at my own boat. Although we suffered no rash of breakdowns, I knew it was time to either sell the boat or engage in a massive refit. At first we opted to sell, but we subsequently withdrew Nada from the market and decided we’d rather redo her major systems.

This refit will end up costing us around $40,000, an astounding figure considering that, when we briefly put Nada on the market, we’d honestly advertised that the boat was a harmoniously functioning unit with every piece of equipment and system well maintained and performing more or less flawlessly. So how can we run up a $40,000 refit bill?

Despite functioning well, by 1995 our equipment was becoming rather old by marine standards. And herein lies the rub: The marine environment is so harsh that it naturally foreshortens the life of most systems and equipment irrespective of conscientious maintenance. There comes a point at which you have to wonder when the first run of major failures will start. If you intend to do serious offshore cruising, as we do, and you are conservative, you simply cannot afford to wait for complete failure. You have to bite the bullet and begin to rip out and replace what have been, until then, serviceable systems and hardware.

You can view an older boat as a worthwhile platform on which to launch your dreams of extended cruising economically. Indeed, for many people an old boat is the only way to get started. But you need to approach such a vessel in a pretty hard-bitten and cynical fashion because in even the best maintained and most pristine looking 10- to 15-year-old boat may lurk a headache. Refit bills can rapidly escalate.

For long-distance cruisers, preventive maintenance and proactive gear replacement are the order of the day. If, on the other hand, you intend to limit your sailing to coastal waters close to services and other resources, you can afford to push much of the existing equipment a little longer, with dramatic short-term savings in expenditures. Nevertheless, whether purchasing or owning an older boat, you should always keep potential upgrades and repairs in the back of your mind, for they may be only a short step away.

Had you been interested in Nada when we put her up for sale, you would have first concerned yourself with the basic structural integrity of the hull and deck. If structural integrity is at all in question, you should walk away from any deal. In addition, you’d want to check hatches and ports, lifelines and stanchions, the plumbing, including tanks and seacocks, and the rudder, keel, and spars which, on Nada, all were in fine shape. Yet when we withdrew Nada from the market, we still wanted to upgrade or renew a number of systems onboard, and we chose to do it in one go. (For more on how to inspect an older boat, see “What a Pro Looks for in a Boat Survey” by Henry Mustin)

Replacing Rig And Sails Our standing rigging was one of our major concerns, although it was all first-class with Castlok terminals. None of it showed any sign of problems. Never had any of it failed. Nevertheless, the rig was 15 years old, and had 30,000 miles on it. How many more fatigue cycles would the stays and shrouds go through before one failed without warning, imperiling the mast? Maybe the rigging was in good enough condition to go around the world. Then again, maybe not.

I know of no feasible way to test for these things, but I didn’t want to be the one to discover that the rigging was approaching the limits of its lifespan, so we replaced it. This cost us something over $4,000, excluding labor, and took a couple of days’ worth of handyman-type work to cut the new stays and shrouds to length and to fit Norseman terminals.

We also considered our chainplates. For the past two or three decades, chainplates have invariably been fashioned from stainless steel and fastened with stainless steel bolts. Over time, moisture almost always penetrates the deck seals. If a section of the chainplate, or a fastener, resides in a permanently damp environment, hidden crevice corrosion of the stainless steel will ensue, which may or may not be evidenced by rust stains. Eventually, the crevice corrosion will lead to a sudden, potentially catastrophic rig failure. My prescription — a bitter pill to swallow — was to pull the chainplates and fasteners. On any older boat, you should at least pull a couple at random to see how they are wearing. Although replacement parts are unlikely to prove costly, labor can be extensive, depending on the installation. On Nada, we discovered a number of cases of incipient corrosion. Although none threatened the rig, our parts were fashioned from high-grade 316 stainless steel, as opposed to the more common 304. Had they been 304, I believe the corrosion would have been considerably more advanced.

We’ve always been careful to cover or bag our sails after use, but even so, the working sails have now experienced the equivalent of several years’ continuous exposure to tropical sunlight. UV degradation must be taking its toll on the Dacron sailcloth. Although our Hood sails are well made and have never needed more than the most minor repairs, and although they still set well, I have to wonder to what extent the fabric and stitching has lost strength, and when the first seams will blow out. Anyone buying an older boat will be faced with the same significant question, no matter what condition the sails appear to be in, especially if the boat has seen a fair amount of use, and particularly in tropical waters. If previous owners have been less than diligent about using sail covers, or bagging the sails, then there’s a good possibility the sails are just about done for. We need to replace our sails sooner rather than later. When we do, that will cost another $7,000 to $10,000.

An Aging Engine In 1995 our Sabb 2JZ was running great. Aside from blowing a head gasket in the midst of a coral maze inside Glover’s Reef, Belize, our exceedingly heavily built, relatively slow-turning, raw-water-cooled marine diesel had never given us a moment’s trouble. From day one I had changed its oil and filters religiously, and ensured that it was fed clean fuel. Although it had logged 5,000 hours, there was no reason to think it wouldn’t run for another 5,000. Or was there? In fact, it began taking longer to crank on cool mornings, and it ran a little hotter than when new. Clearly, as you would expect from an engine with this many hours on it, it had lost some compression. In addition, I suspected some corrosion in the cooling system.

I had known for a couple of years that at some point I was going to have to engage in a substantial overhaul. However, I had been deterred from opening the engine up by the difficulty of obtaining and the horrendous cost of spares, and by a lack of time to do a full overhaul if it proved necessary. My biggest nagging fear was about the raw-water cooling system. This Norwegian-built engine was designed for cold, North Sea waters. Fifteen years in warm, tropical waters might have corroded the block and cylinder liners to the point at which the engine was essentially shot, in which case opening it up was likely to hasten its demise.

In the end, spurred by the need for more power for some of our surveying work, I simply replaced the Sabb with a Yanmar 4JH2HE. This necessitated replacing the exhaust system, the stern tube, the propshaft, and the propeller (the Sabb had an attached variable-pitch propeller). Also, I had to rebuild the engine beds. In spite of doing all the work myself with a helper, which took two weeks, I still spent $14,000. A yard bill for the complete job would probably have been in excess of $20,000.

My experience is not atypical. It is a sad fact that few auxiliary engines in sailboats are in good shape after 10 or 15 years. No matter how good it may look and how few hours it has on it, if it has not been properly operated and fastidiously maintained, it may propel you only towards major repair bills. On the other hand, most engine replacements will not require a new shaft and prop and newer, more-powerful engines designed to replace common older models often are manufactured with identical “footprints” so that you won’t have to build new engine beds.

When purchasing an older boat, mechanical problems-in-the-making may be detected by a mechanically-inclined surveyor, but all too often surveyors limit themselves to little more than checking that the machinery runs without any obvious signs of distress. In many ways, it is better to buy a boat in which the engine is clearly a wreck, because then at least the boat’s purchase price will be commensurably depressed and you will know up front what you have to spend to repower.

The Offshore DC System Whether intentionally or not, the DC system on an offshore boat mirrors the cruising philosophy of its owner. Those from the KISS brigade are likely to have little more than one or two batteries, the original engine-driven alternator, and an uncomplicated wiring harness powering a few lights and fans. On many days, I envy the simplicity of this approach. Those of us who have been seduced by the decadent 90s are going to lust after our fridges and freezers, inverters and microwaves, and electric windlasses and sail-handling devices, together with the large battery banks, high-output alternators, fancy voltage regulators, and sophisticated DC monitoring devices necessary to make it all work. The wiring harnesses for such systems will be as thick as your forearm, and woe to any new owner if all this hasn’t been properly installed using first-class components, and with thorough documentation and labelling of every cable and terminal!

Nothing had been wrong with Nada’s original, 1980 harness, except that I’d used what were readily available materials — mostly household wiring and automotive terminals — without any regard to boatbuilding standards, such as those legally required by the Coast Guard or the voluntary standards developed by the American Boat and Yacht Council (ABYC). Our system was very typical for an older boat, most of which could do with rewiring to bring them up to 1990s standards, particularly if continuous additions and alterations have been made to the electrical system, and especially if the owner made them! If the boat has a simple electrical system, any rewiring will be straightforward and relatively economical, which can be handled by a talented handyman prepared to study a manual or two (such as my Boatowner’s Mechanical and Electrical Manual, and Charlie Wing’s Boatowner’s Illustrated Handbook of Wiring). However, if a complex DC system needs replacing or upgrading, or if a simple electrical system is to be transformed into a complex one, just the necessary rewiring will be quite time-consuming and expensive, especially if it is contracted out to a marine electrician. And this does not include the cost of any equipment.

By 1995, multi-stranded, tinned cable, marine-quality terminals, adhesive-lined heat-shrink tubing, and a multitude of other products had become widely available for wiring boats. I also had become thoroughly familiar with the various standards that apply to electrical systems on boats. I felt it was no longer acceptable that I should write about these subjects while my own boat was not “up to code.” Hence, I rewired at considerable expense, including a couple of weeks of skilled labor.

When it comes to the equipment, a quick look at a couple of marine catalogs will show that a good-sized battery bank can run $1,000, a high-output alternator with a multi-step regulator and a DC monitor well over $1,000, a wind generator around $1,000, a couple of solar panels over $500, an inverter another $1,000 (plus the cost of the microwave it will primarily power), an electric windlass $2,000-$3,000 (with another $300 just for the high-current cables necessary to feed it), and so on. Add installation charges and it’s not hard to drop $10,000 into a DC system if you absolutely have to have all the creature comforts and toys and gadgets!

It’s tough to determine the state of the DC system on an electrically-loaded older boat, especially if all the systems appear to work fine. The circuits and equipment may be properly installed with a pretty fair life-expectancy, but then again they may give rise to some seriously inconvenient failures early into a cruise, leading to expensive repair bills in out-of-the-way places. Unfortunately, many marine surveyors give only a rudimentary evaluation of electrical systems. If the DC system represents a significant part of the proposed value of a boat, it might be worthwhile to hire as well a competent marine electrical surveyor to give the system a thorough scrutiny.

The Rest Of The Story The rig, engine, and electrical systems were the big-ticket core systems that we had to deal with on our cruising boat, but anyone sailing or considering an older boat must consider numerous additional important matters, including deck gear, plumbing, safety, and many smaller items.

The running rigging, along with its associated blocks, winches and hardware, also will likely have many miles on them. Everything needs careful inspection. Bear in mind that modern synthetic lines and deck hardware do not come cheaply, although some sailors can root out sources for first-class but very affordable, used equipment.

And then there’s the ground tackle. If you are lucky, the boat will have been owned previously by someone who puts a high premium on plenty of anchors and rodes, as we do. If not, and you intend to head offshore, you can easily spend $1,000 to upgrade.

High on the list of amenities now demanded by most cruisers is refrigeration. Some systems are put in correctly and work like clockwork for 20 years with never a hiccup. Others are a constant source of problems and expense. If renewal seems a likely proposition, the most economical way to go is with the ever popular Adler Barbour Cold Machine or one of its clones, which you can buy for less than $1,000. However, these have very definite limits when cruising, particularly in warm climates. Next, in terms of expense, you can choose between several engine-driven systems, ranging in price from $2,500 to $4,000. Finally, heavy-duty DC systems are, for a number of reasons, your optimum choice for cruising, but they cost from $3,000 on up, not including the DC system necessary to support them! (See our test of refrigeration systems in the June 1995 issue — The Cold Facts, by Joe Minick)

The Cold Machine type of unit is pre-charged, sealed, and can be owner-installed in about a day using basic handyman skills. Because of EPA regulations concerning the handling of refrigerants, the other types of systems will require a refrigeration technician, at least for the hook-up and refrigerant charging process, probably at a cost of $60 an hour. Installation costs on higher capacity and more complex systems can run as high as their purchase prices.

This still leaves the icebox to consider. If you want to keep the energy demands of the refrigeration system within acceptable bounds, the icebox must be well insulated and closed with a well-sealed lid or door. All too many, especially on older boats, require a considerable amount of work, and to upgrade the box you may even have to rip out the old one and start again.

After refrigeration, maybe even ahead of it, I would put a propane galley stove and oven high on my list of equipment that turns a boat into a home. Unfortunately, many older boats have alcohol or kerosene stoves. Some manufacturers offer economical conversion kits, but any conversion to propane is another substantial project. To make a safe installation and house the bottles, you must find or make a locker that is appropriately sealed from the boat’s interior, vented overboard, and that holds the bottles securely. This is likely to take a couple of days crawling around in awkward spaces, cutting plywood panels, glassing them in place, and so on. The total cost of a completely new system, including a stove with oven, bottles and accessories but excluding labor, can easily be in the order of $1,500.

Then there are the pumps. Before heading offshore, you should replace the pressure water pump if it is more than a few years old. Any saltwater wash-down pumps and shower sump pumps probably will need the same treatment. You should rebuild the toilet and replace the diaphragms and valves in all manual pumps.

Every other piece of mechanical and electrical equipment needs close scrutiny, even down to the ballasts in fluorescent lights. At the least, if the task list looks too intimidating, carry spares for all these items so that you can replace or rebuild them along the way.

And what about the dinghy? If it is an inflatable and more than a few years old, its days are numbered. That’s another $1,000-$2,000, with as much again if the outboard needs replacement.

Finally, you can spend as little as a couple of hundred dollars for some updated flares and small fire extinguishers, or many thousands on safety gear if you include large extinguishers, harnesses, man overboard equipment, a 406 mHz Epirb, ditch kit and a life raft.

When all this is done, you may decide that the boat needs sprucing up with a new full set of cushions ($1,000-$2,000), a dodger and/or bimini ($500 on up), and an Awlgrip paint job at a cost with labor (for the hull and deck combined) of $250 or more per foot!

Keeping Things In Perspective So you see, it is not difficult to drop $40,000 or more into an older boat, even one that is in basically good condition! Suddenly, your $60,000 bargain has become more like a $100,000 cruiser, even without the latest electronics for the navigation station, and this assumes that you’ve done much of the work yourself and do not account for your sweat equity!

Despite the seemingly high expense, the upgraded boat likely will cost not much more than half a comparably-equipped new boat. If you are careful to select an older cruising boat whose design and desirability have stood the test of time, your money will be well spent. If you select a boat design/model that is not popular, or is somewhat obscure, you may not be able to recoup your investment when you resell. Keep in mind that even a new boat is likely to need additional gear to make it ready for cruising. With scrutiny and the help of a good broker and surveyor, you may even find an older vessel with previous quality repairs, upgrades and care. In either case, an old boat can be a bargain — except, perhaps, when you come to sell it and find its value is depressed by all those cheaper, less well-appointed sisterships on the market. You will have to measure the return on your labor and investment by the years of pleasurable cruising that you get from your boat, rather than the price it fetches upon resale. In our case, Nada is just about ready for another 10 years of hard use.

Of course, not all upgrading is absolutely necessary. Someone could have bought Nada in 1995 and probably used her for a number of years without investing a single penny in new equipment, and without experiencing a major breakdown. Once again, I need to stress that we presumed that our boat would undertake serious offshore work and long-distance cruising to out-of-the-way destinations, which warranted a proactive approach towards replacing older systems and gear. Furthermore, a good part of our $40,000 upgrade was tied to our desire for a cruising life that includes ice in our cocktails and the ability to whip up a baked potato in the microwave. With scaled-down expectations, your up-front maintenance and replacement costs can be proportionately reduced. Remember, also, that the volume of the boat and the cost of new systems tends to increase rapidly, and disproportionally — a 40 footer and its gear and appropriate systems are actually nearly twice as large and costly as a 30 footer.

A well-found older boat can be an excellent starting point, and often the only possible starting point, for turning cruising dreams into reality. The core systems that are critical to safety will need a close scrutiny and, likely, some significant investment of time and money. Beyond these, most of us need very little in the way of luxuries to have fun.

Terrie and I have wonderful memories of our first extended cruise, which we made on a very simple boat. Now that we can afford greater luxuries, and we have a growing family, we will not return to that spartan style of cruising. But if we could not afford the luxuries, we wouldn’t delay a long-dreamed-of cruise by a single day just to become able to purchase some fancy new piece of gear that was not necessary for the basic functioning of the boat. Altogether too many boats remain tied to the dock while their owners keep pouring money and equipment into them. At some point, if you are to get anything back out of your boat, you simply have to say, “Enough is enough; it’s time to go sailing.”

———————————————————————— For 20 years Nigel Calder has transformed Nada, a 39-foot Atkins-designed Ingrid, from a bare hull to a tricked out voyaging machine, but it has taken more than a few hours and a couple of bucks. Nigel Calder is profiled by John Kettlewell in “Meet The Guru Of Sailing Systems.”

• More: DIY Sailboat Projects
• More How To

DIY Tips for Repairing Nonskid

Shaft Bearing Maintenance Tips

When the Wind Goes Light

How We Built Our Own Bulwarks

For Yachts or Home, Teak Stands the Test of Time

Sailboat Preview: 2 Sportboats We Love

Sailboat Preview: Windelo 50 Yachting

• Digital Edition
• Customer Service
• Privacy Policy
• Email Newsletters
• Cruising World
• Sailing World
• Salt Water Sportsman
• Sport Fishing
• Wakeboarding

• Center Consoles
• Dual Consoles
• Motoryachts
• Sport Cruisers
• Tenders & Ribs
• U.S. Atlantic
• Engine Buyers Guide
• Electronics
• Digital Edition

Expert Boat Refit Advice: Know What You’re Getting Into

Choosing to refit is not a simple decision, know what you’re getting into before deciding to do a refit..

The decision to make some repairs or improvements on a boat seems deceptively simple; it either needs to be done, or new technology warrants a replacement of old gear, or, in the case of larger yachts, the owner loves the boat and would prefer to refit it instead of buying a new one.

A refit project is a serious undertaking no matter what’s being achieved or the size of the boat, and it always seems that even the simplest tasks can lead to more work than expected. Pulling out a fridge could easily reveal a wet, warped deck underneath that needs replacement, and how deep did the moisture go? As it’s said, “One thing leads to another,” and for most, once Pandora’s Box is open, it’s hard not to fix, repair, or replace whatever unknown issues appear.  

What’s it Worth?

When John Crupi of Rubicon Maritime Consulting was asked to evaluate the 94-foot Sea Force IX performance sportfisherman Bonny Read for a cosmetic and mechanical systems upgrade, the owner’s first reaction when presented the initial task list was, “I can’t believe it’s going to cost this much.”  

“My first steps in refitting is to take the emotion out,” says Crupi, a USCG 1,600-ton Master who captained the superyacht Dorothea and Post One sportfisherman programs worldwide for many years before starting his consulting business. “So I first said, ‘Have you evaluated your boat based on market conditions?’” (The owner had not.) “The best thing to do here, in any of these scenarios, is to figure out what your boat’s worth because regardless of how emotionally attached you are, refits are usually bad ideas because you’re spending hundreds of dollars on a depreciating asset.” Chances are, it’s more like thousands of dollars.

Crupi hired a hull surveyor, a mechanical surveyor, and an electrical surveyor, and they flew down to Costa Rico to spend four days evaluating Bonny Read , including a sea trial. At the end, Crupi subtracted 35 percent off his original value of the boat. Pandora’s Box was open.

Read this ground tackle refit article.

There are Options

Emotions affect decisions in all manner of life, and for the owner of Bonny Read , there were two decisions to make: bring the boat back to Florida and sell it as is (which could create more of a nightmare with a survey deficiency list) or refit the boat. There is a choice in the magnitude of the refit and as Crupi says, “Minimum would be fix it to sell it; Maximum is fix it because you love it.”

That was the key when deciding how far to go. When they did the walkaround and went over the original project list, the owner said, “Well, if you’re going to do all of that, I want you to do all of this.” The owner loved his boat. The boat was built for him, and emotion did play a role in his decision, but for Crupi, it was all business.

“One of the significant parts of our walkaround was the skybridge,” says Crupi. “I grew up in sportfishing, and I grew up in a town that was sort of cutting-edge, Stuart, Florida. We had Garlington, we had American, we had Tribute, we had a lot of talented guys, and on the Dorothea program, I built a boat every two years for fishing, so I knew what was going on. I told the owner the skybridge looks ancient and the boat’s only seven years old, so on the plane ride back to Florida, I sketched a drawing.”

The owner was thrilled, and a new flybridge was added to the list. As expected, that led to a number of other challenges, and just like that, you have a major refit on your hands.  

“I only know one way to refit,” says Crupi, and why Rubicon Maritime Consulting does well. “It’s my job to get it from the Travelift back to the Travelift in the shortest time possible. Every day counts. Every minute counts. Every hour counts. In order for me to sign on to a big project, we have to be organized; every component that this boat needs has to be on property or damn close. Drawings are great, but when you can go up to a frequency converter that’s sitting in storage and actually build the template and bring it down [to the boat], it’s huge.”

From the Top Down and the Inside Out

There were several aspects to the Bonny Read refit. The first was chopping off the console and building a new one, which included centering up the outriggers and making the stainless steel look like it was meant to be on the boat, thus, metalwork and fiberglass work. Another involved a leaky centerline fuel tank in the cockpit. The owner wanted stabilizers, two Seakeeper 18s, which required a lot of structural work into the interior bulkheads to withstand the torque loads and reconfigure new custom fuel tanks.

“Third, everything from the forward engine room bulkhead, except the engines, was removed—every wire, every pump, both generators, and the engine exhausts,” says Crupi. The exhaust tubes needed resizing and relocating. On top of that, everything had to be accessible for service, which isn’t easy when a boat is laid out one way and needs to be redesigned another to fit the new equipment.

There are seven 24-inch monitors on board. Then there were the interior soft goods, replumbing the fresh air makeup, building the centerline soffit, millwork, varnishing, new galley appliances, upholstery, and all the cosmetic finishes.  

Read more about Yacht Interior Design here.

“We brought the boat up to a level for a fishing boat that is somewhat unheard of, but it was what I would want if I was the owner going to do what he wants to do,” says Crupi. When asked if that’s how he approached all his projects, Crupi replied, “I do. I don’t pretend that I’m the owner, but I manage them as if I am.”

When it comes down to it, Crupi says the key is to spend enough time in the beginning so you can reap the rewards in the end. “I think that boat owners need to realize they’re great at what they do because they can afford these things. The smart ones understand what they don’t know. When you start tinkering with these things, they’re going down a rabbit hole that’s very expensive…. You’ve got to know what you’re getting into…. If you can’t see it finished, then don’t start it. If you don’t know what it looks like when it’s done, then don’t begin.”

-by Steve Davis

Read more Southern Boating content like this article here.

What Happened to Grand Bahama?

Upgrading your marine audio systems: get the ultimate sound experience.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Receive our Newsletter

Recommended

Pets On Deck

Coastal town turns into a movie set.

Don't miss it

Tiara EX54 Yacht Review: Your New Elevated Experience

Useful, Efficient and Quiet: Horizon Powercats’ New Power Management System

Marlow Yachts Celebrates Owners with Its 26th Spring Rendezvous

Can The Bull Market Keep on Kicking?

You’ll Love the Latest Elite Sportfishing Yachts of 2024

How To Catch Big Fish: Mastering Shadow Line Fishing Techniques

• Privacy Policy

1591 E. Atlantic Blvd, 2nd Floor Pompano Beach, FL 33060 Office: +1 (954) 522-5515 Fax: +1 (954) 522-2260 Contact us: [email protected]

© 2024 Southern Boating Media

Rearranging the interior of a boat is often enough to make it more comfortable and welcoming. If you have just bought a used boat , these tips can help! Decorate the interior of a boat and match design, comfort and functionality. This article will give you some ideas for an easy renovation without spending a lot of money.

1 – Refitting your boat by optimising storage space 2 – Customise and revamp the interior of your boat with a little paint 3 – Decorating the interior of a secondhand boat: fabrics

1. Refitting your boat by optimising storage space

For certain secondary boat interior refits you don’t always need to call in the professionals. You can in fact do some cheap renovations yourself with a little ingenuity and a few good tips. Roll up your sleeves and get out your toolbox… let’s go!

Without committing yourself to a total overhaul, you may want to start by renovating a few things inside your boat. Opting for furniture with rounded corners, making fittings as functional as possible or adding shelves and drawers to every nook and cranny to cut down on lost space are just some of the arrangements that will make your life easier once at sea.

• A fridge with drawers enables you to compartmentalise storage and keep things cooler.
• Wooden, melamine or metal tableware will prevent breakages once on the water.
• To store fruit and vegetables and prevent them from spoiling prematurely, you can use nets that you can hang up in the kitchen.

Become a boat owner

Discover now the latest boats for sale ads!

2. Customise and revamp the interior of your boat with a little paint

Just like the interior of an apartment or house, when it comes to decoration, it’s worth considering repainting certain surfaces. You don’t have to of course, if the existing colours and materials suit you as they are. But in some cases, a lick of paint can give your boat’s interior a new look, enabling you to personalise it . Giving one or two wooden surfaces just a simple coat of varnish will bring a touch of charm and authenticity to certain spaces.

However, repainting surfaces using white or pastel tones will make them brighter because even when there are a lot of portholes, they are often narrow. Light-coloured walls or ceilings will also help to optimise the light sources

To keep things looking warm and cosy, why not repaint a section of the boat in the colour of your choice? Adding touches of paint here and there will harmonise and brighten up the whole interior. Cupboard frames, finishing strips, handrails, fold-out tables, handles or even shelves are all elements that you can opt to repaint.

Want to renovate a sailboat?

Discover our ads of sailboats to renovate

3.Decorating the interior of a secondhand boat: fabrics

Curtains, bed linings and cushion covers are all opportunities to refurbish the interior of a secondhand boat and customise it more to your own liking.

Les éléments en tissus

• Mattresses and benches

First step: measure the benches and bunks so you get the right size of mattress. This is a good way of making your secondhand boat more comfortable as well as a good option for replacing parts that are sometimes worn out by the weather. Once all your foam mattresses are ready, give them zipped protective covers made of waterproof fabric (this makes newly purchased items last longer).

Then choose sheets and fabrics in a soft and durable material (linen or cotton) that you can cut to the right size to cover the mattresses and benches. You can select either bright, neutral or pastel colours that match the colours you’ve used on the rest of the boat interior. Then opt for the bedlinen of your choice.You can make a cabin with dark wooden walls brighter using light-coloured bedlinen. On the other hand, if your walls are white, why not go for warm or dark coloured sheets to make the space more welcoming? Just like at home, you are advised to keep a spare set of bedlinen, so that you can rotate it while you wash the others.

Cushions are another decor option you should capitalise on! As backrests or to frame a bench, they are both useful and decorative. Again, you should give them waterproof, zipped covers. You can then choose a fabric in the colours and patterns of your choice and sew it to the right size. Extra tip: get two sets of covers, so that you can wash them regularly

For curtains, start with some porthole-sized cords, which you can attach with small open hooks for when you want to “”pull the curtains””. Depending on your preferences, you can then choose fabric of varying degrees of opaqueness, based on how much light you want to pass through, if any. As for colours and patterns, go wild! Be careful though not to overload the whole design scheme and to try and keep a sense of consistency with the rest of the decor you’ve chosen.

And why not a few frames!

The last little touch to decorate the interior of your boat and make it look like this: add a frame or two! Choose an illustration, a nice photo or why not a poster of a nautical event you attended. Choose a lightweight frame with Plexiglas glass and fix it securely to avoid a disaster during a turbulent navigation.

We hope you find these tips useful.

Feel free to leave a comment with your best ideas for a boat interior.

You might like these articles:

• Forum Listing
• Marketplace
• Advanced Search
• About The Boat
• Gear & Maintenance
• SailNet is a forum community dedicated to Sailing enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about sailing, modifications, classifieds, troubleshooting, repairs, reviews, maintenance, and more!

Cheapest Refit and Maintenance

• Add to quote

For those bluewater sailors out there, where have you found the cheapest countries to refit and main your vessel are? Everyone knows the American Economy is on the fritz, maybe you've had some good luck in other places. Things I am looking for: Haul Out Storage Engine rebuilding Sail Repair and Replacement Paint Wood Mechanical Equipment (think head, galley, bilge, etc.) Lines Anything else you can think of  

China, but why would you ask a question like this?  

Well, mostly because I'm a cheap bastard, but partly because I just get off on information like this. Have you had any work done in china? What'd you get done, and how much did it cost? Local currency and/or USD/GBP equivalent, if you remember.  

I don't mean to sound wrong, but if you can not do every thing but the engine rebuild and sail replacement you have no business being off shore.  

Seriously, guys, can we cut the naysaying. :hothead I have no intentions of being off shore for a few years, at best, and potentially never. Further, I'm not talking about paying someone else to do it. I'm talking about cost of parts. Stop trolling, if you've done work on your boat in other countries, post your story here. If not, shove off.  

Just what I meant when I said, I did not what to sound wrong. But the point is do the projects yourself. Start small and move up. Learn your boat. You will be much more self reliant and save the labor costs in the future.  

parts cost about the same world over. there are very few marine part manufacturers and theirs are the parts you'll find anywhere. from my experience, US has the lowest parts prices of anywhere else. I am sure chinese parts may be cheaper in china (or may be not) but my experience with those is such that I'd avoid them at all costs. A weak dollar and low sales taxes help keep things even cheaper here relative to virtually any other country. So, if I were trying to refit a boat - I would do it here, in a US of A, probably would have chosen Florida because they seem to have lower prices than, say, up in Chesapeake or New York, excellent choice of suppliers and qualified labor. But that's just me. That said, with any refit you get precisely what you pay for. Sometimes less. Never more.  

If you are in a foreign country, you WILL find that it be near impossible to get parts on a scheduled timeframe. Also, additional tariffs will apply for bringing the parts into the other country (do some research on Pardy for example). So the equation begins with the reverse engineering of expectations of you. Then calculating the over-run you will allow. States-wise you have UPS, Fed-Ex etc... but just because they are global - doesn't mean what we take for granted in the states applies elsewhere - and in MOST cases NOT. Food for thought, every yard the world over charges lay-over days for the privvy of you having your boat on the hard or moored up to their docks (regardless if actively working on it or not). If it takes 4 weeks to get parts... then that is 4 weeks of lay days you have to pay. Then consider the inevitable - wrong part sent or switched somewhere along the line. More delays. Then you have to consider just getting to a place. Saving on labor is only relevant if you are in the right place at the wrong time. One thing world over - if they sense budget minded, they know all they have to do is lure you in. Your best bet is to stay in the states for a full refit. If it was just a bottom job or something then maybe other countries offer an advantage in savings of labor - but in the real world, you get what you pay for - especially if you do not know what is actually being done. You got some cool advice on here - I'd save your blowhard comments for later when you are dealing on getting your boat out of the yard...But that is just me...  

http://www.sailnet.com/forums/cruising-liveaboard-forum/56175-how-long-can-one-stay-bvi.html head to St. Martin in order to get so palatable food on the French side and inexpensive duty-free shopping on the Dutch side. At a guess I would say that the price of boating supplies is around 50% of BVI prices so the trip is worth it. Click to expand...

CptTyinKnots said: Just found this: So I know there are cheaper places to do boat maintenance. You guys are just sourpusses. Click to expand...

My yard charges $228 per month for a 38' boat with no lay days and yes, you can work on it and are not forced to use the yard or contractors. It's in the good old USA BTW.  

This post has been deleted

Do you have a question?  

By the time you are done a 40k boat will be more than 80k. Two spots that come to mind are St Marrten and Rio Dulce. Parts can be had at St Marrten at near US Prices. Four Star in Miami will recieve your orders and forward in the next plane for a very reasonable cost. Labor is less there than many places in USA. Rio labor is cheap but importation a pain. No personal experience. Stateside look to Bock Marine in NC. Cheapest/best work I have found by a long shot.  

• ?            
• 175.1K members

Top Contributors this Month

The global authority in superyachting

• NEWSLETTERS
• Yachts Home
• The Superyacht Directory
• Yacht Reports
• Brokerage News
• The largest yachts in the world
• The Register
• Yacht Advice
• Yacht Design
• 12m to 24m yachts
• Monaco Yacht Show
• Builder Directory
• Designer Directory
• Interior Design Directory
• Naval Architect Directory
• Yachts for sale home
• Motor yachts
• Sailing yachts
• Explorer yachts
• Classic yachts
• Sale Broker Directory
• Charter Home
• Yachts for Charter
• Charter Destinations
• Charter Broker Directory
• Destinations Home
• Mediterranean
• South Pacific
• Rest of the World
• Boat Life Home
• Owners' Experiences
• Interiors Suppliers
• Owners' Club
• Captains' Club
• BOAT Showcase
• Boat Presents
• Events Home
• World Superyacht Awards
• Superyacht Design Festival
• Design and Innovation Awards
• Young Designer of the Year Award
• Artistry and Craft Awards
• Explorer Yachts Summit
• Ocean Talks
• The Ocean Awards
• BOAT Connect
• Between the bays
• Golf Invitational
• Boat Pro Home
• Superyacht Insight
• Global Order Book
• Premium Content
• Product Features
• Testimonials
• Pricing Plan
• Tenders & Equipment

Watch: newly refitted 87m Lonian leaves Feadship yard after successful sea trials

Feadship 's 87-metre superyacht Lonian has completed sea trials following a refit period in the Netherlands. Delivered in 2018, the yacht recently left the Dutch yard's facility to enjoy the summer cruising season. 

In a social media post, the yard stated: "She returned to the Netherlands for her five-year warranty check, an extensive repaint and some minor enhancements."

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Feadship (@feadship)

At the wishes of her owners, who stipulated the desire for a full year's private cruising without publicity, the shipyard kept the yacht under wraps for more than a year after her launch.

Interest in the yacht had been strong however, evident in a time-lapse video of Lonian 's construction, which received more than five million views on Feadship's YouTube channel. In 2020, the yard released the first images of the yacht. 

On her adventures around the world, in which  Lonian spends as much time away from marinas as possible, the yacht travels with a "flotilla" of toys and tenders, as well as a 66-metre support vessel, which transports more equipment and an additional crew of 22.

Lonian's exterior design, which is characterised by a deep blue hull, plentiful stainless steel and extensive glass, was penned by Sinot Exclusive Yacht Design . 

“The result is a Feadship with the presence and stance of a beefy motor yacht which simultaneously retains an elegant and slender air," the yard said.

A total of 22 openings from interior to exterior create an "unrivalled open feel on board," according to Feadship.

One particularly dramatic feature is the swimming pool, the translucent bottom of which doubles as the ceiling of the beach club below. A cinema screen is also integrated into the edge of the pool.

Meanwhile, the transom hatch features a swim platform that opens and closes like the roof of a convertible car, with the teak hatch opening and aft door descending before the hatch closes again.

The large flush foredeck on the dedicated owner's deck features a Jacuzzi which can be heated and cooled to a range of temperatures between 10 and 38 degrees. This feature was specifically requested by the owners, who enjoy using the chilled plunge pool after working out in the bridge deck gym.

Lonian' s helideck accommodates an AW169 helicopter and also features a crane capable of lifting 3.5 tonnes.

The interior of the yacht, which remains private, was created by Sinot in collaboration with Richard Hallberg Interior Design . Accommodation on board is for a total of 14 guests in seven cabins, including the owner's stateroom, four large guest staterooms and two VIPs. The crew quarters consist of 15 crew cabins and one captain's cabin.

While the interior has not been shown, Feadship revealed that it contains a glass elevator serving all five decks and a main deck lounge with panoramic full-beam views.

More about this yacht

Similar yachts for sale, more stories, most recent, from our partners, sponsored listings.

• Boat Towing Coverage
• Mechanical Breakdown
• Agreed Hull Value
• Actual Cash Value
• Liability Only
• Insurance Payment Options
• Claims Information
• Towing Service Agreement
• Consumer Affairs
• Installation Instructions
• Shipping & Handling Information
• Powercruisers
• Buying & Selling Advice
• Maintenance
• Tow Vehicles
• Make & Create
• Makeovers & Refitting
• Accessories
• Electronics
• Skills, Tips & Tools
• Boaters’ Rights
• Environment & Clean Water
• Government Affairs
• Boat Safety
• Navigational Hazards
• Personal Safety
• Motors, Engines, Propulsion
• Watersports
• Books & Movies
• Communication & Etiquette
• Contests & Sweepstakes
• Colleges & Tech Schools
• Food, Drink & Entertainment
• Best Day on the Water
• Travel & Destinations
• Anchors & Anchoring
• Boat Handling

Service Locator

June 26, 2024

NEWS from BoatUS Boat Owners Association of The United States 5323 Port Royal Rd, Springfield, VA 22151 BoatUS News Room at https://www.boatus.com/news-room/

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Press Contact: D. Scott Croft, Vice President Public Affairs, 703-461-2864, [email protected] [email protected]

Partnership Takes Hold on Cape Fear Coast Growing 24/7 On-Water TowBoatUS Towing Services for Boaters

Towboatus holden beach opens, expanding ocean isle and southport locations.

SUPPLY, N.C., June 26, 2024 – For the Dillman and Parker families, each owners of TowBoatUS companies in southwest Florida and the Chesapeake Bay respectively, the family businesses have been providing recreational boaters with professional 24/7 on-water towing and assistance services. Today, Capt. Todd and Dominique Dillman, and Capt. Christopher and Katie Parker have teamed up to grow the TowBoatUS footprint in the Cape Fear region with the opening of TowBoatUS Holden Beach. Additionally, nearby TowBoatUS locations in Ocean Isle and Southport are also now under the partnership.

“We see many opportunities to grow our business as more families are moving to the Wilmington and Cape Fear regions,” said Capt. Dillman. “We want to be a part of it, to be where boaters need us.”

Long-time towboat captain Evan Schollaert remains with the new company and has been promoted to operations manager/lead captain for all three TowBoatUS ports.

“Evan does a wonderful job for boaters, and we’re really pleased he’s stayed on. People come first with us,” said Capt. Parker.

Much like an auto club for recreational boat owners, Boat Owners Association of The United States (BoatUS) offers on-water Unlimited Towing Memberships for saltwater boaters and anglers for just $175 per year. On-water towing, soft ungrounding, battery jump and fuel drop-off services are included. Membership comes with more than 25 valuable BoatUS benefits , including discounts at local fuel docks and transient slips at marinas. Also included are a subscription to BoatUS Magazine , free DSC-VHF radio registration and more.

TowBoatUS Holden Beach’s red 7-meter rigid hull inflatable response vessel homeports at Zimmerman’s Boat Yard. All the company’s captains are U.S. Coast Guard-licensed. Separate from BoatUS towing and membership the company offers boat salvage and spill cleanup services.

The Dillman’s Florida TowBoatUS ports include Naples, Marco Island and Everglades City. The Parker’s own TowBoatUS ports on both sides of the Chesapeake Bay in Crisfeld, Maryland, and Reedville, Gwynn’s Island, and Upper Rappahannock, Virginia. All of the locations are part of the nationwide TowBoatUS fleet of more than 600 red vessels that respond to more than 90,000 requests for routine assistance each year.

The fastest way to request assistance from any TowBoatUS location is to download the free BoatUS App , which connects boaters to the closest local towing captain. Additionally, TowBoatUS Holden Beach can be reached at 910-457-7141 or by phoning the BoatUS toll-free 24/7 Dispatch Center at 800-391-4869.

For more go to BoatUS.com/Towing or call 800-888-4869.

Suggested social media post:

A partnership takes hold on Cape Fear Coast, growing the availability of 24/7 on-water TowBoatUS towing services for boaters with opening of TowBoatUS Holden Beach, North Carolina   https://bit.ly/3XzVBbz  #holdenbeach #holdenbeachnc #capefear #ncboating #towboatus #redisready #boattow #marinetowing #boattowing

About TowBoatUS :

Boat Owners Association of The United States (BoatUS) is the nation's leading advocacy, services and safety group for recreational boaters. We are the Boat Owners Auto Club™ and provide our nearly 800,000 members with a wide array of helpful services, including 24-hour on-water towing that gets you safely home when your boat won’t, jump-starts, fuel delivery, and soft ungroundings. The TowBoatUS towing fleet is North America’s largest network of towing ports with more than 300 locations and over 600 red towboats, responding to more than 90,000 requests for assistance each year. The BoatUS App makes it easy to summon water and road assistance 24/7 and can speed response times (BoatUS.com/App). For more information go to BoatUS.com/Towing.

• 672 Wine Club
• Motorcycles
• Car of the Month
• Destinations
• Men’s Fashion
• Watch Collector
• Art & Collectibles
• Vacation Homes
• Celebrity Homes
• New Construction
• Home Design
• Electronics
• Fine Dining
• Dubai Tourism
• Gateway Bronco
• On Location – Olympic Games Paris 2024
• One&Only
• The Ritz-Carlton, Kapalua
• Saratoga Spring Water
• Wynn Las Vegas
• Sports & Leisure
• Health & Wellness
• Best of the Best
• The Ultimate Gift Guide

The Best in Marine, From the Azimut ‘Verve’ Dayboat to Heesen ‘Ultra G’ Megayacht

Made to take on the high seas and your weekend cruising alike, these top-notch vessels do it all in style..

• Share This Article

The Big Idea: Sailing Towards Sustainability

For a growing number of younger sailors, sustainability isn’t just a buzzword but the chief driver behind their new builds. Designers and shipyards understand that their vessels must now be the bleeding edge of green technology.

“The wonderful thing about sailing is that you can move a 50-ton vessel in style across the Atlantic without using fossil fuel,” says Anders Berg of Dixon Yacht Design , highlighting sailing’s wind-harnessing advantage over powerboats. A younger, more tech-savvy clientele has emerged, with “different expectations that are catalyzing new technologies.”

“Our demographics changed tremendously after we started building hybrid boats,” notes Seth Hynes, president of HH Catamarans , a producer of luxury sailing cats from 44 to 88 feet. “We’re now looking at mostly younger buyers—families taking sabbaticals or first-time owners living off the grid.”

Hybrid propulsion has significantly lowered emissions compared to conventional diesel power, while solar panels designed into the exterior and lithium-ion batteries recharged by the spinning of the props are becoming integral to the latest generation of bespoke sailing yachts. Green technology is also trickling, albeit more slowly, into production sailboats.

In a reverse trend, designer Bill Tripp has seen motoryacht owners gravitate toward sailing vessels. “About a third of new clients at Y Yachts owned powerboats,” he explains, adding that the tech transfer represents a “seismic shift” during his 47 years as a naval architect: “There are great opportunities now for owners who approach this reflectively.”

One of Tripp’s clients is building a 70-foot “pure-electric” world-cruising sailboat with zero fossil-fuel components. But that remains rare. “Sailing’s still waiting for its Tesla moment, when batteries are light and powerful enough to make a boat independent,” he adds.

Nobody believes the demand for increased sustainability will fade. “It’s accelerating,” says Berg, citing a recent clean-sheet project he designed around emerging technology rather than trying to pigeonhole alternative-propulsion components into a traditional hull.

“This new generation of owners want things nobody asked for five years ago,” adds Tripp. “They want, and will eventually get, perpetual-motion machines.”

Gigayacht: ‘Kismet’

The latest and largest Kismet is the third yacht of the same name for Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shahid Khan. At 400 feet, it’s 88 feet longer than its predecessor, though it shares flash features such as a basketball court on the helipad, video walls, wild chandeliers, and a silver jaguar inlaid into the bowsprit. The interior by Reymond Langton is tastefully flamboyant. The full-beam, two-level owner’s apartment is accented in gold, tempered by the fireplace, marbled bathrooms, dressing rooms, and enormous skylight above the bed. Other over-the-top features include a cryotherapy chamber, a Bogányi grand piano on the upper deck, and a “Tron Corridor” with a dance floor that flashes pink and blue. The cinema may claim the Khan prize for coolest feature: Under the 150-inch television is a Nemo Lounge, a window to whatever is swimming outside.

Superyacht: ‘Malia’

Stretching 255 feet, Golden Yachts ’ Malia was the largest yacht launched in Greece last year. Stefano Vafiadis’s exterior is attractive, if conventional, with its axe bow and trapezoidal windows, but the interior by Massari Design really shines. The more than 50 finishes throughout the interior include semiprecious stones with emerald and sapphire hues, liquid metals, and 16 types of marble. With so many materials, it would be easy to wander into kitsch, but the design remains restrained and contemporary. Highlights include textured-wood ceilings by Italian artisans, marble steps, and champagne-colored metal-glass chandeliers. The seven generous guest cabins are eclipsed by the full-beam primary suite, with a private office, vanity, and walk-in closet. Outside, a glass-bottom swimming pool filters sunlight into the beach club below. The lower deck includes a massage room, sauna, and hammam. Continuing the wellness theme, the gym is located on the sundeck.

Motoryacht: Arcadia A96

In this particularly competitive category, an unusually generous 4,300 square feet of usable space—30 percent more than other yachts in its class—lifted the A96 into the winner’s circle. That roominess is enhanced by a 24-foot beam that stretches six feet wider when the rear platforms are folded out. The A96 is largely designed around its open exterior: Sliding glass doors on the main deck access the cockpit, which is connected to a rear seating area and swim platform; the outside-in design is repeated on a smaller scale on the next deck. In a green nod, the rooftop solar panels generate 4.5 kW of energy for non-propulsion systems. An optional Hotel Mode system runs the vessel on emissions-free battery power for nine hours. Igor Lobanov ’s interior incorporates more sustainability, using what he calls eco-compatible materials for a calming fit and finish. Despite its open layout, the A96 was designed for discretion, with separate stairways for owners and crew to promote ease of movement. 

Megayacht: ‘Ultra G’

This Heesen , one of the fastest yachts in its class, is powered by MTU diesels with a total of 22,000 hp, connected to four water jets, that deliver a top speed of 37 knots. Speed is essential for the angling-obsessed owner to reach cruising grounds 100 miles offshore. But even with a fishing platform and an angler’s lounge (with screens showing live underwater feeds), the owner refers to Ultra G as a fast superyacht rather than a sportfisherman. That’s one reason why we chose this 197-footer—its speed doesn’t compromise comfort. The other is the Harrison Eidsgaard interior, which features a full owner’s bridge deck with an aft-facing suite, private terrace, and whirlpool. The yacht’s media room includes a cinema and games table, and in addition to the requisite sauna and steam room, the wellness area boasts a snow room. A surprising architectural highlight: the central staircase that winds through a glass-topped atrium.

Charter Yacht: ‘This Is It’

Tecnomar’s 143-foot catamaran attracts instant love or hate. After a tour, we came to love the bold (if sometimes tacky) design that screams “I don’t care.” The irreverent attitude materializes in the vessel’s over-the-top use of glass, with nearly 6,500 square feet of full- height windows and strategically placed skylights—including one 11 feet above the primary bed—across the interior. Even the galley has a polarized-glass window looking into the salon. Other unconventional but appreciated details: The main suite has a private side entrance and an aft-facing balcony for the owner’s exclusive use overlooking the 48-foot-wide stern. The curvaceously asymmetrical interior, penned by the Italian Sea Group, claims inspiration from both sea creatures and the automotive world. Leather, Alcantara, oak, and gray-marble inserts complement silk wall panels and ceilings featuring bronze, platinum, and gold finishes. This Is It refuses to be ignored, even at night, when neon-blue lights trace the superstructure’s arch while white bulbs accentuate every line.

Interior: ‘Pink Shadow’

Design Unlimited ’s bold interior for Damen’s 191-foot Pink Shadow was inspired by Werner Herzog’s film Fitzcarraldo. Though the interior can seem, at first glance, as chaotic as the 1980s movie set in the Amazon, it holds together in an unusual and extravagant way, partly thanks to the fact that it’s an explorer yacht. The main-salon lounge includes purple velvet sofas and a custom rug depicting Fitzcarraldo’s steamboat sailing down the Amazon. Tan leathers and pops of pink neon sit beside a giant silver crocodile sculpture and jungle murals on the walls. The upper-deck cigar bar, or Habana Lounge, includes a bespoke humidor, while the bridge enjoys wallpaper embroidered with tropical birds as well as a tabletop with crocodile teeth and scales cast in resin. The enormous beach club features bamboo walls, palm-tree pillars, and a weathered, pastel-colored wooden bar. To complete the themed treatment, the full-beam owner’s cabin, with a lounge and “siesta room,” is covered in floral patterns.

Sportfisherman: ‘Special One’

Royal Huisman’s 171-foot Special One is the largest and most heavily customized sportfisherman ever. Studio Vripack did its best to define the vessel as a serious offshore battlewagon, with a dramatically long forefoot, high bulwarks, six decks, and signature tuna tower on top. In profile, it looks like a conventional sportfisherman on steroids. In the stern is an oversize angler’s cockpit, complete with the requisite fighting chair. Four tiered aft decks give spectators a view of the action, while the tuna tower is designed for spotting pelagics many miles away. Despite the interior luxuries, this vessel is no pretender: It’s equipped with live-bait wells, rod holders, fish freezers, tuna tubes, and a bait-and-tackle room. On the foredeck, an outdoor cinema screen and studio-quality speakers provide a post-catch respite from fishing. The behemoth will be delivered to its owner in June.

Electric Boat: Tyde Icon

The 44-foot Tyde Icon isn’t the first electric foiler on the water—Candela and Navier both introduced earlier models, but they lacked the crowd-pleasing interior of the Icon, a joint project between German start-up Tyde and BMW. Though it could work as an owner-driven vessel, the Icon is designed as a tender, with an interior featuring lounge seating, a rear helm with an advanced aerospace look, and full-height windows for exceptional views. The BMW-developed batteries boast a capacity of 240 kWh, delivering a 50-nautical-mile range at 24 knots, with a top end of 30 knots. Foil benefits include efficiency increases of up to 80 percent compared to a conventional monohull, plus a much softer ride above the water for owners and guests. The 120-square-foot rear platform offers access to the water at anchor and doubles as a sizable exterior deck when the boat is running.

Detail: Ferretti Infynito 90 Foredeck

Most builders rubber-stamp bows as open seating areas, but the All-Season Terrace on Ferretti’s new Infynito 90 explorer is more astute, transforming the first quarter of the main deck into a nook that’s open on three sides but protected by an overhead roof with opening slats. This offers the best views on the boat, including directly over the bow. The lounge seating, optional bar with stools, and Jacuzzi let owners and guests enjoy prolonged time up front even while underway, rather than having to seek refuge from the sun. Competitors will no doubt appropriate this design in other guises, but Ferretti got it right from the outset.

Sailing Yacht: ‘Nilaya’

The owner of 154-foot Nilaya is a sailor who owned a previous yacht with the same name, but some 39 feet shorter. The prime directive this time around: comparable performance but without the noise of the other boat’s carbon-fiber hull. “He wanted to explore the world, but in a lightweight yacht that wins regattas,” says designer Mario Pedol of Nauta . The new Nilaya was builder Royal Huisman ’s first Featherlight racing yacht in lightweight aluminum: Its engineers used a computer-modeling tool based on technology from the European Space Agency for designing the structure, saving weight and abating noise wherever possible. The build was a gamble, but the result is a fast, stylish superyacht for racing and cruising. In the latter mode, three deck areas and a beach club accommodate gatherings, while below-decks are dining and social areas, guest staterooms, and the full-beam main suite. The owner has already crossed the Atlantic twice aboard Nilaya and also claimed a win in the St. Barths Bucket, fulfilling both missions.

Dayboat: Azimut Verve 48 Outboard

Packing 1,800 hp with three 600 hp Mercury V-12 outboards, the Verve 48 has an invigorating top end of 57 mph. That speed, along with its open exterior and stepped hull, predestine the 48 for hot, sunny waters (think South Florida). Features such as the foldout rear deck that lifts to become an alfresco dining area and the large asymmetrical social area in the bow cement the Verve 48’s status as a dayboat. Its carbon-fiber construction, smart helm, and full exterior galley are major distinguishers among its competitors. The two-stateroom cabin also has a head, separate shower, and dinette for cruising potential, but at heart the Verve is a fast, fun, high-end entertainment platform for family and friends.

Innovation: Bluegame BGM75

Bluegame’s decision to create a power cat with a narrower beam had multiple knock-on effects. Aesthetically, the BGM75 has a svelte profile, unlike the typical boxy look of most in the category. There’s also excellent space for the main salon, measuring 27 feet across, while the designers extended the guest staterooms into the boat’s midsection rather than squeezing them into the multihulls.

The full-beam main suite is perhaps the best argument for the approach, incorporating a sizable bedroom and large ensuite across the front of the boat. The twin hulls also multiply the BGM75’s efficiency, with the Italian builder claiming it burns 30 percent less fuel than a 90-foot monohull with a similar volume. A minimalist helm, spacious flybridge, and full- beam tender garage put it in a category of one. The subtle luxury of the interior only increases the distance between this breakthrough design and other yachts its size. Expect copycats.

Weekender: Bolide 80

In this current era of sustainability, the Bolide 80 is almost defiantly petrolicious, a water rocket powered by triple 2,000 hp MAN engines that hits 86 mph. But speed is just one facet of a vessel that is equal parts art and engineering, all wrapped in an 81-foot, seven-inch carbon-fiber hull. Victory Marine’s “Hyper Muscle Yacht” looks fast even sitting still, the lean profile noteworthy thanks to its unusually long forefoot and curved, swept-back stern with side wind scoops. The cockpit is stylishly functional, and the helm has the requisite space-age look with large displays. And the interior is different from anything else on the water: The burnt-sienna leather walls, with light strips set into the ceiling, are combined with notable features such as a leather Pullman-style dresser and carbon-fiber arches. The Bolide isn’t an everyman vessel, but its build quality, design, and performance make it one of the most interesting we’ve seen in years.

Beach Club: ‘Leona’

The Red Bullet, as Bilgin’s 263-foot Leona was nicknamed by one of its designers, has an interior dripping in exotic custom materials. But H2 Yacht Design saved the most outrageous features for the inimitable beach club—once you see it, you can’t forget it. The 28-foot, blue-tiled swimming pool is surrounded by Aphrodite-style statues along with marble fountains and backlit wall panels. Natural light floods through three shell doors when open, creating a faux-Grecian sea terrace. When closed, a starry night sky comes into view, courtesy of the glittering fiber-optic ceiling. Of course, any beach club of this caliber would have to include a shisha smoking lounge, a wellness area with gold- colored furniture, and a gym with a mirrored, leather-trimmed ceiling. Treatment rooms and a sauna are also part of the lower-deck complex, while a post-swim movie can be enjoyed in the adjacent cinema lounge covered, naturally, in ruby-red velvet.

Comeback: ‘H3’

Returning to Oceanco for a rebirth 22 years after its delivery, the 345-foot H3 received a 33-foot hull extension—26 feet at the stern and seven feet to the forward deck line—plus a remodeled superstructure and an entirely reimagined interior. The yacht was originally launched in 2000 as Al Mirqab and later renamed Indian Empress before the current owner enlisted U.K. firm Reymond Langton to transform the formerly boxy boat into a sleek and modern gigayacht. The extra length now holds a large pool aft, with a waterfall and a bottom that raises to become a dance floor. H3 also has more accommodations for the 32 crew, and a full-beam VIP suite that doubles as a second primary. The interior includes a 33-foot-long video corridor and an LED “tech window,” both of which are softened by custom leather wall panels, bronze and nickel detailing, and backlit infinity mirrors. Perhaps the most impressive stat? Sixty percent emissions reduction following the refit.

Read More On:

• Azimut Yachts
• Best of The Best
• Ferretti Group
• H2 Yacht Design
• Royal Huisman Yachts
• super yachts
• Tyde Marine

More Best of the Best

How Heirloom Grains Are Bringing Unique New Flavors to Whiskey

Editor’s Letter: Inside Robb Report’s 36th Annual Best of the Best Issue

The Food World Is Getting Over Its Obsession With ‘Authenticity’

3 New Luxury Hotels in the U.K. to Book Right Now

The Grand UK Debut

JULY 17 - 19, 2024 Head to the British countryside to test and evaluate the top luxury and performance vehicles of 2024.

Give the Gift of Luxury

Latest Galleries in Best of the Best

The Best in Philanthropy, From Social-Justice Initiatives to Funding Space Research

The Best in Art, From Musée d’Orsay’s Blockbuster ‘Manet/Degas’ Show to a Mark Rothko Retrospective

More from our brands, exclusive: balmain collaborates with ‘the lion king’, nba draft 2024: rookie contracts for every first-round pick, india vs. england cricket world cup livestream: how to watch the t20 semifinal online free, jho low forfeits more than $100 m. in assets, including warhol and monet artworks, the best yoga mats for any practice, according to instructors.

Opinion Egregious Pentagon delays reflect problem the military is just starting to solve

The Pentagon, swamped by delays that sap readiness, tries a new approach.

Scratch one flattop. The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis checked into Newport News in May 2021 for a scheduled overhaul and refueling stint, work that normally takes four years to complete. Last week, tucked into budget documents sent to Capitol Hill, came the news: The carrier needs an additional 14 months out of service. Now, the Stennis won’t be ready for duty until October 2026 — more than five years after it slipped into port.

Delay has been the Pentagon’s dance partner all spring. Program after weapons program has fallen behind its production schedule, which means cascading costs for taxpayers and declining readiness for the military. The problem stems from choosing systems that are too complicated, too exquisite and too costly to maintain — and relying on just a handful of prime contractors, most of which face little or no competition. On June 17, the Government Accountability Office, in its annual survey of 76 leading procurement programs, described the Pentagon as “alarmingly slow” in fielding weapons for every service.

Consider these alarms: In an uncommonly public report in April, Carlos Del Toro, the Navy secretary, announced that nine Navy ship programs were between one and three years behind schedule. The ships include the new Columbia - class submarine (12 to 16 months late); a new aircraft carrier (18 to 26 months late); and the first Constellation-class frigate (three years late). Del Toro called out dilatory contractors by name — General Dynamics Electric Boat, Huntington Ingalls Industries and Fincantieri Marinette Marine — and went so far as to suggest that the United States should consider building some of its warships overseas.

The delays are just as rampant at the Air Force. The first flight of its new ICBM, dubbed the Sentinel, is already two years behind schedule, while its price tag, once touted at $100 billion, has jumped by an additional 37 percent . That news triggered a little-used Reagan-era law that requires Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to certify that the program is worth pursuing. Meanwhile, a new Air Force trainer is more than two years behind schedule, and the service has halved its purchase of the jet in 2025 in part to help its manufacturer, Boeing, catch up.

Deliveries of Boeing’s new KC-46 Pegasus tanker were briefly halted earlier this year due to issues with its refueling boom, one of several delays that have beset an aircraft vital to U.S. force projection around the world. And dozens of F-35 fighters are parked at Lockheed Martin’s facilities waiting for long-delayed software upgrades.

Breaking the hammerlock that a handful of prime contractors has on Pentagon budgets and timetables won’t be easy. Del Toro is right to push Congress to buy more ships and their subsystems from faster-moving foreign manufacturers. Lawmakers such as Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) are right to press the Navy to move some portion of ship construction away from the overworked yards on the coasts and instead tap smaller, civilian facilities along the Great Lakes, where skilled labor shortages are less severe.

Inside the Pentagon, there are distinct signs that the prime contractor gravy train might be slowing. In April, the Air Force ended a 50-year arrangement with Boeing and instead asked a Reno-based firm, Sierra Nevada Corporation , to build the next-generation command and control “Doomsday” plane. Pentagon officials like to talk about “off the shelf” equipment, but Sierra Nevada did better than that; it bought five used Korean Air 747s and is now refitting them for the mission.

Secretary of the Army Christine E. Wormuth and Chief of Staff Gen. Randy A. George deserve praise for canceling a new reconnaissance helicopter program in February, and the service gets extra credit for noting that the aircraft’s mission could “be more affordably and effectively achieved” by relying on unmanned and space-based sensors. In May, the Space Force canceled its contract with RTX (once known as Raytheon) for a missile-warning satellite because of delays and cost overruns. And it was encouraging this month to see two Pentagon agencies tap four smaller companies to build a new armed drone that can fly 500 miles using commercially available systems. “Widening the aperture to include more nontraditional aerospace companies offers the best chance at accomplishing our cost-per-unit goals, project timeline and production quantity goals,” a Pentagon official said.

Thinking beyond the prime contractors is overdue and welcome, but it remains the exception rather than the rule at the Pentagon, now on track to spend nearly $1 trillion next year on defense.

The Post’s View | About the Editorial Board

Editorials represent the views of The Post as an institution, as determined through discussion among members of the Editorial Board , based in the Opinions section and separate from the newsroom.

Members of the Editorial Board: Opinion Editor David Shipley , Deputy Opinion Editor Charles Lane and Deputy Opinion Editor Stephen Stromberg , as well as writers Mary Duenwald, Shadi Hamid , David E. Hoffman , James Hohmann , Heather Long , Mili Mitra , Eduardo Porter , Keith B. Richburg and Molly Roberts .