Insurance Survey of Holman & Pye Designed Red Admiral Sailing Yacht

I have just had the pleasure of performing an insurance survey on a very nice 36' fast sailing cruiser/racer. The vessel was a Holman & Pye designed Red Admiral, built in 1979 by Halmatic and fitted out my McGruers. Her lines were typical of Don Pye's designs of the time: fast, handsome and embodying the best aspects of the IOR Rule to produce a fast cruiser.

Holman & Pye designed Red Admiral

There's a saying that all boats are a compromise, but as my client has owned her for nearly 25 years, the Red Admiral nicely fulfils his requirement for a fast, safe and adequately spacious cruiser.

My task was to perform an Insurance Survey so that my client could present the report to his insurance company, thus allowing him to re-insure the vessel for a further ten years or so. My client also wished to have a detailed professional inspection carried out so that any defects or safety issues could be highlighted to him. The recommendations in the report then formed the basis of the vessel's winter maintenance schedule.

The boat survey was performed on two separate occasions. The mast was climbed and the rigging was inspected whilst she was afloat. Similarly, the engine was run with the propeller engaged, whilst she was still on her mooring. The remainder of the survey was carried out several weeks after she was lifted ashore for the winter. This allowed a thorough inspection of the hull to be made.

Thanks to the owner's meticulous attention to detail and desire to keep the vessel in good order, the recommendations were few but significant. They were the sort of defects that result from slow deterioration of the part's material and would not be apparent unless inspected closely:

• The gas hose was perished.
• A PVC skin fitting was degraded by UV light. As the fitting was close to the waterline, I recommended that the fitting was replaced with a Bronze or DZR Brass equivalent.
• An engine fuel hose was cracked.
• The lines that tie off the jackstays were old and degraded.

She was certainly one of the nicest boats that I have surveyed recently, but I may be biased in this respect as she has similar lines to my much smaller Westerly GK24, built in the same era.

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