Pre-purchase Marine Survey of Fisher 34 at Birdham Pool Marina

A few days ago I had the pleasure of performing a marine survey on a very well maintained Fisher 34, Mark III - a masthead rigged motor sailing yacht with integrally moulded full-length keel. She was built by Northshore Yachts in 1999.

I usually find that boats made as recently as this are often very light in construction, but not so with a Fisher. These days the Fisher boats are made to order and my guess is that in order to make a boat to this high standard and with such a sturdily built hull, Northshore Yachts have to charge a premium. This makes them less competitive with the lighter motor sailers on the market and are therefore made to order.

Fisher 34 Mk III at Birdham Pool Marina

The new owners seem to be very happy with her. I'll look out for this boat when I'm down at Ramsgate Marina, her new home.

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Pre-purchase Survey of 24' Jeanneau Eolia at Emsworth Yacht Harbour

Fantastic weather today for a pre-purchase survey of a Jeanneau Eolia. These masthead rigged cruisers were designed by Phillipe Briand and have a cast iron keel with iron centre-plate. This particular boat was built in 1985 and was fitted with a Yanmar 1GM inboard diesel engine.

24' Jeanneau Eolia

As well as being a Marine Surveyor, I am also a boat owner and have had the pleasure of sailing my 24' Westerly GK24 for the last sixteen years or more. The GK24 is similar in length to the Eolia, but this Jeanneau had considerably more headroom than my 1970's cruiser / racer. Additionally, the layout of the Eolia was more aligned to larger yachts of her era: A double berth beneath the port cockpit seating, a good sized galley area, a well appointed heads compartment and quite an acceptable forward facing chart table. The cockpit was a good size, with a large cockpit locker on the starboard side. The forward living space however was more like a smaller craft: Simple saloon seating along each side that joins up towards the bow, which also serves as a fore peak v-berth.

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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.

www.fieldhouse-yacht-surveys.com

Insurance Survey of a 1988 Fairline Carrera

It was a cold grey morning when I arrived at Birdham Pool to inspect this boat for insurance purposes. The Fairline had been squeezed tightly between other boats in the yard and there was a significant amount of surface water lying around. It looked as though this inspection was going to be uncomfortable, considering the dull weather and wet surroundings. However, I always find that surveying a well cared for boat always seems to lift the spirits. The deck and cockpit still had a dulled finish, but the topsides were extremely well polished and in great cosmetic condition. A short while later the owner arrived and he was able to explain a little more about her history. This boat had spent most of her life in her berth and hadn't got out of the harbour much. We don't know why she'd been re-engined, but my guess is that the neglect had ruined it, rather than any extensive use.

The new owner was now giving a lot of his spare time to bringing her up to a high cosmetic standard. The list of sales and labour receipts, not to mention new gear on board, showed me that her owner is also giving a great deal of thought to her safety inventory. New items included fire extinguishers throughout, emergency flares, life-rings with lights, back-up outboard motor, VHF/DSC radio, refurbished skin fittings & hoses and overhauled cooking gas system. To add to these, my survey findings will lead to a few more safety-related recommendations. These will include the overhaul of the manual and electric bilge pumps, fitting of a carbon monoxide alarm, fitting of a lpg alarm, replacement of a number of mild-steel hose clips with stainless steel ones and replacement of a heavily crazed navigation light. None of these are too onerous, but all are important for the safety of the crew and vessel.

Pre-purchase Survey of Westerly Storm at Marchwood, Southampton

Between 1986 and 1993, Westerly Yachts built 142 of the Storm 33. These cruiser / racers never really took off as a One Design as they had difficulty with keeping up with the lighter boats in light winds. As a cruising boat though, they were more successful as their size made them well suited to a three-cabin layout. The forward cabin is spacious, with a hand basin on the port side. The saloon has plenty of room, with more storage space than her modern equivalents. The galley on the port side is well laid out, with a large, forward facing chart table on the starboard side, just forward of the heads. The aft cabin makes very good use of the space under the cockpit sole and port-side seating. Once I had removed the numerous fenders, buckets and warps, I could comfortably fit inside the stern locker, an area where I usually spend at least half an hour of my survey time: There's always so much to inspect here, often with access for inspection of fuel tanks, stern gear, steering gear and the quality of the hull-to-deck join.

Westerly Storm 33

This Storm was one of the very early ones and she had a cast iron fin keel, masthead rig and Volvo Penta 2002. Her survey report turned out to be a bit on the dull side as there was very little about the boat that was in need of attention.

Both the current and future owner of this Storm are members of the Westerly Owners Association, the largest yacht owners' group in the World. A Westerly owner since 1995, I am also getting to know and like these boats better through my day-to-day survey work. Fieldhouse Yacht Surveys also offer an attractive discount to WOA members, so consider joining them when you are looking for a survey on your potential Westerly buy!

Valuation Survey of 1973 Tequila Sport 24

Spider Pig was sitting on her road trailer when I inspected her yesterday down at The Sussex Yacht Club in Shoreham on the UK South Coast. Built in 1973, she is a quarter ton club racing yacht, built by Oivier Gibert who later became Gibsea or Gibert Marine. Under her first owner, she was named 'Ichabod', then later 'Born to Run'.

The current owners of Spider Pig are members of the Brighton Marina Yacht Club and intend to race her from there. The club's Frostbite Series that runs through January and February will most likely be their first. Judging by the bare, low profile deck and exposed cockpit of Spider Pig, the frostbite is going to reach every appendage of the five or so friends that will be crewing her.

Spider Pig, a Tequila Sport 24

Since buying her in early 2011, the boat has undergone a fairly substantial refit, with areas of the coachroof and foredeck being re-cored after the original balsa core had become rotten through moisture ingress. Her cockpit bares only a minor resemblance to the original after much of the cockpit moulding was taken out and replaced by a cleverly designed and built sandwich structure.

New cockpit of Spider Pig

A fine addition to the boat, and a great improvement over the original, is the new Jefa rudder that they had custom built. The blade profile was modelled in CAD and then CNC milled to shape and to fit around the aluminium stock. The assembly was then overlaminated with GRP and faired to give a very smooth and light rudder.

I intend to keep a close eye on the  Brighton Marina Yacht Club website in the New Year. The boat still needs a few hours spending on finishing off the re-fit, but she looks like she'll give a lot of smiles per pound and the bigger boats a run for their money.

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Pre-purchase Survey of Beneteau 50 in Swanwick, Southampton, Hampshire

I had a very long but interesting day last week surveying this very nice 2001 Beneteau 50 at Ancasta Brokers in Swanwick, Hampshire. This blue water cruiser was designed by Bruce Farr and had the shoal fin keel option, giving a draft of only 1.8 metres. She was very well equipped with a Panda Fisher generator, Brunton Autoprop, bow thruster, liferaft and EPIRB. The interior was very nicely finished with cream leather upholstery and woodwork that hadn't seen too much heavy use. Similarly, the teak deck hadn't received much hard wear, although the caulking was standing proud of the planking, suggesting that successive scrubbings with a stiff broom had worn back the teak. A light sanding should rectify that pretty quickly.

A few years ago I had an excellent delivery cruise from Ramsgate to Corfu on a Beneteau similar to this. Unfortunately my berth was in the forepeak accomodation. Although very spacious and comfortable whilst on her mooring, I have vivid memories of lying on my bunk in rough seas and to occasionally find myself in mid-air as the bow slammed into the troughs. I soon relocated myself to the saloon. Here I was continually being disturbed by the change of watch, but at least my bed didn't move so much.

For details of our pre-purchase surveys, take a look at our website at Fieldhouse Yacht Surveys. Feel free to email us or telephone us to discuss your specific requirements.