petem
Well-Known Member
Firstly, thanks to all my forum mates, in particular Jez, Deleted User and Jimmy the Builder who have given me loads of support and advice. It was a bit of a rocky road but I got there in the end.
Anyhow, as you might have realised I have a penchant for boats with ‘fair’ lines and particularly those whose quality that “is more than skin deep”! So you won’t be entirely surprised that I’ve bought a very nice Targa 34. Here she is…
After looking at a number of T34’s in the Med (among other boats), it dawned on me that very few of them had a Med spec, rarely had good paperwork, had suffered from the Med sun and due to the weak pound were expensive. In addition, I found the process of buying a boat in the Med rather hard work. So, I decided to buy a UK boat and found one in good condition on with James Dickens in Hythe. Jez kindly offered to drive down to Southampton for the viewing to lend a second pair of eyes. We were both really impressed with the overall condition of the boat, particularly the Gel coat that IMO looks 10 years newer than the boat actually is.
The boat has been prepared for the season with fresh anti-foul and new anodes. It was serviced <45 hours ago so doesn’t need another service imminently. Valve clearances have allegedly been checked / adjusted twice in the past 6 or 7 years.
The surveyor was very happy with the condition of the boat and it pulled 36kts on the sea trial (GPS 2 way) with 5 crew, full water and half fuel. No noticeable smoke on start-up or when running.
The boat is called Andiamo (“Let’s Go!” in Italian). The name has grown on me so I won’t bother changing it (I will of course replace the old vinyl name with one of my very fine Stainless-Steel ones).
Andiamo is equipped with KAD44 EDC’s, was launched in 2002 and has 675 hours on the clocks. The hours are slightly higher than other similarly aged other boats but I’m not bothered (better a well-used boat than a badly stored one). Later boats had slightly more refined KAD300 engines but I’m OK with the simplicity and ease of repair of the KAD44’s. She’s got the earlier green glass that I prefer.
The boat comes with a folder full of service receipts along with the original VAT invoice, builder’s certificate and all Bills of Sale from new. I’m yet to be convinced of the benefit of Part 1 Reg I’ll probably just stick it on the SSR.
The previous owners kept it for a couple of years, however, due to them being elderly and in bad health hardly used it. It was in the possession of the previous owner to them for many years and he obviously treasured it (I’ve spoken to him).
Oily Bits
Engines and legs are in pretty good shape but our engineer (Col, of this parish) has given us a list of repairs to be carried out before we reposition the boat in the Med:
1) Repair an oil cooler leak (part to be removed and repaired)
2) Timing gear cover – to be shot blasted and re-painted
3) Replace a tensioner that was noted to be running hot on the sea trial
4) Engines to be serviced (waiting to hear when the valve clearances were last checked)
I’ve no doubt some people will be horrified that I’ve bought a boat with sterndrives but I’m pretty relaxed about. Whatever they cost to maintain and fix will be shared with my two partners, one of whom is a precision engineer who has a business reverse engineering machine parts. Needless to say, they will be properly maintained and we’ll use independent engineers to fix them.
Equipment
The boat has a newish Raymarine Touch Screen plotter mounted on a Scanstrut bracket. Rather oddly it has the original Radar / Plotter still in situ. I queried this with the previous owner but one and he said it was because the original plotter position was poor (below the wheel). Therefore, he left the old plotter where it was as a backup (also integrated with the analogue radar). Whilst this arrangement is a little odd it doesn’t offend me enough to change it and there’s no harm in a little redundancy I guess. The A/P is currently connected to the old plotter but I’d like to move the connection to the new plotter if possible.
The boat also has Eberspacher heating, a teak cockpit, extra anchor chain, low level cockpit lights and a bow thruster. For tender storage the boat has Weaver Snap Davits and stand-offs.
Repairs
There’s not much wrong with the boat. The following is the list of items discovered by myself and the surveyor:
• Anchor light not working (will replace with an LED one).
• Echo sounder says ‘calibrating’ so will need to investigate and fix.
• Portside saloon overhead cabinets have dropped a bit so need to be removed and re-fixed.
• Hour meters (were working two years ago but no longer). I will replace the LED displays.
Mooring
The boat is currently lying in Hythe. We’re going to keep it in the UK until the end of the summer then have it trucked down to the Med for the Winter. Deacons would be my first choice but it’s looking expensive. Eastlands is tempting and certainly cheap but currently full.
Once we’re in the Med, I want somewhere that is ‘open’ over the winter so I’m favouring Altea (Benidorm) or more likely Club De Mar in Palma. The latter being favourite due to the short taxi ride. Both are relatively affordable (c. €3k for 6 months).
For next Summer, I’m looking at Ibiza, preferably Santa Eulalia which I was very taken with when I was over there recently.
Shipping
I’ve had a few quotes for shipping. The cheapest solution is to take it to Le Havre on its own bum, truck it down to the south west of France then pop across to Palma via Barcelona.
Refurbs / Upgrades
There really isn’t much that needs addressing. The current lists stands at:
1) Bathing platform – The existing platform is ‘lifting’ and generally worn out. Fortunately, I know the guys at Wattsons and they’ve given me a good quote for a new platform.
2) Replace the old halogen / tungsten G4’s with LED’s. Will start with the cockpit.
3) Soundproofing – The KAD44’s aren’t the quietest of lumps (especially WOT) so we’ll replace the hatch soundproofing with the best Halyard kit and properly seal the hatch. Not expensive and I think will make a big difference.
4) TV – The boat has a hideous / massive TV in the lounge. First job will be to remove it and make good the wall panel. Unfortunately, the original vinyl is out of production so I need to find a matching alternative. Either that or redo all of the panels on the boat (or just the saloon) which feels like overkill. We’ll see.
5) Replacement TV – Avtex or Cello. Need to work out how I can mount it above the galley cabinets without fouling them.
6) Interior (carpets, curtains, leather sofa) is in good condition but needs cleaning / detailing. I’m tempted to have a go at the leather myself.
7) Exterior (covers and cockpit seating) has all been replaced in the past couple of years so again, just needs a proper clean / detailing.
8) Tender and Outboard – Need to buy a 2.4m tender and 3hp outboard.
9) Switches – some of the original Carling Contura V (Series 3) have been replaced. The remainder are all faded to the point of being illegible. I’m not keen on the later switches and want to keep the boat largely original so my plan is to have the faded ones re-painted. I’ve found a supplier whom I believe can do this.
10) Aircon – Will either buy all new or install a used chiller with new ancillaries.
It’s not practical to install a Genset and it’s not really the sort of boat to spends days on end at anchor so we won’t bother with one. Some T34’s have a Pasarelle mounted on the back but this gets in the way of the bathing platform a bit and is expensive so we’ll make do with a folding one if needed.
Questions
1) If anyone knows of a berth that’s free for the next couple of months, please let me know.
2) If anyone has a T34 with a TV in the saloon could you send me a photo of the bracket?
3) Do you think it’s worth having a go at cleaning the leather myself using car products? They’re only a little grubby so I can’t see that I could do much harm.
4) Would a domestic carpet cleaner person come and steam clean the carpets?
5) Does anyone have a newish 2.4m tender and outboard that they want to sell?
6) Can I connect the new plotter to the original autopilot? Is this an easy job?
Anyhow, as you might have realised I have a penchant for boats with ‘fair’ lines and particularly those whose quality that “is more than skin deep”! So you won’t be entirely surprised that I’ve bought a very nice Targa 34. Here she is…
After looking at a number of T34’s in the Med (among other boats), it dawned on me that very few of them had a Med spec, rarely had good paperwork, had suffered from the Med sun and due to the weak pound were expensive. In addition, I found the process of buying a boat in the Med rather hard work. So, I decided to buy a UK boat and found one in good condition on with James Dickens in Hythe. Jez kindly offered to drive down to Southampton for the viewing to lend a second pair of eyes. We were both really impressed with the overall condition of the boat, particularly the Gel coat that IMO looks 10 years newer than the boat actually is.
The boat has been prepared for the season with fresh anti-foul and new anodes. It was serviced <45 hours ago so doesn’t need another service imminently. Valve clearances have allegedly been checked / adjusted twice in the past 6 or 7 years.
The surveyor was very happy with the condition of the boat and it pulled 36kts on the sea trial (GPS 2 way) with 5 crew, full water and half fuel. No noticeable smoke on start-up or when running.
The boat is called Andiamo (“Let’s Go!” in Italian). The name has grown on me so I won’t bother changing it (I will of course replace the old vinyl name with one of my very fine Stainless-Steel ones).
Andiamo is equipped with KAD44 EDC’s, was launched in 2002 and has 675 hours on the clocks. The hours are slightly higher than other similarly aged other boats but I’m not bothered (better a well-used boat than a badly stored one). Later boats had slightly more refined KAD300 engines but I’m OK with the simplicity and ease of repair of the KAD44’s. She’s got the earlier green glass that I prefer.
The boat comes with a folder full of service receipts along with the original VAT invoice, builder’s certificate and all Bills of Sale from new. I’m yet to be convinced of the benefit of Part 1 Reg I’ll probably just stick it on the SSR.
The previous owners kept it for a couple of years, however, due to them being elderly and in bad health hardly used it. It was in the possession of the previous owner to them for many years and he obviously treasured it (I’ve spoken to him).
Oily Bits
Engines and legs are in pretty good shape but our engineer (Col, of this parish) has given us a list of repairs to be carried out before we reposition the boat in the Med:
1) Repair an oil cooler leak (part to be removed and repaired)
2) Timing gear cover – to be shot blasted and re-painted
3) Replace a tensioner that was noted to be running hot on the sea trial
4) Engines to be serviced (waiting to hear when the valve clearances were last checked)
I’ve no doubt some people will be horrified that I’ve bought a boat with sterndrives but I’m pretty relaxed about. Whatever they cost to maintain and fix will be shared with my two partners, one of whom is a precision engineer who has a business reverse engineering machine parts. Needless to say, they will be properly maintained and we’ll use independent engineers to fix them.
Equipment
The boat has a newish Raymarine Touch Screen plotter mounted on a Scanstrut bracket. Rather oddly it has the original Radar / Plotter still in situ. I queried this with the previous owner but one and he said it was because the original plotter position was poor (below the wheel). Therefore, he left the old plotter where it was as a backup (also integrated with the analogue radar). Whilst this arrangement is a little odd it doesn’t offend me enough to change it and there’s no harm in a little redundancy I guess. The A/P is currently connected to the old plotter but I’d like to move the connection to the new plotter if possible.
The boat also has Eberspacher heating, a teak cockpit, extra anchor chain, low level cockpit lights and a bow thruster. For tender storage the boat has Weaver Snap Davits and stand-offs.
Repairs
There’s not much wrong with the boat. The following is the list of items discovered by myself and the surveyor:
• Anchor light not working (will replace with an LED one).
• Echo sounder says ‘calibrating’ so will need to investigate and fix.
• Portside saloon overhead cabinets have dropped a bit so need to be removed and re-fixed.
• Hour meters (were working two years ago but no longer). I will replace the LED displays.
Mooring
The boat is currently lying in Hythe. We’re going to keep it in the UK until the end of the summer then have it trucked down to the Med for the Winter. Deacons would be my first choice but it’s looking expensive. Eastlands is tempting and certainly cheap but currently full.
Once we’re in the Med, I want somewhere that is ‘open’ over the winter so I’m favouring Altea (Benidorm) or more likely Club De Mar in Palma. The latter being favourite due to the short taxi ride. Both are relatively affordable (c. €3k for 6 months).
For next Summer, I’m looking at Ibiza, preferably Santa Eulalia which I was very taken with when I was over there recently.
Shipping
I’ve had a few quotes for shipping. The cheapest solution is to take it to Le Havre on its own bum, truck it down to the south west of France then pop across to Palma via Barcelona.
Refurbs / Upgrades
There really isn’t much that needs addressing. The current lists stands at:
1) Bathing platform – The existing platform is ‘lifting’ and generally worn out. Fortunately, I know the guys at Wattsons and they’ve given me a good quote for a new platform.
2) Replace the old halogen / tungsten G4’s with LED’s. Will start with the cockpit.
3) Soundproofing – The KAD44’s aren’t the quietest of lumps (especially WOT) so we’ll replace the hatch soundproofing with the best Halyard kit and properly seal the hatch. Not expensive and I think will make a big difference.
4) TV – The boat has a hideous / massive TV in the lounge. First job will be to remove it and make good the wall panel. Unfortunately, the original vinyl is out of production so I need to find a matching alternative. Either that or redo all of the panels on the boat (or just the saloon) which feels like overkill. We’ll see.
5) Replacement TV – Avtex or Cello. Need to work out how I can mount it above the galley cabinets without fouling them.
6) Interior (carpets, curtains, leather sofa) is in good condition but needs cleaning / detailing. I’m tempted to have a go at the leather myself.
7) Exterior (covers and cockpit seating) has all been replaced in the past couple of years so again, just needs a proper clean / detailing.
8) Tender and Outboard – Need to buy a 2.4m tender and 3hp outboard.
9) Switches – some of the original Carling Contura V (Series 3) have been replaced. The remainder are all faded to the point of being illegible. I’m not keen on the later switches and want to keep the boat largely original so my plan is to have the faded ones re-painted. I’ve found a supplier whom I believe can do this.
10) Aircon – Will either buy all new or install a used chiller with new ancillaries.
It’s not practical to install a Genset and it’s not really the sort of boat to spends days on end at anchor so we won’t bother with one. Some T34’s have a Pasarelle mounted on the back but this gets in the way of the bathing platform a bit and is expensive so we’ll make do with a folding one if needed.
Questions
1) If anyone knows of a berth that’s free for the next couple of months, please let me know.
2) If anyone has a T34 with a TV in the saloon could you send me a photo of the bracket?
3) Do you think it’s worth having a go at cleaning the leather myself using car products? They’re only a little grubby so I can’t see that I could do much harm.
4) Would a domestic carpet cleaner person come and steam clean the carpets?
5) Does anyone have a newish 2.4m tender and outboard that they want to sell?
6) Can I connect the new plotter to the original autopilot? Is this an easy job?
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:sleeping:
