Bought a Never splashed Colvic Countess 33 on eBay, Looking for infos

[[159032]]

Top marks for an interesting story and video.
But no-one capable of the level of detail on even the intro of the video would look at a job like that.

(or put a ladder upside down to catch your trousers on the hook as you step off)

Pretend you've sold it on.

 

[Iain C]

My feeling is that you guys are missing the point here. Of course, you all love a good project. Otherwise you would not be here. But here’s the thing, as you very well pointed out most of the boats languishing on boatyards everywhere around the coast have ALL the hardware…that I don’t want. A 20-year-old engine can be used as a good foundation for a concrete block for a mooring. 30-year-old winches will make you very proficient in constant maintenance, (think of field stripping a rifle with closed eyes over and over) the electronics? The electric wiring the bits of soggy plywood, sails that will disintegrate with a seagull sneeze when flying past. The list goes on.
I would STRIP the all thing bare and start new. You forget there are 3 types of sailors. The Club Admiral, the Expert on expertise, the weekend sailor that uses is boat as a caravan in the water, and Blue water sailors.
I consider my self the later. I’m actually going to sail that boat to start across the Atlantic. Do you honestly think I want 30-year-old wiring or winches mast and everything you can find on a boat for 5k?
If I fell into the category of the weekend sailor and used the boat to sail around the coast? Sure, why not. But trust me on this one, you do NOT want to be repairing your old wires half way across the Atlantic, neither do you want the 30-year-old sails to turn into deco Banners in the wind.
It is all a matter of perspective. I know plenty of people that bought boats as you say and I cannot fault their judgement, I fail to see how you can fault mine.

OK, not a loaded question, but if you are a blue water sailor, how much sailing have you actually done? And that's a genuine question...I'll hold my hands up to having sailed for a very long time, however due to work and a young family most of my sailing this year will be your typical weekend assault on a Solent port/pub in an AWB with some round the cans trading of dinghy gelcoat on a Wednesday night well inland from the sea.

But if you're not prepared to go blue water cruising with old sails, an old rig, and old winches, then what do you propose? And more to the point how are you going to do it for 20 grand if you're buying newer stuff? Or are you going to build your own winches or something? I'm not being funny but any sailor knows that there's absolutely nothing wrong with a 30 year old winch...it's a hard wearing, simple thing, and if it's been serviced properly, it will last forever. You say you want reliable blue water kit, yet a few pages ago you were going diesel electric, and building your own anchor...were you aware of Rocnagate a few years ago just because the wrong grade of steel had been used?

So what are you plans for reliable proven deck hardware within time and budget then?

And please don't think I've not got the scars of the "Project Boat"...I went from this...

...to this, using nothing but hard work and the best value or second hand kit where I could, and I know just how much more time and money it takes than you think it will! Been there, done that, got the T-shirt. Oh, and it took years, not months...

 

[fredrussell]

Greg, whichever options you choose, I suggest it will get done a whole lot quicker if you stop discussing them with the yay and nay sayers on here. You’ve stated your case, off you go. Start a blog (or vlog) and stop wasting your time on this thread! Life is short. Time is money.

 

[Tranona]

OK, not a loaded question, but if you are a blue water sailor, how much sailing have you actually done? And that's a genuine question...I'll hold my hands up to having sailed for a very long time, however due to work and a young family most of my sailing this year will be your typical weekend assault on a Solent port/pub in an AWB with some round the cans trading of dinghy gelcoat on a Wednesday night well inland from the sea.

But if you're not prepared to go blue water cruising with old sails, an old rig, and old winches, then what do you propose? And more to the point how are you going to do it for 20 grand if you're buying newer stuff? Or are you going to build your own winches or something? I'm not being funny but any sailor knows that there's absolutely nothing wrong with a 30 year old winch...it's a hard wearing, simple thing, and if it's been serviced properly, it will last forever. You say you want reliable blue water kit, yet a few pages ago you were going diesel electric, and building your own anchor...were you aware of Rocnagate a few years ago just because the wrong grade of steel had been used?

So what are you plans for reliable proven deck hardware within time and budget then?

And please don't think I've not got the scars of the "Project Boat"...I went from this...

...to this, using nothing but hard work and the best value or second hand kit where I could, and I know just how much more time and money it takes than you think it will! Been there, done that, got the T-shirt. Oh, and it took years, not months...

Well done! You have illustrated perfectly what many of us know having been through the process or watched other people.

Somehow, though this poster thinks none of this applies to him and somehow (through magic tools perhaps!) he can prove everybody wrong.

Reality will arrive in about a year's time when 15% of his budget has been eaten up in storage charges and he still has just a bare hull (although it may be clean and dry).

 

[ghostlymoron]

A friend of mine decided to build a steel boat and sail off round the world - it took him 14yrs!
He was a perfectionist so the boat was beautiful when he finished but he had got too old to embark on a circumnavigation and also lacked the confidence to sail on his own. He died recently and the boat is now languishing in a Welsh boatyard whilst his widow decides what to do with it.

 

[doug748]

Greg, whichever options you choose, I suggest it will get done a whole lot quicker if you stop discussing them with the yay and nay sayers on here. You’ve stated your case, off you go. Start a blog (or vlog) and stop wasting your time on this thread! Life is short. Time is money.

I was thinking along the same lines.

Having re-read the whole thread there is a heartening degree of encouragement, if muted and garnished with useful suggestions.
Twenty two posts have pointed out it is "not worth it" a common revelation that is applied to most things on here, from making your own breakfast to a particle collider.
Seven have said it is too difficult (excluding the speculation about advanced propulsion systems).
Ten have suggested that it may be better to spend the money on another boat.

If it carries on it may attain the critical mass of the "Can I live in a steel boat?" thread and sustain itself under it's own momentum.
For myself, if the project comes in on budget this year I will happily supply the bubbly for the launch.

 

[solent clown]

Iain, that pic of your yacht interior was one karen saved on her laptop as inspiration for one of our projects, and she has done it, right down to union jack cushions - and salt and pepper shakers!

 

[dancrane]

Greg, I suggest it will get done a whole lot quicker if you stop discussing them with the yay and nay sayers on here.

It might...on the other hand, discussing and defending the possibilities while the thrill of acquisition may still have some warmth, must be much easier than actually climbing once more into the yellow void and stirring up fibreglass dust.

If discouraging voices here bring on the glum realisation that this hull requires years of work and outlay for the same reward the money could deliver in days, if spent on a finished yacht, then the longer Greg argues his bold but barmy case, the better.

 

[GregOddity]

I was thinking along the same lines.

Having re-read the whole thread there is a heartening degree of encouragement, if muted and garnished with useful suggestions.
Twenty two posts have pointed out it is "not worth it" a common revelation that is applied to most things on here, from making your own breakfast to a particle collider.
Seven have said it is too difficult (excluding the speculation about advanced propulsion systems).
Ten have suggested that it may be better to spend the money on another boat.

If it carries on it may attain the critical mass of the "Can I live in a steel boat?" thread and sustain itself under it's own momentum.
For myself, if the project comes in on budget this year I will happily supply the bubbly for the launch.

Ill take you up on that

 

[GregOddity]

C’mon guys, I came here looking for Help on the Colvic Countess. Thank you all for your input... as it is not worth it... and don’t do it... and get a new boat and go sailing.
We are going to build this boat up. Then were going to sail it. And I’m more keen at info’s on My boat then the advice.
I’m sure that advice has been dished out from repairing an old Bicycle to building the First airplane.
It comes so easy. Its so easy to say you can’t do it instead of using brain matter to see if it can actually be done.
I actually have failed to go to the moon. Never made the rocket, never made the space suit.. a waste of money. Im finishing this post to write to NASA and tell them to stop everything… such a waste. How dare they think they can do what has never been done. After all our forefathers never needed to go to the moon and stars.
So why should I build my own boat? BECAUSE I WANT TO? Does that make any sense?

As to the troll thing, well I don't really remember ASKING for anything other than info’s on the colvic. You guys actually jumped in with heaps of wonderful advice based on your own experiences and seem to be very concerned with saving me from myself. Burn my body to save my soul type of thing.
So, let me make this clear to all. The ONLY advise I’m looking for IS how to MAKE stuff. NOT on how to go buy a boat. Or the 1000 reasons why MY project will not work or is a failure before even starting.
Maybe you should be on an Anchor thread instead

 

[GregOddity]

It might...on the other hand, discussing and defending the possibilities while the thrill of acquisition may still have some warmth, must be much easier than actually climbing once more into the yellow void and stirring up fibreglass dust.

If discouraging voices here bring on the glum realisation that this hull requires years of work and outlay for the same reward the money could deliver in days, if spent on a finished yacht, then the longer Greg argues his bold but barmy case, the better.

Ok that was good. It actually caught me thinking on how to wash the slime of those stupid wooden steps. Back to loading the car. Catch ya all later.

 

[Graham_Wright]

So why should I build my own boat? BECAUSE I WANT TO? Does that make any sense?

That's the most sensible thing you have said and It is the best reason in the world. Building a boat is fun and ultimately rewarding.

But I and many others have found out, it is not a money saver.

Enjoy!

 

[Iain C]

So, let me make this clear to all. The ONLY advise I’m looking for IS how to MAKE stuff. NOT on how to go buy a boat. Or the 1000 reasons why MY project will not work or is a failure before even starting.

Well, crack on, and I'll be genuinely interested to see how you get on, and wish you the very best of luck with what I'm sure will be an interesting project to keep you busy.

So what stuff are you looking for advice on how to make? I made a lot of stuff on my project boat pictured above, as well as some very extensive dinghy build projects and I'd be delighted to help if I can...

 

[GregOddity]

Well, crack on, and I'll be genuinely interested to see how you get on, and wish you the very best of luck with what I'm sure will be an interesting project to keep you busy.

So what stuff are you looking for advice on how to make? I made a lot of stuff on my project boat pictured above, as well as some very extensive dinghy build projects and I'd be delighted to help if I can...

That deserves a proper conversation. Ill pm you later tonight.

 

[Spyro]

Ok that was good. It actually caught me thinking on how to wash the slime of those stupid wooden steps. Back to loading the car. Catch ya all later.

You'll need to start a bit earlier if you ever want to get it finished.

 

[dancrane]

Well done Greg. Don't forget, I said "bold but barmy"...which doesn't deny your boldness. I'll be glad to see another Countess 33, afloat.

Just never forget, there's zero need to prove us all wrong, for voicing our doubts about your estimated costs and timings...

...but, the minute the whole business starts to feel less like fun, and you start wishing you had a yacht ready to go sailing in, in 2018, that's the day to reflect whether the Countess is worth pursuing. Plenty of boats already afloat, if you'd actually rather go sailing.

As long as the escalating costs, increasing effort and distant project-completion date feel more like fun than pain, stick with it! :encouragement:

 

[Tranona]

So why should I build my own boat? BECAUSE I WANT TO? Does that make any sense?

So, let me make this clear to all. The ONLY advise I’m looking for IS how to MAKE stuff. NOT on how to go buy a boat. Or the 1000 reasons why MY project will not work or is a failure before even starting.
Maybe you should be on an Anchor thread instead

Nothing wrong in wanting to do things - most of us do and some of us actually achieve what we want. The secret is identifying the possible which often means learning from the mistakes of others.

Achieving what you want usually fails from the start by underestimating what is involved, particularly if you have never done it before. That is where you are at. There is nothing magic about completing a boat from a bare hull - hundreds of people have done it, many of them here (including me) and everything you suggest you can do goes against their experience. Alongside that there are plenty of failures, including the one you have bought. The biggest cause of failure to complete is underestimation of the time and effort involved. Cost is fairly predictable and in the days when home build was popular you could indeed build a boat for less than the cost of buying a comparable boat. Unfortunately the world has changed and now it is impossible to build a low cost boat. The price of complete usable boats has fallen to a fraction of their replacement cost as the example given earlier shows.

Of course you can make "stuff" and find ways of making or modifying things that are cheaper and/or better than ready made things - just adds to the time taken and introduces the possibility of failure and wasted time. So far, everything you have suggested you are going to make is unlikely to work - and the advice in that direction is to help you avoid mistakes and wasted effort.

So, whichever way you go, you are going to "fail". The sort of ideas you have suggested here will not work. If you go the conventional route your budget is inadequate by a factor of at least 2- 3 times so you will end up with a boat worth less than half of what it cost to complete. Either way you will need to invest YEARS of time, just like everybody else who has built a boat this size from a bare hull and deck.

 

[pvb]

If you go the conventional route your budget is inadequate by a factor of at least 2- 3 times so you will end up with a boat worth less than half of what it cost to complete.

Or, even worse, he could end up with a boat that's utterly worthless because nobody would ever buy it.

 

[dancrane]

That's not worse, if it's what he wanted to own, himself.

But it's crazy, if it's what he could buy tomorrow with a fraction the money it will cost him.

 

[Deleted member 36384]

C’mon guys, I came here looking for Help on the Colvic Countess. .....

You posted in a Forum and I am sure you understand that once posted you have no control of the responses beyond reporting a response as abuse. Fortunately for you there is good selection of experienced people on here and you will get lots of good advice as well as corrections and challenges to poor advice if that is offered. Rather than blame the forum for responses you don't like, just apply some self discipline and filter replies you find are not relevant.

I have refurbished an old boat that was seaworthy but tired. The advice that I have received on here has been very good on a whole. The comments being made about the value or sense in what you are about to undertake is true but you just have to put them to the side and ignore. My advice is that the positive information you can receive from here far outweighs the negative stuff. There are also a lot of grumpy, clever, opinionated folks - ignore anything that you feel is personal and take the information they offer that is useful.

As they say, "there's nowt so queer as folks."