geem
Well-known member
Any boat over 10 years old could be described like that. An old boat can easily be kept up to date. One that has been refurbished recently can easily be in far better condition than say a 15 year old boat with all original equipment.It’s a lot of money for a 45 year old boat. Unless someone’s spent serious money recently, every last system will be out of date, the sails will be knackered and the bog won’t work. It’s the way with older boats.
Our own boat is 42 years old but there is almost nothing left of the original systems. They have either been refurbished or replaced.
For example, at 32 years old, I refurbished all the Whitlock shaft steering. Stripped the gearboxes and replaced bearings, seals and re-shimmed the gears. 35,000nm later I am doing them again. They have been done twice in 42 years. The boat isn't a museum piece. It's a working machine putting in the miles. It needs systems maintaining and rebuilding as necessary before they let you down at sea.
I am on my second genoa and third mainsail in 10 years. Now both Vectran so hoping to get more miles out of them than plain Dacron.
The boat had a new engine on 2007. It's now got 2700 hrs. It may have an old hull but with new Awgrip and new system all we get is positive comments from people about the boat and how well she looks. My electronics are now 14 years old. We will be doing an upgrade in the next couple of years.