You wonder what previous owners did when sailing the boat ...

Refueler

Refueler

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As some know - I recently added to my 'fleet' - a Conqubin 38CR ..... a sleek fast cruiser racer.

Having sailed her now and spent hours tracing wires / pipes etc. - I start to wonder what previous owners were thinking of ...

So far :

Flex FW tank installed under port main cabin seating. Plumbed into the Seawater line instead of the FW .... This had us stumped for a while trying to figure out why it kept filling up after we emptied it.
Why have it anyway - the built in stainless steel tank in the fwd section is fine.

Wrong shackles used in places - needing two shackles to get length and orientation.

Genoa luff is about 35cms too short for the Furlex ... leading to halyard wrap ... temp fix was to add pendant at tack. Will replace with tape pendant at head ..

Switch panel - all switches have power to them - but only half do anything - rest have nothing to control. The boat has had change of various gear - appears that old wiring just left in place.

6 transducers up fwd ... 6 !!! ... Depth - we know and works ... speed stopped working shortly after we delivered her to new home.... but temperature OK - so that means connection is ok.

Wind displays (Wind and Tack) are random info ... with no speed at all ...

Morse lever for engine control is poorly calibrated / adjusted - leading to vague neutral - lever clicks in and out of supposed neutral - but prop can still be engaged.

Furling line is 1 size too big diameter - causing drum to fill too quick. Nice size to handle - but really needs reduction in diameter.

Furlex 200 halyard swivel unit has lost its bottom C clip ....

Sheets are also in need of diameter reduction ... main sheet binds due to size ...

The above are just examples - the previous owner was clear that he used the boat in the Swedish Islands and didn't venture outside to open sea ... he used mainsail only most time ..
The boat was maintained by the Yard ... but he admitted they were not the best.

Overall the boat is very good - actually for her year - exceptional. But she needs sorting out installations on board. Am I complaining ? No - I bought a second hand older boat - at a price that was well below market .. I fully expected to have to sort out various ... it just surprises me how previous owner sailed it like this.
 
I spend hours browsing Boatshed looking a photo's of S/H boats. Some of the things you see on there that people have done will make your hair stand on end, in the case of electrics, literally!
 
When I bought my Southerly I was lucky that the previous owner had spent a lot of money on new engine, sails, canvas, electronics, cooker, tender ect ect.

However, some of what I would regard as absolute basics had not been done. e.g:

1) Lifting keel electro hydraulic system was not working. Could be lifted manually but that requires about 200 pumps on a handle. Fault was a £25 limit switch, now fixed.

2) Boat had a 35 year old seized windlass so manual anchor raise only. A safety issue for me. New Lewmar windlass with remote fitted

3) Saloon table was slightly too big to drop into the seating area to create a saloon bunk. A series of specially formed boards had been made to slot in as a bed base with the table raised to deck head height. This ruined head room and was a faff to store and fit. Edges of table were planed, sanded and varnished and it now drops down as it always should have.

4) Boom vang springs had disintegrated completely . Springs replaced and now works as intended.

My conclusion was that I was lucky, previous owner spent lots of money on nice to have things and new oversized engine. I spent a bit of money and common sense to achieve a boat set up that is approaching my ideal.
 
All part of the fun of taking on a new boat.

I unscrewed the switch panel to expose a rats nest of wires. The AC point with male connectors exposed at the back of a locker came as a shock. Thankfully the boat was not on shore power!
 
When I bought my little motorsailer it was delivered to the yard at Milford Haven. On our first visit I plugged a mains cable to it but nothing happened. Checked the supply, which was dead. Called the yard electrician to reset the local breaker, which he did, but still no power. He checked the main breaker, which had also tripped. Other than the boatyard this also supplies the leading lights into the port, which were also out.

Before going further I investigated the boat thoroughly. A mains supply to a socket had been disconnected by the PO and the three bare wires twisted together.
 
  • Wow
Reactions: vas
when restoring my boat, I remember (and have pics to prove it!) removing lengths of wire which eventually ended up close to 50kg of cabling of various sizes and lengths that were doing bugger all. Others were also doing nothing and were repurposed to kit that were needs for.
 
About 13 mains sockets in a 27ft boat, done by numerous extension leads daisy chained together. Defective VHF. Defective depth gauge. Portopotti even though all fitting in place for sea toilet. Dead wire everywhere, but live 12v to disconnected fresh water system pump. Defective tricolour wired in parallel with all other nav lights, even though spare switch. Apparently immaculate 36year old mainsail and genoa that burst the first time wind topped F5. So he only fished in it out of Emsworth but even so.

Earlier boats had worse wiring and a right mares nest, plus defective Decca still installed long after that system had ceased
 
I have never bought new ..... generally you get a far better package.

Pal of mine as example .... previously owned a nice Moody ... sold and later wished he hadn't. Typical story. When we created a biz partnership - he wanted to sail on my Sunrider .... we had some great time s on it ... which led to his looking to buy a boat ...

He wanted something bigger than my SR25 ... about the 36 ft mark. I pointed him at a really nice Jeanneau in the west country - fully kitted out .. ready to sail away. Guy was asking 80K ... I advised pal to offer 70+ .... and maybe haggle a bit. He went to see and sure enough - it was in excellent condition .. with all the gear .. Radar .. integrated electronics ... right down to even sheets / pillows all dry-cleaned still in plastic.
Price agreed at 73K.... an absolute steal !!!
My Pal gets home and G/F whispers in his ear - she wants a bit more 'comfort' !! So he looks at a Hunter (USA Hunter) .... SHE loves it ... he asks me and I told him straight ... the Jeanneau is a far better boat ...

So 110K later - he's the owner of a sail-away (USA) Hunter ... then another 15K on top to install gear to bring it up to LESS than the Jeanneau he turned down.

2 years later - when the locker tops had distorted ... electrics were in need of repairs ... fed up with its restricted downwind sailing - having no backstays and seriously swept spreaders ... he finally admitted he had made a big mistake. He hated the boat ... it was just one thing after another going wrong .. even his G/F got to dislike the boat ... and said - they should have bought the Jeanneau.

It took him 3 years to get rid of that floating caravan ....

The stupid thing is .. another pal of mine was selling a HR 43 at the time ... which would have cost my pal LESS than the Hunter + gear ...
 
Par for the course (or second hand boats) I think. On one boat I had to set up an effective reefing system before sailing home, then once home removed a few kilo of unused wires, cut off at both ends. The current boat came with twin mainsheets across the front of the cockpit, one for each side, but once the boom was eased they chafed on the guard rails, to say nothing of the risk of being garroted by the lazy sheet across the companion way. Windlass mounted so far forward that there was not enough fall of chain to keep it on the gypsy. Lots of other weird and wonderful things as she had been specially fitted out for the first owner who I bought it off.
However one good feature was a small header tank that the injector spill pipe kept topped up. This provides enough fuel to gravity top up the filters after a change rather than pump up from the main tank in the bilge, provided the correct fuel pipes were on and off.

An earlier boat, with an engine fitted by the previous owner, an "engineer", had separate throttle and gear levers, the only problem was that you had to pull the gear leaver astern to go ahead! As I was running it as a skippered charter yacht/RYA cruising school I had to be very careful with crew practicing boat handling under power. Ten tons of steel hull behind a long graceful overhang could do some serious damage. On one occasion the long bow overhang proved an effective brake while berthing as it gently rose on to a marina walkway, stopping with the anchor just short of the opposite boat, before slowly slipping back in to the berth.
 
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I wonder how many of us have not bought boats (and cars, and houses) that were far from perfect, and wondered why the previous owners seemed content to live with glaringly obvious defects.

I dare say when I sell my boat, no matter how cheaply, it won't be long before there's a thread started here by her next owner, drawing attention to my deficiencies as shipwright, electrician, engineer, rigger, and cleaner.

'Twas ever thus. 😉
 
A previous owner of my boat had re-upholstered her cushions and backrests in pink velour.

I regard that as a greater crime than the other defects that became apparent soon after I bought her: wires going nowhere, seized seacocks, a home-made exhaust system, et al.
 
Refueler said:
As some know - I recently added to my 'fleet' - a Conqubin 38CR ..... a sleek fast cruiser racer.

Having sailed her now and spent hours tracing wires / pipes etc. - I start to wonder what previous owners were thinking of ...

So far :

Flex FW tank installed under port main cabin seating. Plumbed into the Seawater line instead of the FW .... This had us stumped for a while trying to figure out why it kept filling up after we emptied it.
Why have it anyway - the built in stainless steel tank in the fwd section is fine.

Wrong shackles used in places - needing two shackles to get length and orientation.

Genoa luff is about 35cms too short for the Furlex ... leading to halyard wrap ... temp fix was to add pendant at tack. Will replace with tape pendant at head ..

Switch panel - all switches have power to them - but only half do anything - rest have nothing to control. The boat has had change of various gear - appears that old wiring just left in place.

6 transducers up fwd ... 6 !!! ... Depth - we know and works ... speed stopped working shortly after we delivered her to new home.... but temperature OK - so that means connection is ok.

Wind displays (Wind and Tack) are random info ... with no speed at all ...

Morse lever for engine control is poorly calibrated / adjusted - leading to vague neutral - lever clicks in and out of supposed neutral - but prop can still be engaged.

Furling line is 1 size too big diameter - causing drum to fill too quick. Nice size to handle - but really needs reduction in diameter.

Furlex 200 halyard swivel unit has lost its bottom C clip ....

Sheets are also in need of diameter reduction ... main sheet binds due to size ...

The above are just examples - the previous owner was clear that he used the boat in the Swedish Islands and didn't venture outside to open sea ... he used mainsail only most time ..
The boat was maintained by the Yard ... but he admitted they were not the best.

Overall the boat is very good - actually for her year - exceptional. But she needs sorting out installations on board. Am I complaining ? No - I bought a second hand older boat - at a price that was well below market .. I fully expected to have to sort out various ... it just surprises me how previous owner sailed it like this.
Click to expand...
A few decades ago I was looking for a modest sized yacht and viewed one in a Hamble boatyard. In the aft cabin the owner....I presume....had left some photos of a naked woman taken onboard. So it's a fairly obvious guess what they got up to whilst sailing!
 
capnsensible said:
A few decades ago I was looking for a modest sized yacht and viewed one in a Hamble boatyard. In the aft cabin the owner....I presume....had left some photos of a naked woman taken onboard. So it's a fairly obvious guess what they got up to whilst sailing!
Click to expand...
And did your wife believe your explanation of how the photos came into your possession?
 
An earlier boat, with an engine fitted by the previous owner, an "engineer", had separate throttle and gear levers, the only problem was that you had to pull the gear leaver astern to go ahead!
Click to expand...

My Soviet mobo is like that - the problem being that the remote box and cables were supplied short ... so instead of gear cable going into front of control box - to operate correct way - it goes in at rear .... soi lever fwd for astern .. lever back for ahead !

It can lead to interesting shenanikins !!
 
My boat was very damp when we bought her. Sitting in her on the first night the electric bilge pump kept kicking in every 30 mins and steam was coming through the cabin sole boards. The calorifer pressure relief valve had failed and was emptying hot water in to bilge. Replaced the PRV thinking that would solve matters but no the bilge pump kept cutting in making a hell of a racket. There is a one way valve on the bilge pump pick up that prevents water draining back into the bilge once the pump stops - this was hanging off so water was leaking past it into the sump and causing the pump to restart. No wonder the bloke sold the boat - it cant have been very relaxing knowing the boat was steaming, filling up with water and with the pump constantly kicking in.

To be fair domestic water has been far the most troubling system on the boat and has required the most attention during my ownership.
 
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