Practical guides
What we learned by doing it, written up properly. Not theory: first-hand accounts of jobs we actually carried out on a 1979 ketch, with the costs, the mistakes and what we would do differently.
Before you buy
Buying a second-hand sailboat
Eight things to check before you sign, every one of them discovered after we bought our 1979 ketch.
The seller’s debt
The marina impounded the boat over €14,000 that was not ours. The five free checks to run first.
The viewing checklist
Sixty-six checks to print out and take round the boat, with a running score and a repair budget.
Running the project
Rebuilding a sailboat: time, money, order
Three years, 40% of the price of the boat in works, 11% a year in running costs. The real timeline and the order to do things in.
The cost calculator
Not a guide but a tool: what a boat will really ask of you, based on its length and its condition.
The refit
Stripping the hull
Twenty years of paint over 16 metres: three months of weekends. The working order that saves your arms.
Replacing the skin fittings
Holes in the hull, below the waterline. The piece of safety equipment nobody looks at when buying.
Rewiring in 24 V lithium
Two circuits, Lynx, SmartShunt, Cerbo GX, the Bluetooth trap, and what the job really costs.
Filters and bleeding on a Perkins 6.354
The manual’s procedure, the cam trick that saves you pumping for nothing, and the part numbers.
Two free tools go with these guides: the real cost calculator, to find out what a boat will actually ask of you, and the electrical configurator, to size an onboard installation.