Wide Beam 35′ Steel Canal Houseboat                                                                                  

We have recently carried out a survey on a custom built canal boat. The barge was built in 2005 with the idea of cruising the Broads and therefore was built slightly wider than its counterpart in the north. This gives ample space for cruising and live aboard.

In general the boat was in pretty good order inside and outside and well looked after.

The steel hull was starting to show some rust, which is quite normal on a steel boat and in my opinion is due to the type of anodes used. The boat has been kept in Oulton broad for some years and I believe the anodes to be for fresh water. But if the boat is to be kept there it should be easy enough to replace the anodes with salt type ones, zinc or even alloy anodes.

Apart of that the boat surveyed well and if you want to cruise in style I definitely recommend a canal boat for their classic look and feel.

For more information contact European Marine Services Ltd    (inc European Marine Surveys)          Tel :  01603 327 123        www.europeanmarinesurveys.com

Van de Stadt 8m  Offshore Sloop                                                                                                

We recently carried out a survey on a GRP sloop fin keel built in the ’70s. 

The vessel presented well and we understood that a previous owner had spent a few years refitting the boat. All of the interior had been stripped out and reinforced with added bearers and re-epoxied all of the inside. The chap was also a keen joiner and re-built all of the furniture adding all those extra personal designs that improve so much the life aboard. Being myself a wooden boat builder too I was very appreciative of the details and quality of the refit.

Obviously no extra cabins have been added but the way every things nest together gives the impression of extra space. With a Vee berth in the front cabin and two seats / beds in the main cabin gives the opportunity for a couple to share the sailing experience with friends.

The rig has been kept as a sloop with an added Jib stay for stronger winds.

The vessel is steered by tiller and also has a wind autopilot which would tempt many people to go for long passage just to use it!

Any excuse for a long passage to warmer shores ?

Despite the price tag being slighlty higher than equivalent yachts, this one comes with a well thought-out interior design and practical rig.

We wish them plenty of enjoyable cruising

For more information contact European Marine Services Ltd    (inc European Marine Surveys)          Tel :  01603 327 123        www.europeanmarinesurveys.com

RIVA 52 SURVEY    Pre Purchase Survey in (sunny) Spain

Following instruction from a Brazilian client –  Last month we undertook a pre purchase survey in sunny Ibiza, SPAIN

The flight to Ibiza was fine apart from an hour delay at Stansted, which means I would be running an hour behind the whole day.   That’s all right in the UK with normal working hours but in Spain !   Where they stop between 2 and 4 pm and the yard closes at 6pm, That didn’t leave me much time to run around a bigish boat and try to find something wrong about it

The boat was a Riva Rivale 16m (52ft) and was kept indoor at Ibiza Boat Center, a reasonably big yard where they mainly look after luxurious type of boats. Great to keep the boat indoor away from the weather but slightly hot under a tin roof. I am more used to be in cold wet shed on the Norfolk Broads. But hey !  a bit of sunshine is always good.

The local broker Andreas Moegle of Amo Yachts was very helpful in working out the local logistic. Picking me up at the airport and sorting out accommodation for my one night stay. Andreas is a busy broker who also runs a local charter boat company with all sort of type and size of boats.  If any one fancy a quick ride to Formentera  he would definitely find you the right boat. 

After having passed all the safety check and been approved to walk in the boat yard, I found a very well kept boat. Well that was just my first impression from the outside, and I kept the same impression the whole way through the survey. The captain came shortly after and took me through the history and details of the vessel. A very interesting chap who has been extensively sailing in the Mediterranean sea.

The Riva Rivale is a well built ocean going twin screw medium Vee design. The hull design is built for good speed and reasonable fuel consumption. Powered by twin V8 MAN Engine of 662kw each gives plenty of oomph to the boat to quickly sail from Cannes to Monaco for the aperitif! And if no mooring could be negotiated in the harbor, the Riva Rivale can store a tender up to 3.2m in the garage!

The interior design is practical and of a high quality standard. Riva had design this boat with the idea of the owner self-handling it so to enjoy full privacy when sailing, however a version comes with a crew cabin for when in want of a chef / sailor.

The survey was pretty straight forward, following my routine I have found very little to say about the boat. It has been professionally maintained since it was built in 2005 and apart of the usual necessary maintenance i.e valves, stern tube and packing glands not much was wrong with the boat. Structurally Riva boats are built to last and have great character.

Lunch was the hardest bit of the survey. I mean I normally do the survey in one go. Well there I had to stop between 2 and 4pm for lunch as the yard was shut for siesta.  Lunch was great with some great tasty local product or at least locally from the continent! But getting back into the engine room, cramped with two massive MAN engine and all the system of the boat nested all over the place and with just a small open man hole for fresh air, I was starting to feel slightly too big for the place !

However the engine space on this boat is really well designed. All systems come back there so no need to lift any cushions in the sitting room or dismantle half a galley to reach the water pump. Just not straight after lunch in a boatshed that is close to 37C

I managed to finish in good time before 6 o’clock and after having double check all my findings headed towards the hotel for a well deserved shower and a rewarding cool beer.

Now I could enjoy a bit of my Ibizean time, so I walked along the Passeo Maritimo keeping an eye on a few yachts and super yachts in case I saw someone I knew from my previous jobs in the super yacht industry. Unfortunately or not, no one was there, so that would be an easy evening for me. Had a nice meal in the old town and a bit of wander around and back to the hotel as every local people were just going out for their evening runs

It was really nice carrying out this survey in Ibiza.

Hopefully more of those European surveys to come and brighten our English winter days

For more information contact European Marine Services Ltd.  Marine Surveyors & Consultants 
EMS also undertake Boat Safety Inspections & Engine Inspections

www.europeanmarinesurveys.com
Tel: 01603 327 123

Broom 37 Continental            Worth buying at the right price            

A Rebuild Project 

We have recently carried out a pre-purchase survey on a 40 year plus Broom Continental 37 from the early 70’s.  The customer had some worries about the safe structural condition of the boat after having viewed the vessel and undertaken river trials on the Broads and so did we when we saw her afloat in Broom’s Marina

The vessel had a laid teak deck and it was definitely looking tired.  The gel-coat showed signs of fair wear and tear and little maintenance.

The internal joinery woodwork hadn’t been protected and sealed for many years and due to some water ingress through the windows was in a poor condition and the list carries on with packing glands in need of servicing or replacing, windows leak, usual seized seacocks and so on.

But all in all, despite the poor cosmetic condition and lack of regular maintenance and up-keep, the vessel was considered structurally good.

She had a small amount of osmosis being expected in a vessel of this vintage and having been moored on the rivers for some years.

This just shows how well and strongly Broom’s Boat are built.  It also shows that a boat is like a house and needs attention and TLC to preserve its market value.

Even more so in a boat !  The effect of water combined with a poor maintenance increases the repair bill far more than scheduled maintenance – which will help keep a boat at a good standard throughout the years.

The joinery woodwork would probably need to be partially renewed but this could be a nice project for someone with an appetite for joinery work.  Beside, it is a good opportunity to redesign the interior according to one’s need !

All in all, this boat displays a great potential as a family boat and perhaps live aboard.

It can be a great project for someone who can spend the time to put it right.  Obviously some professional help might be needed and we know from experience that any boatbuilder taking part into the renovation of such classic motor yacht will be proud of being part of it.

The Broom Continental is one of the hidden gems from Broom Boat Builders and should be stunning once done up.  

I am looking forward to seeing her all done up and sailing down the rivers

For more information contact European Marine Services Ltd    (inc European Marine Surveys)          Tel :  01603 327 123        www.europeanmarinesurveys.com

Bayliner 3255   – With an unusual bow thruster

During last week surveys, I came across an interesting bow thruster on a Bayliner 3255.  As opposed to being built within a tunnel in the bow, the motor and props were externally mounted on the stem

I understand that these units are quite common in the USA being purchased off the shelf and can be DIY installed

     Not a recommended installation

So, as you can see from the above picture, all of the bow thruster is exposed.  And this is probably fine when sailing on the Broads (good for catching ropes etc) at a low speed but if one wants to enjoy a trip out at sea, two things are going to happen

1.     The bow thruster will almost certainly be out of the water when the boat is planing

2.    The chances of this unit suffering accidental impact damage are very high indeed

Since the vessel has twin outdrive propulsion and is reasonably small in length, It is better for the owner to practice control with the two engines and possibly consider removing the external bow thruster or investigating a way to have a bow thruster tunnel fitted.

Despite this slight concern, this boat was a good example of a Bayliner 3255.                     The interior was in a good condition with the usual fair wear and tear consistent with a vessel of this vintage, no osmosis was found and the boat was strongly built.

The usual questions were raised regarding the condition of the legs and since when buying a boat you are also buying one or two engines with it, we always recommend having a qualified marine engineer carry out an in-depth inspection of the out-drive units as they can be notoriously expensive to be put right.

Plus have an engine Oil Inspection Analysis which we offer as a service

For more information contact European Marine Services Ltd    (inc European Marine Surveys)          Tel :  01603 327 123        www.europeanmarinesurveys.com

Leeward 18

I was recently asked to look at a Leeward 18 for a visual and verbal report upon its condition.

I have to say that this was one of those enjoyable marine surveys where even from a distance I could see that the boat was in really good condition.

The previous owner had kept a good schedule of maintenance for the vessel and her engine.  She has a Mercuiser sterndrive diesel engine and was visually well kept.

Those boats have been built for fishing purposes as well as leisure use.  The GRP hull is strongly built to a high standard.  She features a large aft cockpit with plenty of space for the fishing gears and also has a neat little cabin to be sheltered from the sprays when reaching the fishing spot.

The hull design allows the boat to plane and reach any destination in no time at all.  But also can be very easily trailed by road to get to further afield places.

Looking forward to more of these

EMS recently carried out a Pre Purchase Survey on a Westwood 38 and the most interesting ‘hull structural conditions’ were found – as follows …..

Firstly

” It is generally accepted that osmotic blisters will not be found with ‘low’ moisture meter readings. Not all blisters are caused by osmosis, some will be found to be dry blisters, these may often appear in the gel coat and usually caused by aeration when the original batch of gel coat was mixed ” 

However the hull below the waterline had quite extensive blistering average about 20 – 30mm, with some odd blisters up to 60mm – the blisters being under internal pressure from blister juice

” A blister was burst giving off chemical-smelling (blister juice) liquid, being acid and breaks down the polyester in a process known as hydrolysis – being normally localized.  The moulding as a whole will still retain most of its strength unless these current blisters become very much larger and much more extensive “

However, we discovered that the hull when measured with a Tramex Moisture Meter gave generally low readings of around 16% or for GRP ~1.6%.  From experience such low readings with this degree of osmosis are very very unusual – and indeed ‘acceptable’ in a boat of this vintage

Secondly

There were several small areas the size of a small plate (but not round) below the waterline where the gel coat laminate had actually ‘delaminated’ cleanly from the hull.  Exposing the underlying substrate.

These small areas did not appear to have been the consequence of a large blister or combination of blisters

It appeared that (though we find this difficult to explain) the gel coat had never actually bonded with the substrate.

Despite the substrate being exposed constantly to water without the added protection of the gel coat, moisture meter readings taken on these exposed substrate areas also gave low readings

We are at a loss to explain the above and having carried out over 1,000 hull osmotic inspections over the past few years we have never (yet) come across such a combination / condition – There is always something new to learn !

Our advice to the client is to clean and dry the exposed areas of substrate and apply an epoxy coating

If anyone has come across such a combination of low meter readings plus extensive osmosis plus gel coat delamination, we would pleased to hear about it and welcome feed back

Exposed GRP substrate minus the gel coat                    Burst osmotic blister with ‘blister juice’

For more information contact European Marine Services Ltd.  Marine Surveyors & Consultants 
EMS also undertake Boat Safety Inspections & Engine Inspections

www.europeanmarinesurveys.com
Tel: 01603 327 123  

Welcome to European Marine Surveys, based in the heart of East Anglia & the Norfolk Broads. As marine surveyors we undertake inspections of all types (including the popular pre-purchase survey) of marine craft from classic broads wooden yachts, ex hire boats, inland waterway craft, house boats, steel narrow boats  Plus  offshore yachts, large ocean going motor boats, sports cruisers & many more types since the 1980s.

We below provide information on surveys of interest

1960  BROOM 42 ADMIRAL CLASS   ‘Katinka’

In February we were instructed by Broadland Yacht Brokers on behalf of their client to undertake a Pre Purchase Inspection on the 1960 classic Broom Admiral Class 42′ ‘Katinka’  Other than a few minor problems this 54 year old broads motor cruiser passed with flying colours and is a credit to her owners and Broom Boat Builders

We have reproduced the below from Anglia Afloat Magazine for your information

Irish-born Buckinghamshire resident businessman Emmet Hart is one lucky son of a gun, he owns the iconic Katinka, arguably one of the most beautiful motor cruisers ever built. Katinka was built in 1960 to a 1940s design by CJ Broom & Sons in Brundall, Norfolk, the very last wooden Broom ever built by the UK’s longest established motorboat manufacturer founded in 1898.

She’s a customised version of the Admiral class, which at the time was the largest boat built by Brooms at 42ft. She is unique, having been privately owned by the same family for 52 years.

Built for Professor Jack Mayne of Cambridge in 1960 she remained in the factory’s wet boathouse and was maintained by Brooms for fifty-two years, with any work required during her lifetime being carried out by the Broom factory. Since her launch in 1961 she has only cruised a total of 791 hours, 12 of those under her new owner.

Katinka’s hull is built of Iroko on oak frames, a bespoke build strengthened and lengthened slightly for coastal voyages to enable her owners to explore the numerous rivers and inland waterways around the UK. Completely varnished to the waterline and antifouled below and with varnished Mahogany coachroof and cabin sides she is a stunningly elegant craft.

Stunning finish – Down below she is finished in gleaming varnished Mahogany, with white enamelled locker fronts and deck heads and with new light-coloured upholstery throughout is light and airy. She still retains most of her original fixtures and fittings but has a newly fitted galley with fridge freezer, combination cooker and hob, Webasto warm air heating and electric heads.

There’s an open cockpit aft with surrounding bench seating. Double swing doors lead into the full width galley; to port is a new gas cooker and hob, full size front opening fridge and a generous worktop, while to starboard is more worktop with a s/s sink and drainer and cupboards under.

Forward of the galley is the main saloon with settees that convert to single berths, a folding central dining table with cutlery drawer that will seat six in comfort. There’s storage drawers under the settees and a low-line cupboard each side aft. At the forward end is a large double cupboard to port and a large heads with electric WC and washbasin, to starboard. Offset to port is a set of steps leading up into the spacious central cockpit. The side windows all hinge at the bottom and tilt inboard to rest on wedge-shaped wooden brackets when open. Lower windows in the hull are permanently sealed.

The control console is mounted to port, with the access companionway to the forward accommodation to starboard. The original stainless steel instrument panel looks almost as good as new and the tacho reads 791 hours on the 3.4 litre BMC Commodore engine under the cockpit sole. This pushes her along at a comfortable cruising speed of eight knots up to a maximum of 10 knots.

Also under the floor are the fuel and water tanks and batteries, putting the bulk of the weight in the centre of the craft and giving her an even trim and reducing the motion at sea.

The cockpit hard top folds back over the aft coachroof to give open air motoring on fine days and reducing the air draught for ducking through Broads’ bridges.

Owner’s accommodation – The forward companionway leads down to the owner’s double berth thwartships cabin with double berth to port with locker stowage and dressing table and wardrobe to starboard. Also under the bunk is a Webasto heating unit feeding warm air throughout the whole craft. Further forward again is a large family heads to port and a shower to starboard with a twin-berth cabin in the forepeak. Stowage is in large drawers under the berths and a large hanging locker by the companionway.

Emmet Hart bought Katinka in early 2013 as a substitute for his 37ft motor cruiser Snowgoose while she was being restored at Oulton Broad-based International Boatbuilding Training College. Interestingly, the two Norfolk built boats had been completed within a year of each other yet they clearly hail from different eras. Katinka is unquestionably a 1940s motor cruiser with a few minor concessions to the 1960s whereas Snowgoose is more in keeping with the era of her construction.

E C Landamore & Co built Snowgoose for Edward Suckling in 1962. Originally named Eclan in honour of her builders she was based on the design of the company’s 5-berth Vestella class motor cruisers.

However, the completion of Snowgoose’s restoration in October 2013 presented Emmet with a real dilemma, which boat should he keep? While he is in the fortunate position to be able to fund the running costs of both boats he feels that they should be regularly used rather than gathering dust in a boat shed.

Having enjoyed a memorable summer of cruising in Katinka, which included several months on the Thames where her immaculate appearance caused quite a stir during the Henley Royal Regatta, he reluctantly decided to put her up for sale to see if a new custodian can be found for this remarkable slice of Broadland history. If not, Emmet will simply continue to enjoy the contrasting qualities of two of the region’s finest classic motor cruisers.

Katinka Specification:

LOA: 43ft    LWL: 42ft   Beam: 10ft 6in   Draught: 2ft 6in   Air Draught: 6ft 4in                  Cruising Speed: 8 knots    Max Speed: 10 knots

For more information contact European Marine Services Ltd                                         

Tel European Marine Surveys on 01603 327 123                  

www.europeanmarinesurveys.com