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Things I’ve Learned From Three Refits That Will Help You
Andy SchellPublished May 13, 20160 comments

Our beautiful boat Isbjorn is hauled out at Antigua Slipway getting her steering system re-built. The whole project, which is probably going to cost north of $10,000 (update: it’s complete, and the final bill is $14,000), inspired me to write about my refit experiences.

Isbjorn is the third old boat I’ve had the “pleasure” of refitting and I’ve learned the hard way what it takes to buy and refit an old boat for long-distance ocean sailing.
(For the details on all three refits see my previous chapters in this Online Book.)

To be clear, I love the concept—refits have elements of history, creativity and recycling, all things I value in life—but there are unexpected realities that I will explain in this post to help those considering refitting an old boat.

Refit, Not Rebuild

In your boat search, start with a structurally sound hull, deck and spars. You will notice in all of the examples in my previous chapters, we paid premiums on the purchase prices because of the fundamentally sound structural condition of the boats.

Neither Sojourner (my Dad’s boat) nor Isbjorn (my current boat) had teak decks (which was common on both those models), and in all three cases the hulls were blister-free (or they’d been previously fixed, like on Arcturus), the decks were solid and free of rot, the rudders tested sound, the topside paint and nonskid was in good shape, all the thru-hull fittings had previously been replaced, the engines ran well enough, etc.

We were truly just refitting with ocean sailing in mind, not rebuilding the boats as so many good-old-boat owners end up doing.

Assume System Failures

When you find that structurally sound boat, assume that every bolted-on system—from electronics to engines to refrigeration—is going to fail shortly after you buy it, if it’s not already shot. We experienced this on all three boats we refitted.

If you set low expectations right off the bat, and budget for the systems you want to replace, it’ll be easier emotionally and financially to deal with the breakdowns when they inevitably happen.

Given this, finding a ‘minimally-equipped’ boat in the first place is probably best. Start with the basics, and add new gear with a systems approach, and only what you think you need.

Use Friends & Family

Refitting an old boat is certainly not for the faint of heart, nor those afraid of getting their hands dirty. With labour charges north of $100 an hour in places like Annapolis, you probably can’t afford to pay a yard to do the work as you would quickly approach the cost of a newer boat.
In all three of our refits the labour was mainly a friends-and-family affair. It took Mia, myself, my Mom and Dad, an entire summer working full-time on the weekends to complete the work on Arcturus. Recently, on Isbjorn, there were 10 of us working on the boat for a solid week; we had at least 300 man-hours in the boat that one week alone, plus the hours Mia and I spent here and there in the following four weeks.
As Mia likes to joke, if you have work to do and want friends to help, call it a party!

Brands I’d Recommend

So look for good designs that were purpose-built for bluewater sailing and that will sail fast, even in light air. And just because a boat is heavy, doesn’t mean it’s a dog—Isbjorn has the tall rig version, and she sails surprisingly well in even the lightest of breezes.
Arcturus, a design from the 1960s, had similar sailing characteristics on a smaller scale—they were both offshore race boats. Arcturus, it’s worth noting, was even banned from participating in the upcoming Golden Globe Race—I was going to let Matt Rutherford use the boat in his campaign, and the organizers said no because it’d be too fast!
I’m a sucker for the old Swans, and most of the S&S designs can be had very cheaply. There’s an S&S 43 sitting at the Antigua Yachtclub right now, very simply outfitted, asking less than $100,000, and someone will probably buy it for something like $60,000. That’s the boat Mia and I would have moved up to if it were just the two of us out cruising.

Five other ‘old’ boats I’d refit & sail anywhere:
• Wauquiez Pretorian 35 (Hal Roth’s last Whisper)
• Mason 44
• Hallberg-Rassy ‘Rasmus’ 35 or ‘Monsun’ 31
• Alberg 35 and Alberg 37
• Cape Dory (any)

The Bottomline

Old boats are built like tanks and are much better suited to long-distance ocean sailing than almost all of the modern designs, until you start getting into the excellent but very expensive Hallberg-Rassy or similar designs.

Old boats continue to get cheaper and cheaper to buy and people continue to ignore them. We just heard of a Swan 48 sistership to Isbjorn that sold in Antigua for $70,000! But you’ve got to find the right one, and you’ve got to have money leftover after the purchase of the boat (lots of it) to properly refit it.

Sojourner cost nearly half of her purchase price to properly refit, Isbjorn more than half, and counting…quickly! Arcturus the full purchase price (but then that included re-powering). Count on that kind of expense if you’re looking to refit an older boat.

A Note on Surveyors

I’m going to generalize here, but at least with my experience buying Arcturus and Isbjorn, the survey was a mere formality for the bank and the insurance company. The surveyor on Isbjorn missed this rudder bearing issue that we are currently dealing with, an issue that should have absolutely been obvious to a surveyor, and the rudder is the first thing they ought to check on a boat built in 1972!

So take your survey results with a grain of salt and, in addition, pay a trusted friend who knows old boats inside and out to go over the critical, expensive, structural items on the boat before you buy it.

In Summary

• Do search for a structurally sound hull, deck, rudder & steering system to start with.
• Do search for a ‘minimally equipped’ boat regarding systems.
• Do expect to pay 50-100% of the purchase price of the boat on a basic refit for ocean sailing.
• Don’t fall for the ‘recently refit’ trap unless you know personally who did the work.
• Do expect every ‘bolted-on’ system to fail, or not work at all.
• Don’t expect gear costs to increase linearly as boat size increases—it’s exponential.

I’d Do It Again…

The payoff, Andy and Mia cruising Scandinavia in their first boat, “Arcturus”.
Our schedule on Isbjorn has us sailing over 10,000 miles per year, including three Atlantic crossings in the next 18 months, and an as-yet-unannounced trip to Arctic Norway in 2018. Add to that the fact that we don’t have much time between trips, nor can the business afford failures offshore that would force us to cancel a trip (nearly happened on our first trip of 2016), and stuff gets serious.
And every nickel we’ve made on crew payments thus far has gone straight back into the boat (part of the reason we’re still homeless!).

But—and here’s the thing—I would do it again and again.
Refitting an older boat certainly doesn’t always make financial sense. But then, neither does buying a boat in general. I have a particular affinity for the look and feel of boats designed in the ’60s and ’70s, and that love affair alone makes the grueling refit process totally worth it.
You can’t rule out the emotional component, it’s just hard to put an actual numerical value on it. But I’d take an older, beautiful boat every single time.