Friday 26 September 2014

Insurance survey of Broom Monarch Motor Cruiser

I have just completed an insurance survey of a 1983 Broom Monarch motor cruiser in Birdham Pool Marina, Chichester. A total of 28 of these fast offshore cruisers were built between 1982 and 1991. This example, which has spent most of her life on The Thames, was fitted with a large double berth in the forepeak and two cabins in the aft. She was fitted with two Ford Mermaid Majestic, six cylinder turbocharged diesel engines, each driving a three-bladed bronze propeller.



Thursday 25 September 2014

Pre-purchase Survey of Hallberg Rassy 42 (E) in Alicante, Spain

The Hallberg-Rassy 42 (E) was designed by Olle Enderlein and built between 1980 and 1991, with a total of 255 hulls being built. Enderlein’s design was replaced in 1991 by German Frers’ 42 (F). To me, her most noticeable difference when compared with the more recent Frers design is her large expanse of flat deck. I find that working (and relaxing) on a flat deck is much nicer than having to work around the slippery sides of a coachroof.

Down below in the saloon, they are light and spacious, with plenty of light coming through the numerous deck hatches and opening hull ports. With these boats being 23+ years old, the interior mahogany bulkheads, cupboards and furniture frames have darkened to a very beautiful deep red-brown.



I was recently asked to travel out to Alicante in Spain to survey a very nice 42 (E), built in 1982. Performing a pre-purchase survey of a 42’ ketch is physically demanding at the best of times, but working down below & delving into the bilges is more strenuous when the outside temperature is 30°C and the humidity is high. The vessel’s skipper, who was a great help throughout the day, kept me supplied with many litres of bottled water.

Not surprisingly, this boat’s hull had suffered from blistering in the past. This is incorrectly termed ‘osmosis’ in the UK and is called ‘boat pox’ in the States. Of more concern were the skin fittings and attached valves. The majority of these were the boat’s original hardware and were beginning to fail. I say ‘beginning’ as it was only when the valves and attached spigots were lightly struck with a hammer, did any of them fail.



Having finished the majority of the survey, it was time to put the yacht back into the water and take her back to her mooring, several miles up the coast. This gave the skipper & I plenty of time to run a sea trial on the Yanmar 4 cylinder main engine and also to enjoy a very pleasant sail. My only regret of the survey was that I didn’t take a photo of her deck whilst I was at the top of her main mast, checking over the mast cap and attached hardware.