Hi Hans-Erik
I'm the proud owner of Yeong at the moment.
She needs some TLC but is dry and fundamentally sound.
She was put on Ebay a couple of years ago, I went to take a look but was reluctant to take on a project and eventually made the "sensible" choice not to bid. However the deal fell though and I was offered a second chance.....
Perhaps my initial instinct was right as life has chucked a couple of bumps in the road, most time consuming being setting up my own business.
Sailing has to come after other commitments for me, I'm making progress but very slowly.
- I have a replacement for the Volvo engine (marinised Kubota) but it needed a rebuild & I had to cut this out of another boat.
- I also have a JR Newbridge Venturer that I need to sell to make room for Yeong - from a financial point of view I'd be better off scrapping the Newbridge too but unlike the engine donor she's too nice a boat to cut up just because her parts are worth more than the boat....
Yeong is superbly built and we will get there in the end but I can't help but feel guilty that progress is slow & I'm doing less sailing than ever.... (kids are growing too - at this rate they won't be interested in sailing with Dad)
Oh regarding the keels - the sellers made it clear that the keel tanks leaked and used an auxiliary tank to avoid polluting - it's not that there are gaping holes, they're just porous enough to let diesel float out. One of my schemes is to turn the keels into radiators and use closed cooling for the engine.... one day
Rick