Almost 12 months on and this major refit has come to an end with this boat being launched in early April. Leading up to the launch we carried out a lot of work. This included building in a new shower and basin area in the forward Port hull, new self-draining sail locker floors, installation of the hydraulic autopilot and rudder feedback instrument, several cover panels and spinnaker pole support pad-eyes. The shower involved a sump with automatic pump and new skin fitting. To waterproof this entire space, two coats of epoxy were applied followed by three coats of highbuild epoxy primer. The saildrive rubber boots were fitted to the hulls to seal the legs. Because these were missing altogether and from past experience these are very susceptible to peeling off underway, we decided to firstly bond these to the hull with sealant and then glass the front edge to resist peeling.
As you can see in the photos all the painting has now been done. This was done with a special brushing topcoat product which flattens out as it dries to reveal a finish almost as good as a sprayed finish. This saved a huge amount of cost and also hours without the need to mask areas off.
Overall we are very happy with the result of this refit, with this old style catamaran being vastly modernized and improved.
We wish the owners good luck with the next stage of their life which is moving aboard full time and setting sail for to begin with, the Whitsundays and all going well, the rest of the world!