For the visit to Milagros, Iñaki and I were received by Brent, a cool Canadian yacht captain. He used Ensenada and Milagros as his headquarters for his travels and lived full-time in the marina on the ship.

A sailboat well taken care of

Brent first showed us around on deck. It was immediately clear: He had invested a lot of good work in Milagros. According to him, he had bought the ship and completely overhauled it, before taking her on a six-month voyage through the Gulf of California. All of his installations were on hand.

Down the drain

An example:
On Scorpido in Los Angeles, the deck drains were laid out in such a way that hoses led through the ship and then out through the hull. Where do you want the water on your ship to be? Definitely not in the interior. So why drain excess water through Milagros’ hull? Brent removed the whole installation without further ado. He replaced everything with hand-made outlets in the toe rail. They are much more effective and drain the water directly overboard.

Useful upgrades

And that’s how Milagros presented itself in the interior. Everything that was superfluous was removed by Brent and replaced with new installations that were as simple as possible. The electrical installations were well organized and labeled, a watermaker was installed on board and could be serviced from all sides, the engine could be completely flushed with fresh water and the entire cabin and the cockpit could only be illuminated with red light if desired. Incidentally, this small but fine point is extremely helpful. When underway at night, as the human eye remains adapted to seeing in the dark when light is red. And these are just a few examples.

The story of the water tanks continues

After the experience on Scorpido, I immediately jumped at the water tanks. Brent knew about the corrosion problems of water tanks on Kelly Peterson 44s. After his purchase, he had them completely re-welded during his major renovation. But still the same problem here: The welds of Brents tanks were corroded. He had neither known nor expected that and was accordingly irritated. There were also frowns in the aft cabin – this is where the access to the propeller’s drive shaft is located. Although Brent had also completely removed, overhauled, and reinstalled the engine, he told us that this part of the ship was relatively unknown to him and that he hadn’t really looked into it. Possible, but who knows? The entire rigging was old. Apart from a few adjustments, there was no indication of how old it actually was.

Time for a paintjob

The paint on the hull and deck also seemed to be older and was slowly cracking and crazing. That was another important item on our list. The paint on a sailboat is the barrier between the nasty salt water and the fiberglass of the hull.

Could she be our future home?

So far so good. The time on Milagros flew by. When Iñaki and I looked back on the visit over a beer, one thing was clear: I wasn’t misled my feelings. This ship was nothing like Scorpido. Milagros seemed to be in really good shape. She was equipped for our plans with exactly the simplicity that was right and important. She had a few cuts and corners that caused us concern, but name a vessel didn’t have those?

Yet another marine survey

So it was clear: The search for a surveyor to take a closer look at the ship started all over again. We found who we were looking for via George Jarvie, our trusted man from Los Angeles. Michael Weston of Atlantis Marine Surveys would come to Ensenada from San Diego to inspect Milagros. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the examination myself because I had to go home and work. Since Iñaki was staying with Blue anyway, he made himself available to witness the inspection with his own eyes. Exciting times…

Waiting for news from Mexico

When I was back in Switzerland, Pati and I could hardly wait for the examination. We were in contact with Iñaki the whole time. Until late at night we waited for sporadic news that he sent us via WhatsApp due to the time difference of 9 hours. We were incredibly excited, and sleeping was out of the question anyway.

She’s good to go!

And of course it was bound to happen: During the final phone call with Iñaki, he announced that Milagros had passed the examination with flying colors. Despite a few small bits and bobs, apart from rigging and the water tanks, there were no other big jobs or problems that we hadn’t considered. We did a good job observing during Milagros’ visit.

Are we crazy enough to buy a sailboat in Mexico?

Now it was up to us. Did we really want to go into negotiations for a 14m sailing yacht? We two landlubbers and sail laymen? Was it clever to go headlong into an adventure of this magnitude?

Guess we are…

Well, it seems like we’re crazy enough for such an undertaking. The negotiation with Brent was quick and painless. He met us at a few thousand dollars less because of the leaky water tank and the thing was over. We knew from the start that we didn’t have a lot of leeway. Brent knew exactly what a great sailboat he owned and he could have sold it without any problems anyway. So we transferred a whopping $ 71,000 to the broker in San Diego in mid-August 2019. Ouch.

We’re boat owners!

But we were suddenly owners of our own sailboat. How sick is that? It is a completely unreal idea, and will probably remain so until we have adapted to our sailing life.

Now that one of the most important conditions for our adventure – the sailboat itself – had been met, we could start planning.

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Der Beitrag Milagros is ours – We’re boat owners!! erschien zuerst auf Milagros.

A headful of dreams

After Viribus Unitis we gave up our dream of exploring the world together on one ship and decided to do it with two ships in flotilla. And after Carmen and Iñaki quickly found, checked out and bought their dream ship – a Cal 246 called “Blue” – on the west coast of Mexico, we were all of a sudden very restricted in our search radius.

Looking beyond the Atlantic

Because, for example, sailing from the Mediterranean over the Atlantic to the Caribbean and then through the Panama Canal to the west coast of Mexico takes at least 2 years if you want to take your time. If we had found and bought a boat in Europe, we would have had to give up our dream of traveling in flotilla. So, we had no choice but to try our luck on the west coast of the US and Mexico.

Stung by a Kelly Peterson 44?

After several hours of searching for a boat on the Internet and shortly before giving up, David found one that was on our imaginary shortlist of blue water cruisers suitable for us. “Scorpido”, a 14m long Kelly Peterson 44. We had already imagined that we would simply sail on Blue and look for suitable ships directly in the ports on site. The ship was equipped for long cruises. The owners Eric and his wife Robyn had already sailed around the world. Scorpido was moored in Los Angeles and on our budget.

A thorough investigation

Since Los Angeles is not a stone’s throw away, we had to be sure that the purchase probability was high. So, we studied all the pictures and informations we had received intensively and asked Paul Fay, our trusted surveyor, what he thought about it. We phoned Eric, the owner, several times to get to know him and to ask questions about the boat. All of the information and assessments collected made us feel good. So we decided to take a closer look at the Kelly Peterson 44. Iñaki wanted to accompany us. On one hand to support us laypeople with the visit, and on the other hand to visit his ship in Mexico and to work on it.

We’re going to Los Angeles!

Three weeks later the time had come: David and Iñaki landed in Los Angeles at the end of July 2019! It was an arduous journey to get there. From Switzerland, we had to organize an inspector, a rigger (a specialist for the entirety of equipment that carries the sails and mast of a sailing ship), a mechanic and a haul out appointment. And all of that on a date on which also the owners and we could both be there. Phuhhh.

Can you trust a boat broker?

The boat broker responsible for Scorpido offered to organize all of this for us. But since a broker always represents the interests of the seller, we thankfully declined and looked for our own, hopefully independent, inspectors.

Banned from haul-out

Thanks to intensive research (thanks!), David had reduced the list of possible top inspectors to a few. Unfortunately, it turned out that due to a long-ago incident, our favourite guy was banned from entering the marina where we wanted to haul out the ship. And since Eric didn’t want to go to the other possible haul out point, we had to switch to another inspector. It was complicated.

Signing contracts again

In addition, as described with Viribus Unitis, we had to submit an offer that had to be accepted by the owner and served as a preliminary contract. Since we were dealing with American law, we were particularly cautious. And at the same time, we were glad that we were able to use a standard form. Furthermore, we had to deposit 10% of the purchase price with the broker. This would cover any damage during the inspection and which underlines the intention to buy. Again, it was not easy to get a successful bank transaction into the U.S. with the information provided. But we eventually managed to organize everything in the right place at the right time.

Narrowboat holidays

Another thing adding complexity was that I “had to” go directly from Los Angeles to London. I had planned to go on a narrowboat holiday on the English canals.

Los Angeles Tourist Attractions

So, it happened that I flew to Los Angeles a day earlier due to the flight options available. I used this day to do the Los Angeles tourist program. For this I booked an Airbnb experience: the biggest Los Angeles sights condensed in 7 hours on a minivan. It included the Griffith Observatory, the Hollywood Hills and the Hollywood Sign, the Walk of Fame, Beverly Hills and Rodeo Drive, Venice Beach, Little Venice and the Santa Monica Pier.

Airbnb in Los Angeles

Then I picked up David and Iñaki from the airport with an Uber and brought them to our Airbnb in Long Beach. The two young hosts were totally relaxed and were not surprised about our yoga session in their living room..

Meeting a sailboat broker

Next was an appointment with the broker. He was a pleasant gentleman named Lon with many decades of experience. He kindly picked us up in front of the house and took us to the marina in San Pedro. There we could take a first look at Scorpido from the outside.

Kelly Peterson 44 – what a beauty!

In real life we liked her even more than in the pictures. According to David Kelly Peterson 44 are the most beautiful sailing ships in the world anyway (apart from Orcella of course).

The Brouwerij West in San Pedro

Afterwards Lon showed us the “Brouwerij West”. The Brouwerij is a super cool local brewery with street food, which should become our home pub. We chilled out in the best weather and explored the harbour area with a fun free ride. Also, we were mentally preparing for the upcoming meeting with the owners and the intensive two days packed with inspections.

Sleepover party invitation

Robyn and Eric had previously invited us to spend the few days with them on the ship. We thankfully accepted the offer. It allowed us to try out life on board the Kelly Peterson 44 and also saved us the not-so-cheap accommodation costs in Los Angeles.

Rigging inspection

The next day, while we were settling in, looking at the whole ship from front to back with the owners, having everything explained to us and listening to their stories, the inspection of the rigging (mast and its fastenings) took place. The result was not a cause for concern, but it was still time to replace the entire rigging.

Wet bilge on an old boat

During our first inspection, we noticed that the bilge was anything but dry. But it should be. You could also perceive a rather penetrative, musty fragrance, which also indicated moisture in the ship. When asked about this, Eric said that it had always been this way and that it was normal for an older ship.

Since we had dealt with the weaknesses of the Kelly Peterson 44 in advance, we quickly suspected that this could be due to leaky fresh water tanks. But first we wanted to wait for the inspection, which might confirm our suspicions.

Marine Survey in Los Angeles – Day 2

On day two of the inspections, we got our things out of the way, took out a notebook and pen. We were ready to follow the inspector and mechanic like shadows. Because one had to benefit from the experience of these people. Unfortunately, I found that the inspectors only shared their findings with David and Iñaki; they probably assumed that I was ‘only the woman’ aboard.

Problems with the diesel engine

The mechanic diagnosed that the engine hour meter was not working properly, the engine was overheating fairly quickly, and was not properly attached. The latter point in particular was quite serious, since the engine could have been blown out of its suspension at any time due to its own vibrations. If the engine in the ship suddenly starts to wander, it is not the greatest thing since sliced bread.

In the meantime, the mechanic put the ship through its paces: first moored at the dock in the marina, then during the passage to the crane for the haul out and then also the underwater ship. We were pretty excited when we got the ship ready to sail the few nautical miles for the haul out.

Our first sail on a Kelly Peterson 44

And we were not disappointed: the ship ploughed steadily and comfortably through the water. We sailed past huge ships from all over the world that headed for the port of Long Beach. Sea lions basked on the signal bins. And we felt it. We could imagine how we would sail the seven seas with Scorpido. Even during the haul out, everything went great. We were nervous as if it were our own ship being pulled out of the water on a trailer.

A minimum maintenance sailboat

Unfortunately, we did not feel the final assessment of the inspector as much as sailing. The Kelly Peterson 44 was only in a satisfactory condition, as evidenced by a long list of recommendations on what to do and the finding that the current price was around 30% too high. Since the owners returned from their circumnavigation in 2011, only minimal maintenance had been carried out. In their eyes, everything was new and had just been serviced.

checking water tanks again

The wet bilge was still a concern and we wanted to do a test to find out where the water came from. So, we dried the bilge completely, filled the water tanks to the stop and went to bed. The following morning the bilge was wet again and it turned out, as suspected, that the weld seams at the top of the tanks had rusted through and a repair or replacement was an extremely arduous task.

Stepping back from a Kelly Peterson 44

With all this information and unknowns, we were not convinced that this ship would become our new home. Although this trip to Los Angeles had cost us a fortune, we stepped back from the buying process. This decision was really not easy for us, because Scorpido was nevertheless a great ship …

Changing plans made easy

Since everything had somehow gone faster than expected and we should have spent another night on Scorpido, but didn’t want it anymore, we had to find another solution. I decided to look for a place to stay on Venice Beach and to enjoy the Los Angeles flair a bit before I went to England. Unfortunately, the only affordable and short-term sleeping option was a bed in a bedroom of 6 in a youth hostel. For lack of alternatives, I had to bite the bullet.

You never know what’s around the corner

Since David did not return to Switzerland until three days later, he decided to accompany Iñaki to Mexico to his ship. Best decision ever (as it turned out later). They actually wanted to rent a car, but since Iñaki did not have a credit card and David did not have his driving license with him, they could not take the car that had already been reserved and had to switch to the Greyhound bus. What initially led to moderate depression should turn out to be a stroke of luck.

But: more about that, next week.
(This is the ending of every YouTube video made by the very inspiring White Spot Pirates.)

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Der Beitrag The Kelly Peterson 44 – Stung by a Scorpion erschien zuerst auf Milagros.

Looking for marine experts

We were in good spirits after our first visit to Viribus Unitis – for the first time visiting a boat, we had discovered no major defects. With this in mind, we started looking for experts for the various components of Viribus Unitis, especially for a marine survey, which is executed by an expert which takes and overall look at the state of the vessel.

Who were we looking for?

A Mechanic

While we had Sylfia on our search radar, we attended to a marine diesel engine course with Heinz Dirnberger from MT Marine Technik on Lake Zurich. With his competence and directness, he was our first choice for the inspection of the two engines from Viribus Unitis. The two-day inspection would have been around Easter, unfortunately, whereupon Heinz had to reject our offer, because he himself had too much work to do.

A Rigger

The search for a specialist in rigging was also unsuccessful. We made calls all across Italy and used contact after contact, but unfortunately, we couldn’t find anyone suitable.

A marine surveyor

On the other hand, we were successful in looking for the man for the rough job of a general marine survey and the subsequent assessment of Viribus Unitis. I found what I was looking for on a nightly search – Paul Fay seemed to be our man. On his homepage it is written:

“Having spent many years involved with building, designing and repairing Steel and Aluminium yachts and motor boats, I offer a specialised marine survey on vessels constructed of these materials.“

“I am a truly independent surveyor, I am not affiliated to any broker, repairer or boat yard. I work only for you the person using my services. Advice you receive will be given in your best interests for both financial and quality reasons.“

Is Paul Fay our man?

Music to my eyes ears. I immediately emailed him, including a couple of questions about some weird indentations on the aluminium hull of Viribus. What I got was not just a generic answer – Paul took the time to comment on each of my pictures in detail. After a few phonecalls the case was clear – we would fly him in from England to do the Viribus Unitis inspection. His investigations would take two days – on day one he’d look into the hull and the deck, on day two he would work his way through the interior.

Planning a trip to Italy (again)

After the weekend for the inspection was fixed, the planning began. Pati’s father Urs also wanted to join us on our trip and so he, Carmen and Iñaki went on the trip together by car. Unfortunately, Pati was unable to take part in the second and most exciting part of the inspection due to quarterly closing and therefore a lot of work in the office. I would also only follow by bus via Milan to Udine a day later because of work.

Visiting Stadio San Siro

The bus trip was fun and during the few hours I had to wait for connection in Milan I took the opportunity to visit the venerable San Siro. As a complete and utter football freak, I couldn’t miss this, of course – it was a great experience to stand alone in front of this legendary stadium in the middle of the night. Unfortunately, I’ve never been inside.

There’s a hole in the boat!

Paul’s marine survey of the vessel with Iñaki in tow was already in full swing when I was picked up by Carmen and Urs in Udine. We stayed at the same hotel in San Giorgio di Nogaro again. When I got to the ship, bad news already – Paul had already discovered A HOLE in the ship that was only covered by a bubble in the layer of paint. He suspected it was pitting corrosion because there was an indefinable white powder all around the hole.

A marine survey in full swing

We worked our way forward all day. Paul was obsessed with detail and found things everywhere that would never have caught a mortal’s eye. It quickly became clear to us that we had selected the perfect candidate for this inspection.

Pitting repair with Fiberglass?

An extremely important point that Paul discovered on day one (apart from the hole, of course):

On the outside of the hull between the bilge keel and thus directly under the engine compartment, a large area had been patched up with fiberglass and epoxy resin. This, according to the owners, to repair a larger area with pitting corrosion. Unfortunately, this did not solve the problem of corrosion in any way. There was also controversy about the adhesion of fiberglass mats to aluminum. Optimally, the defective area would have been cut out and a new aluminum plate welded in.

Why you should do your own research

Prior to our trip to Italy, in the manner of a private investigator, I was able to establish contact with the shipyard that had carried out the work, so a phone call from Paul to the person responsible for the “repair” was possible. Urs distracted the two owners in the deck saloon, while Paul, Iñaki and I spoke on the phone in the engine room. Tehehehe…

Beer-o-clock!

Larger and smaller jobs came together over the course of the day, which should have been tackled before our long journey. The day was over quickly and to quote Paul it was about “beer-o-clock” anyway.

Inspecting the inside

The next day it was the turn of Viribus’ interior to be dismantled by Paul. Same picture there – Paul found a number of shortcomings, two of which were massive:

We were sitting on a floating bomb!

Apart from the fact that the entire gas system ran inside the ship, this includes the gas bottles, the outlet for the gas bottle locker was placed too high. In the event of a gas leak, we would have been sitting on a floating bomb. Even if the outlet would have been in the right position, the gas would have leaked into the vessel…

Water tanks were corroded!

A huge fresh water tank was built directly into the ship’s bilge, so its bottom was part of the hull. The owners had never opened the tank since their purchase of Viribus Unitis because the lid was attached to the tank with around 40 bolts (Fig. 1). Nevertheless, we tackled the opening of the tank and promptly found bad pitting. The corrosion had partially eaten the hull down to a thickness of only 2mm. “You would have noticed that at the latest if the drinking water suddenly tasted salty.”, said Paul.

This guy was a marine surveyor at it’s best. We could not ask for more.

The anatomy of boat water tanks

Also, with a capacity of 1500 liters, no baffle plates were installed in the tank. With baffle plates installed, the water in the tank can still move freely, but not the entire amount of water in its entirety (Fig. 2). Since liquids move in a certain direction when accelerated, in Viribus’ case more than a ton of water would have been set in motion in rough seas, which could have led to structural problems. No problem with quiet trips in coastal waters, a big problem on the high seas.

A steep learning curve

We were brought back to earth by cold facts, while the two days with Paul relentlessly showed where the problems with Viribus were. The learning curve was as steep for the two owners and they discovered with Paul, just like us, that there was a lot to do on board. The corroded water tank in particular shocked them so much that they agreed to pay half of Paul’s fee for the marine survey.

What good seamanship looks like

In general, the two owners were extremely helpful and readily and honestly provided information on all questions. They also wanted to repair the shortcomings in the tank before the ship was even listed to be for sale again. Thanks for that!

Need a good marine surveyor?

Book Mr. Paul Fay today!

At this point, a big thank you to Mr. Paul Fay. He was worth every penny of his fee and we highly recommend him for whatever marine survey there might be.

Turning down an offer

Ultimately, we came to the conclusion that although Viribus Unitis was a great sailboat, there were too many contingencies and uncertainties. We couldn’t really estimate how much hidden work she would have in store for us. So, with a heavy heart, we sent the owners a rejection and had to start the search again.

Until we meet again

As fate would have it, we also met Viribus Unitis a second time – again on Youtube. On the channel “BootsProfis” (a great channel, unfortunately only available in German), a sailor was looking for a live-aboard sailboat. It happened that the group also visited Viribus, with a good general knowledge of the vessel, since they received Paul’s survey report from the owners. Long story short, Viribus found a new, happy owner, which we too are very happy about.

Who knows, maybe we’ll meet Sylfia AND Viribus Unitis in an anchor bay somewhere in the world.

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Der Beitrag Our first Marine Survey: United Forces Part 2 erschien zuerst auf Milagros.