Hi, I am restoring a abandoned First 38 from 84 here in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. As the information from Beneteau is very poor for this boat it would be great if I can find some First 38 owner who would give me support by mail, sending me in case of necessity pictures from their own boat. Until now the restore plan is quite clear, but I just know that I will have problems with the depth and speed sensors - I want to reactivate the depth sensor but i have no idea if I can use the sensor with a new instrument or if I have to change the sensor too. I dont care really for the speed sensor because chartplotters supply a quite good information about speed. If you are interested to support me with your First 38 experience send me an email to veit ladurner@live.de - so that in case that I need your help I can get in contact with you. As much people supports me with suggestions as better will be the result. Give a look to the pictures ;-)
Complete restore project of a 1984 Beneteau First 38
- Thread starter Veit
- Start date
Documents
Hi Ron, yes I have the documents - boats has actually a US-VI registration but I am in the process to register in in Dominican Republic.
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. Well we talk about something like 1.500 hours and 15.000 US $, but this boat for me is like a diva, I have to do it ;-)!
Hi, thanks for your post, yes the hull is the reason for the decision to start this project, surprisingly it is in a great condition, also the motor looks very good. I dont trust in the standing rigging, so I just dismantled the aluminium boards, there is one I have to renew it completely. I will also remove the mast to put new stainless cables on, also its easier to put new ropes and cables in. But this are all second steps, right now I am working only on the hull and the deck, I just opened the starboard deck to change the wooden inlay and close it with fiberglass, the next step will be to reinforce some outside damage with fiberglass and the whole boat edge from the inner to guarantee enough robustness for the next 20 years
. Well we talk about something like 1.500 hours and 15.000 US $, but this boat for me is like a diva, I have to do it ;-)!
Restoreation experience
Its the first complete restoration, I just worked on a Sigma 38 1972 restoration for about 300 hours.
Vendaval history
Hull and deck: it is in a quite good condition thanks to Beneteau, there was a infiltation on of the deck on the starboardside and I changed the wooden inlay with a marine plywood. Also on the starboard side there are some hull damages and i have to do some fiberglass repair. There are some gelcoat damages over the waterline but i can fix them. Under the waterline hull seems well. The rudder has some damage, but nothing that you cant fix with fiberglass. Motor: looks quite good, they gave them a complete check some time ago, because they thougt that they can sell it. I got it out and I will open and clean it and change all the gaskets. Sails: The main sails looks more or less ok, maybe I can use it for one or two years, there is no genoa but i have an excelent contact in Bulgaria, Europe. They make great sails and the prices are yepaaaa! The wood: no comment, there wasnt one piece which i can use - i have to change everything, a lot of marine plywood and mahagony! The stearing system: in excelent condition, looks like new!!!!
To the costs, I got the boat for US $ 5.000 and I calculate more or less to spend 15.000 to 20.000 to restore it. The most of the work I make by myself, so its cheaper and I am sure about that work was done well. I will pay more or less US $ 3000 of custom fees to get a Dominican registration.
I love this boat and I love to work on it, I spend more or less 3 hours a day and the whole weekends there since 6 months!
Hi, the history of Vendaval is the same of a lot of boats, specially here in the caribbean. People see something and buy it, but they dont think that to have a boat ask you to spend money and time. Vendaval was in Puerto Rico until 2008, after some hurricane damage the owner abandoned him and stopped to pay the Marina. So the Marina sold the boat to a Dominican who brought it to Santo Domingo, they started to restore it, but you can imagine, if a boat is without care for a lot of time, everything rots, so they did some awkward restoration attempt but at the end they stopped and the boat returns to be abandoned in Haina Nautical Club for the last years. When i found it i checked the at first the following things:
Hull and deck: it is in a quite good condition thanks to Beneteau, there was a infiltation on of the deck on the starboardside and I changed the wooden inlay with a marine plywood. Also on the starboard side there are some hull damages and i have to do some fiberglass repair. There are some gelcoat damages over the waterline but i can fix them. Under the waterline hull seems well. The rudder has some damage, but nothing that you cant fix with fiberglass. Motor: looks quite good, they gave them a complete check some time ago, because they thougt that they can sell it. I got it out and I will open and clean it and change all the gaskets. Sails: The main sails looks more or less ok, maybe I can use it for one or two years, there is no genoa but i have an excelent contact in Bulgaria, Europe. They make great sails and the prices are yepaaaa! The wood: no comment, there wasnt one piece which i can use - i have to change everything, a lot of marine plywood and mahagony! The stearing system: in excelent condition, looks like new!!!!
To the costs, I got the boat for US $ 5.000 and I calculate more or less to spend 15.000 to 20.000 to restore it. The most of the work I make by myself, so its cheaper and I am sure about that work was done well. I will pay more or less US $ 3000 of custom fees to get a Dominican registration.
I love this boat and I love to work on it, I spend more or less 3 hours a day and the whole weekends there since 6 months!