Hi John,
Congratulations on your purchase. By the time you are ready to sail you would be quite knowledgable about your boat.
I quite enjoyed your story, and might be in the market for such a treasure dressed in trash.
Caesar
________________________________
From: johndenney <johndenney1@...>
To:
AlbinVega@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, November 10, 2011 3:41 AM
Subject: Re: [AlbinVega] Re: Traffic Award
I am so grateful to everyone who has taken the time to respond.. I
have never had yacht of my own (except a laser dinghy) - although I
have been on a sailing holiday in the Med and crewed for someone to
Portugal - so I am VERY inexperienced and the engine in particular is
a mystery to me! I thought you might like to hear a bit of
background ....
The Vega I bought a couple of weeks ago (just before bonfire night
2011!) was in a very sorry state and I assumed it would need a major
overhaul and many new parts. It was absolutely full of junk (well I
thought it was junk) - I could not get past the steps to view the rest
of the yacht and the bunks and forepeak were crammed to the
ceiling...... I did not know it had a toilet until I emptied out all
the junk! The decks were very badly stained and none of the systems
could be checked so it was a BIG risk! Needless to say I could not
afford a survey - in fact transporting the 100 miles home was going to
be a problem. It was very reasonably priced because of the condition
and I thought I would make a low offer and see what happened. To my
surprise my offer was accepted and I just sat there in amazement! A
yacht that could take me around the world for £4000! (not sure what
that is in dollars but I assure you it is not much money for a yacht
in the UK!)
After the initial excitement died down I started to doubt my sanity
and imagined all the things that could be wrong with it... osmosis,
seized engine, bent mast, etc... but I am a great believer that
everything man made can be fixed so I got a chap to load it onto his
truck with a Hiab crane and off we went back to its new home. I ran
round trying to work out how to fit the pit props to stop it falling
over and my wife took one look and walked away, my daughter said its
an embarrassment and my son laughed. I must admit - it did look
dreadful!
It took me a full 2 days to empty everything out of it - what an
experience that was! It was like a very extended, second hand,
Christmas morning! Amongst the junk were a brand new set of yachtlegs
(still boxed!!!!), a brand new Forgen wind generator, 10 tubes of
hemorrhoid cream, a box of condoms and a set of calling cards for
ladies of ill repute - which are, of course, my most treasured
possession!
I sat opening plastic bag after plastic bag wide eyed in
anticipation of what new and interesting items I would find. The
inventory would run to a small pamphlet -suffice to say it had
EVERYTHING. I include........ full toolkit, comprehensive set of
cleaning materials, enough paint to paint a pocket cruiser, rucksacks,
wet weather gear, wellies, more spares that the local chandlers, a GPS
from the 70\'s, and, weirdly, every type of boat cleaning and polishing
product known to man - I say weirdly because none of them had even
been opened never mind used - the dullest most neglected yacht in the
uk had the most comprehensive and expensive cleaning and polishing
materials on board! Good intentions or what!
Anyway I now had two huge piles of stuff on the ground - one rubbish
and one treasure! - and the yacht was empty (ish). Phew....
Then, after trawling t\'interweb I came across this forum and, with
your help, started on a journey of renovation which so far has been
MUCH easier than I anticipated... Cillit Bang cleaned the decks, the
engine started first time and ran well (although I may need a new
cutless thing - must find out what that is!), and most things do
actually seem to work - I am amazed and delighted!
My plan is to launch her from Fiddlers Ferry marina - its actually an
old bit of canal (near Widnes - its a long way up the River Mersey and
VERY tidal - in fact you can walk in and out of the marina more often
than you can sail - but it is cheap! ) in March 2012 and take her for
a spin then bring her back and fix what I have broken then bugger off
around the world. Not told anyone that before - but I have been
having second thoughts about doing it so I need the pressure of going
public! Thats the story so far - it may all come to nothing but as it
stands at the moment I will set off for a cheap trip around the world
in the spring next year - must buy some more Stugeron! (I get seasick!)
Many thanks to all for the help and advice... just going to read my
new manuals!........ be back later with another question - good job
you do not charge!
John
