I bought a boat in Fiji sight unseen!

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Quick update as I am super busy up to my ears in projects. Met the boat in Hawaii. Really like it for the most part, but feel a little blindsided by the condition it is in. It is definitely not in as good of condition as I thought it was. I am feeling a little overwhelmed at the moment, and have been spending 14 hour days working on it for last 5 days, but I think in the end it will be a sweet boat for my family. I definitely bought more projects than I thought I did though. On the bright side it made it to Hawaii from Fiji, 2900 miles with no big drama, and I am confident it will make it from here to LA when we get a weather window.
 
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My uncle built that boat

Congratulations on your purchase of Shorleave. My Uncle and his son built her and cruised her extensively over 7 years. We crossed paths with them in Costa Rica as we were heading South and they Were returning from points as far as the Amazon. She is very well thought out and will carry you safely wherever your plans take you. If you get cold feet I would certainly consider taking her off your hands!
 
How Exciting!

I just realised from Spinner's comment that I know the originator of this thread. We met last Memorial Day at Sucia, through my sister Sue. Congratulations on this amazing acquisition, you have more adventure and courage then I would under the same circumstances. I can't wait to see Snapdragon III in person on the water one day soon.
 
If the engine is in good shape and all the auxiliary equipment works and the galley and A/C works. You are home free. You have the rest of your life to bring it up to your standards and making the boat "yours".
 
Thanks for sharing. Can't wait to see it in the marina. Congratulations!
 
I am in Honolulu!

A few weeks ago now I closed on a new, used boat in Fiji. She is a 52' trawler, built in 1992 in Washington State. I am super excited, but it was a super stressful process. Fiji is completely shut down due to covid, and there was no way to go see it in person. I am crossing my fingers that pictures and Zoom tours gave me a good sense of the boat. The broker helped me hire an American delivery Capitan and Engineer for the delivery to Hawaii, then on to LA. They had to be American, because only Americans can get into Hawaii. I will bring the boat up the coast to Anacortes WA next spring, but LA seems like a safer trip in November. Getting insurance for the delivery was a huge challenge too, but I was able to get it in the end. To add to the stress, Cyclone season in Fiji was officially starting 2 weeks after my closing, adding to the pressure to get it the hell out of there.
The passage from Fiji to Hawaii is not an easy one. It is about 2850 miles, and mildly upwind, and current for almost the entire way. The boat is now about 200 miles from Hawaii, after 18 days. If it wasn't for Covid they definitely would have stopped in American Samoa for fuel, food, and a rest, but since it is closed for covid we just had to go for it all the way. I am flying out to Hawaii on Wednesday to check out the boat, help with some needed repairs and maintenance, and if the weather cooperates and gives us a window soon enough, will join them for the trip from Hawaii to LA. I am super excited.

As far as I can figure out the boat was built as a custom one off in 1992. I think they used the mold from the old Skookum motor sailors built in the 70's. It was built as a trawler with paravane stabilizers. The second owner put hydraulic stabilizers on it, turned the Paravanes into flopper stoppers for use while at anchor, and poles for sheeting out the headsail for downwind tradewind runs. He also added a sailing rig. It only really sails on a broad reach or farther off the wind. No beating to weather, so they have not been of much use on the way to Hawaii. The family I bought it from was from Vancouver Canada, and were in the middle of their second South Pacific cruise in her when Covid messed up their plans, and they decided to fly home and put the boat on the market. The previous owners did some really nice upgrades on the boat over the last 5 years which is cool. They put in stabilizers, hydraulic stern thruster, rebuilt engines, new generator/watermaker, steelhead crane, 13' bullfrog dingy, 1000W solar, Lithium batteries, new plotter, radar, AIS, sailing rig, second 10' inflatable tender, Built in gas station for filling tenders with Gasoline, new canvas, high output alternator driven off hydraulic system, 2x 12V air conditioners that can run off lithium batteries, etc.

The old Snapdragon can be found on Yacht World if you are looking for a sweet 41' aluminum trawler at a reasonable price.


Need any connections let me know.

Aloha!
Joe
808-783-5811
 
Buying sight unseen is always exciting. I've never done it with a boat, but I did buy a house on another continent without seeing it. It all turned out well, despite the terrible condition it was in.

Good luck with your adventure!
 
I have bought both boats and homes site unseen. As Forest would say, "you never know what your going to get." With the description of your post I would say there is nothing that was found that isn't fixable or within reach. Looks like a solid vessel with lots of well thought out spaces. Congrats! She's got some wonderful lines and will be a classic for sure!
 
Insurance issue

Congrats and best of luck on your trip. However, not to rain on the parade but please check with your insurance company to see exactly who’s insurance will cover the boat. Our insurance clearly states that they will not pay damages or injuries that happen when we have hired a captain. So your captain and engineer may need to submit qualifications to run your particular boat and proof of insurance to do this. Be sure your crew knows how to handle the boat, and what to do in an emergency.
At one time, we hired a captain to help us move our 45’ trawler who claimed he had years of experience and knew how to handle our boat. Recommended by the dock office too. He didn’t have the slightest clue how to do anything except go straight. Couldn’t handle cross seas or following seas or turning in stiff winds. Pretty scary trip for us, I was a couple weeks post rotator cuff surgery, because we needed to do everything, and watch him constantly.
 
Presidential

Snapdragon
Your confidence and knowledge in pulling together the purchase, getting the boat sea ready, hiring a crew and other necessary steps is most impressive.

Congratulations

He sound like a presidential candidate. Bravo!!
 
Boat in Fiji

Wow. I bought a J 24 and a C Dory 22 sight unseen and both worked out well but I still had reservations about buying my trawler after two personal inspections, two sea trials and a survey. I congratulate you on your daring. I hope everything goes well. Congratulations!
 
If you are a US resident (Kenmore?) you can most likely get into Hawaii without quarantine if you have the property Covid-19 clearance, but I'm sure you know that and are prepared.

If you are interested in my services (free) when in Hawaii (Oahu) I'd be happy to help. I am a 50+ year sail and power boat owner, a USCG licensed master and long-time member of Kaneohe Yacht Club. I too own a power boat half the world away which I would like to move to Hawaii or the West Coast.

PM me if interested. Good luck.
 
Very nice. And I was actually just admiring your current boat on YW the other day.

As I said before, SabreWife and I have been drooling over it. Snapdragon ticks all our boxes! Might have to hop over to Anacortes soon....
 
Has anyone on here yet questioned your sanity?

I'm not.
 
Great information, thanks.

How did the fuel situation go - it's a loooong way for a vessel with unknown consumption and possibly even unconfirmed tankage!
We still have not filled the boat with fuel, so the exact situation is unknown as of yet. It seems like the boat arrived in Hawaii with about 250 gallons to spare, but we are not sure yet how much we started with or how much we burned. I did discover that the fuel flow meter was installed backwards which probably has something to do with the mystery.
 
Congrats and best of luck on your trip. However, not to rain on the parade but please check with your insurance company to see exactly who’s insurance will cover the boat. Our insurance clearly states that they will not pay damages or injuries that happen when we have hired a captain. So your captain and engineer may need to submit qualifications to run your particular boat and proof of insurance to do this. Be sure your crew knows how to handle the boat, and what to do in an emergency.
At one time, we hired a captain to help us move our 45’ trawler who claimed he had years of experience and knew how to handle our boat. Recommended by the dock office too. He didn’t have the slightest clue how to do anything except go straight. Couldn’t handle cross seas or following seas or turning in stiff winds. Pretty scary trip for us, I was a couple weeks post rotator cuff surgery, because we needed to do everything, and watch him constantly.

Insurance was a challenge, but they know what we are up to. Had to submit resume's for the Capitan, and engineer before we closed the deal to nail down the insurance.
 
So the project of yesterday afternoon and today was to attempt to fix the broken electric roller furler. This unit was billed at "newish" piece of equipment and was installed in 2015 I think. The furler's retail price is around $15K. It did not work at all on the delivery to Hawaii. The previous owner suggested giving it a little spritz of WD40, which was not helpful. The instructions said there was no user serviceable parts, but I am only in Hawaii for a short time, so I decided to go for it and attempt to take it apart. It was quite a project. Had to build a homebrew press out of stuff I picked up at Home Depot to press the rusty bearings out of the housing. The lip seal that was supposed to keep the salt water out had failed and it was a huge rusty mess inside. I finally got it all apart, and amazingly was able to purchase new bearings and seals here in Honolulu and got it all back together and it seems to be running pretty good. The only question mark at this point is whether the motor is damaged on the inside from water intrusion. It still runs, but seems like it might be noisier than it should be. I feel pretty proud of myself getting it ripped apart and put back together.
 
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Furler rebuild pics
 

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Another drama we had was with the shore power. The boat was billed as being all set up for US shore power, and International shore power, with separate plugs and chargers for each. We are rafted on the Aloha dock at the Hawaii yacht club, and it took a few days to get the right splitters to be able to plug into the full shore power posts. By the time we got it, we really needed it, and had been having to run the generator at the dock, (Which was broken down from sitting when we first tried to start it up). I plugged in to the shore power and nothing happened. After a few hours of trying to figure out what was going on I pulled on the wire behind where the shore power plug is, and it arced and made a huge spark and blew the breaker. The 120V wiring had been disconnected and left with bare ends! It turns out that the previous owner had hired someone in Fiji to install a new 220V charger, and he just disconnected the 120V system and left it with bare ended wires hanging. After many hours of tracing things I was able to connect the shore power plug to the charger, and we have working shore power. I doubt the 120V, or the 240V systems are ACBY compliant at the moment, but they are good enough to get the boat home so I can sort it all out and make it right.
 
1. That is some hefty furler hardware, wow. Good job.

2. I didn't know they really drank "Fiji" water in Fiji, I always thought that was a marketing gimmick.
 
A few weeks ago now I closed on a new, used boat in Fiji. She is a 52' trawler, built in 1992 in Washington State. I am super excited, but it was a super stressful process. Fiji is completely shut down due to covid, and there was no way to go see it in person. I am crossing my fingers that pictures and Zoom tours gave me a good sense of the boat. The broker helped me hire an American delivery Capitan and Engineer for the delivery to Hawaii, then on to LA. They had to be American, because only Americans can get into Hawaii. I will bring the boat up the coast to Anacortes WA next spring, but LA seems like a safer trip in November. Getting insurance for the delivery was a huge challenge too, but I was able to get it in the end. To add to the stress, Cyclone season in Fiji was officially starting 2 weeks after my closing, adding to the pressure to get it the hell out of there.
The passage from Fiji to Hawaii is not an easy one. It is about 2850 miles, and mildly upwind, and current for almost the entire way. The boat is now about 200 miles from Hawaii, after 18 days. If it wasn't for Covid they definitely would have stopped in American Samoa for fuel, food, and a rest, but since it is closed for covid we just had to go for it all the way. I am flying out to Hawaii on Wednesday to check out the boat, help with some needed repairs and maintenance, and if the weather cooperates and gives us a window soon enough, will join them for the trip from Hawaii to LA. I am super excited.

As far as I can figure out the boat was built as a custom one off in 1992. I think they used the mold from the old Skookum motor sailors built in the 70's. It was built as a trawler with paravane stabilizers. The second owner put hydraulic stabilizers on it, turned the Paravanes into flopper stoppers for use while at anchor, and poles for sheeting out the headsail for downwind tradewind runs. He also added a sailing rig. It only really sails on a broad reach or farther off the wind. No beating to weather, so they have not been of much use on the way to Hawaii. The family I bought it from was from Vancouver Canada, and were in the middle of their second South Pacific cruise in her when Covid messed up their plans, and they decided to fly home and put the boat on the market. The previous owners did some really nice upgrades on the boat over the last 5 years which is cool. They put in stabilizers, hydraulic stern thruster, rebuilt engines, new generator/watermaker, steelhead crane, 13' bullfrog dingy, 1000W solar, Lithium batteries, new plotter, radar, AIS, sailing rig, second 10' inflatable tender, Built in gas station for filling tenders with Gasoline, new canvas, high output alternator driven off hydraulic system, 2x 12V air conditioners that can run off lithium batteries, etc.

The old Snapdragon can be found on Yacht World if you are looking for a sweet 41' aluminum trawler at a reasonable price.
My, now deceased husband, and his father (home builders by trade) bought the Skookum molds and designed the Shorleave trawler. It was built in Port Townsend and finished and launched in Snohomish, WA before our family set off to cruise the Caribbean (not Alaska) for a period of 7 years.
 
Here is a Video tour of the boat from the broker if you are interested.



Congrats on the new boat, she looks a great concept for crossing oceans, and I also admire your boldness for taking on the entire project of purchase and delivery logistics.

The broker though, did not seem to have much technical knowledge of the vessel, other than most things being “convenient” :)
 
Congrats - I watched the 18 min video. Look's nice. Old Dan's not too interested in the boat... however, I'm afraid his wallet is not deep enough for what he is interested in! What say you Dan??!!
 

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