Peter,
We have been talking and toying with the idea of buying a late 70's 42 or 46 GB and do the resto mod you described above. Many kudos to what you have accomplished and you now have me searching yachtworld!!! Weebles looks fantastic and I hope you can sit back and appreciate all the time and $$$ you have put into it.
-Rich
Thanks for noticing Rich. It's been a lot of fun figuring out exactly what I wanted in a boat. Some of it is 100% personal. I've attached a picture of the backplane for my electrical panel - Weebles had some DIY surgery when I bought her, and I'll raise my hand to admit 22 years of my ownership didn't improve the situation. "Birds nest" comes to mind. I don't mind making mistakes - they are a natural byproduct of discovery. But I do mind living with them for longer than necessary. I've had virtually every wire removed from Weebles and rerun in a proper manner. I had beautiful custom panels made with backplanes as shown here so making up connections is neat and orderly. It was expensive in every possible sense of the word. The panels (including switch panels and engine control panels) were over $6k. The work to have it all installed, including electronics, was over $9k. Materials was another bunch of money that I sort of refuse to add-up. I probably have 300 personal hours in designing the panel and drawing the wiring diagram, including specifying cables, switches, and components. It was an incredibly time consuming task even though I never touched a tool. It added no value to the boat but I am so happy I had it done.
In that one example is the essence of why I did this. First, I felt a bit hemmed in - I had really let Weebles go over the years and she was in pretty poor condition. Second, I have a pair of 25-foot slips on the ICW that I have had combined and reconfigured that will barely accommodate a 36 footer. A 40 foot would draw a lot of attention, including local zoning officials. Third, like many, we have an attachment to our boat and its history and we felt a sense of obligation to breath another 50 years into her. And finally, she works well for us. We spent years entertaining heavily on SF Bay, often with over 15 friends aboard. Those days are behind us and Weebles will be our magic carpet for discovery. We like the austerity, the simplicity, the sense of connection that comes from a smaller boat that sits so close to the water. And we like that it bears little resemblance to our land based home.
I would encourage anyone considering a refit to closely examine their motives and objectives. Weebles is essentially a brand new boat at a healthy discount off new. But her resale value will be judged off a 1970 Willard, so it's an incredibly poor financial decision. It's really a bad idea financially. We can survive a couple financial disasters in life, and decided this would be one.
You have to really, really like the boat before doing this. Not just the bones, but the carcass, the soul, the fiber and being of the boat. It really needs to speak to what you want to do. For us, the expansive cockpit that many would consider wasted space gas a sense of presence unmatched in other boats, including the bigger sister W40.
In the end, setting aside the clearly emotional appeal of the project for me, it was a science project. A place where is could do things my way - the way I believe makes sense. It's been a lot of fun
For the most part, and with some notable exceptions, the project ran roughly within rifle-shot of budget. There were a couple of expensive add on expenses (reconfiguring flybridge seating, and reconfiguring stateroom), but those were choices, not cost over runs. The single biggest surprise was the old Vosper stabilizers were not salvageable and needed to be replaced. But that's a story for another thread.
Peter
Ross Macdonald MV Boppy's Star.
