yacht – Page 2 – Voilier 'HIR 3'

Good old boat

HIR 3 is definitely a good old boat. She was build to last and she proved bulletproof too:)

17/09/2014 sasa1 Comment

Back in the day, boats were built to last and the main requirement was that she had to be seaworthy. Now, most shipyards (with few exceptions, of course) build boats that have to be cheap, light, fast, pretty and have accommodation for a lot of people. Build quality and seaworthiness unfortunately belong to the past and are now synonyms for good old boats.

HIR 3 is definitely a good old boat 🙂 The hull is made of thick solid laminate that shows no signs of osmosis, has a lead keel connected to the hull with twelve stainless steel plates and a full skeg to protect the rudder. She has an oversized 15-meter keel stepped mast with backstay, running backstays, baby stay and double spreaders that end up on a stainless steel plate on two bulkheads connected to a 2.5 ton keel made of lead with added antimony for stiffness. There are eight oversized winches (on a 34 foot boat!), two large travelers on each side for the genoa and one on the coachroof for the mainsail. All the bulkheads and main frames in the interior as well as her tiller are made of solid teak. In the galley and in the salon there are boxes for plates, glasses, cups and bottles, and one special for a bottle of Jack Daniels:)

She was build to last and she proved bulletproof too:)

True colors

I finally decided that it was the time to start painting the interior. I just couldn’t watch the boat like that anymore, so I had to do it to boost my moral:)

05/09/2014 sasa2 Comments

I finally decided that it was the time to start painting the interior. There might be more important jobs to do, but I had to make the cabin more appealing. I just couldn’t watch the boat like that anymore, so I had to do it to boost my moral:)

I‘ve put on my working clothes, mask and gloves and then I started… First I put one coat of primer, which actually bleached the wood, and then another coat. After that I painted it and finally I varnished the wood.

It was really a difficult job to do, because even though I opened all the hatches and windows and in spite of the fact that I had a mask on all the time, I just couldn’t stay inside for more than half an hour at the time because of all the (probably toxic) evaporation from the paint. The only real joy was the swim I took at the end of every day.

It was a long and painful process, but it had to be done… The only problem was that when I was finished, it all looked much better, except the bilges that looked simply awful, so although I didn’t plan to do it, I then painted the bilges too.

I know that there is still a lot of work to be done, but I think she looks much better now… 🙂

5 reasons why I bought a boat

It’s really difficult to rationalize a boat purchase, but when you spend all that money on something (and this is only the beginning), you just have to justify it to yourself somehow. For your own mental health and peace of mind.
Size, type, model, price, equipment, condition, location… all of that is irrelevant. You just have to fall in love with her! 🙂

04/08/2014 sasaLeave a comment

5. Investment. Believe it or not, buying a boat is the best investment in the World. You are always gambling with your money whatever you do. Stock market, real-estate market crash, cars lose value fast, so the only money that is actually yours is the one you have already spent. I invested in something I love, so I’m thinking it’s a safe investment. Buying a boat is really the only smart thing you can do with your money 🙂

4. Lifestyle. Living on the boat, or at least spending a lot of time on the water is the best lifestyle I can imagine. A boat will not just take you to many beautiful places where otherwise you couldn’t have gone, but she will do it in style… Owning a boat is also very cool. You can invite friends or business partners, or even make new friends 🙂

3. Health. Spending time on the water is good for your health, both physical and mental. You can really relax and unwind while sailing on the boat far away from everything and everyone. It’s a healthy way of living. You can even exercise and drink beer at the same time 🙂

2. Fun. Sailing is the most fun you can ever have (besides sex, of course)… and you can even share the experience with your crew. You can really get in touch with nature, sea, waves and the wind. It gives you freedom not only to sail away, but also to have fun while doing it.

1. Love. Well, it’s really the best reason to do anything and everything, isn’t it? To be completely honest, I have to admit that the previous four reasons were just my attempt to justify myself, but the truth is that you simply have love boats and sailing. That’s all there is to it.

One final advice for people who are considering to buy a boat: Size, type, model, price, equipment, condition, location… all of that is irrelevant. You just have to fall in love with her! 🙂

Bulletproof

The boat was moored in ACY marina in Dubrovnik when the war in Croatia started. There were 286 bullet holes in the hull! This was one of the antiaircraft bullets that was found in the bulkhead. She proved to be bulletproof…

13/07/2014 sasa1 Comment

I have found a bullet when I was cleaning the bilge. It was a big one! It had small screws, so it was obvious that it was a ‘souvenir’ that was mounted on the bulkhead.

The boat was moored in ACY marina in Dubrovnik when the war in Croatia started. The whole town and the marina were surrounded and heavily bombed. Mladen Šutej negotiated and got a permission to enter the marina and leave with a boat before marina was occupied when all of the boats were destroyed.

There were 286 bullet holes in the hull! But Mladen Šutej assured me that everything was carefully repaired. This was one of the antiaircraft bullets that was found in the bulkhead.

She proved to be bulletproof… 🙂

Multimaster

I finally went back to the boat for a few days after a long period of waiting for a good opportunity. A friend of mine, Mario from my Dobro More sailing club borrowed me a great tool – Multimaster, so I wanted to try it.

29/06/2014 sasa2 Comments

As soon as I got there, I started sanding the wooden interior and stripping down the paint with it. Works great, I really liked it… The only problem is that there is solo much wood, which means there is a lot of work to be done.

I was sanding the inferior for almost four days, but there is still a lot more waiting to be done next time.
Summer has arrived, so it was hot and the pontoon next to the boat was full of Italian 20+ meter motor yachts every day. It felt strange working next to these guys, but I have to admit that I really wasn’t jealous at all. I can’t understand why would anyone want one of these motor yachts.

At the end of the day, a skipper from one of the big motor yachts recognized ‘Hir 3’ and was interested if she will sail again. It’s a nice feeling when other people recognize what I am doing 🙂

New hatches

11/06/201411/06/2014 sasa2 Comments

One of my biggest worries is the fact that the boat is leaking everywhere – next to the mast, hatches, portholes… It will probably take me a long time to fix everything, but I guess I have to start somewhere. I decided to fix one problem – new hatches. My friends Andrej & Jelena were going to Trieste to buy some equipment for their boat and I found hatches that I thought would work in the Motomarine catalog, so I asked them if they could buy them form me there. They weren’t exactly cheap, but I have already made the decision to buy them. It was quite a big job to take the old hatches down and to install new ones, so I decided to leave it to the professionals and hired a local boat service company to do it.

They look great and more importantly, they are watertight!! 🙂

Coin under the mast

Sailors and shipwrights have been putting coins under masts of ships since the ancient times. We found an interesting one on HIR 3!!!

29/05/2014 sasa1 Comment

I was cleaning the bilges with a sponge which was a really dirty job, but someone had to do it. Water was brown, it wasn’t pleasant and it seemed like it would never end with the water coming from all over the place. There was a lot of small rotten plywood parts inside the bilges, but I came across a round object that seemed a bit different, so I stopped and had a quick look. It seemed like a coin, but it was covered in dirt and I couldn’t really see what it was. I showed it to Maja. She immediately went to the pontoon to clean it so we could se what it was…

It was really cool to see a coin which actually turned out to be a medal from 1981. Adriatic Regatta for 2nd place in category IV!

‘Sailors and shipwrights have been putting coins under masts of ships since the ancient times. The ceremonial practice is believed to originate from ancient Rome. One theory is that, due to the dangers of early sea travel, the coins were placed under the mast so the crew would be able to cross to the afterlife if the ship were sunk. The Romans believed it was necessary for a person to take coins with them to pay Charon, in order to cross the river Styx to the afterlife and as a result of this, coins were placed in the mouths of the dead before they were buried. Another theory for this practice is that the insertion of coins in buildings and ships may have functioned as a form of sacrifice thanking the gods for a successful construction, or a request for divine protection in the future (Wikipedia)’.

Now I know what I have to do with the medal. I will keep it safe until we put the boat in better shape… and than we will organize a ceremony to put the it in place under the mast. I can’t wait! 🙂

I showed the medal to my friends at Dobro More sailing club in Zagreb and my friend Jelena offered to clean the medal with a special acid for bronze… she brought it a week later looking like this… Great!! 🙂 Thanks a lot Jelena!!

Stormy weather

Ever since we started working on the boat, the weather doesn’t really want to cooperate, so every time I plan to go to Vrsar, forecast predicts rain, but I now decided that stormy weather won’t bother me. If I can’t go to the boat, I will work in front of our sailing club on the wooden parts we took out from the interior.

15/05/2014 sasaLeave a comment

There’s a lot of work to be done. First I have to sand everything, than I will try to fix the holes and scratches and finally paint & varnish it all…

Last weekend I started sanding and fixing the drawers. My friends Davor and Mario borrowed me a sanding machine and a multi master tool, Elvis helped me a bit, but it’s still going very slow… and the stormy weather in Zagreb isn’t helping. Patience…

Stormy weather…

Patience…

Patience is the word of the week… People think that I am a very patient man, but when I think about HIR, it seems that I just can’t be myself.

28/04/2014 sasa1 Comment

Patience is the word of the week… People think that I am a very patient man, but when I think about HIR, it seems that I just can’t be myself. I wanted to go to Vrsar again this weekend, but the weather forecast was really bad, so I had to give up on that. Instead of working I spent the weekend browsing catalogs and ebay in search for anything that I might like to have on the boat.

I realized that having too much time is dangerous. I have found so many cool gadgets that I liked. Now the difficult part is to restrain myself from buying anything I don’t need right now, so I don’t spend little money I have left. I need it for much more essential things, like crane and dry berth, antifouling, marine plywood for the interior etc.

However, I am trying to do as much as I can, even when I am not on the boat. I have contacted the original owner, Mladen Šutej to tell him about my plans. He was very supportive and I think he is pleased that someone is trying to restore the boat. He told me about a few items I have found on the boat and sent me a cool photo of ‘HIR 3’ in Torres Strait with Australia in the back from 1989. We’ll be back! 🙂

In this project PATIENCE will be essential…

My friend Charlie & me

A few weeks ago when we were cleaning the boat for the first time, on our lunch break we went to the supermarket to buy something to eat and Maja spotted a dish washing detergent ‘Čarli’ (Charlie:) on sale. I thought we could use it to wash our hands, but as it turned out, it does so much more…

16/04/201416/04/2014 sasaLeave a comment

This time I couldn’t find anyone to help me. Everyone was either working or sailing, so I went to Vrsar on the boat by myself… Charlie was the only one who was helping me. After seeing what Maja did with the kitchen, I decided to clean the whole boat. I tried to apply Čarli to see how it would work… and it was doing a great job, so I used it for everything. I have to admit that cleaning the locker in the bathroom was one of the scariest experiences I had in a long time. IT was completely covered in mould. It was really disgusting, but it had to be done.

I borrowed from my friend Davor a sander and a hot air blower, so I wanted to try how they work, so I can prepare myself for what will be another big job on my list – stripping what is left of the paint and varnish in the interior.

I sanded the main bulkhead. It was going slow and it was actually much more difficult than I thought it would be. I stopped sanding because I realized that I will also need a vacuum cleaner, otherwise the whole boat would end up in a complete mess.

I then tried the hot air blower. I was told that it should strip down the varnish easily, but I had a different experience with that. It worked really well on some places, not so well on other, but I learned that I will have to sand all areas anyway… but I found another great use for it. The interior is all very wet and humid, so the blower worked wonders to for the wood that would otherwise take forever to dry.

Sometimes it was really difficult to find the motivation to keep working because all I see is more work and not much results. I guess it’s always easier to work with someone, so next time I’ll try harder to find some company other that Charlie… 🙂