SHETLAND OWNERS ASSOCIATION

Hello all,

Having sold my 4+2 some years ago during a "stressful time", I've always had a hankering for another boat. Being a bit of a Shetland fan, I've kept an eye on the forums and the classifieds and have gently tried to persuade my wife that boat ownership is a worthwhile pastime now we're a bit older and wiser....

Last August, after some considerable time, an ad on a marina website caught my eye...a 1991 Saxon, right boat, right price, right location and at the right time..

She was a little rough around the edges and needed some minor work and fettling but was basically solid and so after a trial run, a survey and some haggling we became the owners of Wild Dream (we feel the name is quite apt)

She is hull number 13 of 37 built and in good condition considering her age, but I'm sure we all know that once you start...

I'm not normally a poster on forums, preferring to lurk in the background but I've taken this project on to fill my time, improve my knowledge and skills, and I'm happy to share what I do pick up along the way...and shamelessly borrow other people's ideas..

If you want to see them, I'm taking plenty of pictures

David.

Hi David.

I Would love to see pictures of your Saxon project.

Regards

Billy

These 2 pictures were lifted directly from the "for sale" advert...





A good look round revealed some minor issues, mostly age related and fixable with my limited skills and somewhat constrained budget so I made an offer subject to survey..

Hi nice looking boat hope you and the wife get loads of enjoyment out of it

Hi nice looking boat hope you and the wife get loads of enjoyment out of it cant wait to see the photos

Thanks, we intend to get as much use as we can...

The survey showed that she is a solid boat with no water ingress and no signs of osmosis.

There was very little damage to the hull considering her age and the lack of through hull fittings meant that all is dry inside





A perished fuel line was the only urgent consideration, and that was replaced.

The outboard is a 2008 Mercury 15 hp that also seems in good fettle, it was serviced after purchase for peace of mind.



This picture shows it mid pressure wash

We discovered a fully plumbed and earthed but never used stainless steel fuel tank in the port cockpit locker, as well as a stainless water tank to starboard; there are also 2 portable fuel tanks.

The electrics were the problem; they were a mess...

The horn didn't work, neither did the masthead light, the DVD player; half the interior lights or anything on the dash panel. There was a mass of confused wiring; loose ends; redundant switches, panels and cables; and all sorts of random joints.



The shore power installation had also seen better days...



It wasn't a deal breaker, as I had some idea of what was needed, and after my electrician friend gave it the once over we agreed a complete rewire would probably be best. Rip it all out and start again.

The dash panel had been covered with a piece of cheap ply (probably to blot out the horrors underneath) and the whole boat was just tired but we could see the potential and, anyway, I need something to keep me occupied so we sourced a mooring, made a list and completed the purchase.

The list: (in no particular order)

Required:

Rewire
Replace gas hob\grill (no flame safety cut off)
Replace u/s searchlight
Replace u/s radio and ancient speakers
Service engine
Sort dash panel
Replace lighting with LED ( during rewire)
Replace batteries
Replace broken vent covers

Desired:

New curtains
New upholstery
New fenders
New canopy
Commission inboard fuel tank
Recommission inboard water tank
Upgrade interior

As with any project, once I'd got a to do list we found other hidden complications and one or two little bonuses...

With the help of a friend (Thanks Al), we went from bow to stern and figured out exactly what worked and what didn't..

As I've already mentioned, there was a lot of obsolete wiring and loose ends so we did some testing and decided it was better to take it all out and rewire from scratch.

Removing the headlining was straightforward considering it had probably been in place since 1991, and we ran the new cable front to back. This connected the new spotlights, horn, mast light and new interior lights. Whilst everything was apart, I took off the mast and horn, cleaned, polished and then rewired them, fitted new deck sockets and put it all back together..

The solitary front spotlight wasn't working so that was consigned to the bin and a pair of unobtrusive white rubber shelled LED spots sourced to give a bit of symmetry to the front end...

Before:



After:



A new LED masthead light replaced the brittle original but rather than drill through the stainless mounting panel, I made up an adapter and used the original holes..