Starting from Scratch and need all the advice I can get!

[SailingAdrift]

Hi all, I just purchased a 1976 NautiCat38. The hull's in great shape, but it's been dry docked for the last 4 years, and the brightwork's in rough shape.
Inside it's completely gutted, but all the woodwork, equipment, and fixtures are there waiting to be refinished and reinstalled.
I would love to hear your "If I could do it over, I would..."s (especially from other NautiCat owners)
The purchase is final, and I'm in this all the way, so if we could avoid the clever "don't do it!" posts, I'd appreciate it.

Thank you so much in advance for your help and advice. I'm excited!

[leboyd]

Go here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5x...PNWdVtl9PkDmgA

If you can't learn it from Mads, it's can't be learned

[SailingAdrift]

Haha! Agreed. I've been watching his channel for a year now, and actually hope to follow in his shoes with this refit on my own channel... and would love to meet him some day.
I would really love to hear the "I wish I had installed/planned for..." or "I wish I hadn't wasted time/money on...." before I come up with my master plan on how to tackle this.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, SailingAdrift.

[SailingAdrift]

Thanks! Happy to be here.

[akprb]

You're about to learn a lot! Enjoy it! Seriously. Havecthe fun is what you're about to experience.

[UNCIVILIZED]

You can diagram & sketch out on paper all you like, but when you start to build things, it’s going to look different, guaranteed. As many surfaces on boats that look level aren’t, necessarily, & vice versa. So once you “build” the new interior on paper, you might want to do a mockup. Either using cardboard, or one better, door skins & a hot glue gun. All the way down to spray painting the colors onto things that you’ll use so that you can see what it’ll look like. That way you get a chance to modify things on the cheap prior to working with the expensive materials. And you can also get the feedback from others as to what they like about it, & any improvements that they might suggest.

One other idea is to tour as many other boats as you can, of all types, with a camera, recorder, & note pad. Denoting all of the features that you see that you like, & or hate, so as to be able to work them into your boat. Doing this by going to boat shows, visiting online brokerage sites, walking the docks & talking to/touring other owner’s boats, including asking them what they’d do differently, as well as what little things that they love. And be sure to get the inputs of both sexes on this stuff. It’ll help you in the now/when your rebuild is done, as well as when it’s time to sell the boat.

[Cheechako]

Are the bulkheads gone also?

[Cyrus Safdari]

If I had to do it again, I would have bought a Festool kit, and also really understood the concept of project inflation. This is year 2 of refitting my monohull.
Yes, two years of fiberglass dust, heat, sweat, bugs, chemicals, etc. sailingwhimsy.com

[atoll]

Originally Posted by SailingAdrift

Hi all, I just purchased a 1976 NautiCat38. The hull's in great shape, but it's been dry docked for the last 4 years, and the brightwork's in rough shape.
Inside it's completely gutted, but all the woodwork, equipment, and fixtures are there waiting to be refinished and reinstalled.
I would love to hear your "If I could do it over, I would..."s (especially from other NautiCat owners)
The purchase is final, and I'm in this all the way, so if we could avoid the clever "don't do it!" posts, I'd appreciate it.

Thank you so much in advance for your help and advice. I'm excited!

having a workshop or garage space will make your life a lot easier when doing a refit.

basic power tools are enough for working onboard but a track saw/table saw,drill press , router and router table and some space will allow you to prefabricate much of the interiour off of the yacht before fitting.

taking accurate measurements between bulkheads ,floor , beam and deckhead and plotting them on a plan will save a lot of time when ordering and cutting materials ,as you will have sizes and lenths to hand,and not need to go back onboard to re-measure every time you need to cut an aproximate lenth/size of hose or piece of ply to fit onboard.

if working in a boatyard, building a platform and decent set of stairs alongside will make your life easier and give you a work area at deck level.

climbing a ladder will get old very fast,considering during a full build you might need to do this 10-15000 times depending on size of vessel!

edit: try to take off at least one day a month for non- boat work stuff,so you can get to know your wife and kids/GF again and avoid boat building burnout ..............

[SailingAdrift]

Originally Posted by UNCIVILIZED

You can diagram & sketch out on paper all you like, but when you start to build things, it’s going to look different, guaranteed. As many surfaces on boats that look level aren’t, necessarily, & vice versa. So once you “build” the new interior on paper, you might want to do a mockup. Either using cardboard, or one better, door skins & a hot glue gun. All the way down to spray painting the colors onto things that you’ll use so that you can see what it’ll look like. That way you get a chance to modify things on the cheap prior to working with the expensive materials. And you can also get the feedback from others as to what they like about it, & any improvements that they might suggest.

One other idea is to tour as many other boats as you can, of all types, with a camera, recorder, & note pad. Denoting all of the features that you see that you like, & or hate, so as to be able to work them into your boat. Doing this by going to boat shows, visiting online brokerage sites, walking the docks & talking to/touring other owner’s boats, including asking them what they’d do differently, as well as what little things that they love. And be sure to get the inputs of both sexes on this stuff. It’ll help you in the now/when your rebuild is done, as well as when it’s time to sell the boat.

That makes a ton of sense. I so already have a rough idea of what I'd like to do, but making models shows things like clearance for opening doors and hatches, and general aesthetics.
Thank you.

[SailingAdrift]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

Are the bulkheads gone also?

No, bulkheads and closets are in place, but some of the wood will need to be replaced and the kitchen and baths are gutted.

[SailingAdrift]

Originally Posted by Cyrus Safdari

If I had to do it again, I would have bought a Festool kit, and also really understood the concept of project inflation. This is year 2 of refitting my monohull.
Yes, two years of fiberglass dust, heat, sweat, bugs, chemicals, etc. sailingwhimsy.com

I had to look up Festool! If a guy already has a circular saw and router, what would be the benefits of the festool kit?

[SailingAdrift]

Originally Posted by atoll

having a workshop or garage space will make your life a lot easier when doing a refit.

basic power tools are enough for working onboard but a track saw/table saw,drill press , router and router table and some space will allow you to prefabricate much of the interiour off of the yacht before fitting.

taking accurate measurements between bulkheads ,floor , beam and deckhead and plotting them on a plan will save a lot of time when ordering and cutting materials ,as you will have sizes and lenths to hand,and not need to go back onboard to re-measure every time you need to cut an aproximate lenth/size of hose or piece of ply to fit onboard.

if working in a boatyard, building a platform and decent set of stairs alongside will make your life easier and give you a work area at deck level.

climbing a ladder will get old very fast,considering during a full build you might need to do this 10-15000 times depending on size of vessel![emoji2]

edit: try to take off at least one day a month for non- boat work stuff,so you can get to know your wife and kids/GF again and avoid boat building burnout ..............

Wish I could work in a boatyard. For some reason, Portland Oregon doesn't have any spaces outside of the water to work on your boat. Something to do with environmental rules, and the value of space. To get my boat into dry storage anywhere I can work on it would require a 3 hour drive.
I've got space in a friends garage to store everything, and build a small shop. I'm just worried about overstaying my welcome, by being loud too late or filling it full of the smell varnish or covering it in sawdust. So I'll have to be extra meticulous and considerate.

[Cyrus Safdari]

Originally Posted by SailingAdrift

I had to look up Festool! If a guy already has a circular saw and router, what would be the benefits of the festool kit?

LOL -- those were my thoughts when I started. My poor little Ryobi that I brought from home made it 2 weeks.

I've never had to use a circular saw to fix my boat; the tool I use everyday is a Makita angle grinder and another Makita random orbital sander plus shopvac, and oscillating tool with a variety of blades for different purposes. Next is a jigsaw and small Dremel rotary tool. Mouse sander for tight corners (or use the oscillating tool.) A router (table and plunge router) is necessary, plus a drill press, table saw, corded and cordless drills, sanders of all sorts especially a random orbital sander, heat gun, dremel tool, buffer, etc etc. It adds up so getting as much of it as possible as a compact and VERY HIGH QUALITY kit that also has a vacuum dust extractor (which you really will need) together in a nice compact package... Yeah, wish I had done that like my neighbor who is a professional boatbuilder suggested -- but I cheaped out at first.

I have a whole tent-full of crap now next to my boat. That doesn't count the storage space I rented to put things like sails and cushions while I work on her

You'll need space, tools, time. etc. and large worktable space.

Consumables: grinder discs, sanding paper of all sorts, epoxy, polyester, filler, paint, WD40, PBlaster, adhesives, sealants...

Oh and hand tools of all sorts: screw drivers and drill bits and wrenches and sockets sets, spreaders and scrapers, paint rollers, and ... LOTSA clamps.

Yeah.

Oh then I had to secure her for a hurricane so now I have shovel and pick too. It just keeps coming. I do a Home Depot or West Marine run practically every day. Paint stripper, drop cloth, steel wool just today. When Lowes opened up next door we actually toured the place like it was Disneyland. W're into hardware that much now.