Ok, here we go , short story ...
Having a Sea Ray 26 cabin cruiser in '93 i dream of a sail boat and a trip around the world... My friend bought one , i wanted to build one myself, and yes, a bit bigger.....So welding begin in our backyard in '94 after buying some plans and doing my thing in details.Hull is carbon steel , deck stainless. Once the hull was almost finished we were still not pleased with the interior space of 46', we needed 50'... On a winter evening , over the drawings i decided to cut the boat in 2 pieces and weld a 4' extension in the middle... so now we have a real 50'... :star:
I sandblasted in&out ( 2 tons sand... ) and painted with epoxy primers. Then epoxy fillings ( 600 kg's... ) and sanding this was about 600 hours...

A prof did the final painting , i made the epoxy paint in many 10 l buckets at a time...
In the keel i melted about 9 tons of lead ( scrap lead ) : first melted and poured 20 kg " bread's" , stacked them in the keel and poured melted lead over them to form 1 piece.Here i have 3 acces covers to eventualy adjust the weight after in the water and righting moment measure. Rest of the keel is a 2000 l diesel reservoir.
We moved the boat to our workshop for interior work. My wife and i put on the teak deck to realize with increasing buziness we would never have time to do the interior woodwork. So a ships-carpenter was hired who worked 2 years on it... after sprying insulation he build a complete inner shell in wood , ceilings and floors. Those are all corners rounded with epoxy and painted.
Floors and furniture are made in Sipo wood.
Installed 2 engines ND450 ( 100 hp FORD's... yes..

) , 2 Velvet gear drives , axes and 2 Max-prop's. Now ready to install the 15 kW generator ( Lister Petter) with a hydraulic pump( load sensing ) in front for the 2 anchorwinches and the bow-prop. Those are under the deckhouse floor with the 2 stainless water tanks. ( 1000 l ) .Behind the saloon is a diesel day-tank of 200 l which is filled by pump from the keel tank.
The 2 anchor winches are self made ( 4 tons pulling power each) , the bow prop a 15 hp. 5 "water tight" compartments with bilge pumps , backed up with a electric and a manual greater one.6 dorade vents with polished stainless bowls.Withlock pedestal and hydraulic rudder.Sparcraft alu mast ( 21.5 m above deck ) , mainsail and 2 foresails on rollers ( Profurl ). Detail , i discussed the mast section with factory and bought a 3 types bigger one as proposed.They told me to have the most problems with engineers...
Interior we have a saloon ( raised deck ) , big kitchen and 3 double bed rooms with toilet and water, 1 with a shower. The kitchen has everything as in a house and a clothes washer-dryer. Even a american fridge ( Amada) with ice maker...

All electric, didn't want gas aboard.
Front and back are tech spaces with 300 l waste water tank and central heating kettle.Back has a arch for antennas,radar, sun screen and dinghy hoist.
Weight wil be around 23 to 25 tons , so a sturdy motorsailer to go anywere.
Once retired i can visit the US and cruise with you....

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