Welcome!
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La Volpe, a 53′ Colin Archer cutter-rigged ketch, is seeking a new owner. Built in Risor, Norway in 1962, she is a once-in-a-lifetime find for a lover of classic wooden boats: her entire hull, as well as her deck, is old-growth Burmese teak, 1.5″-1.75″ inches thick. Solidly build on 3″X3″ laminated white oak frames, planking fastened with copper rivets, and all structural fastenings silicon bronze bolts, she was built with the finest materials, to last many lifetimes.
Under full sail in light winds off Salt Spring Island
Table of Contents
Contact information: Please direct enquiries to: matrixlinks@icloud.com. Serious buyer may make an appointment to view the boat by calling 778-817-0740.
1. Overall Description and offer
- Type: “Ingrid” type Colin Archer flush-decked cutter-rigged ketch
- Length: 53’ LOA, 42’ LOD, 38′ LWL, Beam: 11.6, Draft: 6
- Displacement: estimated at 15-16 tons / 30,000-32,000 lbs.
- Ballast estimated at 4 tons (8000-10000 lbs) lead
- Date built: 1962
- Builder: Kittelsene Boat Yard, Risor, Norway
- Formerly a US documented boat, currently registered nationally with Transport Canada. A US owner could re-activate La Volpe’s US documentation
- 2001 Restoration: Jim McFaul, Brad Johnson, Rob McLean, Peter McLean, in Ventura California
- 2018-19 Update: Rob McLean, Monica Sheridan, Sarah McLean Anderson and Josh Anderson in Seattle and Salt Spring Island
- Offered for sale at $ 39,000 CDN
- Free equipment included in the price if desired: project supplies for additional dorades, rigging modification, 2 bicycles, small woodstove
- Permanent private mooring available in Ganges Harbour: additional $1,000 USD
- Most recent survey: February, 2020
Some kids flaked out on deck, off California
La Volpe has had 6 owners in six decades. She was built in 1962 for Thomas C. Mercurio and documented as La Volpe with hull registry number of 523573. She was acquired by WG Marinucci in 1968. Reportedly she spent some years in the Mediterranean, then was sailed across the Atlantic, through the Panama Canal, then north to Ventura, California.
She was purchased in 1976 by Lamont (Monty) Cox and Susan Backlinie. Monty and Susan were well known in the area as Hollywood animal trainers and actors: Susan was famous as the first victim of Jaws in the movie of that name.
At some point in the 1990s, she was transferred to a not-for-profit named Access to Sailing, that provided opportunities for disabled people to experience sailing in the exciting Pacific waters off Ventura. In February 2000, she was acquired by Jim McFaul, who worked on boats in Ventura. In May, 2001, I became the sixth owner. In the summer of 2001 we sailed her 300 miles up the California coast from Ventura to Half Moon Bay, in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she lived until 2005. We then sailed her 800 miles up the Pacific Coast to Canada, and she has lived in Ganges Harbour on Salt Spring Island since, interspersed with various west coast sailing adventures in the Georgia Strait, Desolution Sound, Puget Sound, and beyond.
An account of one of our adventures in La Volpe can be viewed here: http://robmclean.ca/August_trip/voyage.html
Detailed information about La Volpe’s restoration in 2001, as well as work undertaken in the years since, can be viewed here.
At anchor in Drake’s Bay, 25m north of the Golden Gate
Interior layout, from bow to stern:
- Chain locker
- Forward cabin (sleeps 2), sail and gear stowage under
- Cabin to starboard (sleeps 1), gear storage under
- Head to port with Lavac toilet, stainless sink and sitting shower
- Salon (sleeps 2 on full-length settees with water tanks under), table to port, extensive storage outboard of settees on both sides
- Galley to port
- Navigation table with fridge under and companionway to starboard
- Supplementary counter space, battery box, engine room access
- Engine room (under cockpit, which is hinged or removeable for access)
- Lazarette
- Interior construction includes varnished teak laminated beams, varnished teak ply, off-white-painted ply and varnished teak trim
- Cabin sole: unfinished natural teak
Hauled out on Vancouver Island
4. Contruction details and key features
-
- Keel: 1 foot thick white oak, over 18″ wide amidships
- Frames: 3”X3” laminated white oak, on 12” centres
- Structural fastenings: All silicon bronze bolts. Keel (1″), keelson (1/2″, deadwood (1/2″), and stem bolts (1/2″) all new in 2001, traditionally bedded in tar
- Hull planking: Original carvel planking with vertical grain clear Burmese teak, 1/1/2 to 1 3/4″, few butt joints, copper rivet fastened. Cotton caulking
- Flush-deck construction with recessed foredeck and after-deck. 4″ bulwarks on main deck, increasing to 16″ on foredeck and afterdeck.
- Deck: Original clear, unfinished vertical grain Burmese teak, 1 3/4″+, no butt joints, bronze screw fastened, with traditional black caulking
- Spars: box construction with full-length sitka spruce, no butt joints. Main is keel-stepped, mizzen is deck-stepped
- Cap rails: 1″ X 4″ teak
- Paint:
- Topsides finished with Brightside 4259 White one-part epoxy.
- Bottom finished with black anti-fouling paint (Bottomkote)
- Bootstripe: green, one-part epoxy
- Stemplate: 3/8” stainless plate running from just below the bowsprit to just forward of the ballast keel. Throughbolted with 2 3/8” stainless bolts below bowsprit, and 2 3/8” stainless bolts above and below the integral bobstay fitting. Bedded in tar, fastened with 1/4” stainless screws
- Rudder: laminated plywood, encapsulated in fibreglass and West system epoxy, with 3 sets of bronze pintles and gudgeons, plus bronze shoe fitting and pin. Oak tiller
- Throughhulls and seacocks
- Below waterline throughhulls and seacocks: new in 2001, all silicon bronze, bedded in tar with plywood backing plates
- Head inlet: 3/4”
- Head outlet: 1.5”
- Engine intake: 1.25”
- Galley outlet: 1.25””
- Galley inlet (3/4”)
- Cockpit scuppers (2)(1.25”)
- Bronze depth sounder and speed log transducers, new in 2001, bedded in tar with plywood backing plates
- Exhaust throughhull (above waterline): 2 1/2” bronze with bronze gate value (new in 2001)
- Bilge pump throughhulls (above waterline, starboard side) 1” and 1.5” marelon
- Shower sump throughhull (above waterline, port side) 3/4” bronze
- Engine and transmission: Yanmar 4J4E, 4 cylinder, 40 HP naturally aspirated marine diesel
(s.n.: E03391), aluminum engine bedways, KANZAKI HURTH marine reduction gear, all installed new in 2006 - Propeller: 3 blade bronze, 15 X 17
- Tankage
- Diesel: 2 90 gallon copper tanks on either side of engine, totalling 180 gallons. At approximately 1 gallon per hour at 6 knots, this gives a range under power of over 1000 miles
- Fresh water: Total of 40 gallons in 2 copper tanks under salon settees. This is supplemented by a 12 gallon per hour watermaker
- Holding tank: 20 gallons, under head sink
- Hot water tank: 12 gallons, under galley counter. 120 V element, also heated by engine coolant loop
Ready for re-launch
5. Sail plan, auxiliary power, and operational characteristics
Sail plan
With three forestays and two masts, La Volpe offers a lot of sail choices to its crew. From forward aft:
- The outer masthead forestay flies a high-clewed jib used in light to medium airs. In medium to heavier airs, the next option is the inner jib on the 75% forestay that goes 3/4s of the way up the mast.
- The boomed staysail, whose stay goes about 60% up the mast, can be used as a supplementary foresail in light to heavy airs. In winds above 25 knots it would likely be the only foresail used
- Both the main and mizzen are cut for cruising, with no roach. In light to moderate winds both sails can be flown unreefed. Reefing can be accomplished by roller reefing, and the sails also have cringles for slab reefing. As the wind increases the main or the mizzen would be doused and the other reefed as required.
- La Volpe motorsails well with the mizzen set to provide both thrust and stability
- The sail inventory includes a trysail and storm jib for heavy weather conditions
- All running rigging is Spunflex, a rope which is ideal for classic boats. Made in Germany, Spunflex floats like polypropylene, but unlike polypropylene has high UV resistance. Its brown colour resembles traditional hemp or manilla ropes, but it lasts far longer that these traditional materials. It has excellent handling characteristics and reasonable strength, and is easy to splice. This is why is has been adopted by most traditional sailing vessels and tall ships, including, for example, Canada’s famous Bluenose II.
Auxiliary power
- Auxiliary power is provided by a Yanmar 4 cylinder, 40 HP engine, installed new in 2006. The engine is in excellent condition, is virtually self-bleeding, and starts instantly when required. In smooth conditions and with a clean bottom, at cruising speed it provides 6 – 6.5 knots, using less than 1 gallon of fuel per hour.
Operational characteristics
- The identity of Colin Archer, the Scottish boat designer who created the famous Norwegian “redningsskøyter” (rescue ships) in the late 1800s, has become synonymous with double ended sailboats. His pioneering hydrodynamic insights are exemplified by La Volpe: underway, even under power, the boat creates virtually no wake. The water displaced by the boat’s passage comes together behind the rudder with barely a ripple
- With the mass of teak and oak built into the boat’s structure, supplemented by the lead ballast keel, engine, and fuel and water tanks, La Volpe is a heavy boat, but is also quite maneuverable thanks to a large rudder area. She maintains her way and it is therefore important to approach docks at a slow and deliberate speed
- Again because of her mass and design, and the fact that her centre of gravity is lower than most boats, La Volpe is a comfortable boat in a seaway. In my experience so far, she has handled waves up to 16 feet with aplomb. She rises gently to each wave as it passes by. However, like most sailboats, she does not like motoring directly into a headsea and has a tendancy to hobbyhorse under those conditions. Better progress can be made by motorsailing with the mizzen, taking the waves at an angle. Again, like many sailboats, when running downwind there is a tendancy to roll. She is more comfortable on a broad reach than a dead run
- Because of the thickness of the planking, she is a quiet boat for those inside the cabin
- Because of her flush deck and therefore low windage, La Volpe can make reasonable progress in conditions that would be challenging for more conventional sailboats with high cabins
- With sails properly balanced, and having a traditional full keel, La Volpe virtually steers herself under most points of sail. With the Cap Horn self-steering rigged, she could sail for hours without any more attention required than tweaking the steering vane’s angle to the wind.
- As a heavy. long-keeled displacement boat, La Volpe’s hull speed is estimated at 8 knots. She has gone this fast with a good wind, and faster in the tidal currents in Juan da Fuca and the Georgia Strait!
These videos were recorded in the first week of May, 2019.
Exterior: https://learntocruiseonline.ams3.digitaloceanspaces.com/LaVolpe/LaVolpeTour_Exterior.mp4 (6 minutes)
Interior: https://learntocruiseonline.ams3.digitaloceanspaces.com/LaVolpe/LaVolpeTour_Interior.mp4 (9 minutes)
Sailing with friends off Salt Spring Island
For a photo tour including 15 exterior photos and 34 interior photos, with commentary, please see:
Exterior: https://learntocruiseonline.ca/lavolpephototour
Interior: https://learntocruiseonline.ca/lavolpephototour2
8.1 Safety Gear as per Transport Canada / Canadian Coast Guard Regulations
Pleasure Craft over 12 m but not over 20 m in Length
16.05 (1) Subject to sections 16.2 and 16.3, every pleasure craft over 12 m but not over 20 m in length shall carry personal protection equipment, boat safety equipment, distress equipment and navigation equipment in accordance with subsections (2)
to (5).
(2) Personal protection equipment shall consist of
(a) subject to section 16.08, one personal flotation device or lifejacket of appropriate size for each person on board; [OK]
(b) a buoyant heaving line of not less than 15 m in length; [OK, Throw-rope]
(c) one lifebuoy with an outside diameter of 610 mm or 762 mm that is equipped with a self-igniting light and is attached to a buoyant line of not less than 15 m in length; and [Lifesling]
(d) a reboarding device. [OK – teak ladder]
(3) Boat safety equipment shall consist of
(a) an anchor with not less than 50 m of cable, rope or chain in any combination; [OK]
(b) bilge-pumping arrangements; [OK, small electric bilge pump, large electric backup pump, manual Whale pump]
(c) one Class 10BC fire extinguisher at each of the following locations, namely,
(i) at each access to any space where a fuel-burning cooking, heating or refrigerating appliance is fitted,
(ii) at the entrance to any accommodation space, and
(iii) at the entrance to the engine room space; [OK: 2 large extinguishers at engine room door and in head, 1 small in starboard cabin, one mounted in stern lazarette]
(d) one axe; and [OK, hatchet in tool drawer]
(e) two buckets, each with a capacity of 10 L or more. [OK]
(4) Distress equipment shall consist of
(a) a watertight flashlight; and [OK]
(b) twelve pyrotechnic distress signals of Type A, B, C or D, not more than six of which are of Type D… only require 6 if beacon on board [OK]
(5) Navigation equipment shall consist of
(a) two sound-signalling appliances, as specified in the Collision Regulations; and [OK, bell plus horn]
(b) navigation lights that meet the applicable standards set out in the Collision Regulations. [OK]
8.2 Deck gear
• Plastic cowl vents
- 1 under bowsprit
- 1 on foredeck, 3”m teak dorade
• Traditional bronze/brass cowl vents
- 2 at after end of main deck with teak dorades
• Bronze mushroom vents
- 1 at after end of main deck
- 2 at forward end of cockpit
- 1 at aft end of lazarette
• Traditional deck prisms for interior lighting
- 1 on foredeck
- 2 at forward end of main deck
- 1 at forward end of companionway on main deck
• Large heavy ship port installed horizontally on deck above galley [Plywood storm cover on board for temporary repair if it were to break]
• Forward hatch, oiled teak, with hinged teak side supports
• Heavy companionway hatch with portlight
• Teak lazarette hatch
• Teak skylight with bronze safety rails. [Plywood storm covers on board for temporary repairs if a pane were to break]
• Cockpit built with fiberglass/epoxy coated plywood. Teak trim. Hinged/removeable to provide access to engine space underneath. Bronze port (15” by 7”) at forward end of cockpit provides access to instruments. 3 round ports (5”) in sides and at after end provides light and ventilation for engine space.
8.3 Spars
• Main: 57′ sitka spruce, Mizzen: 36′ sitka spruce. No butt joints in either mast. Both rebuilt in 1998/9. Painted with white one-part epoxy.
• Spreaders: Clear, vertical grain douglas fir
• Booms: Varnished sitka spruce
• Reefing: Original bronze roller reefing. Sails also have cringles for jiffy reefting
• Maststeps installed near head of main and mizzen masts
• Running poles (2) – painted aluminum with stainless fittings
8.4 Rigging
• Standing rigging: 316 stainless 1X19 wire (replaced 1998).
- 3 headstays (3/8”)
- 3 sets of main shrouds (3/8”)
- 1 pair of main backstays (3/8”)
- 2 sets of mizzen shrouds (9/32”)
- Jumper stays in mizzen
- Triatic stay
- Mizzen backstay (9/32”)
• Turnbuckles: stainless (replaced 1998/9)
• Bobstay: 1/2” stainless chain and turnbuckle
• Boomkin chains: 3/8 stainless chain
• Running rigging:
- Main mast has 3 jib halyards, main halyard and main topping lift, all with large snap-shackles on swivels
- Mizzen mast has mizzen staysail halyard, mizzen halyard, and mizzen topping lift, all with large snap-shackles on swivels
• Jibs sheets: 2 sets, 5/8′ Spunflex and 1/2″ Spunflex
• Jib sheet blocks, 2 sets 4” wood-checked (teak)
• Club staysail sheet and wooden blocks
• Main sheets and wooden blocks, shackled to large central padeye. 5/8″ Spunflex
• Mizzen sheets, 5/8″ Spunflex bridle and wooden blocks
• Winches:
- 2 large stainless winches (3” barrel, 5” top) on deck for jib sheets.
- 3 bronze on main mast
- 1 bronze on mizzen mast
• Teak pin rail and belaying pins at base of main mast
• Pin rails and belaying pins installed on main shrouds.
• Blocks: some Harken, most traditional wood-cheeked teak for jibs, club jib, main, and mizzen sheets.
• Cleats: teak
• Club jib: stainless traveller single sheet system with blocks.
• Running poles and mounts
• Backstay rigged for SSB antenna using Stalok insulators
• Multiple assorted spare lines
8.5 Sail Inventory
• At least 10 sails, including:
– handsewn storm jib
– handsewn storm mizzen
– traditional small jib
– two large masthead jibs
– masthead genoa
– 3/4 jib (on inner forestay), and spare
– club-footed staysail
– mizzen
– main
• Sail covers for main, mizzen, and club jib (thesee are old and will need to be replaced)
• Some spare jib hanks
• Some spare slugs for main/mizzen
8.6 Steering and Self-steering
• Tiller steering
• Cape Horn “Varuna” stainless windvane, with blocks, cam cleats (not currently installed after boomkin replacement)
• Spare tiller (not on board – in storage locker)
8.7 Ground tackle and mooring
• Anchors: 45′ CQR (2)
• 1/2″ galvanized swivel on anchor
• Primary chain rode: 3/8 inch galvanized chain (approximately 150 feet)(breaking strength per WM catalogue: 11,000 lbs)
• Primary rope rode: 20 feet 3/8” chain, 3/4 inch nylon (300 feet) with stainless thimble (breaking strength per WM catalogue: 16,000 lbs)
[Wind load for 50 ft boat estimated at 1600 lbs at 30 knots, 6400 lbs at 60 knots]
• Windlass: Rebuilt McMurray bronze 12v windlass. Footswitch, wiring and fuse new in 2001
• 2 3/8” Chain hooks and 1/2” nylon snubber
• Stainless steel anchor roller
• Teak anchor mounts on foredeck
• Bronze hawse units
• 5 fenders
• Various docklines
• Bronze boat hook with 8ft. wooden handle
8.8 Engine room
• Engine: Yanmar 4J4E, 4 cylinder, 40 HP naturally aspirated marine diesel(s.n.: E03391), aluminum engine bedways, KANZAKI HURTH marine reduction gear, all installed new in 2006
• Propeller: Bronze 3 bladed (17″ diameter, with 15″ pitch)
• Original bronze shaft tube, stuffing box, and shaft. Rebuilt fiberglass/epoxy housing for propeller shaft and stuffing box in 2001
• Wax packing
• Salt water loop:
- Groco raw water filter
- Setup for emergency pumping from bilge
• Water-cooled exhaust system
• Engine instruments: Yanmar tach, engine hours, oil pressure, coolant temperature, ignition key, stop button
• Engine controls: Morse single lever transmission/throttle control unit and cables (new in 2006)
• Primary fuel filter: Racor 20S 2 micron fuel filter system
• Secondary fuel filter on engine
• Racor Vacuum gauge on fuel system –WM# 466144
• 2 original large copper fuel tanks, capacity 80 gallons each, drained and pressure tested in 2001
• Bronze ball valves and drain values (new in 2001)
8.9 Electrical system
• 1000 watt Heart inverter with integral 3 stage battery charger, 300w fuse, main battery disconnect
• Heart Link 2000 control unit for inverter with shunt
• 1 Deep cycle house battery
• 1 24D engine start battery
• Heavy duty battery switch
• 100 AMP high-output alternator (new in 2018)
• Xantrex alternator regulator (from 2008)
• Air Breeze Marine wind generator with integral regulator (new in 2008)(needs new blades, may need repair to generator)
• 10 gauge AC wiring, with Blue Seas control panel and breakers, ground fault protection on all AC circuits
• Zinc saver isolator on ground wire
• 12 or 10 gauge DC wiring
• Bow and stern navigation lights, and masthead tricolour navigation/anchor light
• Spreader deck lights on mizzen mast
• AC outlets in all living spaces
• DC lighting in all living spaces
• Dual white/red-lensed 12v light in navigation area (replacement not yet installed)
• 50′ 30 amp shore power cord (new in 2020)
• 50 amp adapter for shore power cord (new in 2001)
8.10 Instruments, electronics, navigation and communications
• Digital instruments, NMEA compatible with integral user-definable alarms, including:
– Standard Depth sounder with Radarsonics bronze 205-200 long transducer
– Standard Speed / log / temp with Radarsonics bronze transducer
- – CruzPro Gas vapour alarm (not tested recently)
- – CruzPro NMEA Repeater (not tested recently)
• Voltmeter
• Filter guage to indicate need for filter replacement
• Interior bulkhead compass
• USB GPS unit
• Uniden VHF Radio with masthead antenna and RG8 cable (antenna and cable installed in 1998, radio installed in 2004)
• Various adapters, spare batteries
• Digital multimeter
• U.S. courtesy flag
8.11 Chart Inventory
U.S.: Maptech Region 15 Chartkit
Canada: paper charts
3000
3001
3002
3606
3461
3462
3463
3440
3490
3491
Other publications
Sailing directions, BC coast, Volume 1
Current Atlas, Juan de Fuca Strait
Various cruising guides
8.12 Bilge Pumps
• Rule Model 27D 1100GPH GPH 12v bilge pump (WM model 375204) with float switch
• 2000 GPH 12v bilge pump with float switch (WM model 214957)
• Manual Gusher 25 whale pump with bilge strainer. Rebuilt with service kit in 2003
• Manual Henderson head pump could be used as emergency bilge pump
• Engine water intake can be switched to act as emergency bilge pump
• Manual Beckson 6 stokes/gallon hand pump (WM model103879)
8.13 Safety
• Radar reflectors: 2 tube-type on main backstays
• Lifelines:
- Stainless 1” tube bowsprit and boomkim pulpits
- 7/8″ solid bronze stanchions
- Bronze stanchion bases
- 2 sets of lifelines rebuilt with Spunflex 3/8 inch line (new in 2009)
• Safety harness
• Lifejackets (6 adult, 2 youth)
• Floating seat cushions (5)
• Lifesling system (1, white)
• Dan Buoy (1) (top part missing, was damaged)
• Ring Buoy (1)
• Throw-rope system (1)
• Wood plugs for all throughhulls
• Fire extinguishers
-5 lb: mounted in starboard cabin
- 10 lb: mounted in head
- 10 lb: mounted behind companion ladder
- 5 lb: in lazarette
• Teak boarding ladder
• Flashlights:
- 6v floating unit
- Various other small units
• 12v portable megalight (for cockpit lighting)
• 6” brass bell
• Orion 12 ga. Flare gun kit
• 7.5 foot fibreglass dinghy
- Oars
- Bailer
- Dinghy grapnel anchor
• Brass kerosene anchor light with dioptic lens
• First aid kit
• Buckets (3)
• Spare line
• Spare shackles, cotters, clevis pins, etc.
8.14 Galley
• Stainless Shipmate 2 burner propane stove and oven. Burners replaced new in 2007
• 10 lb. Aluminum propane tank, purchased in 2005
• Tank-mounted regulator with pressure guage (new in 2019)
• Trident 12v solenoid valve (WM model 553594)
• Stainless galley sink
• Isotherm 12v refrigeration unit
• Original copper water tanks (2, approx. 20 gallons each)
• 50 ft. White drinking water hose, WM# 410860
• Flojet electrical pump for pressure fresh water
• Flojet electrical pump for pressure salt water washdown
• 12 gallon stainless hot water tank (110 VAC plus engine heat exchanger)
• Antique manual vertical action pump for raw water (to be installed)
• Stainless pots and pans
• Bottled propane tank adapter (WM model 315269)
• Liner material for disk / pot lockers
• PUR desalinator
• Spare filters, biocide for PUR unit
• Groco filter with spare monel basket
• Sea-water distribution manifold unit to galley sink, PUR unit, washdown pump
8.15 Head
• Lavac toilet with Henderson manual pump
• New sanitary hoses with bronze (1 1/2”) and marelon (3/4”) vented loops
• 16 gallon holding tank
• Diverter units to allow toilet to be discharged overboard or to holding tank, to allow holding tank to be pumped out, or to allow pump to be used as emergency bilge pump
• Stainless sink
• Sink/shower tap unit
• Shower sump
8.16 Cabins
• 4″ foam mattresses in forward cabin, starboard cabin, and main salon
• Various deck and bulkhead mounted 12v lighting units
• Kerosene lanterns on gimbals, candles for backup lighting
8.17 Cockpit / Lazarette
• Hinged/removeable cockpit box allows access to engine
• Bronze rectangular portlight allows view of and access to instruments. 3 bronze round portlights provide natural lighting to engine room, lazarette
• 2 – 1 1/4 inch scuppers in cockpit
• Teak grating in cockpit
• Fresh water shower accessible through lazarette hatch
• Salt water washdeck pump and hose accessible through lazarette hatch
• Bimini over cockpit
• Dodger over main companionway
8.18 Tools and supplies
• Screwdrivers
• Wrenches
• Sockets and drivers
• Large monkey wrench
• Adjustable spanner
• Vice-grips
• Various pliers
• Electrical crimper
• Hammers: carpenter, ball-peen, mallets
• Chisel
• Knives: rigging, etc.
• Saws: Crosscut, hacksaw
• Cordless electrical drill
• Various wood rasps and metal files
• Various fasteners and spares
• 3 25″ 120v electrical extension cords
• Various 12v extension cords and fittings
• Vise / sharpening wheel unit
8.19 Free optional equipment: included in price if desired
This equipment is available if a buyer wishes it: if not, it will be reclaimed by owner or given away
• Steel solid fuel stove
• 2 bicycles (in storage locker)
•.Inflatable dinghy (in storage locker)
• Supplies to build additional ventilators forward of skylight, including:
– Teak boards
– Bronze dorade vents
– Deck prisms
• Supplies to add additional side-stay on main mast, including
– Stalok terminals
– Turnbuckles
8.20 Optional equipment: not included in price
• Year-round mooring in Ganges harbour, in an excellent location. (Chain will need to be replaced.)
Like all older boats, La Volpe needs regular maintenance, as well as periodic replacement of some gear as it reaches end of life. Here is a summary of tasks that a new owner would wish to undertake.
• Due for a haulout and renewed bottom paint and zincs
• Sail covers are end of life and need to be replaced. (Sailrite provides excellent kits for this)
• The bimini and cockpit dodger canvas is end of life and needs to be replaced. The framework is fine. (I sewed these myself and it would be relatively straightforward to replicate the canvas parts)
• House battery is end of life and needs to be replaced with a new 4D gel battery. Starting battery seems to be fine.
• Teak veneer on the forward hatch needs to be replaced
• Masts need new paint
• Cap Horn wind vane steering need to be re-installed (was removed when the boomkin was replaced)
• Masthead nav and anchor light bulbs need replacing (requires a trip up the mast)
• The stern nav light needs to be reconnected: new wire is there but hasn’t been connected yet
• Some of the electronics I installed 20 years ago are due for replacement. Most still work but in many cases better technology is now available.
• Plexiglas bowl of the steering compass was destroyed by many years of sunlight and needs replacement (if wanting to retain the classic bronze compass), or replaced with a newer model.
• Still has the standing rigging that was on the boat when I bought her. It is oversized and still appears to be in good condition, but would need a thorough inspection if planning an offshore passage
• I recommend installing a second set of lower stays on the mainmast to create aft pressure to counteract the forward pull of the staysail forestay: the fittings for this are on the boat
• Some running rigging is due for replacement if planning an offshore passage
• Wind generator may require repair or replacement of the head unit and blades
E&OE. Copyright Robert McLean, 2019-2022. All Rights Reserved