Last trip of 2018

Sam and Diana have been threatening to come visit for a long time. Since they missed being at the swank Stock Island Marina, the crystal clear water of the Dry Tortugas, and debouchery of Fantasy Fest, they chose Ft Meyers in the winter, during a cold front.

Now Florida does not get that cold, but 50-60 on the water in 20 mph wind is cold.

We motored to Pink Shell Beach Marina for a night, then punted on Cabbage Key and went back to Ft Meyers Yacht Basin.

The yacht Basin is close to resturants, bars, and a warm boat.

Saturday night Diana earned her Choices T-shirt, only the second female guest to do so. She needs to earn a drawer full.

Sam and I took half a day and hit the local car show.

Before we left Stock Island this 240′ new Feadship pulled up from Australia. It had an infinity pool on the stern with glass wall. Twenty three crew cater to twelve guests, $100M, I knew you wanted to know.

Yacht video

Claire on our last night in Key West with Mark and Renie.

As it gets warmer we get an itch to go south. Maybe one more trip to the Tortugas…..

Choices Specifications

Since we have Choices for sale, I decided to list some features of the yacht. Most of this covered in the first part of the blog. I looked for eight years before I found her.

Basics:

Choices is a 1992 Grand Bank’s. Her waterline length is 36′, and total is about 42′. She is roughly 12’6″ wide, and draws 4’6″ of water.

She is a single screw, with roughly 5500 hours on an impeccable the Lehman 135 engine. These slow turning engines routinely go 15,000 to 20,000 before an overhaul.

The Europa model was introduced late in the Grand Banks offering. It is the coveted model of the manufacturer. The smallest Europa is the 36.

Europas have covered side decks and stern deck. This provides shade and protection for the main deck, cooling the interior and keeping the vessel clean.

The result is the flying bridge area is huge, with a large area for the dinghy, chairs, hammocks, sun tanning, and fishing.. The bridge has an extended Bimini for even more sun protection.

Exterior Refurbishment:

The bridge wheel, compass, instrumentation cover, sign boards, and radio box have all been refinished to better than new.

The bridge cushions have all new foam and Marine grade white vinyl. The windshield plexiglass is all new. The captain’s helm can be easily pulled and returned to original bench seating.

Under the seating are the two propane tanks and life jacket storage.

The bridge sliding hatch is completely refinished. The bridge steps were stripped and refinished.

We took the mast off, stripped off the white enamel paint, removed all unnecessary brackets and ground the welds smooth. It was then blasted clean, primed, and spray painted Awlgrip Grand Banks White. It now has the radar, tv antenna, navigation, anchor, and led deck flood lighting mounted with new wiring, in a very simple clean arrangement.

At the same time we pulled the engine room vents and refinished them.

The exterior teak has been refinished with AwlWood. The rear door still needs to be refinished as does the wooden window frames. The vessel has no known leaks.

The decks are factory fiberglass, a rare option, and preferred to maintain hull integrity. They have moondust colored nonskid. We had the hull and superstructure buffed out early 2018, and wax the boat every couple months.

The horn was sand blasted, rebuilt, and Awlgripped. We took both flag masts and stripped and refinished them.

Interior Refurbishment:

Choices interior teak is in very good shape, with little fading and no staining. It has obviously been taken care of by all owners.

The forward vee berth has it’s own door, two hanging closets, and four drawers.

The port side berth has a door also. In addition, a louvered door with sliding hatch next to the lower helm allows complete privacy for the lower level.

The vee berth has a removable insert that makes the berth full width, as wide as a king sized.

The side berth has a single berth, that converts into a large queen size berth. It has a hanging closets, four drawers, shelving, and the Grunert top loading freezer.

Choices can sleep five adults.

We replaced all the bedding cushions with a dark blue thick, courdorory. The vee berth has a Temperpedic toper.

The main salon couch was recovered in exterior grade white Marine vinyl. Under it is the A/C unit. The fitted blue berber throw rugs in the salon allow easy access to below deck.

Hi Seating AFTER

The latest high output leds are used throughout the interior for plenty of lighting. Red leds are used at the lower helm.

Behind the starboard lower helm is a bar, then a folding teak original table, then the entertainment center, with 30″ Vizio TV, stereo, drawer, and storage cabinet.

To port is the galley, with gas oven, three burner stove, sink, toaster/oven, microwave, and Grunert fridge. There are overhead cabinets, numerous drawers, and plate retainers.

The head has a fresh water vacuflush to system, and seperate enclosed shower. The shower wand handle was replaced with a unit featuring an off button on the handle. Same for back deck.

Engine Room Upgrades:

Clean fuel delivery is key to reliable operation. We changed the genset filter to a larger and oversized Raycor 500, and added a squeeze bulb circuit and vacuum gauges for system monitoring to both filters. Choices holds 400 gallons, and burns fuel very slowly, 1.5-2 gallons an hour. A fuel polishing system is planned as a future modification.

Being a single screw, the engine room is quite spacious and easy to move around in. The floor hatches make working in the engine room easy.

Sam and I changed the vibration dampner, also in the blog.

All oil filters have been changed to longer, high capacity models. All liquids are sent for analysis and recorded. Valve lash for both engines has just been checked.

The sea water deck wash pump has been replaced, and I made a removable Groco fresh water flush system to use during storage to pickle the AC, genset, and main engine.

The genset needed a little work to get it back in shape. Stan and I lifted the unit, replaced the mounting pan with a new custom made heavy duty Awlgrip painted pan with new higher mounting engine isolators, control box isolators, and added a new stainless exhaust manifold. We then bumped the voltage to 130v to keep things operating easy.

We eventually determined that during previous ownership, during numerous electrical revamps, most components were oversized just enough that when all running together the genset could no longer handle the total load.  Now we know what devices can run with the other devices.

Finally, the genset engine control and gauges were moved from the engine room to the lower helm for constant monitoring while underway. As a result, the genset is now flawless.

The battery charger individually charges the house, main engine, and genset batteries. When the house battery is charged, a voltage relay closes allowing the inverter battery to charge. Individual led metering at the lower helm displays each battery voltage.

The boat has an Excel sheet listing the extensive spare parts inventory, spare prop, including the vendor contacts. Fluid sample reports and repair events are cataloged.

We purchased a new white 8′ Hypalon dingy and 5 hp 4 cycle Mercury outboard, which is stored on a bracket on the back deck. The dinghy can be stored on the bridge or in the lazarette.

Choices is the perfect couple’s “Looper” boat. Room for more, but easily handled by two, with extremely efficient operation and easy maintenance. Her clean classic lines are admired by all.

Choices Pascagula link to video

1992 Grand Banks Europa, Choices

Measurements

Cruising Speed: 8 knots                                           Displacement: 27000 lb
Max Speed: 10 knots                                                 Displacement Type: Dry Load
LOA: 42 ft                                                                      Windlass: Electric
LWL: 35 ft 2 in                                                             Electrical Current: 120Vac
Beam: 12 ft 8 in                                                           Fuel Tanks: 2
Min Bridge Clearance: 13 ft                                    Fuel Capacity: 410 gal
Max Bridge Clearance: 20 ft 6 in                           Fuel Tank Material: Steel
Min Draft: 4 ft                                                              Fresh Wtr Tanks: 2
Max Draft: 4 ft 6 in                                                     Fresh Wtr Capacity: 200 gal
Cabin Headroom: 6 ft 5in                                         Fresh Wtr Tank Material: Plastic
Number of single berths: 1                                      Holding Tank Capacity: 40 gal
Number of double berths: 2                                    Holding Tank Material: PVC
Number of cabins: 2
Number of heads: 1

Propulsion

Engine Make: Sabre                                      Engine Year: 1992
Engine Hp: 135                                              Hours: 5500
Primary Engine: Inboard                              Drive Type: Direct Drive

Salon

L-shaped settee (recovered 2017)
Foldable teak dining table / wine rack
30 in Vizio flat screen
Shakespeare HD omni-directional antennae (new 2018)
Kenwood AM/FM radio (new 2014)
LED high output lights throughout interior (new 2018)
Bug screens on all windows, rear door, hatches, front window
Super Scoop hatch scoops modified to allow screens to stay in place (new 2017)
Louvered door with sliding hatch to isolate berths from salon
(3) Berber type fitted rugs or (2) fitted full floor rugs
Parquet flooring

Galley

Grunert Holding Plate refrigerator
Grinert Holding Plate freezer (in side stateroom)
Princess 3 burner propane stove and oven
Teak cabinetry
Electric solenoid for propane
Electric exhaust vent
Stainless sink
Soap pump
(2) Propane tanks (on bridge)
Sharp Carousel microwave
Hamilton Beach toaster oven
Parquet flooring

Forward Stateroom

V-berth with Temperpedic matteress topper, center filler (recovered 2017)
(2) Hanging lockers with interior lighting
Recirculation fan
Hatch
Louvered privacy door
Parquet flooring

Port Stateroom

Single berth with ability to convert to queen size (recovered 2017)
(1) Hanging lockers with interior lighting
(2) Shelves
(1) Vanity cabinet
Recirculation fan
Hatch
Sliding privacy door
Parquet flooring

Head and Shower

Vacuflush head (new in 2014?)
Separate shower loacker
Shower wand (new 2017)
Cabinets for storage
Hatch
Parquet flooring

Flying Bridge

Garmin 7212 touch screen shartplotter (new 2014)
Garmin GMR 18 HD marine radar (new 2014)
Garmin Autopilot (new 2014)
Garmin Rudder angle indicator (new 2014)
Garmin GSD depthfinder (new 2014)
Sidepower Bow thruster control (new 2014)
Ray Marine Ray 49 VHF radio (new 2015)
Danforth compass (rebuilt and refinished 2017)
Helm seat (reupholstered with new foam 2017)
Bench seating (reupholstered with new foam 2017)
Mast and boom (refinished and modified 2017)
Bridge Hatch (refinished 2017)
Extended Bimini top
Air horn (rebuilt and refinished 2017)
Hydraulic steering (refinished 2017)
Stereo Speakers (new 2018)
Windshield (new 2017)

Lower Helm

Garmin 5212 touch screen shartplotter with radar (new 2014)
Garmin Autopilot (new 2014)
Garmin Rudder angle indicator (new 2014)
Garmin GM20 depthfinder (new 2014)
Sidepower Bow thruster control (new 2014)
ICOM iC-M412 VHF radio (new 2015)
Danforth Constellation compass
Seth Thomas clock and barometer
Northern Lights Generator controls and gauges (moved 2017)
LED battery voltage display (new 2018)
Tankwatch holding tank alert (new in 2014?)
Parquet flooring

Mechanical

Sidepower Bow thruster (new 2014)
MarineAir air conditioning and heating (new 2013)
Hydraulic steering
Groco Fresh water pump
(2) Auto bildge pumps (one new in 2012)
(1) Manual bildge pump
Shower sump pump
Emergency tiller
Holding tank with macerator (new in 2014?)
Vacuflush head system (new in 2014?)
(2) Engine room blowers
(3) Engine room vents (refinished 2017)
(2) Racor 500 filter with vacuum gauges and squeeze ball bypass (new 2017)
Water heater 12 gal? (new 2014)
(3) Windshield wiper and washers
Lofarns Tigres windlass with remote (rebuilt 2014)
Rocna anchor 55 lb with 100 ft chain and 100 ft nylon plait rode (new in 2013)
Danforth anchor with 50 ft chain and 100 ft 3 strand rode
Danforth anchor with 3 strand rode in lazarette for stern anchor
Bow pulpit with double anchor chute (rebuilt in 2013)
Forward sea water anchor wash with hose and spray nozzle (new 2018)
Mercury white Hypalon dinghy 8 ft (new 2017 extended warranty)
Mercury 5 hp 4 cycle outboard (new 2017 extended warranty)
Stainless boarding ladder
Teak swim platform
Cockpit Shower (wand replaced 2017)
(3) Engine room hatches
Gunwale teak, trim, name boards, portable step (refinished 2017)

Electrical

50 amp shore power connection, bow and stern
50 amp 50 ft shore power chord with LED indication (new 2017)
30 to 50 amp shower power chord converter with LED indication (new 2018)
(3) 8D house batteries: house, main engine, (new 2016) inverter (new 2013)
Xantrex Inverter 1000 watt (new 2013)
(3) 12v cabin fans
12v breaker panel
120v breaker panel
Generator control
Shore power selection switch with selectable volt and amp meters
Charles C-Charger 5000 (new 2014)
Northern Lights generator 5 kW, 2000 hrs (raw water pump replaced 2012), (engine pan, mounting isolators, stainless exhaust manifold, control isolators (new 2017)
12v LED lighting
Island Time WiFi booster (new 2013)

Spare Parts

See attached separate list