Sailboat Indra – Review No. 2

Sailboat Indra - Review Continues

On 11 February, turned the computer on early in the morning and discovered the USCG National Vessel Documentation Center had sent the requested title extract on Indra COD 600692.

The abstract of title, last entry, showed Indra was sold to Robert Jesson - this provided reliable traceability of ownership.  Sadly the abstract did not reveal the Hull Identification Number (HIN).

Prior to Australian registration, papers aboard Indra revealed that Robert Jesson in June 2004 had registered Indra with the United Kingdom Small Ships Registry under the name of a Andree Engene - the reason for this was assumed to be for tax purposes. Indra was assigned Official Number SSR111221 with Hull ID Number TN007AP78. This HIN number was not the required 12 characters in length so doubted its validity. Interpreted number TN007AP78 to mean:  TN - True North, 007 - Hull number 7, AP - Month APril, 78 - Year 1978. The USCG abstract of title indicated Indra was imported to the US by company Windships Marine. Per USCG boat builder and importer data list, the company Windships, was assigned Manufacturer Identification Code (MIC) - ZWT.

Based on the HIN format of another True North 34 sailboat; example hull number 6,  it had HIN WTN340060877; therefore could determine a guess as to what Indra's HIN number should be.  Using the "Straight Year Format" (see previous post) and the sketchy information obtained, Indra's HIN number might be ZWT340070478. Further research and a another search aboard Indra was needed to determine the real HIN, if it even existed.

Also received email question from Kim Brewer of Boat Sales Tasmania and later a phone call.

• I hope you had an enjoyable weekend going over Indra. No doubt you now have a very clear and detailed picture of the boat and the equipment. I would be grateful for an indication of whether you wish to make an offer. Margie of course is keen to hear your thoughts.

On 12 February, sent the following email to Kim Brewer, Margie Jesson, and Terry Sargent.

• Kim called today and wanted to know our intent after looking at Indra – told her we are still VERY interested in her but I’m still reviewing all the pics I took. Promised her an email with our observations and questions so what follows is what I have noted to date.
• Excuse me for not responding swiftly but I have been reviewing pictures (took about 2K) of Indra and trying to determine her overall state – still have a lot left to review. Our impression of her is very favorably and both the wife and daughter have already voted yes. Terry and Rose went out of their way to help us and we had a great time with them, can’t thank them enough. My priorities were very simple Hull is #1 (boat no sink) and Mast #2 (don’t fall down). The hull from the inside appears ok and has evidence of a few water intrusion points that need to be sealed – I discovered three below water line thru hulls without seacocks. The mast is still bare aluminum with the usual corrosion present and is probably due a strip and paint job. Outside and inside Indra look very nice and there is a lot of stuff aboard – did not attempt to go through these – moved items around to access hull area, bulkhead tab joints, wiring, and plumbing routes as best as possible. As we informed Terry, we did not see the laptop, the tiller pilots, life vests, flares, etc – but we were not really looking for these. Also did not turn anything on or attempt to start the engine – not enough time for this. So far Indra is the best looking boat in this area we have looked at.
• What follow below is notes as I review items with a few questions you might attempt to answer.
• Requested and received Australian Register of Ships Title Extract for ON 858927 and on this it indicates “Brake Power 30 bhp” and under Particulars of Propulsion it lists: “No. and Type of Engines: One 3 cylinder, Yanmar 3QM30 (H) diesel, Serial Number: 7H1529.” Actually installed is a Yanmar 4JH5E Serial Number: E10533 MFG Date: Jan 2010 with Brake Power: 53.1 mhp (39.6 kW). In the US, normally an alteration of ship form with particulars is filed to update information on file resulting in a revised ship’s title/certificate. Does this affect the validity of the current title/certificate?
• Inquiry to PPS Register indicated no encumbrances.
• Requested and received USCG Abstract of Title for USCG Doc. No. 600692 yacht now named INDRA. Quite informative as it shows original build certificate in Taiwan and all changes of ownership/bills of sale until it was registered in Australia.

• Observations:
• The tiller handle is made from three pieces of wood laminated together with the middle piece showing significant wood rot. You already probably got notified of this from Terry who I informed of this issue.
• The cockpit port and aft lazarette lids are not secured to the structure – they are just resting on top. The port cover does have hinges just missing screws, but the aft cover has no visible means of being secured. It looks like it was recently reworked – how was it secured previously?
• In the port lazarette discovered a cockpit table with a stainless steel mount fitting but could not determine how it was previously mounted in the cockpit – how was this done previously?
• The starboard side of the entry way hatch at the top is missing a piece of the wood trim. Might have been left off when they were working the headliner which looks really nice now.
• The head entryway has indentations in the trim for hinges that indicates there was a door installed at one time. Is the door just not installed or removed/deleted?
• The bow anchor/chain roller shaft is missing the installation of a cotter pin in the nut on the star board side – nut had worked itself loose almost to point of falling off – it was retightened but still needs to be pinned.
• Starboard side mast intermediate shrouds deck plate is missing all screws and not bonded/sealed for water intrusion at the chain plate. Port side intermediate shroud swag fitting has evidence of hairline cracks. When was the last approximate time the standing rigging was replaced?
• In the aft lazarette, the 3 inch exhaust hose is chaffing against the Whale 30 Gusher bilge pump where the inner wire support is exposed and rusting in one spot. Also saw the plastic inline shut off valve, but did not see the normally installed anti-syphon loop for this hose.
• In the aft lazarette, there is a wood cover board right below the dive tank. When removed it showed a small cavity that has standing water present – this is much higher level than the bottom of the bilge. Not sure if there is a drain hole to the bilge and if so it might be clogged. The bilge had a small accumulation of water with some oil on the surface – did not determine its source. In the aft and sides of the lazarette on the hulls there are indications of water intrusion from some of the fittings/attachments (orange/rust streaks done the side.)
• In the quarter berth area the fire extinguished no longer has the factory seals in place and indicates recharge needed. The forward fire extinguisher indicates green for charge but has significant surface corrosion. Would change both for safety.
• The ACR EPIRB sticker indicates expired 9 July 2014. ACR P/N 2775 is a discontinued model and battery replacement and re-certification is probably not advisable as recent/new models are about the same cost.
• The two cockpit drains are routed to thru hulls and double clamped but no seacocks are installed at these locations – this is below the water line.
• The Isotherm skin fitting thru hull is not equipped with a seacock - this is also below the water line.
• Did not locate flares but suspect if aboard, they are probably outdated and need replacement.
• Observed under the sole in front of crew entry an unattached fuel line that goes to a 025-RAC In-line Gasoline Filter then to the ECCO 1LM12 fuel pump and then appears to be routed forward. Believe this might be the fuel input for the Dickerson heater and either the heater or engine fuel input must be switched manually depending on which item is to be used – is this assumption correct? Also ECCO 1LM12 fuel pump input line from fuel filter is detached from the housing assembly – appears it might be broke and need replacement?
• Did not observe a barometric damper installed in the Dickerson heater flue pipe?
• Did not get to check the bottom of the hull but the water is clear enough to see a scrub is needed due to the growth present. Was informed Indra has been back in the water for about 11 months.

On 13 February received the following email response from Margie Jesson.

• Hi, I will try and answer your questions to the best of my recollection. Glad your wife and daughter liked Indra. She was our home since 2004 and we found her incredibly comfortable at sea and anchor.
• The mast was pulled in 2004 when the rigging was replaced. We cleaned and polished the mast then, and decided against painting it.
• Terry has found the computer and will install newer charts and sailing software on it. It has an external GPS. The tiller pilots are behind the stb settee. Don't know where the life vests are as we have not sailed since we reached Davao. They are manually inflated ones. Flares would be out of date and are in the grab bag in the cupboard behind the companionway ladder.
• Ships title on Australian register is not effected by the new engine - it actually never occurred to me to update those details.
• Tiller handle is being repaired.
• Cockpit port and aft lazarette lids were resprayed while we were in NZ a few months ago, and Rob intended refitting new hinges and latches when he returned.
• Stainless steel mounting for cockpit table used to go on the cockpit seat aft, but Rob built a new butt out for it to go on, but had not had time to reinstall it. The mounting allows you to rotate the table so you can sit down, The table was really useful.
• The head entryway door was removed before we bought the boat.
• Standing rigging replaced in 2004.
• Ingress of water in aft compartment of cockpit was mostly from screws holding the cockpit coaming in place. We thought we had pulled these all and got rid of the leaks.
• We did not put stopcocks on the cockpit drains, which were replace in early 2014 with larger ones. The previous drains had no stopcock either. The fridge sink drain was installed according to specs and they did not recommend a stopcock.

What I gleamed from this email:

1. The standing rigging was at least 11 years old and coupled with the bowspirit bobstay whisker stays too short and both the forestay and inner forestay furling systems mounted improperly (see post) it was a good assumption that all the standing rigging was overdue replacement.
2.  Admission that the flares were out of date confirmed the assessment that all the safety equipment was unserviceable and needed replacement.
3.  Admission of knowledge of missing and not installed hardware confirmed findings discovered during inspection.
4.  Admission of ingress of water in aft compartment of cockpit confirmed prior awareness of the issue and it must have existed for awhile based on the water intrusion and damage discovered during the inspection.
5.  Admission and choice to not install the three missing seacocks - this answer defies common boat safety sense. It is 100% recommended by all knowledge boaters that seacocks are mandatory for any location that can be below the waterline.  The manufacture's installation manual for the fridge sink drain specifically advises the use and installation of a seacock; they even sell it as an additional item.

On 14 February received the additional email response from Margie Jesson.

• To answer another couple of points you mentioned....
• (Observed under the sole in front of crew entry an unattached fuel line that goes to a 025-RAC In-line Gasoline Filter then to the ECCO 1LM12 fuel pump and then appears to be routed forward. Believe this might be the fuel input for the Dickerson heater and either the heater or engine fuel input must be switched manually depending on which item is to be used – is this assumption correct? Also ECCO 1LM12 fuel pump input line from fuel filter is detached from the housing assembly – appears it might be broke and need replacement?)  -- When the new engine was installed, Rob used the fuel pump solely for the engine. So to use the Dickinson heater in the future, I think he intended to install another fuel pump (rather than use a T junction from the fuel tank) We ran the engine in October 2014, when Rob and I returned to the marina to say goodbye to Indra (and that was when he installed the new Racor fuel filters). We ran the engine for a couple of hours, and all was fine.
• (Did not observe a barometric damper installed in the Dickerson heater flue pipe?) -- Not sure what you mean here, We used the Dickenson heater a lot in New Zealand and Japan. It was very efficient. There is a 12v fan in the heater that you switch on if it is windy outside, This establishes a good draft up the flue while the heater is warming up, and once it was hot, we usually turned the fan off.

What I gleamed from this email, not much.  Believe that since the heater was not in use the broken fuel pump was not a priority to fix to them as it was "intended" to be replaced. The Dickerson heater barometric damper was a required item to be installed in the system per the manufacture's installation instructions.

I still had considerable pictures to review and research to accomplish, but I already concluded that Indra's advertisement statements, “Indra is a 'step aboard and go cruising' opportunity" and "maintained and meticulously upgraded by knowledgeable owners" was far from reality. I did not respond back to these emails, as I was still in the review process and had not made a final decision.