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Hi Jean-François!  Welcome to the forum.

This topic has been covered in other threads.  It is easier to comment if you let us know your intention for the boat.  Sail around the world?  Explore Nova Scotia?  Cottage boat?  I love the Contessa but it is far from the perfect boat -- your plans, budget, available time, patience and skill tells us a lot.

Contessas are simple and strong.  The boat you are considering is 40 years old and holds the history of multiple owners -- some motivated and attentive, others less so.  It show bumps and bruises of years of use and misuse.  Many dreams have been aboard the boat, only some of which were fulfilled.

Boat are what you make them.  Your effort and investment will transform the boat into what you want.  Your commitment is key -- I have seen beautiful boats that were neglected for a couple of seasons that fell into quick decline.  I have also seen what money and hard work can do to bring life back into one of these boats.

For this particular Contessa, note that it is selling for $7000 (on a trailer!).  This is the low end of the price spectrum so expect a project.  It will not be in sail-away condition.

To learn about these boats you have come to the right place -- explore the forums and you will see repair and restoration projects some owners have tackled.  You'll learn of some great ideas for improvements and you'll read about the fun and adventures people have had over the years.  Here you will also find generous support from other owners -- Ask your questions!

Good luck!

Christopher

I have debated switching mine for years just because the rope is getting tired and the wire halyard bangs the mast so annoyingly.  However, as a halyard it works well and has very little stretch.  Save your shekels for something more significant IMHO.

BTW, that little block on the toppinglift/halyard in your photo is rather clever.  Not all the boats have two winches on the mast.  This block could be used to make a very handy pursuader to tighten genoa halyards.  For many years I had the genoa halyard residing on my one mast winch.  It makes more sense to keep the winch free for the spinnaker halyard (spinnakers are no fun if they start pulling before they are all the way up).  That little block would be perfect on the genoa halyard and could stay rigged most of the season because the sail lives on the furler.  One for my notes...

Christopher

More bilge treasures!   I think my companionway keys and a flashlight went in there last week. 

Hey Oliver!  Glad you had success.  I got as far as putting one of my DZUS fasteners in my pocket but was not certain how to size it for length.

I will order my spares shortly!

On a side note, my DZUS fasteners fit fairly loosely on the panel until they have been twisted down.  I was thinking about a ring of heat shrink around the fastener.  It would serve to reduce leakage around the fasteners.  And if sized right, it might just keep the DZUS fasteners attached to the sole panel, making it more difficult to loose them.

WRT gaskets, I bought some excellent 3M foam rubber on EBay from a supplier in Hong Kong.  Works great on the cockpit lockers so I am thinking about a similar idea for the cockpit panel.

I like Merrill's solution above -- it might take more beer though!

I found wet core in a couple of places on my boat and was fortunate to catch it before rot set in -- it meant that instead of replacing the core I just needed to dry out what remained strong. 

In this case the chainplate core might be OK and the bolts have just been over-tightened.  I would start by pulling the bolts and taking a pick to the exposed core.  If sound, then let everything dry out for a couple of weeks (a space heater can help this process) and then reinstall the chainplates with lots of caulking.  Be sure you have solved the leaks.  Based on the rusting here, there are probably other wet places throughout the boat so drying everything out will be worthwhile. 

My chainplates were leaking this spring.  I took two hours to scrape out the old caulk for all six chainplates, tape the area and recaulk from deck.  Voila!  my quarterberth lockers were bone dry again!  And I had thought it was the travellers!

Trailer share.  Hmmmmmm.  Say $500 to join the "trailer club" plus $250/day or $1000/week for a rental.  Member is responsible for providing a suitable truck, loading, unloading, positioning, insurance and damage.  Subscription fee is one-time for each owner (non-transferable to a future owner) with funds used to procure the new trailers.  The goal would be to have 2-4 safe & first-class trailers, strategically located, and well maintained (hence the rental fees). 

A scheme like this would work for me, even if the fees were somewhat higher.  Assuming this would actually work, a key step would be to arrange for a special rental rate for trucks.

It is really important to watch the numbers -- paying a trucker to 'deal with it' begins to make a lot of sense.

Any thoughts?

Hi John!

I believe the head is aluminum but the block is iron.  I could be wrong though.  At the time these were the lightest diesel engines on the market.

The engine diagrams for the AC-1Wm show a zinc anode but I have never found mine.  I was planning to pull a couple of the block's drain plugs and fit pencil zincs but I have yet to do so.  My boat is in fresh water so this is a low priority.

As a raw water cooled engine, there is little you can do regarding corrosion when in use.  However, 99% of time the engine will not be running (ie. boat sitting at mooring or on long passage) so I think the trick is to flush the salt from the engine.  To do this I am in the process of fitting a small water tank for fresh water.  Then, before shutting down, I can throw a couple of valves and let the engine's water pump replace all the salt cooling water with fresh. 

Another option is to convert to fresh water cooling.   There are kits available from a guy who does work for Atomic 4s.  Google Atomic 4 and Indigo and you should find him. 

How long will you be in the salt?  This may influence your decisions.

Cheers!

Christopher

I came across Globe Wireless a few years ago as a relatively inexpensive Inmarsat service.  They were using the HF radio and SSB technology to transmit data.  Basically it was a cheap way to have email on board 15 years ago.  The company is still around but I believe the service is updated to Satellite using Inmarsat & Globalstar.

Anyway, my point is that the prices of Sat Phones and Satellite data is falling so fast it seems to me that one might be better off not bothering with the SSB.  It is a complicated installation in an already crowded boat.  For my own coastal use I was considering my cellphone and a RadioLabs hi-gain wifi antenna on the mast.  No good offshore though.  Were I to venture into the great blue then I think it would be easy to justify a sat-phone.

Let us know how it works out.  Post some pictures!

Christopher

I laughed out loud at your description of the EXCURSION.  I've always been fascinated by VW Westfalia campers until my spouse pointed out that it is just a boat on wheels.  I have enough boats!

Here is the obvious idea -- dump the Excursion and pick up a Yaris or some other small car.  Put the savings towards Marina fees and you are ready for fun on the water!

I believe that one can blue-water cruise on ANY boat.  It comes down to making prudent decisions about weather and one's own abilities.  There are many examples of people successfully making long passages on small boats.  The real difference is comfort and style.  The Contessa is a long way from an IMOCA 60 racing yacht but both can cross oceans.  And the boat to traverse the North-West passage is likely not the best boat for the Caribbean. 

Go sailing.  Crew for others.  Daysail.  Overnight.  Try Racing.  Help maintain someone else's boat (polish anyone?) and see if you like the work.  Sail different boats.  Have some adventures.  Want to try a longer trip?  -- charter a boat for a holiday.  Don't rule out going to smaller open boats or even sea kayaks.  Sail alone.  Sail with your family -- their enthusiasm (or lack) will be important in your decisions. 

The goal is to decide what kind of cruising you want to do -- long trips, short trips, an hour here and there?  Once you've done that, choosing the boat is easy.

I once lived a 20 minute walk from a yacht club.  Our neighbour had a busy family so each evening after dinner he would walk down to hang out on his boat.  Sometimes he sailed and sometimes he didn't but the whole experience was Zen.  Don't rule out sailing close to home in Philadelphia if it means you get to sail more often.

The best boat is the boat you use.  Make it as easy as possible to do what you want to do.

I am sorry that you feel discouraged.  Owning a boat of any size always has a cost component.  It is not an inexpensive sport and if you are counting pennies already then any surprise expenses will make you feel miserable.

The next question is what sort of sailing do you want to do?  Daysailing smaller boats is less costly and can be lots of fun too.  A Wayfarer or a Lightning can be easily towed and quickly set up for sailing.  Also, many marinas and yacht clubs have dry-sailing areas where you can leave your mast up but not pay the full expense of a wet berth. 

Something else  to consider is renting/chartering.  In one of your posts you mentioned towing the boat, setting it up for a couple of weeks and then towing it home again.  Bareboat chartering can give you the same usage pattern.  And the bonuses are that you will sail in preferred destinations such as the Caribbean, you will be saiiing larger and more modern boats, and you'll have more space for spouse/family/friends (which can reduce the cost),

Some yacht clubs drysail larger boats too, such as Sharks and Tanzer 22s.  Again you'll need a boat and a trailer.