The visit, the beginning of our adventure

The main criteria for our future home were security and enough space for both of us. Ultimately, manufacturers such as: Najad, Moody, Feltz, Hallberg-Rassy and Jeanneau came into consideration. The decision to only consider ships made of GRP in order to be able to carry out repairs ourselves at any time meant that the search criteria could be restricted again.

After a month of intensive research on the Internet, it was clear to us that finding a suitable ship was not that easy. Since the market in Switzerland was and still is very limited for blue water yachts, we also toyed with the idea of possibly buying a ship that was already at sea. Our idea was to have an equipped ship that was “ready to sail”. to purchase and just the personal equipment and make some adjustments, or to convert and equip a cheap ship according to our wishes. At this point, we only wanted to purchase our future blue water yacht a year before the trip. Which is why, in addition to an existing financial plan, we created an honest list of pros and cons. We would be happy to share these with you.

Buy a ship in Switzerland:

+ Visit without having to travel far

+ Working in the preparation period

+ Ship accessible at any time

+ easy parts procurement

+ familiar working environment

+ less time pressure

- Adaptation for high seas

- high general costs

- Transport to the sea

Buy a ship by the sea:

+ Ship mostly equipped

+ no expensive transport

+ traveling earlier

+ larger offer

+ lower prices

- Long journey to visit/work

- Ships stressed by salt water

At that time we did not yet have the necessary savings to purchase a ship that was already equipped according to our ideas. Which is why we focused most of our attention at this point on the theory test of the deep sea license. Nevertheless, the search for the one ship didn't stop. A particular yacht kept popping up in the search results, it was a Hallberg Rassy 352, very close by. Unfortunately the ship was over our budget. "Looking doesn't cost anything." We said to each other and arranged a viewing appointment for April 24, 2020.

We liked the shipyard owner straight away. He began the greeting with the question:

,,Do you want to take the ship to Lake Constance?'' Whereupon we said no. "Good, because the engine is not registered for Lake Constance." Said the shipyard owner. He then led us to the ship.

The ship stood covered on a winter storage frame, only the underwater hull, which had been freshly renewed with Gelshield, could be seen. It was quite dark inside, as the deck went well over the side of the ship, and apart from the glow of flashlights, there was no light in the ship. Despite her 40 years, the yacht made a good impression on us. After we had looked at everything for a bit, we drove back home. The ship didn't leave us in peace at home either, unfortunately it was well over our budget at the time. Nevertheless, at our request, a second viewing appointment was arranged with the ship covered. The shipyard owner even connected the batteries so that the on-board electrical system also worked. Some lamps had no power, which was already mentioned during the first inspection and was now visible. Without any time pressure and on our own, we were now able to examine the ship from front to back. The hoses, the stove, the yellow cushions, a windlass installed in the anchor locker, the engine and the toilet seemed to be the biggest items that needed to be replaced or overhauled at the time. We could not find any defects in the structure of the ship. The teak deck was strikingly beautiful; it was renewed by the previous owner by a specialist shipyard.

Our assessment was completed. We agreed that the ship would be perfect for our purposes. So we went back to the shipyard owner's office, knowing that the Hallberg Rassy was still financially out of reach for us. Of course the seller wanted to hear whether we liked his offer. We honestly told him that the ship was currently over our budget and we couldn't afford it.

He really liked our project and then asked us about our budget, because that shouldn't fail. We told him our price and he agreed to it. After a short conversation in the fresh air, we made the decision to buy the ship. Once again the shipyard owner came to meet us and allowed us to purchase in installments, whereupon the purchase contract was signed. So it was official, we would soon own a Hallberg Rassy 352.

The purchase marked the start of our adventure. We spent the next few months selling what possessions we could. The transfer to Romanshorn took place in October 2020 in order to equip and convert the ship there over the next few years. We set off full of enthusiasm.

Find out more about the start of our refit in the next blog entry!

With that in mind,

Mast and sheet break.

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