Formanda off Beachy Head in 2006
Our current boat is Formanda, a 1974-built Searider 45 by Beecham Marine in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire (on the site that is now Tewkesbury Marina). Construction is GRP hull and wooden superstructure.
We acquired her in 2006, the vessel’s third owner. I’d seen her previously on a Motor Boats Monthly cruise in company to the Netherlands where she drew many admiring glances – little did I realise at the time she would come into our ownership.
The boat still had her original Perkins HT6.354 175hp diesels and much else was as constructed.
We cruised the boat to Poole and to the Netherlands in 2006 but it became obvious soon after handover that many faults had not been detected in the survey and that our plan to gradually upgrade might not be satisfactory. Accordingly much of 2007 was spent trying to decide what to do.
When we moved Formanda into Dave Skene’s care at Endeavour Quay in November 2007 for what we hoped might be recaulking of the deck and some localised repairs to some soft spots in the wheelhouse the worst was realised. Not only had the survey missed many important things but there was some evidence that poor, bordering on deceitful, repairs had been made with a short-term view. The low point was the discovery of a garden fence post holding up the weakened port aft deck and superstructure.
In the end Formanda was stripped right back for a major rebuild that included new decks, new windows and hatches and a new pair of Perkins Sabre M135 diesels. The latter weren’t strictly necessary, but given the age of the HT6.354s and the likelihood of spares becoming more difficult to source over the next few years we took the additional cost on. We later also had to condemn the fuel tanks and these were also replaced.
We also decided to ensure all new fit-out was to a standard at least as good, or better, than the new build. This was to be a genuine 30-year fit-out. The systems have also been reconfigured and upgraded to better standards than was deemed acceptable practice in the 1970s. We also removed Formanda’s EMI pneumatic stabilisers and filled all redundant holes below the waterline, reducing by more than half the count of potential water ingress points.
Formanda was out of the water until August 2008 and we are still currently in the process of rebuilding the electrical and domestic plumbing systems as well as making good areas of interior woodwork and the headlinings.
The plan is now to use the balance of 2009 to get Formanda fully into commission.