Some news about Libertaire and its crew who returned to France at the end of November 2024 after the NWP…
We decided that at 51 years old, Libertaire deserved a small refit before setting off again; we have sailed 62,300 nautical miles with it in 11 years, and it had probably done just as much with the previous owners.
It was also an opportunity for a major modification. The 3 children are growing, and the volume of Damien II is not comparable to that of a 16-meter boat but rather to a small 12-meter one. The keel box is almost 4m long, and with the insulation, it’s close to 80cm wide. The lost interior volume is therefore enormous. Additionally, with the aim of continuing long-term, one cabin per child seems preferable to us.
The idea was therefore to start over based on Libertaire, changing the configuration to a fixed keel. This allows for fitting the 4 cabins without any issues.
Doing the work ourselves will limit the cost, knowing that we can reuse all the equipment we dismantled (rigging, heating, electricity, plumbing, desalination…). However, we are considering replacing the Nanni, which has almost 7,000 hours, even though it runs like clockwork… But parts are starting to be hard to find in case of problems.
The work began in mid-November once Libertaire was dry, mainly on weekends and holidays, due to respective jobs and family life.
To date, we have progressed steadily. In order: - we emptied the boat of all its fittings - removed the engine and dismantled all the rigging, electricity, electronics - cut the keel box.
- welded a plate to seal the deck opening - cut the deck plate at the windlass to weld a thicker 6mm plate - cut the cockpit to raise the benches as planned - welded the new cockpit, 3mm galvanized plate with a 60x5 flat structure - cut the roof, welded 50x50 stainless steel angles to bolt the new aluminum steering station - cut the hull bottom to install the new keel box (8mm plate), which will also serve as a diesel tank and will receive the keel structure.
- built the new aluminum steering station with the help of an aluminum welder - sealed the old through-hulls, welded & new ones, and built a sea-chest to group 3 inlets - replaced the steel floor angles with stainless steel ones - TIG welded the rigging supports on the new cockpit - non-exhaustive list...
We would like to sandblast the interior this summer to start the fittings next winter.
A suivre
