Victoria 34 ANITRA

Admin · 2017-08-18 15:13:40

Charles Grossie writes:

Having sold my Biscay 36 Ketch (Mary Luck) to the only Irish Competitor in the forthcoming 2018 Golden Globe Race back in May this year, I decided to replace this excellent long-keeled ocean going yacht with ‘Anitra’ – a very nice and very capable V34 cutter which was hatched in 1990.

I had viewed ‘Anitra’ very briefly at Weir Quay Boat Yard (Bere Alston, River Tamar in Devon) in early June and decided she was for me. I had considered a few others too. Overall, she is in pretty good condition, but she does need some tidying up (like all boats do). I don’t have a full history of her ownership, but she had been owned by Linda and Scott Moss (who I don’t believe were members of the VictioriaShadow Association) from 2010 until this year. Prior to that, Gordon and Doreen Fraser owned her from 2004 and they were members of the Association. The original owner was a Mr A F Weller who owned her from new (original sales invoice exists). The original name of the V34 was ‘Tigger’ and it was Gordon and Doreen who renamed her ‘Anitra’.

‘Anitra’ (duck in Latin I am led to believe) has been based on the Devon and Cornwall coast all of her life. Going by the waypoints stored on the Raymarine chart plotter, she has cruised North and South Brittany, North Coast of Spain and the Scillies.

After relaunching ‘Anitra’ at Weir Quay mid-June, I spent the best part of a week getting her recommissioned and ship-shape in preparation for her trip back to Portrush in Northern Ireland. I had the help of a couple of good friends too which made it ‘fun’.
‘Anitra’ lies on her summer fore and aft moorings in Portrush harbour and will move up to Seaton’s privately owned Marina on the River Bann near Coleraine at the end of September, where she will be lifted out for the winter.

My impressions of the V34 are very good so far and the build quality is without question. It will take a while to get used to having a long fin and skeg again having sailed the long-keeled Biscay for almost 14 years.

Guy_Warner · 2017-08-30 13:31:32

You will not regret your purchase. I bought my V34 cutter Ruby Star in Spring 2015. She also dates from 1990. She was formerly Victoria Vision and Kipper of London. During which time, she did the ARC and the Round Britain Race. I have made many improvements including making the inner forestay into furling rather than self-tacking with a 110% staysail sheeted on the yankee leads. The yankee sheets are now led back outside to turning blocks in the cockpit. This arrangement has worked well at all points of sail. I have inner tracks on the coach roof which I intended to use for the staysail but I found that the spreaders interfered too much and the potential of the sail was better sheeted further outboard. I have recently returned from a splendid trip to the Vilaine river in South Brittany via Jersey. We had 4 on board and Ruby Star performed faultlessly. However, I sail a lot single-handed from my base in Port Solent. Please ask me any queries you may have. Guy

Charles_Grossie · 2017-12-13 18:24:41

I have many jobs yet to tackle this winter, but managed to remove all of the internal teak and holly floors last weekend. My garage has filled up nicely over the past few weeks.

The floors need to be carefully taken back to the veneer and then brought back nicely with lots of good varnish.

This should keep me busy over Xmas at least!

Guy_Warner · 2017-12-16 19:26:47

Look forward to seeing you on the water next summer. Ruby Star is doing a Round Ireland cruise (westabout) in June/July. I think we are stopping at Rathlin Island on 6 July - not far from you>

Guy Warner

Charles_Grossie · 2018-04-29 21:56:01

Hi folks.
Preparation for this season continues and I still have plenty of jobs to complete.
I completely stripped the old varnish from all of the internal teak and holly floors and they are ready to refit.
The lovely teak wheel was also scraped back to the bare wood and re-varnished.
The canvas covers and spray hood are all a bit faded, but I came across a great supplier on Amazon.co.uk (The Scratch Doctor) who sells dyes in various colours - mainly for convertible cars - soft-tops in canvas. This product works very well and my faded dark ready canvas is now looking almost new!
I also scraped off all the old anti-fouling which had become flaky and unsightly and the whole bottom is now ready for two coats of International VC Tar.
I have ordered a new 3-bladed feathering Featherstream prop from the nice people at Darglow. I was very happy with the previous one I had fitted to my Biscay 36.

My V34 is the cutter version with the bow sprit fitted. I was curious as to the condition of the wood underneath the massively constructed stainless bow rollers and it took some time to remove same. I was shocked to find that the pine (Pitch pine?) immediately below the stainless bow roller fitting was very soft and on closer examination, it was 40% rotted close to the stem head. I can see where the moisture was entering on the top side of the bow sprit just in front of the bow roller assembly.
I have been stripping the fittings off and have also removed all of the fixtures (many through bolts). The bow sprit extends onto the foredeck by approx. 1m and I believe that it has been bonded in place too.
I was hoping to be able to remove the bow sprit intact as I want to use it as a template for a replacement, but this may not work out well. :-(
Just curious to know if anyone else with the same arrangement has experienced anything similar?
Also wondering if such a thing as an original drawing exists for the bow sprit?
Onwards and upwards as they say!

Fair winds.

Charlie.

Jon_Spencer · 2018-04-30 09:00:11

Charlie,
My Frances 34, ALBERTINE, suffered with similar problems with her bowsprit when she first came into our ownership. We had the whole bowsprit removed as it was just through deck bolted and had a replacement made in laminated pine which after ten years shows no sign of wear although I do make a regular check of the underside.
I am not aware of any technical drawings, but would caution against their use as so many of the boats were almost bespoke in accordance with the first owners wishes.
Good luck with your replacement.
Jon.

Admin · 2018-05-08 13:46:47

Pictures of ANITRA's bowsprit as referred to in Charles Grossie's post

Charles_Grossie · 2018-05-21 08:20:36

I managed to get some time at the weekend to re-install the cutlass bearing housing complete with a new cutlass bearing.
Additionally, the new Darglow 'Featherstream' 3-bladed propeller (16" diameter) was successfully fitted.
Just awaiting the new bow sprit and I am almost ready for the water.

Admin · 2018-05-29 13:33:52

Charlie's latest update:

I finally managed to get the new bow sprit and all the fittings re-installed over three days. What a job!
Two planks of iroko were laminated before it was machined by CNC at my friend's factory.

The end result is very satisfying.
Ready for launching tomorrow.

Admin · 2019-07-29 21:35:42

Anitra, his Victoria 34, owned and sailed by Charles Grossie, in 20 knots off the coast of Portrush, Antrim, Northern Ireland.

Charles_Grossie · 2020-04-06 14:41:03

Having considered the merits of replacing a perfectly functional ~30 year old Yanmar 3GM30F, I decided to give it a good going over in my workshop over the Christmas period (which actually took a bit longer).

I would prefer 30hp instead of the 24hp that the 3GM30F produces, but to be honest, I couldn’t justify the expense.

I decided to strip everything off the engine; stripping back any flaky paint and rust after thoroughly degreasing it first.

I removed the heat exchanger and took it apart. I was surprised to find that there was very little calcification inside. Everything was fully cleaned and new gaskets and O-rings used during reassembly.

I also removed the injectors and had them serviced locally. I replaced all four of the engine mounts too as they weren’t is great shape. I replaced the lift pump too (keeping the old one as a spare) and stripped and checked the brushes/commutator in the starter motor too. Engine and gear box oil removed and replaced too along with fuel and oil filters.

Anyway, after many hours of preparation, priming and painting, I reassembled everything and now have an engine that will hopefully provide many more hours of faultless service. Needless to say, I spent a small fortune on original Yanmar parts/gaskets/hoses etc. and paints.

I also have the stern gear removed and am deciding whether to replace the standard packed stern gland with a Volvo Penta shaft seal. The prop shaft hasn’t much wear on it and the relatively new 3-bladed Darglow folding propeller is as new after being cleaned up.

As we are all grounded now as a result of the Covid-19 epidemic, I may just have to go an sit in the garage and stare at the engine!

Stay safe everyone!!

Last edited by Charles_Grossie (2020-04-21 20:24:34)

Duncan_Hill · 2020-04-21 08:32:10

I'd swear that engine was new..

Charles_Grossie · 2020-04-21 20:26:47

If only Duncan!
Fingers crossed that it will work once reinstalled.
BTW, I have decided against fitting a Volvo Penta seal or PSS variant as 'keeping it simple' is possibly best. Not much to fail on a packed gland after all.

Hugo_Motamelo · 2020-04-22 21:00:04

Dear Charles,

Congratulations. The engine looks like new. Great job. One day I will do the same with mine which is a 2GM20F.

I also have in my Frances 26, Boreas K, the original packed gland. It still works great. The 25mm shaft spins without resistance by hand and does not drip water except when the engine is running, but not too much. I wonder if you know the right size of the package as
I would like to have some on board just in case.

Regards

Hugo

Charles_Grossie · 2020-04-23 08:29:20

Hi Hugo.
Thanks very much for your kind comments.
I opted for the PTFE impregnated packing as this is the type I have used for many years. 6mm seems to be correct as 8mm would need to be flattened somewhat before being able to get it into the gap between the shaft and the inner stern gland wall. I ordered quite a few components from ASAP Supplies recently. Their service is always first class too.

Drive Force PTFE Flax Sturntite Gland Packing (6mm / 1 Metre Coil)
Part No. 807531

Kind regards,

Charlie.

Hugo_Motamelo · 2020-04-23 20:13:10

Hi Charles,

Thank you very much for the information.

At last I know what to look for.

Kind regards

Hugo

Charles_Grossie · 2020-07-12 20:48:19

As the Corona virus ‘lock-down’ eased, we were allowed back into the boatyard to work on our yachts at the beginning of June.

Never mind the annual maintenance and general preparation for the new season, I had to remove the old ‘crumbling’ engine insulation and totally clean out and degrease the engine bay. Luckily, I had bought all the materials required back in December, so could get stuck in to the job in hand. I re-varnished the internal woodwork before making cardboard templates for the replacement engine insulation. This took quite a while to complete, but the end result was great.

I installed the new propeller shaft (slightly longer to accommodate my rope cutter); new shaft coupling (supplied by Lake Engineering, Poole) and I succumb to replacing the traditional packed stern gland with the ‘PSS’ dripless seal. I refitted the Darglow feathering propeller, which I fitted two years ago.

The engine had been ready for several months, but was ready to be reinstalled. New engine mounts had also been fitted and the feet were adjusted to roughly the same height as the old ones which proved useful when carrying out the alignment. All plumbing, electrics, coolant and diesel bleeding were completed and no issues were encountered. The engine started without too much trouble and after final bleeding at the injectors, the engine ran very smoothly indeed.

‘Anitra’ was launched on Wednesday 24th June and after ensuring the engine and PSS shaft seal were sound, we moved her to her summer moorings in Portrush.

Some photos of the engine and component parts – old and new! Now to get some sailing done. Enjoy your sailing season.

Don_Smith · 2020-09-05 14:56:10

Well Done, Charles. You've done a great deal to Anitra. I recall seeing over her at her mooring on the Tamar a few years ago when she was up for sale. We ended up buying Triptych a 1988 V34, she was far from trouble free but we're getting there. I'll get that story uploaded here ASAP.

Don

Triptych V34 Conwy

Charles_Grossie · 2021-05-04 11:34:33

After a lot of preparation, measuring, cutting access holes in the gas locker etc, I managed to get my Hydrovane installed on Anitra.
Not an easy installation as access underneath the stern coaming via the starboard aft locker is very difficult.
Anyway, I will complete a full write-up soon with advisory and guidance notes for anyone considering installing a Hydrovane on their V34.

Last edited by Charles_Grossie (2021-05-04 13:17:27)

Charles_Grossie · 2021-05-04 11:54:31

Charles_Grossie · 2021-05-04 11:59:03

John_Willis · 2021-05-04 19:01:38

Great work Charles,

you can be rightly proud of yourself and in my experience you won't regret fitting that Hydrovane!

Enjoy it

JMW

Charles_Grossie · 2021-05-14 16:19:19

'Anitra' was launched early this morning without any hassle. Looking forward to getting out in her again.
'Samphire' (V34 just in front of Anitra) also just launched this week. Both boats winter at Seaton's Marina, River Bann, Coleraine, N.Ireland. They were both hatched in 1990.

Charles_Grossie · 2021-07-02 18:52:39

A gentle day sail.

Charles_Grossie · 2021-07-14 14:52:58

Lying to the anchor enjoying the sunshine. No wind to sail.
Portrush, County Antrim, N.Ireland.

#1 2017-08-18 15:13:40

Victoria 34 ANITRA

#2 2017-08-30 13:31:32

Re: Victoria 34 ANITRA

#3 2017-12-13 18:24:41

Re: Victoria 34 ANITRA

#4 2017-12-16 19:26:47

Re: Victoria 34 ANITRA

#5 2018-04-29 21:56:01

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#6 2018-04-30 09:00:11

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#7 2018-05-08 13:46:47

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#8 2018-05-21 08:20:36

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#9 2018-05-29 13:33:52

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#10 2019-07-29 21:35:42

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#11 2020-04-06 14:41:03

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#12 2020-04-21 08:32:10

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#13 2020-04-21 20:26:47

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#14 2020-04-22 21:00:04

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#15 2020-04-23 08:29:20

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#16 2020-04-23 20:13:10

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#17 2020-07-12 20:48:19

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#18 2020-09-05 14:56:10

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#19 2021-05-04 11:34:33

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#20 2021-05-04 11:54:31

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#21 2021-05-04 11:59:03

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#22 2021-05-04 19:01:38

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#23 2021-05-14 16:19:19

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#24 2021-07-02 18:52:39

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#25 2021-07-14 14:52:58

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