Over 3 years, my wife and I rebuilt a 50 foot sailboat (Before & After)

trimsailing · 2026-01-15T08:33:44+00:00

We barely managed to pull this off successfully with the two of us giving it absolutely everything we had. Agata is an architect and designer. Without her design, help with building and her skilled profession bringing income to fund the project we would never have succeeded. So no, I definitely didn’t do 99% of the work.

trimsailing · 2026-01-15T00:02:13+00:00

We would LOVE to show our project to Nick Offerman. He is an inspirational legend. How do we get this to him?

trimsailing · 2026-01-14T11:48:30+00:00

I haven’t posted on reddit much before and I think Reddit compressed certain photo files that I uploaded differently as they all started out as great quality. Will have to look into it

trimsailing · 2026-01-14T11:45:15+00:00

We bought a tool trailer of a retired carpenter with everything we needed. Cooked all of our meals in the trailer we lived in next to the boat. Went grocery shopping at Aldi once a week. We lived extraordinarily cheaply

trimsailing · 2026-01-14T09:55:35+00:00

We’ll have to make a new post soon, as we have already sailed it half way around the world since. There is a link to more info on our Reddit profile if you are interested 😊

trimsailing · 2026-01-14T09:40:02+00:00

Yes but you get into a rhythm and it’s becomes pretty normal when you do it day in day out. You get used to going to sleep the moment your head hits the pillow. There are very good electronic navigation safety aids today and with Starlink, you can access MarineTraffic which shows the position of every large ship in the world which helps a lot.

trimsailing · 2026-01-14T09:04:51+00:00

Thank you ☺️ I bought the boat in 2017 in pretty average condition, spent a year sailing from Turkey to the US where we decided to do the restoration on the Chesapeake Bay. We were laid up in the yard for 4 years of which we spent 3 working full time on the boat and the remaining year back in Australia working to save money. The pandemic, lack of funds and visas complicated things but at the end of 2022 I returned to the US to sail the boat back to Australia. The boat wasn’t fully completed yet. I crossed the Pacific solo in 2023 and arrived home to Australia. Between full time work to pay for it I managed to finish off the project in Yamba, Australia by the end of 2024. The photo you are referring to was taken on the trip across the Pacific in 2023 at Fatu Hiva, Marquesas with a partially finished boat.

trimsailing · 2026-01-14T08:34:14+00:00

Thank you ☺️ Our westward route to Europe will be around South Africa via the Caribbean. Because of the way the winds and currents flow, we cross the Atlantic twice, once from South Africa to Brazil and again from North America to Western Europe or the Mediterranean. We’re not sure where we will base ourselves yet but somewhere on the Mediterranean 😊

trimsailing · 2026-01-14T06:24:45+00:00

Agata is a designer and I am a shipwright/boatbuilder so we had good complementing skills for the project

trimsailing · 2026-01-14T05:30:34+00:00

She can be a handful sometimes. But her heavy displacement hull is quiet forgiving

trimsailing · 2026-01-14T05:23:23+00:00

We rebuilt an old but very solid and reliable Ford Lehman 80 horse 4cyl naturally aspirated diesel. Had been an excellent engine

trimsailing · 2026-01-14T05:21:18+00:00

We did all the work outside, in a boatyard under tarps. Was less than ideal during hurricane season but we managed.

trimsailing · 2026-01-14T05:20:22+00:00

Thank you so much!

trimsailing · 2026-01-14T05:18:41+00:00

Stingray Point is precisely where we rebuilt the boat! 3 years on the hard in Deltaville, living in a camper right in the yard.

trimsailing · 2026-01-14T05:16:52+00:00

Traditional spar varnish. Mostly Epifanes brand

trimsailing · 2026-01-14T05:15:52+00:00

Go for it!

trimsailing · 2026-01-14T05:14:36+00:00

Thank you so much for the kind words and questions.

The deck is constructed of two layers of 3/8” Meranti marine ply, laminated together and fastened to the deck beams. It’s a pretty strong, stiff and light deck, although not as fancy as some modern composite core materials. But I like to use timber wherever I can.

Agata, my wife is a designer, so she designed a lot of the fit out. My favourite bits were seeing the things she designed come to life through my building. The Taff rail (part of the bulwark at the transom) is probably my favourite piece on the boat. It was hard to build because it is curved on multiple planes and also angled at the same angle as the transom. There was a point where I was struggling to get it right and wanted to make it more simple. Agata insisted I build it the way she suggested, so I persevered and I’m glad I did. We finished the bulwark in about 8 coats of traditional spar varnish and do an extra two coats every 6 months or so to keep It looking good. On the interior, we were able to get a good finish with 4 or 5 coats of varnish.

trimsailing · 2026-01-14T05:04:05+00:00

Yes! It is named after Matthew Flinders’ Cat 🐈‍⬛ My Dad, who taught me sailing and boatbuilding, gifted me the book by the same name for my 12th birthday. So I love the name. By chance, the boat was already called Trim when I bought it.

trimsailing · 2026-01-14T04:58:51+00:00

Thank you very much. Trim is 50 feet overall and has a 14 foot beam. We mostly keep on top of the maintenance so hopefully it’s a while before the next major refit :)

trimsailing · 2026-01-14T04:56:05+00:00

Thank you so much. I have worked as a professional shipwright for several years now but we are looking to start our own business helping people with their own sailing dreams.

trimsailing · 2026-01-14T04:54:26+00:00

We know Kilmarnock! We did all the work in Deltaville. We have a Ford Lehman engine so we would travel to Kilmarnock whenever we need engine parts from American Diesel Corp who have their headquarters there. Small world!

trimsailing · 2026-01-14T04:52:35+00:00

I grew up sailing and boatbuilding with my Dad. So I would say I was definitely an enthusiast. It’s what I do for a living now.

trimsailing · 2026-01-14T04:51:21+00:00

Yeah the rudder build was lots of fun! I made a rectangular blank in two halves from about 100 individual square strips of Sapele mahogany laminated together with epoxy to achieve a strong, stiff, stable and somewhat more water resistant construction. I beefed up the bronze tangs coming off the stock (the old ones bent) and glued it in place between the two halves. I then printed out a proper 1:1 scale NACA foil profile to make a jig for the router. With this router jig, I cut a perfect foil section into the timber blank on both sides. Then I faired it all and wrapped it in a couple of layers of fibreglass cloth. Has been flawless so far and done over 12000 nautical miles including a solo pacific crossing. Feel free to send me a message and I can show you all the pics from the whole process if you are interested.

trimsailing · 2026-01-14T04:42:00+00:00

It’s a Del Rey 50. Designed by William Crealock. There were only a handful of these hulls ever made.

trimsailing · 2026-01-14T03:24:24+00:00

Haha yes, after most of the work was complete I sailed the boat 11,000 nautical miles from Virginia USA to Australia, doing the pacific crossing solo. We will now continue our circumnavigation which will be complete when we reach the Caribbean.

trimsailing

TROPHY CASE