Shay La Vie! YouTube channel,70' Hatteras CMY. First boat,fixer-upper no experience.

Shay, thanks for your post and welcome to the forum. I appreciate your candor and have more understanding of your intent with the channel and project. I am glad to hear you are making progress. I didn't intend to insult or discourage you by my post. I did not post anything on your channel for that reason. I still struggle to understand why you chose to Starr with that boat size but I am sure you have your reasons. I wish you only the best and will be happy to share any experience with you that might be helpful. I am glad you are leveraging this forum as there is so much expertise.Knowing that you are following your heart and not just jumping on the "buy an old boat so I can grow a channel" bandwagon I will try to keep an open mind and follow your progress.

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Originally Posted by Sandiego

I watched one of the episodes and it was painful. She is starting with a boat in poor condition and has no idea what she is doing. I think sometimes she has gotten qualified mechanics. And but when they give her the bad news, she fires them and brings in another mechanic from what I've observed that new mechanic usually has no clue. When they arguing, some type of repair were refurbished. Now they seem to really take shortcuts. And they just get it working but they're really don't fix it. I have decided not to waste my time watching this. Because I can't learn anything from it.Even if she gets it ready to cruise I cannot imagine how she will handle such a large boat. Hate to be negative but I will be shocked if this ends well.

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While I admit the videos are painful, are you sure you watched my videos? I didn't fire anyone nor have I argued with anyone and I'm certainly not taking any shortcuts. We did some bandaids to get some of the AC going at first because it was June in southern Florida and MISERABLE hot! I was staying on the boat, so I had to have something asap, but it wasn't permanent.

Several AC techs came out... the first guys didn't have a clue about boat ac. They told me that my second pump was dead (which I already knew) and none of my ac would work without it, (which was not right). The second guy, who seemed to really know his stuff, but sadly, he took one look at it and said it was too much liability for him because of all the rusted/corroded valves and old hoses, and he passed on the job. The next guy got some of it working on Friday, but sadly, it had all quit working by Monday and he was too busy to come back. I think he just didn't want the job either. It was a hell of a mess, I know. Jim and I have now replumbed it from thru hull to seacock and 4/7 units work fine and now it's not such a mess that the next AC guys will pee their pants just looking at it. =-)

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Originally Posted by Sandiego

Shay, thanks for your post and welcome to the forum. I appreciate your candor and have more understanding of your intent with the channel and project. I am glad to hear you are making progress. I didn't intend to insult or discourage you by my post. I did not post anything on your channel for that reason. I still struggle to understand why you chose to Starr with that boat size but I am sure you have your reasons. I wish you only the best and will be happy to share any experience with you that might be helpful. I am glad you are leveraging this forum as there is so much expertise.Knowing that you are following your heart and not just jumping on the "buy an old boat so I can grow a channel" bandwagon I will try to keep an open mind and follow your progress.

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You are not the first to question the size or the motivation. The motivation was health related. I was stuck in a rut, working myself to death and getting fat and weak and old way too soon. Literally nothing sounded good and then a customer sent me a picture of a sunset off the side of their boat and I was jealous. Finally, something sounded good!

On the size, well, it just kind of happened. When I first started looking, I wanted smaller, but for reasons known only to the boat gods, the smaller ones I tried to buy didn't work out and the insurance dictates that I have to have a captain and/or crew no matter what size the boat is. And, when I started really thinking about what I really wanted to do, they wouldn't have been good for me anyway. I want to travel and explore for months at a time, dive, fish and be comfortable doing it.

Then also, the inventory in my price range (which was a brokers dream lololol) was very limited. I'd been looking at everything over 50' on the market and when I found this one, I was maybe just tired of looking. I'd been looking for a year and while I was looking I had a stroke in May 2022, bell's palsey in November, and the flue in January 2023 and when I finally got over that in March, I tossed my crap in the car and rolled for FL to find a boat. But, when I got here, I fell and jacked up my knee, so I was on crutches until June 1 2023. I simply couldn't wait anymore. It was now or never. =-) I needed her and she desperately needed me lol And, you know what? It's like a switch flipped on inside me. I'm engaged, losing weight and getting stronger and healthier! So, yeah, I'll take all the help I can get. =-)

You are doing a fabulous job. Keep trying to bring the old girl back to her glory days. It is a fantastic dream that takes blood sweat and sometimes a few tears to reach your goal. Don’t let anyone detour you. I’m sending you a private message. Hope to hear from you.

I stand corrected. Genuine interest. Best wishes. Hope to see you on the water someday.

Welcome to the forum. Please do not worry about the quality of your videos, I foĺlow some other you tube boaters and the quality improves over time. As long as you are making repairs I will watch. Use this forum as much as possible with questions, we love to be helpful. Not only are we Hatteras owners there are also professionals in marine woodworking, electrical, HVAC, mechanical systems and fiberglass and paint. We even have had legal advice from members that have passed the bar. Sifting through youtube comments will discourageyou and raise your blood pressure. As to your windlass, personally I would repair the Ideal and rechrome it when your budget allows, it will outlive any new less expensive replacement that you may have to replace again in five years. Since the windlass is removed check for wet coring in the foredeck, there is a possibility of a leak there over time. Gòd luck, stay positive and ask here with photos of the issue. Pics help alot. I for one will keep watching as long as you keep recording.

Walt Hoover

Welcome to HOF.

The depth of knowledge and experience on this forum is unmatched anywhere on the net. You're gonna like it here.

As you open the various cans of worms, don't hesitate to post questions.

I'm also a Fort Lauderdale live aboard. My wife and I have been living the dream for 6 years on our 63' MY and have not looked back.

Feel free to send me a PM if you need help sourcing reliable vendors or contractors.

FWIW, I bought my Hatteras (which, at 36 feet, is roughly half the length of yours) partly because we needed each other. I needed a project and she absolutely needed me- she was quite neglected. That was nearly thirty-three years ago, and we still get along fine. Good luck to you. You have been fortunate in the brand of boat you decided to buy. No other brand of yacht is supported as are older Hatteras yachts. They were well-made to begin with, and the fact that this forum exists is testament to how long they last and how long we, their owners, love them.

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Originally Posted by Hat4Shay

Hi All.

I am the crazy lady that bought the 70' boat. Thanks for all the kind messages here... and for those here that have been helping in the background! You guys have the patience of Job and it amazes me how you share your time and valuable information with me.

I started the channel for my friends, so it's not very good. I'm sorry. I'm trying to get better at shooting and working on the boat at the same time. It's not easy to film because as you know, the work moves fast and I'm always the helper. In the beginning I'm just filming and handing tools, but as you'll see, a lot of times I'm in the bilges making repairs and pulling hoses. (I hope you can tell the difference between my hands and Jim's in the videos!!! Hint, mine are smaller, less hairy and less sweaty!) I'm very hands on as I want to learn everything about the systems on this boat. I am very determined to be a good boater (and hopefully captain) and I do like working on it and seeing the progress.

She is a project. I knew that when I took it on. And, honestly, it can be really overwhelming, but all the nice messages and encouragement really do help keep me going, especially on the days when I'd like to take her out and sink her myself! She does run and the hull is good. It was mainly a lot of little crap and people not fixing things when they happened and I swear, they couldn't throw anything away. lol The videos are about 6 months behind, and there's been a lot of progress on the boat and a lot of progress in my knowledge and confidence about this project! I did post a progress report a couple weeks ago on YouTube... it doesn't cover all the progress, but some major stuff. =-)

I have never owned a boat, so the learning curve has been vertical and extremely challenging, which is to be expected for anyone stepping outside their knowledge base. It's also fun! I am a problem solver by nature, so I thrive in these conditions. However, I don't have issues taking input at all. I just don't take bad input (like the guy that said I needed to rebuild the old ap pump to make my steering work on the flybridge.) Or, if I can't afford to do what is suggested, then I keep looking for alternatives. =-) Like the windlass... several people said to rebuild it, but I just couldn't swallow spending 9-10k without being sure that was really the absolute best thing to do when it appeared there were good alternatives that cost less. So, I stepped back and asked around. Luckily, I found someone that can rebuild my existing gear box for considerably less money, but in exploring all the options, I learned a lot and now I'm confident in my choice.


Exposing myself to the vitriol of the internet has been scary. People make comments without caring that they are insulting and/or hurting the person making the video. That part has been hard, but I'm so glad I did the channel if for no other reason, I'd probably still be trying to fix the steering in the upper helm and I would have spent thousands of dollars fixing an old, obsolete Automatic Pilot pump because that's what the "pros" said needed to be done. I posted it on youtube and many messaged in saying that old pump was not the issue and one person messaged and said they'd had the same issue as me and told me how they fixed it. I now have steering at both helms!


Anyway, thanks again for the kind messages. They mean a lot! And, if you want to follow the journey, or even help me along the way, please do! I have a long way to go to fix her, but I'm almost ready for the third sea trial and I should be able to start my driving lessons in late January. If you need experience on a larger boat, I'm open to sharing the fun and the costs of the lessons! And while my boat isn't dead in the water, I am absolutely up for a ride or a visit to other boats in the area! I'm not from FL, so I don't know a lot of folks yet. It would be nice to make some new friends who can empathize and commiserate about boat pain!

Cheers
Shay
MY Shay la Vie

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Hello Shay! welcome to the HOF! I really can appreciate what you are doing. In some strange way, it's kind of a therapy to work on our old boats! im sure you feel the sense of accomplishment as you fix things. a win is a win, big or small. everyone here is constantly in a relative state of boat repair, so we all can relate. I wish you well and look forward to your Youtube vids of progress and any questions or suggestions you post here!

Merry Christmas Shay!

Mario

Welcome Aboard Shay!

We envy your goals and hope you succeed! We started with a 43' 1985 MY and after 8 years we made it to the Bahamas. While we are boatless now, I keep looking at used Hatts. We wanted to do the Exumas one more time but we took the offer we received on the boat. We both regret that decision. It could happen again. Who knows. I faced a number of folks that made remarks like "that's the dumbest idea he ever came up with". I rub it in his face regularly. :)
Keep the faith, keep chipping away and before you know it, the dream will be realised. Getting to know the boat the way you are going about it is the best preparation there is.