Rebuild of classic 1961 62ft FEADSHIP "Alto Volante"

Alto Volante - Vintage Feaship - restoration - exhaust

Hi, and thanks..
In fact, at some point since that photo was taken (in the early 1980s), clam shell covers were subsequently fitted over the outlets, which I think will help reduce staining. Also, I unfortunatley had to replace the orig beautiful MAN V8 engines which were in a very poor state through lack of maintenance and totally worn out, which make them smoke dreadfully (in addition, one Renk gearbox was seized and the other was in very poor condition) ....with engine & g/b parts impossible to find, a rebuild was uneconomic so we've fitted totally rebuilt Gardner 6LXB engines g/bs and new exhausts with water seperators, so hopefully all that will reduce staining.

Best
David

Exhaust staining

Here is a pic taken showing the hull and exhaust covers as she was when I bought Alto...no staining

vintage feadship Alto shaft misaligmnet

Alto's hull has been filled /faired and just had her first coat of white applied and is at last starting to look like a boat again after 4 years of her hull looking like the surface of mars…I’ll post some pics when I can get a decent distance away from the hull as currently she’s in the corner of the shed surrounded by other boats

When we undid the half-shaft couplings to draw the shafts , we discovered both shafts were seriously misaligned - the PS by approx 12mm. The cause /origin of this is still a real mystery (see attached pic of PS coupling when undone) as is the monumental cost of remedying the problem, which has involved major surgery to both the A brackets, having new steel bearings made up for aft ends of tubes (as the PS bearing was cracked, possibly as result of the misalignment) , new bronze sleeves fitted on the stern gland where there was also considerable wear, and then adjusting the Python bearers, moving the engines and altering the exhausts.

We had new shafts fitted in Spain and they must have used jacks and chains to get the half shafts to line up.. In any event, hopefully everything is now all lined up and correct.


The good news is that my letter to Motor Boat & Yachting magazine about Alto won the “letter of the month” prize - a bottle of Pusser's rum, no less! I think they just felt sorry for me...

Ive always felt the name Alto Volante was a bit of a mouthful and redolent of fast powerboats rather than a sedate old lady (albeit one that's had a facelift). In fact, one of her previous owners, Lord Shaun Normanton, used to race a famous off-shore race boat in the 1970s called Alto Volante (either a Don Shead or Sonny Levi design TBC??? ) and he changed her name from Lenten Rose to Alto Volante. We considered going back to her original name, Tiky, but my family didn't like that name and because for the past 4 years she's appeared on many, many invoices as Alto V, that's what she's going to be renamed as.

Alto V

Very Interesting... I have been in contact with Shaun Normanton bout Alto and i need to do so again so I'll ask him what his boat was at the Grand Prix.
Meantime , here is a pic showing Alto with her grey undercoat prior to first coat of white

RESTORATION VINTAGE FEADSHIP TIKY ( ex ALTO VOLANTE)

[QUOTEMeantime , here is a pic showing Alto with her grey undercoat prior to first coat of white[/QUOTE]

Awlgrip topcoats now complete. In fact there some small runs which the the yard decided were not acceptable and had to be rubbed down again. The yard did the rubbing down on a friday afternoon and couldn't respray till monday which was too late for overcoating so the entire hull that to be rubbed down again and resprayed, she had an extra topcoat which cant hurt! She is now basically finished but there are till a lot of bits and pieces to complete before we do sea trials. Here she is with her anchor plate fitted.

She is now being inspected for CAT 2 MCA. One issue that has already come up is the handrail height which the MCA require to be 1mt (ie 39.5cm) whereas the current handrail is only 30" high. Raising the s/s stanchions and teak handrail isn't practical and would look ridiculous at 1 mt. One solution is to fit a sign restricting guest access to the deck and making crew wear lifelines but that isn't going to be adhered to so some I'm hoping for a dispensation on account of her being an existing classic yacht.

REBUILD OF 1961 62 ft FEADSHIP TIKY

We've finish the coatings and the finish in Awlgrip "Off White" is superb. We're now starting to put her back together . Here she is with her new shiny anchor plates ..I don't know how long they'll stay looking like that!! Polished s/s rub rails next followed by the teak cappings and stanchions and handrails. Although we've used Ephiphanes on the teak superstructure, we're using Coelan Gloss on the hand rails and cappings. The finish looks as good as Ephiphanes but according to many magazine tests lasts at least 5 years in mediterranean summers, and maybe more. I used it on my mahogany 1938 Chris-Craft, which Ive left out over 2 English winters and summers and so far it still looks great. The down side of Coelan is that it can be difficult to apply on vertical surfaces and it is extremely expensive ...with the primers etc it works out approx £70 per Msq.

REBUILD OF VINTAGE FEADSHIP TIKY - ex Alto Volante

here she is with new PH fitted - still loads to do!

Tiky ex Alto Volante vintage 62ft Feadship restoration

thank you for your kind words. The aft screen is interesting, I think. In order to provide versatility the PH can either be completely closed up or be made completely open plan to aft deck. To achieve this the aft windows rise/fall electrically via a slot in the top of the aft island lockers and when down completely disappear into the lockers (the top of the widow frame is in fact the section of the locker top that was cut out to provide the slot for the window, so when when window is down the top fills the slot and the grain matches). The 2 doors can be easily and quickly removed and stowed in the aft seats. .(the attached pics are renders I produced with photoshop but everything has been made and is ready to fit)

Tiky - vintage feadship

thank you for your kind words..your feedback is very encouraging!

re teak maintenance ...in a word "dunno"!
we plan to fit covers over all brightwork when boat not in use and recoat varnish at once least at start and end of season....time will tell

TIKY vintage Feadship restoration - brightwork (varnished teak) maintenance

BTW - although we have used Epiphanes traditional oil based varnish on most of the brightwork, on the approx 250ft of handrails and cappings we have used Coelan - a (very expensive) polyurethane one pack coating that has had marvellous test results in hot, high UV Mediterranean conditions - it has a great deep gloss finish on teak and is supposed to last over 5 years without maintenance. We shall see..

TIKY restoration of a vintage 62ft FEADSHIP

Here are some photos of Tiky, painted and now on the hard at Foxs. Still a way to go before she goes south to the Med.

Tiky - feadship

And another view