I'm Hugo posting from Portugal, about the finding and recovery of "Bravura", the Hull#1348 Cabochard, from 1979, which I just named. For the past years I was looking for a daysailer like this and never found it until a few months ago on a internet used website. I have an open 4 meter sailboat, which is now for sale.
The story of this boat, in the past years from 1999, is too long to be told here (lucky you guys), but I can say she did not sail almost, and was kept in garages.
I just had a 3 months "job" to update all registers, into my name. A big task I should say - long live burocracy! The boat was called (from 1999?) "O Janeiro", already registered in Portugal. I have a reference of a last inspection made in 1999. To know more than that back to 1979 I'll need the "gentle" cooperation of the previous Port Register Authorities, which i will try,... but! Inside the cabin, written in "permanent marker pen", in a very hidden place, are a few lines in french, written by children possibly as refering to this Cabochard, as "Dossy", and the nice time they were having. Truly interesting. And that is why I'll try to know as far behind the story of this boat!
So I hereby ask my fellow "Benetistes" friends, if anybody knows about a Cabochard named Dossy, in France, from 1979 on, to maximum 1999. Also this would mean this boat camed used to Portugal (?). Possible.
Bravura was in a much better shape than it looked. It was very, very dirty.
1) Outside & Inside: the wood work around was missing, the rest was to old to stay there. The hull and cabin are all in original GelCoat, some scratches, very few cracks, very nice. I saw, that at some point this boat was well serviced, and they polished everything. The keel was with some rust, not to deep. The bottom paint was old, I sanded of as much, and decided to seal the bottom with 4 layers of International GelShield, and then aplly International Bottomcoat. I must say, i'm a Trailer Sailor and this Cabochard will not be sitting in the water, but will be kept home. Inside the hull, where you can inspected it from the the middle storage box, evrything looks really good, dry, no repairs, no signs of osmose whatsoever. This storage box has also a removable cover to the cabin, screwed, but can be open. I have some ideias about that, how to use the space under the stern floor... maybe!
The cabin was also in good shape, all furnished with carpet, walls and ceiling, not to dirty, no smells! One little sweet smell disapeared when I took an old gas thanks tube out! 2) Sails and Rigging: I expected the sails to be rotten or ruined, they were not. Actually they are original, as one of us here explained me. They have the black "thunder" mark. All the mast, boom and steel cables are also original, and inspite they show some age, they fit perfectly and are in good shape to use. Only one cable was cut, and I took it to a shop and had a proper press ring type emend (a normal cable end) and then sealed with rubber around so the sails don't get cought on it.
3) Engine: I could have had a 9.9hp from the previous owner but... I think it was too old to be worth the maintenace and repair, he was from the end 80's or so. Also I knew that engine came from a fishing boat, which means he was problably tired... I'm using my previous Yamaha 4hp 4 stroke, one year old. It could be bigger, but on my first trials it moved the boat fine, and to dock as well. It is a Short Shaft, so I installed a inox Engine Bracket. This way he gets in and out of the water with a smooth push, and also gets totally away from the rudder, which is good to. You can steer with the rudder if you keep the Engine on a fixed position, for instance.
4) Trailer: the trailer was Portuguese Made, good I should say, but with a 300Kg Gross Weight - problably to escape a register as a vehícule. I swap it with my newer trailer which can carry a Gross Weight of 450Kg - yes, it is registered!
By the way my trailer uses Rollers so the boat slides, the other one is a "sit on" type... for a trailer sailor, I think it's not that good.Lets see the pictures of the various stages, not all works I'm afraid!
Right now I made the last Inspection on the 31st August (yesterday), where I made some engine tests. Maybe tomorrow, or this weekend I get the Register and can launch it to it's first sail, on sails! Will keep posts here!
All the best, and thanbks for all the help!
Hugo
PS.: First photos are of Bravura siting with the previous owner, as I found it (June 2011).
