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In 1997
my wife and I were in the market for a motor cruiser. By chance we came across
one of the very few Chris Craft 31´ Commanders known to exist in the country.
It was a beautiful boat, totally restored two years earlier. We fell in love
with it from the very first moment.
The
restoration covered every aspect, the interior the hardware, the engines. After
the restoration it was hardly used at all, hence the asking price was very high,
at least in our eyes and at that time. In fact, so did the rest of the market as
we learned that the boat had been for sale at a brokerage for almost a year.
The
following development of events was inevitable. While we struggled to make up
our mind Louise III was sold right in front of our eyes to another buyer.
Found
& Bought on the Net
From
that moment on we could not see ourselves owning another kind of boat, We tried
to get some Swedish yacht brokers to find one for us, but without luck. It
became apparent that the only way would be to try to locate a boat in
USA
and import to
Sweden
ourselves.
We
spent a full Sunday afternoon in March 1998 on the net, surfing around among
various American yacht brokers, doing queries in databases and filling in
information requests. We were quite surprised when we received e-mail responses
from no less than four brokers within the next 24 hours. Buying a boat on the
net may not raise eye brows today, but back in 1998 most people hadn't even
bought a CD on the net, let alone a boat from another continent!
Susan
BIII "Sails" for
Sweden
As
it turned out, a Commander 31' in S:t
Peterburg
,
Florida
named Susan B III seemed to
give us the best value for money.
Since
we were planning on letting the boat of our choice go through a major
restoration in
Sweden
we were not too concerned
about the condition of the boat itself and its equipment. For us it was
sufficient that the boat structurally undamaged, and that most of it's original
hardware were still on board. However, a boat that is well maintained usually do
not have any hidden defects, so Susan B III would probably be a good choice.
So
via F:t Lauderdale and a transatlantic cargo ship Susan BIII arrived in
Gothenburg and was put on a trailer to travel some 450 km to Södertälje and
the Wasa Yacht shipyard.
Restoration Objective
During
the summer of 1998 we spent a lot of time planning the upcoming restoration in
great detail.
We had no intention to restore Susan B III to 100% original condition. At the
time it would have been an impossible mission. We were on the wrong side of the
Atlantic
, and things like eBay was
nowhere near as useful tool as it is today. I would have been to time consuming
and too costly to try to find all replacement parts, materials etc.
On
the other hand we wanted have the feeling of a new boat and at the same time
preserve the look and feel of a Chris Craft classic.
In
September 1998 we turned her over to Wasa
Yachts, a shipyard specialized in building premium sailing yachts and also
in restoring boats.
The
restoration story itself and detailed descriptions of the many special
solutions developed during and after the main restoration is available in the Solutions
section.
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The
starting point of it all
Louise
III for sale at Marinmäklarna, Stockholm, Sweden. She was sold to another
happy buyer, but she ingited our desire for something similar.
It's
all in the ads
One of
the companies we contacted was Yacht Brokerage USA. We found their ad (left) in
the magazine Yacht Trader wich in turn lead us to their site at Yacht World
(right). Click to enlarge.
Thousands
of Miles Later...
Like a
mumified whale Susan BIII arrived at the Wasa Yachts Shipyard on a drizzly cold
and utterly unpleasant (but yet typical) Swedish Mid-June day.
Unwrapping
a giant gift
The
first look what she actually looked like in real life. By no means a gem, but
not to bad either!.
Looks
good from far, but was far from good
As it
turned out Susan B III was really worn by Swedish standards. Very dirty, full of
Florida sand, the chrome was gone, somthing resembling gelcoat was still in
evidence here and there , batteries flat, engines "tired". BUT, she
had potential to become a beauty!
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