Welcome to the tale of refitting a 1990 Hylas 51. The boat we bought has not had much in the way of updates in the past 15 years other than a solar arch. So going into the planning phase, we know that the Rigging & sails are at least 15 years old. The GenSet is pretty new with only 50 hours on it. The Main Engine is original and its total run time is unknown due to Hobbs meter failures. We will post the results of the engine survey on this page. The refrigeration is supposed to work. We know the electrical system is older and has not been updated to Lithium. We also know the electronics are quite old. For this time around, we will document by system type instead of by year especially as we plan to do a significant amount of work up front to bring the boat up to what we need to start cruising.

So the highlights of our plan at this point (Feb 16th) is:

  • DC Power

    • Replace the house batteries with Lithium - 24VDC

    • Add Solar

  • AC Power

    • Make compatible with 24VDC

  • Electronics

    • Sailing & Navigation - Modernize with items in storage

    • Communications - Update add to bring up to previous boat's capability

    • Master Alarm Panel - We were in the process of installing one - need to respec and have a new one made

    • Entertainment - Update what's on the boat to be in line with what we had on the previous boat

  • Plumbing

    • Water maker - recommission existing if practical

    • Inspect all tanks (clean/ treat as necessary)

    • Inspect all hoses and fittings (repair/ replace as necessary)

  • Galley

    • Refrigeration - replace non working units with Keel Coolers

    • Cooking Appliances - Retire propane and existing appliances - new electric cooking

  • Fabrication

    • Solar arch - new and greatly expanded

    • Water Access - TBD - likely sufficient for now

    • Dinghy Davits - built into aft tower

    • Interior - minor repairs as necessary

  • Dinghy

    • Boat - new dinghy - likely 11'

    • Motor

      • Johnson 15hp - get it serviced - decide if it is acceptable

  • Ground Tackle

    • Retire existing ground tackle

    • Bow Rollers - TBD

  • Scuba Compressor - TBD - buy new Electric?

  • Rigging and Sails

    • Standing Rigging - over 15 yrs old - Replace the existing rigging will be replaced with properly spec'd stainless.

    • Running Rigging - Existing running rigging is shot and will need to be replaced - will need work to convert to jiffy reefing.

    • Sails - all over 15yrs old - replace, refit Code Zero and Asymmetric from storage, TBD on Genny - local sail loft or performance sails or potomac sail makers?

    • Roller Furler(s) - use best 2 of 3 available - will need foils for storage hardware

    • Deck Hardware - too many changes to list here, but needs to be updated to support new running rigging requirements

  • Hull Remediation

    • Significant osmosis issues - strip and dry the hull

    • Copper Coat - www.coppercoatusa.com

    • Thru Holes - replace all with new composite

    • Running Gear - Existing shaft is compromised due to galvanic corrosion, The existing prop may or may not be compromised due to debronzification

    • New Decals - www.islandlettering.com

  • Engines - Chris at Gulfsolutions.org

    • Main Engine Maintenance Issues

    • Main Engine additional instrumentation

    • GenSet additional instrumentation

Refit - 2025