I happened on the ad for a 1978 Yamaha 33 "Scrumpy" at the notice board of Hebe Haven Yacht Club in Sai Kung, Hong Kong. I made arrangements for a viewing with owners Alex and Otto for the weekend of 5 July 2008. I made the trip out to Pak Sha Wan, Port Shelter to see the boat for the first time. She was not in fantastic condition externally. There were cracks and crazing on the decks and cabin top, the paintwork was worn right through in places, all the windows were opaque and leaking, the hull and stripes were dull and worn and the running rigging was ragged and dirty. Pretty much everything outside would need to be refreshed or replaced. Inside, despite the leaks and clutter of old sailbags, sheets, lifejackets, waterproofs, awnings and other relics of the 70s and 80s, rusty old stove and crazed light covers, it felt spacious and strangely appealing. The teak was generally OK, with some minor delamination in places, the headlining in the v-berth and quarterberth was stained and foul smelling, and all the upholstery would need to be replaced, in due course.

The inboard diesel engine looked shiny - a newish Yanmar 2GM20, and it fired an ran well, albeit a little smoky to start with. The new Raymarine windspeed and depth sounder instruments beeped into life. We unleashed the boat from the aged bridles on the mooring buoy and headed out under power into Port Shelter. The tiller moved about 6 inches on the stock before doing anything...mentally added it to the long list. The boat handles OK under power, although seemed sluggish - probably overdue for a bottom clean. I had no time to raise the sails but had a quick look under the covers and in the bags and they seemed serviceable if not pretty.

DECISION TIME
In summary, a solid looking classic old sloop, well used with all the important bits working, but not well at all looked after aesthetically. But what the hell did I know about boats? What was I potentially getting myself into? Time to call an expert.

Imi was in the UK with the children and so I emailed her some of the fuzzy pictures I had taken with my mobile phone. "Looks pretty good actually! love the name too! Go for it!!!" Great advice.

With my obsessive compulsive tendencies, that was almost good enough for me and I had chequebook in hand. . However, Jimmy, the marine manager at Hebe Haven Yacht Club had suggested I also speak with Nigel "Mac" Macfarlane at Dragon Marine. I called Mac for his opinion. He said he knew the boat and that it would "scrub up OK" within my notional budget, if I could get it for the right price.

I called the owners and then emailed them with my offer - they were asking HK$250,000. I had a refit plan with costs of HK$100,000 - 150,000. Fully refitted, the boat was maybe worth HK$300,000 today. So I offered HK$150,000. Initial flat-out rejection, then a counter offer of HK$175,000. Contract signed, subject to survey. Shit. Now I needed a holiday.