A182 Skimmer – Restoration Project (Virginia Beach, US)

She is lying in Virginia Beach.
Please contact Daniel Hardesty  danhardesty83[at]gmail.com (replace the [at] with @)

History

A182 Skimmer was Hull no 195 of the 26 foot Atalantas in the Fairey Marine Workshops, Hamble, Hampshire, UK and was completed on 21 January 1965. She was fitted with a Perkins 4 cylinder Diesel engine, alloy mast & boom and a masthead rig. Her first owner was Mr Wesley Jones, of Virginia Beach, who was a keen fisherman and he used to trail her down to Florida and sail her across to the Bahamas. She was then bought by Mr J Little, also of Virginia Beach, who was a retired frogman.

In 1979 she was bought by James Hardesty Snr, of Norfolk Virginia. She was registered in Virginia as Vessel VA 7003H. She was painted with white epoxy paint that was badly cracking. James Hardesty stripped her, coated the hull with three layers of epoxy and painted her the green she is today, with dark green hull, blue ‘roll top’ and varnished blister. The keels were sticky when James Hardesty bought her, so he replaced the keel bolts with stainless steel ones. The Keel mounting brackets were removed, sand blasted and painted with cold galvanized paint.

After a few years sailing the boat was taken out of the water in 1985 for Hurricane Gloria and a restoration was started. This has never been completed for a variety of reasons and the the hope is to find someone to complete the work.

Ongoing Restoration

Work already carried out as part of the restoration includes:

• Replaced uppart of transom
• Repairs to the keg
• Removal of toe-rails and rub-rails and preparation of mahaogany replacements (not fitted – see photos)
• Custom built stainless tank fitted as part of restoration work already carried out
• Replacement stainless stern-rail (pushpit)
• Fairey Marine original documentation and sales order from Wesley
• Bramber original Trailer which requires work
• Fairey Marine “Duckling” dinghy, which has some damage at the bow
• Aluminium mast and boom
• New stainless

The Boat Inventory

Skimmer comes complete with:

• The engine it is a Perkins 4107. Removed to clean up the bilge for awhile and has run it a few times since then. It has not been run in a while owner is confident it can be got running without any trouble.”
• Fairey Marine original documentation and sales order from Wesley
• Bramber original Trailer which requires work and at least four new tires. Skimmer is likely to need transferring to another trailer or placing the boat and trailer onto a flatbed for recovery.
• Fairey Marine “Duckling” dinghy, which has some damage at the bow
• Aluminium mast and boom
• New stainless

Skimmer will need replacement sails – none are in serviceable condition

The photos below show Skimmer since she was bought by the current owner. Hover over a picture for the caption, click on any photo to expand it. The photos on the trailer are from a few years ago when she was last removed from the shed.