Cruising Sailboat Tour of the Legendary Liberty 458 - E002 

Your Reasoning for getting what will be a good and well proven Seaboat are pretty much in line with my Sailboat Choices along the way to my last Sailboat, a Long Keel Shallow draft Endeavour 32, a fair bit smaller to single Hand. She was an Outstanding Seaboat but Taught me a hell of a lot including just how misleading and how misled I have been for most of my Sailing Life because of one word - Bluewater - Being disabled I immediately hit issues that an definitely apply to others. That Stern on a double ender - an absolute Nightmare just getting on and off the Tender - as an aside, getting in and out of a Centre Cockpit is also a serious problem, plus most CC Sailboats have very steep Companionways with lots of Steps, with not very good handholds for going up and down them. Classic Masts with Lazyjacks and Stackpacks pretty much a rarely usable liability, All Durling, all lines led back to the Cockpit including in Mast Furling leading to an Aft Cockpit with a Sugarscoop or drop down bathing platform to work as a secure Tender Dock, with easy access to a large comfortable Rear Cockpit, which at Anchor, and 80% of the time is going to be the most used Room on the Boat. Realising Things like that is when I realised the Replacement for Bluewater needs to be Liveaboard Distance Distance Cruising - and with that priority, the Right Sailboats will always be easy to ,updater with. So my Next Sailboat is 47ft LOA, Decent Displacement with a lovely Hull Design, and New, because Customisations needed to accommodate my Disabilities are available as Standard Construction Options, most at no extra Cost. It has a Sugarscoop Stern - Dock Box ticked, in Mast Furling - Standard, worthwhile extra cost options - a Hard Dodger and a Hard Aft Cockpit Arch for Solar Panels and Davits, I'm tempted to go for the Seldene fully automated push button Sail Handling. Very Secure Aft to Starboard Galley, with a large Utility and engine room behind it. Two Heads with secure sit down Showers, and 7 Berths total with a Port side settee Berth instead of Captain's Chairs. Believe it or not, as I can no longer do Boatwork Myself. Buying a decent similar sized suitable Secondhand Sailboat, and getting it Customised to what I need, would cost a Heck of a lot morevthan a New Boat From Island Packet with all of it Built into a New Boat. So God Willing I live long enough for my Piggybank to fill up and put the Order in, I'm after an IP 439. I think you'll like the Similarities tbh. Best Wishes and Hoping everything goes well with your Refurbishment. Bob landlocked in Wales still. 👍⛵️✨️✨️✨️

@@brownnoise357 Hi Bob. Your reasoning is sound. I definitely don’t think refitting an old boat is anyway to save money. I am rooting for you with your new build one of these days. Keep in touch about that. I would love to see that sometime. All the best.

@@livingforsail Will do, the Boat will be provisionally Registered in the BVI, and delivered there for me, So Final Registration Details can be done by a BVI Surveyor, and I really need to be Based around there for 3 or 4 years, with visits to Mexico to pick up Medicines available there to start reversing the Disabilities, so around the Caribbean, then down to Northern Argentina ish for Burricane Season, or up to Massachusetts. Once the Piggybank is refilled, Food and Drinks on my Boat for you guys , would be most welcome. God willing I live that long though. If so, after fixing most or hopefully all disabilities, I'll be off to the Eastern Med, waiting for a big Sailboat Discount for the Suez Canal, then a Stop at Saudi Arabia to marvel at their incredible desalination drip irrigation turning the Desert into Productive Farmland. It's Mind Boggling that Saudi Arabia is now an exporter of High Quality Fruit and Vegetables. seeing a short video of it was a jaw dropper. Then into the Pacific and across to India, those are very provisional plans though. Best Wishes and Fair Winds. Bob. 👍⛵️✨️✨️✨️❤️

@@brownnoise357 that sounds amazing Bob! I wish you the best with those plans!

Thanks. There’s more to it than just the interior right?! Haha. 🙏🙌👍

It really is! Thank you. 🙏🙏

Thank you! I really like the classic boats. It’s going to be a fun project. Thanks for watching! 🙏👍🙌

We do too! Thanks! 🙏🙌

Hi. Nice to meet a another Liberty owner. Thanks for saying hi. Hopefully we will see you “out there” one of these days. 😊

It is like you have said. There are only a few areas of the woodwork that need a touch up.

Hey Matt. Thanks for tuning in! That’s cool that you have #1. Is your stem head fitting mounted above the bulwark still like it was originally? It looks like there was some changes there in later boats.

Very cool! I love the Norseman 447 and was looking for one when I found out liberty. Is yours the aft or center cockpit? Where did you find your Norseman? I was looking at one on the east coast about the same time you would have picked up your boat. Maybe the same one?! Haha. Thanks for watching and the feedback. Glad to have you aboard!🙏🙌

@@livingforsail She was is Tracys Landing, MD when we found her. Herrington Marina North. Center cockpit and thankfully no teak deck, ever 👌.

@@torstenhansen4308 Sunflower by any chance?

@@livingforsail That’s the one. You probably wouldn’t recognize her now…. 🤓

@@torstenhansen4308 I had my eyes on that boat 😳. Keep in touch about what you’re up to.

The passports are like cousins to this boat. Wendell was partners with Peter Hoyt when that project and so I think much of the design considerations were shared. Keep in touch and thanks for watching. Cheers! 🙌👍

Thank you Tim. We love it.

Thank you! 🙏👍🙌

Thanks Kevin. Antidote is a great boat. With a bit of love and elbow grease it will be an amazing cruising boat. Cheers

It is pretty impressive. The interior is in great shape. I wish I could say the same about the deck… 😳

@@livingforsail Yeah, the deck is a pure mess sadly.

Thank you for the encouragement Brian. Hopefully by Episode 300 we will be at least halfway around the world 😀

Good eye there! I think the passport and Liberty boats share some design elements. Peter Hoyt was partners with Wendell from passport for a time and there are a few similarities with the interior and deck elements that I’ve noticed too. 👍

Haha!

Thanks Kevin. We fell in love with the layout instantly... haha.

That’s a good eye! The history of the hull is murky but Peterson is credited with the design and it is probably the KP46 that is the closest cousin…

Me too. The v berth always feels a bit cramped to me. I prefer the “8 second head”

Thank you!

@@livingforsail I am fixing up a little Irwin 28 and its pretty embarrassing compared to yours. I am so envious.

@@martyb3783 “All boats are beautiful” a wise man once said.

It is really quite impressive what they can do!

He loves me until Bridget's lap becomes available. He is always looking for a better offer. Ha!

Thanks. Glad to have you aboard for the journey!

Thank you! 🙏👍🙌

Thank you! The layout is top notch in my book. Thanks for the feedback! 🙌

Haha. Yep. 😳

Uhh Captain and commodore!!

Thanks for the clarification Nigel. Some interesting points there. The stern of the boat is pinched back in so I assume the symmetry is working in my favor. Cheers!

@@livingforsail Exactly. It works in your favour until very high speed/length ratios when the stern will sink a little. And for steering or seakeepiqng it's only the immersed hull that counts, and what's immersed at 10⁰ and 15⁰. In a seaway these boats just behave better. A couple of other points: the force on the rigging, sails, engine, rudder etc increases a bit more than linearly with displacement. So a boat that is lighter for it's length requires less force to do the same speed, is easier to steer and wears the gear and crew out less. In practice each crew requires about the same 2-4 tons of water, gear etc, so your displacement is this plus the boat structure. That's why shorter boats have to be heavy displacement. So if you stretch the boat longer you can end up with a boat that's not bigger, just longer, that's easy to sail ( same size rig), goes much faster, is safer and just more fun. If you double the size of a boat, the righting moment multiplies by 16! So it's much easier to make a longer boat with a lighter D/L ratio. My current boat is 16.5 tons on a 60 ft LWL. The rig is the same size as my previous 43 ft boat. It's much easier to sail and the autopilot never works hard.

@@deerfootnz Nigel, I appreciate you sharing your experience here!

Thank you!

Thanks Ted!

Thank you Peter! Much appreciated and we are glad to have you aboard!

I am just under 6’2” with my shoes on. The headroom is not a problem for me on the boat.

I am not sure of the total volume. I will report back on that in the next episode I think. It's a reasonable size for the boat in my opinion but I wouldn't say that it is oversized. I will be completely gutting and rebuilding that as part of the refit.

@@livingforsail just remember that many countries confiscate food on entry. There is little point in having a massive fridge and freezer capacity just to give it all to biosecurity officers. Your longest passage is likely to be 3-4 weeks

@@deerfootnz This is another good point. There are few things that bother me more than throwing away perfectly good food!

Thank you! It will be a lot of work but worth it. The wiring from the manufacturer was well organized and may be serviceable. We will see. Cheers!

The interior is in pretty good condition apart from a few areas. I am hoping to keep the boat more or less as original as possible. You won't find an interior like this at any of the boat shows... I might paint out a very select panel or two but I am a wood worker before I worked as an engineer and respect the teak too much to cover it all up. Thanks for checking out the boat with us!

Yeah, good question. That is the 1.5" bronze thru hull fitting for the forward head discharge. There was a very dense muscle cluster there when the boat was hauled out and this is what remained after. All of the thru hull metal is getting refreshed (more on that in the next episode). This might all be leading back to your last comment about the forward head... 😂

@@livingforsail / Yes , that would explain a lot ! 😹😸😺

Hi. In that clip I didn’t sit all the way back in the bed. The bed is 60” wide and 78” long (a bit of a funny shape, but those are the nominal dimensions). It’s a decent size for me and I am 6’0” without shoes on. The headroom at the foot of the bed is 6’1” at its minimum. The headroom in the aft head is 6’1”. The headroom in the standing aft shower is 6’2”. I hope that helps. Cheers!

I have not seen that episode but it makes a lot of sense! We have an upright freezer and when you close it you can hear the air hissing as it pulls that vacuum and it’s pretty much impossible to open for 5 seconds or so. We definitely want to keep the front access so this helps with the reasoning. Cheers.

@livingforsail Air just doesn't hold very many BTUs, so if you take out all the old air and put in new, it doesn't cost you very much.

@@haydenwatson5771 exactly. I’ll do some more reading on that. It sounds like a good topic for an upcoming episode about rebuilding the fridge/freezer. Thanks so much! 🙏👍🙌

Yes. It is 1 more than I require. Haha. We will be recording the rest of the journey and definitely the splash. I just always say 2 more years and will up until the day she’s in the water. 😆

Very nice boat. From own similar experience, I suggest you replace all and every electrical cable. In my case I found hidden corrosion in cables, whereas the copper was crumbling away inside the sheeting. Good luck!

Yes, the survey suggested that the decks were likely wet in spots but with 1/2" of teak on top and no access to the underside from the interior except for a small section at the bow it was impossible to know for sure without destructive testing. We adjusted our offer to reflect a likely complete deck replacement.