Jonathan doesn't do things by halves. When he buys a Sylphe in Portsal, he does not panic about the deplorable state of the boat. Anyway, he's going to redo everything... This cabinetmaker by trade works in a shipyard. He knows his way around polyester and woodwork, and he's not afraid of it.
In 10 months of work, he will refit this emblematic Dufour yacht, but above all he will design and rethink all the interior fittings.
The first step is to address the disease of these models. The bridge built in balsa sandwich is totally delaminated. Water seeped into the wood and lifted the sandwich off. It's a classic. To heal, you have to open it, replace the rotten wood with foam and redo a skin.
For the deckhouse, Jonathan decides to attack it from underneath, from the inside. This avoids changing the handrail anchoring points. But strating the ceiling is not easy. He glues the foam by holding it in the air with a prop drill, then applies the fibreglass by making prepreg strips which he unrolls (with the help of a friend). But it is a delicate operation and Jonathan admits today that he would never do it again..
For the gangways and the foredeck, Jonathan acts from the outside, from above. It's much simpler. He cuts the deck cleanly to keep the polyester with the anti-slip intact. He then replaces the balsa by foam and comes to redo a strat by gluing again the "old deck" (with laminations all around for rigidity).
It's the landscaping that Jonathan has been working on. To install a double berth (non-existent on a Sylphe), he transformed the bow of the boat. He began by putting an anchor locker, which takes up less space in the forepeak. Then he installs a stainless steel epontille taken from a solid wood verandah. Originally, the thrust of the mast was spread over a whole bulkhead. Just behind this bulkhead, he installed a real galley on the port side with a 2-burner stove and a sink. Opposite, it is a real small chart table that we discover. Unusual arrangements in this size of boat, but devilishly practical. Towards the stern, the 2 coffin berths remain accessible while numerous storage spaces are created. All the fittings are in plywood. Jonathan even pushes the vice to create a rounding to facilitate the passage of the feet under the chart table!
To Finish, Jonathan repaints the ivory-coloured bridge with a spray gun (it's his first attempt at spray painting and he is quite proud of the result, and rightly so!). The hull, had already been painted yellow and a simple polish was enough to give it back its shine. The sails and the engine (a 5hp outboard) are functional and do not require more than an overhaul.
Finally, to modernise the line, Jonathan does not hesitate to re-cut the deckhouse portholes. With a point forward and a straight aft, the look of the Sylphe takes on a new look (no more 60's style circles). With teak in the cockpit and two-tone paint on the deck, the Sylphe has a really nice look.
After 10 months of construction, from October to August 2014, the yacht is ready to be launched. Bought "as is" 1500 euros, Jonathan considers that he has added about the same budget for the renovation. So a total of 3000 euros. This is the price he will sell it 3 years later when he decides to buy a bigger boat. But this is the following story..
