RED ADMIRAL: Sy Aquarii

Aquarii a limited production, semi-custom finished, Red Admiral 36 fiberglass sloop with a diesel auxiliary. She was designed in 1978 by Holman & Pye and built GRP Mouldings by Halmatic Ltd, Fitted out by Rank Marine Port Hamble Yard and McGruers in 1979 for  performance cruising and IOR racing.

Although an excellent cruiser, it is of the older IOS era design. The completely teak interior has many cupboards and spaces for storage, but still gives a warm feeling. She has the expected little things here and there that she has rightly earned over the years and thousands of miles of sailing.

Construction

Hull and rudder laid by Halmatic in England with two 2 “x 8” x 6 ‘stringers with glass on the hull for attaching the chain plates to and additional hull reinforcement, heavy reinforcement in keel / mast step area with glass in frame and 2 “x4” fiberglass-covered foam frames throughout the hull interior.

Keel is lead with 2% antimony and attached with bolts tapped into keel for removal/inspection to Lloyd’s specifications. Deck and cabin top are a combination of solid fiberglass, balsa sandwiching and marine grade plywood pads in high stress areas (winches, tracks, cockpit locker lids). Hull deck joint bolted together with under deck joint area fiberglassed.

The underwater ship has had osmosis twice in her life. The first time was in 2000. All undercoats and previous epoxy coatings have been removed. Seven layers of IJmopox De IJssel were applied.

In 2015, the entire bottom was sanded again to the bare laminate.
After 12 months the ship was left to dry in the open air and after inspection of International ”declared 99% dry and was found suitable for applying a professional anti-osmosis system.
In a conditioned space, the underwater ship is equipped with 7 layers of Gelshield 2000 from International-Yachtpaint.
Now, in 2020 the system will still be 100% satisfactory

More about the history and refit.

(under construction and to be continued)