Houseboating Adventures - Issue 17 - (Page 33) sail plans (they could sail into the wind with their junk rig) and hull designs that were later adopted in Western shipbuilding. The traditional Hong Kong sailing/fishing junk was later modified as a weekend pleasure boat for corporate parties with inboard diesel engines and no sails. We purchased our old junk for around US$12,000. It had been patched up over the years, but under the paint and varnish it was very rotten, as rainwater had penetrated the hull and infrastructure and left it in poor shape. However, May saw the potential of a 50-foot boat with living space for a small family. We decided to buy it, and spent the past 8-months doing renovation work, restoring the original teak structure and refitting the interior to make it livable. We reckon we have spent a further $75,000 but are happy with a home that still feels like a boat, drives really well and gives us a spacious home on the water. The boat has two 135 hp Lehman diesel engines which start first time, every time. The boat also came with a large generator for when we take her out, although we removed the gas fridge and gas water heater and replaced them with electric models. The three marine aircons were badly corroded and rusted, so we had these removed and replaced with domestic models. The decision to do this was that our boat was primarily a family home, and the sailing was a pleasant extra. )6B@" A05("%C&5AB9&@
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.