ARISTEIA
Model: Custom 46’
Year: 1975
Design: #2254
Builder: Palmer Johnson
ARISTEIA - Custom 46’ Design #2254
I was one of those very fortunate people to have grown up in a yacht racing family. As a youth, in the 60’s and 70’s, one could not help but study all the newest designs, the best of which were created by Sparkman & Stephens. My understanding of sailing yacht aesthetics was formed by designs like Aura, Bay Bea, Yankee Girl, and Dora IV. So when the owner of Design 2254 asked me to consider purchasing his boat we were quick to investigate. At age 80 and in failing health, he was anxious to find someone willing to save his creation and give it a second life. The yacht was placed in heated storage in 1995 and untouched for 15 years.
We peeled back a visqueen cover, slid open the hatches, and discovered that she was put away with about five gallons of diesel fuel in the bilge. After shaking off escaping fumes, we got about our investigation. Diesel had migrated throughout the interior, saturating everything. In addition, we found that every single piece of hardware, all fixtures, all plumbing, wiring, and electronics were original. Despite all that, the framing and plate structure surveyed rather well. But in summary, we were faced with a long, difficult, and costly proposition. Our overall intent was to complete the project with reasonable correlation between cost and value. On that basis, we established a sequence of work covering demolition, then recovery, repair, and refit. The first phase involved fixing interior damage; Phase-2 included total refinish of the deck and sail handling hardware; Phase-3 involved refinishing the topsides and hull.
And the results speak for themselves, fantastic! You can read about the full restoration of ARISTEIA in the 2013 Sparkman & Stephens Association Year book - Available to download in the Members Area.