1984 78ft Gilles Vaton, ARRAYAN II refit project
March 27th, 2019
Refit of a 1984 Gilles Vaton designed 78ft Yacht
This stunning 78ft (23.78m) Gilles Vaton design weighing in at 47 tones was built at the Abeking & Rasmussen Shipyard in Bremen in 1984, sporting the classic IOR lines of its era. ARRAYAN II was a sensation at the time when Super Yachts were rare and maxis the rage; its elegant lines and breath-taking performance add to the interior comfort which befits the legendary name of A&R.
She is here for a complete refit, starting with her entirely metal deck which has been completely blasted back to clear metal, patched in places where corrosion has wended its evil way, filled, and faired before being sanded back for a protective primer, Alexseal 161. This is s an epoxy-based primer with specific corrosion inhibitors and a combination of epoxy resin binding agents offering excellent adhesion on all surfaces as well as corrosion protection on steel and aluminium substrates; to follow is a final top coat of KiwiGrip.
For those who don’t know, KiwiGrip is a durable, non-skid coating that offers a very high traction surface. By varying the application procedure, the texture can be adjusted from a rolled “pleasure boat” texture to an industrial and aggressive “workboat” texture. KiwiGrip also won’t suffer from the issues you come across with similar products filled with sand, beads, rubber fleck, or other fillers. Coatings with these additional fillers tend to wear through, and the fillers/grip fall out leaving an unsafe deck that’s hard to clean and even more difficult to re-coat.
We will be adding a custom-made cockpit deck along with cockpit seating and a “pickle fork” teak surface for either side of the companionway hatch, carrying out repairs to the keel and underwater hull, and a full engine service amongst more to report upon as Springtime emerges.
