Refitting our 2017 Boreal 47.1: SV Zephyros

We sailed Zephyros for 8 years and over 47,000 NM as a family of four full time live-aboards before we undertook this extensive refit. We have visited Antarctica and the Arctic and a great deal in between. The boat has been tweaked in countless ways over the years, and continuously maintained. We did a minor yard refit in Trinidad a few years back, but by Fall 2025 it was time to do a lot of deep yard-level refinement work and to fundamentally reshape some things based on our experience and future plans. All boats are a compromise and there were of course some things that we wanted to do that didn’t make it into the refit. Here’s much of what we did, most of the whys, and what we learned. I suspect that most of this will only be of interest to Boreal owners. Some of what we did is only applicable to the first generation boats, some of it is applicable to all the boats, and some of it is most applicable to future designs. Some of the projects are quick and easy fixes that can be done most anywhere. Some of the projects don’t make any sense unless you are undertaking other elements as well. Some make no sense unless you plan to keep the boat for many years or are able to make the changes on a new build. 

Starting at the bow, we finally had a larger roller cut to push the chain down where it enters the hawespipe to run under the deck. The chain has long chewed away at the entry plate to the tube striping the galvanizing from the chain and opening the hole for the conduit liner to eventually slide out. By enlarging this roller to a flat 110mm cylinder, we seem to have accomplished the goal though I think it could have been slightly larger. We built a simple technical drawing for the roller if anyone wants it in order to order their own from a machinist. Other worn rollers were also replaced, but with rollers identical to the originals.

At the mast, we added the missing hailer horn beneath the radar and finally swapped out the deficient anchor light from Mantagua for a new one from Aqua Signal. Using DOT-compliant reflective tape (the sort of stuff used on big snow plows and trucks), the top section of the mast was made reflective and orange for better visibility. We added some spacers to the gooseneck to stop the boom wobble that was resulting from the miles of wear slowly expanding the hole for the through bolt. This bolt is threaded for its full length and really should be smooth where it goes through the fittings. There was a longstanding problem with our lower spreaders that needed to be addressed. Sparcraft changed the design at some point for the upper spreaders and added supporting cuffs around the spreader bases in addition to the through bar. Our mast was apparently produced before Sparcraft incorporated a similar change for the lower spreaders. We previously had the bar refined and entry modified to address grinding at this spreader, but we now have added custom cuffs to support the spreader bar much as Sparcraft now fits. Apparently they never issued recalls for these issues but do recommend the modifications if needed. We also made a few other significant changes: (1) the lines for the lazy jacks now run inside the mast so they don’t constantly bang with low exits and turning points to keep them out of the way while still using the existing cleats; and (2) the halyards for the furling genoa and staysail are now raw dyneema set with lashings and removable tails for the hoisting/lowering when needed. This is like using halyard tensioners frequently seen on larger boats, but still lighter and better suited for the actual loads of our boats than the hardware currently available on the market. We also broke down and swapped the aluminum spinnaker pole for a slightly longer and much lighter carbon pole reusing the existing end fittings. Inspection of the standing rigging showed no issues, so we cleaned things a bit and delayed replacement of the wire for another year or two. Synthetic rigging to reduce weight aloft will likely replace most of the wire in the future as we believe that these boats are particularly sensitive to weight aloft given their lack of a weighted keel. 

The deck of the boat was substantially bubbling in numerous spots and we were particularly concerned about paint bubbling around the doghouse windows. We had done some spot repairs a few years back in Trinidad, but this work was expensive and didn’t hold up well. It seems that in most cases, it isn’t really a paint problem, but a problem with the primers for the aluminum. So, all of the paint outside of the cockpit was water blasted off of the boat. All of the hatches were removed to take the paint off beneath them, but we stopped at the windows where we ground/sanded to the edges of the windows (pulling out some of the caulk sealant), sealed paint edges with a painted sealant and then new caulking. Because all of the paint was gone from the deck, we could also address the toe rails in a definitive manner. We had previously removed and reset about half of the rails to address bubbling paint edges beneath and had found the synthetic toe rails attractive but of limited functionality. We really wanted aluminum toe rails to which we could affix fenders and blocks where needed. Fire danger was a concern without removing the entire interior of the boat, but we were able to safely do the work with a slow, low voltage weld along the same lines where the old rails had been while welding closed all the old bolt holes. Boreal’s tubing deck edge is a brilliant design that is very solid. We designed custom toe rails which were CNC cut by KB Alufrees with exactly the hole pattern we designed and then milled smooth and eccentrically sanded. The deck was given a light eccentric sanding, and an adhesive non-skid (sheets of a commercial marine non-skid safety tape, W&B Antisliptape Marine, antisliptape.nl) was applied. We then used a 3M foil/wrap in a flat white to put the trademark white color back on the doghouse and around the salon windows. There were only a few small problems encountered: we found two places where small errant bolt holes had been painted over, the box for the self-tacking rail and the wave breaks were found to be tack welded instead of continuously welded into place, and we had corroding aluminum tubing where the wrong alloy (or contaminated alloy) had been mixed in with our other pieces requiring the replacement of one stanchion base and the Reflex chimney base. Continuously welding the self tacking track and wave breaks to keep water from collecting beneath wasn’t possible without substantial interior removal, so we used a gray epoxy to seal these gaps. We had been concerned that we might find areas where substantial filler had been used to fair surfaces, but this was not the case, and welds all looked good enough that we did not bother to grind them. We also replaced the Vetus dorade for the forward head with an Air-Only dorade. The cracked Vetus dorade had been mounted from below before the ceiling was installed in the head and had to be cut off; we also discovered that the reason it had never closed was because the mounting bolts had been driven into the damper during installation. We did find that Boreal had used generous amounts of Duralac when putting down all of the deck hardware, and there was only a handful of bolts that required an impact driver, ultrasonic vibration and lots of penetrant to remove. Access panels, most of the systems mounts into the hull and some of the mast fittings were however lacking Duralac (or similar) on the bolts. We probably added about 10oz of Tef-Gel to the boat during this refit, and there are some pieces I still can’t separate (salon table legs/bases being a prime example—grrrr). One note for anyone considering the toe rails: this is hard to do independently of other deck work as you would have to remove about 20cm of the deck paint and primer inboard of the welds. 

We chose to leave the cockpit (minus the floor and back) painted. We will slowly remove most of this paint by hand as warranted. This all pretty much has to be done with detail sized tools anyways. Also, the white in the cockpit is nice.

At the back of the boat, we had long ago concluded that we simply couldn’t sail without the bimini canvas over the steering position. We either needed protection from the sun or the rain/snow. We also needed more solar energy and a better way to lift the dinghy as we are getting older and the kids won’t stay forever. The result was a hardtop structure with 1.17kW of solar panels, and a lifting frame for the dinghy. We use a soft bottom dinghy with an aluminum floor and it is packed away for offshore passages. The structure is growing on us though it is a good bit heavier than we had planned. We have plans to add a removable center section of canvas to cover the gap between the hard roof and the doghouse when at anchor or the dock that will be similar to the usual factory design and reuse the frame piece mounted on the doghouse. 

We have long wanted a way to be able to use an actual freshwater hose on deck when required and not at the dock. We also disliked how the installed Whale outdoor shower fixture had a tube that caught on things stored in the lazarette and used hot water when you just wanted full flow. This fixture has now been replaced with an outlet that includes a temperature mixer and quick disconnect for a hose. A Gardena sprayer is the new, removable shower head and we have several hoses of varying lengths and styles to experiment with for the shower as well as reaching other parts of the boat when needed. We first saw this on Bushpoint and it just made sense answering many of our desires in one simple fixture. 

Our Superwind has long been a question mark. It is clearly useful when one is anchored in windy anchorages on overcast or short days. However, we usually try to find spots that are protected from the wind. It is also a heavy piece of gear that sits aloft. In any case, we decided to keep it in place. We did however discover why we had always been loosing the bolts that held the generator in the top of the pole. The inside of our pole has a short section at the top that is a thinner wall to accommodate the plastic bearing from Superwind. However, this section was 3 mm too short and the bearing did not sit all the way down into the tube. The result was that the two bolts were supporting the weight of the generator and enlarging the threading in the bearing. The bearing was replaced (I slightly shortened the replacement from Superwind), the holes in the pole for the bolts were shifted and expanded slightly to accommodate thick walled nylon inserts instead of thin walled ones, and now everything sits the way it always should have according to the Superwind installation guide. While we were working on the pole, we also modified our outboard crane to add a strengthening tube inside the curved arm to accommodate a larger outboard.

Underneath the boat, we thought we were going to need to blast the entire bottom, but on detailed inspection, the bulk of the hull paint and barrier layer seemed to still be holding up pretty well. We touched up some epoxy and put on another coat of Trilux 33. The rudder was a different story. Our rudder had never held paint properly likely due to a problem with the original barrier coat. We went ahead and blasted it bare, and then decided to CopperCoat it as a trial. 

The rudder also got new bearings top and bottom owing to wear over time. We did discover a problem for which we have no idea of the cause. The outer rail of our steering quadrant where the cables run outside the stop has warped (or been bent) and now sags in the center. The rest of the quadrant remains true. For now, we have added a spacer to lift the quadrant and rudder slightly to create space and minimize the rubbing between the quadrant and the support frame, but this may require a quadrant replacement when the part can be sourced from Lewmar.

The ertalyte caps and stops for the dagger boards had cracked with use. We changed all of the stops and the cap bearings to POM which is more impact tolerant than ertalyte. We also changed the design of the cap bearings. These bearings have been replaced once due to cracking and this needed to be done again due to similar cracking despite a change to the washers on the attachment bolts. We believe that the problem results from all of the force on the boards being applied against the narrow sides of the four attaching bolts. To counter this, we moved the cap bearings beneath the aluminum plates atop the boards. The bearing blocks are still bolted into place, but the pressure on their sides will also be applied directly to the sides of the dagger boards (the pictures are from test fitting and don't include all the final washers, nuts and bolts). We will see if this solves the issue, but it will take lots of sea miles to prove and inspection is no longer as easy as peering through the hole in the teak. Thankfully, our boards can be pulled up for inspection once the teak trunk covers are removed.

We have spent a lot of years sailing and living in the cold. That has meant condensate given four humans breathing and cooking. We’ve made small changes before, but we finally attacked the door following in the footsteps of numerous other owners. We drilled some access holes and filled the door in sections with a 2-part expanding foam that went in as a liquid to fill the entirety of the door, then rapidly expanded back from the remote corners and edges. In addition to no longer collecting condensate, the door also now produces a very satisfying sound when closing, and should float well if Kate Winslet wants to give it a go. 

Heading inside, we removed all of the ceiling panels and added a significant amount of insulating foam to cover the exposed frames that were making thermal bridges with the ceiling panels and tops of cabinets wherever we could manage access. We also added insulation between the hull/frames and the new galley cabinetry. 

We addressed the cosmetic cracks in the Formica surfaces of the bulkheads in the heads which were originating from the corners of the square cutouts in the walls. The cracks were ground out with a rotary tool, then filled with an epoxy and the walls painted white again.

The original galley was completely removed and we built a new custom galley from scratch. We started with the design for the 47.2 galley as a guide having spent a lot of time considering (and measuring) the design and functionality aboard L’Elephant (thank you again), and then rethought it a bit as we worked through options with the yard carpenters. We had always wanted drawer refrigerators, but had been unable to figure out how to make them fit when building our boat. Additionally, we had been lusting after  stainless steel counter tops since Adam and Cindi built Bravo. Having spilled tens of liters of liquids on our counters over the years, they would have to be built as tubs with solid stainless steel rims all the way around. Also we needed to deal with the potentially hazardous step down and overhead going forward which was neatly solved by moving to a sudo centerline sink—always nice when it can be fit. In the design brief was also a cabinet for dishes and a small drawer for silverware that would both be in the galley. We went with a mix of open shelving and closed cabinet space above the counters, and discovered space for a large, accessible storage “bin” behind the new refrigerator. We really wanted to add an extractor fan in the galley and we are trying a Breezy fan in an Air-Only ventilator placed into the hatch lens over the galley. It helps, but the fan doesn’t seem to be quite powerful enough so we may have to hack that one a bit or eventually find another solution—would be great in a head though. 

When we removed the original galley, we finally found the source of our annoying water flow that had been seeping out onto the galley floor since very early on: a severe condensate problem. It turns out that in order to fit the top entry refrigerator into the galley and around the heavy frame that runs under the mast, the plastic wall of our refrigerator box was set directly against this frame. The rest of the plastic box was insulated and isolated from all surrounding material, but that top outboard corner area was not. The result was significant condensate damage to the bulkhead, the hull insulation around the frame, the floor under the refrigerator and the wood trim, cabinet frames and access panel beneath. 

We also did some cabinetry repairs in the cabins and changed the hinged access panels for the utility trunk between the aft cabins to be removable vice hinged, but the most significant other refinement was to put solid wood edges on all the doors to replace the thin veneers. 

Since delivery, we replaced 12 of the Whale TCL/4 assemblies used as tank inspection hatch assemblies for the fresh and grey water tanks on Zephyros and retrofitted the stiffening rings on the insides of the tanks that were used on later boats, but more replacements were again needed. The TCL/4 was never designed to be used for this purpose. It was designed to keep water out of a dry compartment and the flanges cannot withstand the pressure waves generated by water bouncing against the underside of the lids in a tank in big seas and challenging conditions. The flanges simply crumble apart. Opening and closing the lids was also painful every time it was required. We’re done with all of that nonsense. We worked with KB Alufrees to build a proper deckplate that is a drop in replacement for the TCL/4 assembly using the same hole pattern for the flange attachment and existing in-tank fasteners. Usually, one would weld in such rings during construction, but in this case a bolt down solution was needed for the retrofit. These lids are easy to install, and open/close without a fuss. They should never require replacement no matter how hard they are slammed with liquid waves from below. The product is now available from KB Alufrees if anyone wants to order them. The same problem exists on many Ovni and Garcia hulls as well. 

A note on the painted water tanks. If I could do it again, I would specify unpainted tanks. We always filter dock water with a carbon block filter before it goes in our tanks and most of our water is generated by the watermaker except when we are parked on a dock for prolonged stays. We had one area of one tank that peeled once the tank drained and was allowed to dry—if the tanks aren’t going to freeze, don’t leave them empty when storing the boat. It is easier to treat and flush the tanks than to have to repaint them. In our case, it seemed to be a failure of the paint to remain bonded to the primer in one contained area. Maybe the time between coats was off in this area or the thinners changed. I don’t know, but that section of the tank had to be ground back and a new coating applied. It is also worth noting that painted tanks are somewhat expected to require repainting after about 10 years. To fully open the tanks, we would need to remove the salon interior in order to remove the flooring and fully access the bolted down panels closing the tanks. Painful, but if you do this, you could weld in the inspection hatch flanges instead of bolting them into place. 

We had developed some leaking from the plexiglass cover on our centerboard trunk, and the plexiglass cracked when we went to open it this time. We’ve replaced the plexiglass with a thicker piece and sealed it with a butyl tape gasket instead of Sika 291. Stainless hardware is now being used to increase the sealing pressure with very generous amounts of Tef-Gel.

There was one more big project we undertook. Our original Victron Gel bank lasted for 8 years of heavy use. That is pretty impressive really. However, we were ready for a bigger bank with more usable power. Given the maturity of LFP systems, we decided to make the leap to a robust system. We installed a 840Ah LFP battery system from MG Energy Solutions consisting of two parallel banks with parallel BMSs and a hot failover if one BMS shuts down. We were going to use the Victron NG system for this, but found that the MG solution was more robustly built, fit in our existing battery boxes better, included fusing at the battery terminals, could charge to -5C without heating pads and discharge at even lower temperatures, and natively communicated to the Victron DVCC system and Cerbo. MG previously built and developed the Victron LFP batteries and has continued to advance and improve the designs while Victron has gone for a mass production approach. Not surprisingly, MG is also a Dutch company and their boxes are all the same blue as Victron. We also went with an alternator controller from MG and a 275A alternator from Arco. The alternator is down rated to max at 80% output, and programmed to utilize white space and not overload the engine or overheat the space. All the other boxes are from Victron. As part of this work, the entire panel was redone where the battery switches are located, all of the engine room bus bars, terminals and fuse holders were replaced, and larger cables were installed as required. Pretty much an entirely new electrical backbone. If building a new boat today, I would specify a 24V electrical system and set loads and chargers on separate busses even if choosing a lead acid battery system. 

On the navigational and communication systems, we retained most of our previous systems. We added a navigation computer in the doghouse, a NMEA 2000 backbone and a new NMEA multiplexer with NMEA 0183, NMEA 2000 and ethernet capabilities. A Starlink Mini now sits on a platform attached to the hard top with a Peplink Max-S antenna enclosure that holds the router, cellular antennas, WiFi as WAN antennas, and a GPS/GLONASS antenna all in one small package. The stern light also got mounted there so it’s more visible. We will keep our Iridium as well as it can go into a liferaft if needed and our Inreach often goes ashore in remote areas, but we found that Starlink made online school possible for the boys and life (and repairs) a bit easier though we still like unplugging on passages. 

Now that I’ve written all this down (and I didn't capture everything here), the scale of what became an 8-month yard refit feels even more significant. It was a very complex project with lots of intertwined pieces and a real challenge for the yard. We had been working on the project planning on our end for over a year before entering the yard. The yard never really caught up. It was all so we could get back to doing things like this (we'll get back to colder climes soon):