Philippe,
I have no personal experience with the 42, but I've been rebuilding a Vagabond 39 cutter (coach roof, not pliothouse.) I'll take a stab at general shipwright things I've found on my project, with the assumption that they are likely common to Bluewater Yacht Builder hulls regardless of length.
Good Points:
- Solid glass hulls, and generously thick.
- Good hull to deck joint.
- Monel fresh water and black water tanks.
- Tank capacities sized for cruising.
- Heavy duty bronze portlights.
- Rich teak interior, with solid battens on the ceilings (walls) and a real teak and holley sole (not veneer.)
- Interior joinery is well done.
- Generous storage.
- Molded GRP headliner panels, easily removed to access wiring runs and deck hardware.
- Decent wiring and breaker panels.
- Good sized bullwarks topped with a nice teak caprail.
- Well insulated refrigerator box.
Things to Look Out For:
- Teak decks -- particulary if the one you're looking at doesn't have them. Unless they've been meticulously cared for, then expect water penetration into the deck core. If the deck's already been removed, then it was likely because of core rot in the first place. Make sure your surveyor takes extensive moisture meter readings across the entire deck, not just around obvious deck penetrations.
- Fuel tanks -- GRP sheathed black iron was standard.
- Portlights -- laminated glass, the edges of which were not sealed. Look for clouding in the pane, which would indicate that the glass is delaminating. Not a major deal to replace the glass, but it's time consuming and you'll need to get the panes cut by someone who's good with lamiated glass.
- Hull Blistering. Again, make sure your surveyor knows to be especially mindful of this. During our rebuild, I had to repair many hundreds of blisters. Our surveyor failed to find any below the bootstripe. Those below the waterline were into the first layer of roving. Those above the waterline did not extend below the gelcoat.
- Chainplates. They are not accessable without removing cabinetry.
Minor Gripes.
- Gelcoat issues. I've found around a dozen places where the first layer of glass either didn't properly bond to the gelcoat, or there were air pockets between the gel and the glass.
- Originally fit with solid bronze seacocks and drains. Problem is that they are threaded for British threads, not Standard. Like the old story "for want of a nail, the Kingdom was lost", once you begin to replace one component, you're likely looking at having to redo almost everything in the run (seacock, through hull, drain, hoses, etc.)
- Chain locker drains into bilge.
A Matter of Tastes.
- Deck stepped mast.
- Tons of brightwork.
All in all, we're happy with our Vagabond.
Cheers,
Por Fin