Contest Yachts 41 Yacht Wing Keel GRP

1985 Contest 41 centre cockpit wing keel GRP

Location: The Whitsundays.

This sale is for the boat which is currently on the hard stand and a shed erected behind it that will contain a full suite of power tools and hand tools (virtually everything needed to fix the boat and more), marine hardware, electronics, rigging parts, a generator, an aircon/dehumidifier and much more.

I bought this boat at the start of 2025 and sailed it from Cairns to Airlie where I currently live and work as a skipper/engineer. Unfortunately I have had a very unexpected situation with my Visa (I am English) after being here for 7 years, which means there is a strong chance that I will have to leave Australia for good, this is why the sale comes with basically everything I own besides from my clothes and other personal items!

I have been living on the boat since I bought it, the first 4 months on a mooring then in the yard for the last 9 ($660p/m), with the intention of beginning work on it once my visas where finalised which has not happened. The boat is on a stand in the long term section of the yard and is ready to be a home to someone right away, as it has been for me.

A list of some of the things that the boat has to offer:

The ENTIRE rig was replaced by the previous owner, with receipts, in 2017 this means new mast, boom, chain plates, main sail, Genoa, asymmetrical spinnaker, standing rigging, running rigging, mast winches, instruments and screens, literally the whole rig. The rig came down in 2016 due to a failed chain plate tang on STBD side. This cost, as the receipt shows, over $70,000, the previous owner who at the time was over 70 years old, did not use the boat more than a few times after this huge replacement due to health issues. Again all receipts and documents are on board for this. The sails are in amazing condition as you would expect.

Before you read on, I suggest you have a quick google about these boats, they are not common in this country as much as they are in the northern hemisphere but are made by an extremely reputable manufacturer who still make luxury yachts today. A serious offshore cruiser with 500L of fuel tanks and 500L of water tanks built in - truly a yacht that will take you around the world.

There is about 30kgs of paperwork on board as it seems the previous owner, the old fella, who had her for 25 odd years, was very keen on writing and storing every piece of information about the boat.

The engine - a Yanmar 4JH3-TE runs very well and was majorly overhauled by a Yanmar mechanic but this was a while ago now, I haven't spent a huge amount of time going over the engine, but I did a full service - Impeller, fuel and oil filters, strainer, a few hose clamps, flushed out the heat exchanger and some other bits and did an exterior inspection prior to the sail down from cairns, I put about 100 hours on it in total and it didn't miss a beat besides from the turbo likely needing a rebuild or replacement as since then has unfortunately given up.

Has all the comforts you would expect from a luxury yacht manufacturer of offshore cruising boats including an autopilot, bow-thruster, macerating head, very large tanks and black water tank, gas storage locker, generator void (generator was removed), storage galore etc.

When I purchased the boat I had a reputable surveyor and a shipwright come and take a look in cairns, I was initially going to get a complete survey, the comments from the surveyor for this to be done where mostly of the nature of replacing corroded hose clamps, replacing the PSS seal, and some other things that to be totally honest I cannot remember - I opted to not complete the entire list and receive the survey as I knew once I got back to Airlie I was going to haul it out and begin work on it, after which I would need another survey upon completion anyway. During this survey we lifted the water tanks and inspected the keel bolts, which where in very good condition, he tapped the entire hull to inspect the coring, which we found 2 spots of concern, one next to the anchor locker which I paid there and then to have removed and repaired, and another on the port beam which was a bad repair from when the mast came down and damaged the topside, this one I did not get repaired yet and will need to be done.

The teak deck I suspect is the original, it needs to be removed as it has worn down very thin and actually shows the GRP underneath in some places. My intention here was to remove the teak and re-fair the deck and not bother relaying new teak. The surveyor looked at this also as my concern was for damaged coring here too, he commented that the deck is still very firm and that the deck screws have been sealed from the coring and not to worry too much about it - I called Contest in Holland and spoke to an engineer who has worked there since they built this boat, he told me that the coring in the deck is confined to the broad sections of the deck, and the edges against the gunnels, hatches, anchor locker and deck house are solid glass, which you can confirm by inspecting the areas behind the internal roof panels, which gave me confidence in this matter. I have removed some of the teak at the stern to seal some of the leaking fittings and some other sections too that were leaking to make her as watertight as possible until was to see to fixing the entire deck.

The chine, keel and rudder surround, transom and top section of the topsides above the rubbing strip are all solid glass, the rest is end grain balsa. Again this was my first thing to inspect and almost the whole boat, besides from the above mentioned, tested dry. The factory where this boat was built was renowned for using top quality balsa, as you'll see upon researching. I have a coring sample on board, where you'll see there is 6mm of glass either side of the coring, that's 12mm off glass, almost double what a lot of solid glass boats of this size will use today, this boat is an absolute tank and why she weighs 15 tons. The glass is hand laid in the factory and again, do some research on this manufacturer as I did prior to my purchase.

In the last few years that she sat unused in Yorkeys Knob Marina in Cairns she suffered a few problems. Leaks were not seen to (must have been now) and so there is some water damage in some areas, luckily in areas that are reasonable to replace - some of the floor boards around the compression post, the FWD head door, and around the old generator void in the STBD quarter, this is where most of it is. Also some of the wiring has perished and will need replacing, some lights, the AFT head sump pump, the cockpit windless remote and some other bits, fortunately these do not effect the liveability of the boat currently and the majority of it sill does work. Some re-varnishing was done a few years back but some more will be necessary after replacing the damaged timber.

There is a whole lot more information that I can give I'm sure but this is about everything that comes to mind. I know the boat very well so will be able to answer most questions hopefully.

The boat is very suited someone who will move straight onto it for cheap rent, and fix it up over the coming months with all of the tools etc that come with the sale.

Not that much wiggle room on price as I will not take a big loss on this, I have a lot of money in it already, and whilst it does require some work, in good shape you will not find one of these for less than $130k+ (have a look online yourself)

The iron keel has some rust where I scraped of the fowl along with big barnacles, otherwise If you wish to relocate the boat, all it really needs to go back in temporarily is some new anti-fowl and a tidy up to be sailed to another yard.

After I leave the country at the start of March, I may return for another period, otherwise inspections will be supervised by other skipper friends of mine, so I will not make a last-minute cheap sale. If you are interested and have done some research on this boat, please get in contact whilst I can still be around for a look.

Contact me on Call Now - thank you!