this is the type of video iv been looking for but could not find on google, i found it by chance on youtube when looking up colvics, i really cant overstate just how amazing this infomation is, thanks a lot

Thank you so much for your intelligent  approach to this old fable . You have  convinced me that this potato can be sailed with the right modifications.

A very good summary of your pleasure to understand your friendly boat. Good work and good mindset.

Lovely. Very nice, love it.  After modifications and upgrades this is truly a little expedition motor sailor. She exudes toughness, safety and comfort. I wouldn’t mind to have one with these modifications.  Bravo. And please more videos .

Andrew you are a pleasure to listen to , knowledgeable, experienced humor delightful .

Hi Andrew, very good video about all the  improvements that you have achieved. A fine ship is your Big Ann, beautiful and comfortable. And so many ideas about poorly performing oldfashioned sailboats and motorsailors destroyed in less than half an hour.

Thank you Andrew, very informative. It’s a great credit to you and your helpers.

Excellent video Andrew...thanks. Pity the designers couldn't get it right initially. You've ended up with an impressive little yacht by any standards.

Excellent video.  Kaline is a Colvic Watson 34 with similar underwater modifications.  I can vouch that they really do work.

Wow, that was a huge amount of work, but you’ve done a great job, she’s beautiful!

A wonderful presentation.  Thank you.

My second sailboat was a Watkins 27' with an oversized bow-sprit and deck sweeper. It wasn't a factory pilot house model. However I always thought that it should have been. It would have benefited greatly by a pilothouse and looked as if it was supposed to have one. It had a huge beamy salon where the vast majority of the interior space was misused by tall and overly wide setee's and misplaced storage lockers and hatches. I wanted to just rip the cabin top off and redesign it. The cockpit was huge and deep but had two tiny little scuppers at the aft cornets that were constantly getting plugged. The boats lines were classic and fair and the hull and full cutaway encapsulated keel were of thick, handlaid fiberglass...the type one could bounce off of a reef and never think twice about. The  blunt leading edge of the keel kept me on the helm constantly in a state of correction under it's 12hp Yanmar YSM diesel. It was a great boat for a newbie skipper. It was simple and easy to work on and it's relative toughness made it a near bulletproof boat to learn on. The 3.5' draft let me anchor up snugly in some great little leeward anchorages in and around the islands of South Floridas Treasure Coast. I spent 4 glorious years   on that old tub. The first 6 months of which were in the marina work yard refitting her. Between my job at a local boat building company and my masters classes, it took me that long to go through her from stem to stern. I would do it all again in a moment. Watkins boats are a thing of yesteryear, simple, rugged and durable.
If I were to buy another one, I think that I would cut the cabin top about two/thirds of the way back and build a 360° view pilothouse with a shorter flatter cockpit and I would add a tabernacle the height of the pilothouse and shorten the rig by about 2'9". It would be an awesome 27' Motorsailor.

Great work.  She's certainly picking up her skirt and running now.  Quite the transformation and an attractive design to boot. 😎

Thank you for this vid especially the rudder, deadwood mods must  do them to mine.

Wonderful video Andrew, very enlightening.
The pace and narrative were perfect! Good luck in the future with your new born CW.
Chapeau!

I'll be doing the deadwood on my1962  35' Spey Watson and eventually the rudder. Very informative video, thanks.

Thank you for sharing your knowledge as a yachtmaster and the modifications to your Big Ann. Our experience, despite being a veteran in the Royal Navy, completing my first competent crew in the 70's, is much more limited. At the age of well, **, let's say that I am not interested in bikini-clad visions, or for that matter, the drama that has to accompany things today. I loved the sweet sailing and was amazed at the speeds with each point of sailing. May I also say that Big Ann is beautiful.

From Snapdragon bilge keels to the more sprightly Jeanneau Rush Royal, I really would love a Colvic Motor sailor. There is a chance to purchase a Colvic Atlantic 31. To be honest, we are no longer destination sailors rather more out for a day and then back in. I love the thought of a dry vessel pushing out or in against the flow and ebb in the small boat channel, and then just a short cruise along the South coast. We did have a 43' yawl (46') with the mizzen platform down. A dream of a round Britain and an ARC, but sadly, she was just too much for us. A decade or so later, and the motor sailor dream is still there.

Once again, sir, thank you.

Yours Aye,
Emma

Excellent video, thank you. I have always dreamed of a Watson 32. This is very encouraging! Seeing that beautiful watson hull charging along under sail is astonishing.

We undertook very similar modifications to our Macwester cruiser , modded the dead wood shortened the propshaft dumped the old rudder to be replaced with a new rudder from  a westerly yachts bankruptcy auction and a huge light air genoa plus some extra sails in the form of a staysail and a water sail. both handling and performance greatly improved. Most manufactures tend to err on the side of safety for family cruisers and who can blame them, cutting down on sail area the easiest and cheapest way to go. And for the sailor with a little more experience and no young kids to worry about easy enough to sort out  for not too much outlay.

The second time I have watched your video very informative thank you