# Bought a Brewer 40 Pilothouse



## jrd22 (Nov 14, 2000)

Just got back from an interesting trip to Honolulu to buy a boat. It's a 1988 Brewer 40 pilothouse, called a 3 Seas 40. I've been looking for one for quite a while and had talked to Ted Brewer several times about them. Didn't really want to find one in Hawaii though, but those are the breaks.

It turned out (when we got over there) that the owner had misrepresented the boat to the broker(who was very helpful and embarrassed, I would definitely work with him again). There are a lot of things that don't work and will need to be repaired/replaced when we get it home. We were not looking for a project so we were pretty disappointed and actually rejected the boat and went over to the big island for a couple of days thinking we were not going to buy it. But we couldn't get it out of our heads, there was so much to like and everything wrong was "relatively" minor. The boat was sound and had lot's of gear with it. So..... we made an offer based on what we estimated it was going to cost to have everything fixed and it was accepted. Back to Honolulu the day before we were scheduled to fly back to Seatlle, to sign papers and move the boat to new moorage (that I had already arranged). We did get to have a great (but short)downwind sail towards Pearl Harbor and then into the marina, and then it was time to crawl all over the boat, toast the new boat with several rums, up early, double all the lines and add chafe gear, close thru hulls and head to the airport. We were definitely hoping the flight was overbooked so we could go back to our boat, but no such luck.

I won't get to sail it back as I had hoped, but now that I am here and it is there all I want is to get it here asap. Working on shipping it.

I'm planning to put roller furlers on headstay and staysail, and probably remove the teak decks. Batteries need replacing (4 8D's), some wiring that the PO did needs re-doing, needs bottom paint, a couple of thru hulls need attention. The PO was a jouneyman plumber, so guess what needs the most work, yep, you guessed it. A couple of days re-routing hoses etc. There will be a lot more as we go through it and want to upgrade things but the surveyor was extremely thorough (email me if you want his name) so I don't think there will be many surprises. I just wish it was here so I could dive into it!

Here are some pics that I'm looking at WAY too much. Didn't really get much time to take many good ones (poor me). We are really excited about it and it's going to be a great boat when I get done with it . Oh, we had dolphins swimming with us on the sea trial, a rainbow waiting for us at the new marina, and the biggest full moon I've ever seen the night we spent on the boat. Good signs all. John


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## jrd22 (Nov 14, 2000)

Hmmm. looks like the pics didn't make it. I'll work on it. John


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## jrd22 (Nov 14, 2000)

Let's try this again.









































































That's better.


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## Faster (Sep 13, 2005)

Congrats, John! Looks like a big sister to the NS 34!

Hope all turns out well with shipping and the rest of the project. (Esp hope there's not any serious damage from the presumably leaky teak deck?!)


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## Valiente (Jun 16, 2006)

Very nice. Brewer drew good boats. I've spoken with him via e-mail a few times now. May I suggest you get a snugly fitting dropboard for that companionway, though, or you will get water below too easily. The simple bridgedeck is a frequently forgotten factor in offshore passagemaking...just because people want to walk in a straight line.

I look forward to more pictures, but the lines look good. Think on removing the deck...it's a filthy job and sometimes uncovers problems.


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## camaraderie (May 22, 2002)

Congrats John...hope it all works out as planned...they are excellent boats!


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## gonesailin40 (Sep 6, 2007)

Nice looking vessel. Congrats!


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

Congrats, John! Nice looking boat. What island do you live on and where will you moor her when she gets here?


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## bonnelaine (Sep 18, 2007)

beautiful boat --good luck fair winds


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## TSteele65 (Oct 19, 2006)

Nice boat! I'm still trying to pronounce the name of the homeport, though


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## Giulietta (Nov 14, 2006)

Congratulations JR...really nice...

now go polish it....

May it serve you well with many happy moments


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

Congratulations..


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## jrd22 (Nov 14, 2000)

Thanks everyone, we are really anxious to get it home. I'll post some pics after we get done with it, it needs some much needed TLC. I've got it scheduled to go into the paint/fiberglass/wood shop around the first of the year, so by February it should be looking pretty nice! 

Faster- It is like our NS 34, only on steroids. It was built as a bluewater boat and has been all over the South Seas. Started out in Seattle and now is coming home. The teak decks are actually in good shape, but I don't know if I want to risk leaks in our famously damp climate. 

Valiente- you are right, a bridge deck is important. In addition to the folding lower doors there are also boards that can be fit into the slot and secured semi-permanently. 

Moonfish- Hi neighbor, we will be keeping it at Blakely Is. Hope to see you out there in the islands sometime.

Gui- Polish? Yeah, you are right, the whole boat needs a lot of polish. Give me a couple of months, you won't recognize it. And we are going to have some fantastic voyages on it.

John


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## Valiente (Jun 16, 2006)

You might want to contact Ted Brewer through his website. He's pretty approachable, and you might find out what other people have done with this design by way of customization and improvement. Brewer's boats are frequently semi-customized, and I find some great ideas on boats like this.


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## Giulietta (Nov 14, 2006)

one thing I noticed....whoever designed this boat was affraid the backstay woud losen it self from the stern panel huh???

And we have the same Lewmar anchor winch foot switches.


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

There are an awful lot of bolts for the two backstay chainplates on the transom.


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## Giulietta (Nov 14, 2006)

SD...that's what I said, but with other words...


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## christyleigh (Dec 17, 2001)

Giulietta said:


> SD...that's what I said, but with other words...


How else would he have racked up over 14,000 posts


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## TrueBlue (Oct 11, 2004)

By being superfluous?


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

Geez... I was just agreeing with Giu... and you guys jump all over me...


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## CharlieCobra (May 23, 2006)

JR, nice! Blakely huh? You'll be right off my doorstep at Skyline so we can hook up sometime. Cool. This weekend is supposed to be nice with 15-25 and DRY! We'll see how I like going up the mast for this first time on Sat.


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## Valiente (Jun 16, 2006)

Gee, if you think THAT'S excessive...


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

I used to be on that dock. Nice boat, looks like a great passage maker. Was the the boat owned by a single woman?


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

From your other post in the Hawaii to Seattle, the boat seems to have most repairs requiring items less than $200 (like through hulls and electric motors, etc). It looks like the perfect Northwest Boat for our rain; where's the windshield wipers?


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## jrd22 (Nov 14, 2000)

Good observation rsn48, it actually "had' two wipers. They have been removed and high quality duct tape professionally applied over the holes ). There is one new wiper motor assy. in one of the many totes full of new parts on board. The needed repairs are more time intensive than money expenditure (I hope) other than the furlers and sails. 

Charlie- I'll be looking for you, stop in if you get to the Blakely fuel dock, we have the little cabin with the red roof straight in from the end of the float. If the flag is flying we are there.


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## CharlieCobra (May 23, 2006)

I'll just have to do that John.


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## hard-a-ground (Dec 29, 2012)

John, is there an update on your progress with the Brewer 40 Pilothouse ? I noticed one is available for purchase... would you go after this boat again knowing what you know now ? I like the layout.


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## jbennet6 (Apr 13, 2020)

Hello John,

My name is Joshua Bennett and the vessel you purchased used to be my father and cousins boat. They had sailed it from San Francisco down to San Diego and then made the crossing over to Honolulu. My father has made the crossing five times in total. We had plans to sail down to the South Pacific but unfortunately my father had a serious health issue that precluded us from that passage. You must have purchased the boat from my cousin Alan the journeymen plumber.

It is very neat to see the boat online here. I actually rebuilt all of the winches with new cogs and springs a plus a few other projects. My Dad, Alan, myself along with my sister sailed a 31' trimaran from San Diego to Kauai in 2000. 

I would love to hear back from you and ask you a few more questions about the current status of the boat and if you have made any passages.

Josh Bennett


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## Minnewaska (Feb 21, 2010)

jbennet6 said:


> Hello John,
> 
> My name is Joshua Bennett and the vessel you purchased used to be my father and cousins boat. ........


Welcome aboard, Josh. Unfortunately, the original post above was made in 2007, if you note the date in the upper left corner. Below is a link to the posters public profile. They last visited the forum in Aug 2019, but by their post history, seem to come and go over the years.

I think you need 10 posts to send a private message, so stick around and share some sailing stories. When you get to 10 posts, use the link below to Send Message. If they do sign back onto the forum, they'll see that prior to this thread.

https://www.sailnet.com/forums/members/jrd22.html


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