The Boat – Bringing a Classic Hatteras Convertible Back to Life

Encore is a 1979 Hatteras 43′ convertible powered by Detroit Diesel 6V92TA 450 hp engines. The generator is a 10 kw Lister Petter that was not original and installed at some point in the late ’90s.

Beginning around 1985 and ending in 2010, my Father had previously owned a 41′ Hatteras motor yacht, 44′ Hatteras motor yacht, and a 46′ Bertram motor yacht. The Bertram was sold in 2010 and he went boatless until 2019 . During the summer of 2019 he began looking again and wanted to get back into the boating world one more time. Hence, Encore.

He found Rah Rah, now Encore, at Bay Marine, a boatyard in Biloxi, MS, in December 2019 and asked me if I would be up for the task of helping him bring it back to life. It had been sitting on the hard for almost two years, and prior to that was used minimally, only for the occasional day trips to Horn or Ship Island by its previous owner.

Overall, the bones of the boat were in very good condition. The hull was painted in 2009. No soft spots or major fiberglass issues with the hull or decking. The only fiberglass issue was with the aft bulkhead separating the salon from the cockpit, which I’ve now learned is a fairly common issue for this model. There was some rot/termite damage that would need to be addressed. The engines and generator were all in good shape. More than anything the boat needed a thorough cleaning everywhere. It had been sitting in the yard for a while and was just plain dirty.

After acquiring the boat the initial boatyard punch list was as follows:

• Clean the entire boat including engine room and lazarette.
• New electronics
• Paint all exterior decking
• New furniture and light fixtures
• New countertops in galley, head, and bow stateroom
• Bottom job
• Repair handrail near the bow
• Replace two broken windows in salon
• Repair damaged aft bulkhead
• Clean and oil all interior teak paneling
• New flooring in both staterooms and head
• Convert double bed in master stateroom to two twin beds
• Remove mirrors in both staterooms, repair bulkheads as necessary, and paint
• Paint bulkheads in head
• New sink and faucet in the head, new faucet in the galley, new refrigerator
• Paint interior of galley cabinets
• Wax and polish hull
• New name on transom

Above was only the initial list and we knew more would certainly come once the boat was in the water with all systems running. My Father and I tried to do as much of the work as possible ourselves and would rely on the boatyard to accomplish the things beyond what we were capable of. We knew that the glass replacement, exterior painting, and fiberglass work was more than what we were comfortable with, and that we would have the guys at Bay Marine complete those items.

Below are a few pics showing how Encore looked when the process first began.