42' Colvin Gazelle

1982 COLVIN GAZELLE FOR SALE - GAFF CUTTER KETCH - CORTEN STEEL - $ANY REASONABLE OFFER. - DELTAVILLE, VA (CHESAPEAKE)
Length on deck: 42 feet
Name: LE PATRIOTE
Registry: CANADA
I'm selling Le Patriote, my Colvin Gazelle ketch.
Many more videos and photos available, just ask.
Rigged as a gaff cutter-ketch (the mizzen is a pointy-headed sail). Aluminium masts in tabernacles. Oversized stainless standing rigging of unknown age, looks to be in good condition, no meat hooks.
From fore to aft: yankee, boomed jib, gaff main, bermudan mizzen.
Accommodations:
From forward to aft -- V-berth forward, then storage to port and head to starboard, then a dinette to starboard and settee / pilot berth to port, then galley to starboard and large nav station storage to port. Then the engine room / workshop with tonnes of storage (crouch height only). Aft cabin does not have standing headroom either, but is roughly a foot higher than the engine room. It contains two single berths and a lot of storage room. Could be converted to contain a double berth.
Rough condition after a voyage from the Pacific. I bought this boat at auction in Monterey, California in 2023, and sailed it 1200 miles down to Pacific Mexico, with no problems. Used about four gallons of diesel over the whole trip, so you know she can sail. The boat is currently on the hard in Deltaville, Virginia, on Chesapeake Bay. Yard cost is $250 per month currently, going to $350 per year next year. The yard allows working on the boat.
Reason for sale is that I don't have time to restore the boat from its current state, with a family now.
All sails except for the yankee are SHOT, finished, done for. I've been offered used sails at a reasonable price, so they're out there. Or you could re-rig to junk and make your own sails as I planned to do.

Engine is a 10HP Sabb with a variable pitch propeller. It runs fine but was used a lot during the voyage from the Pacific and will need to be rebuilt eventually. Two of the original engine mounts are cracked and need replacing. There is no fuel pump currently and a gravity-fed setup is in place. The boat has an integral fuel tank of unknown capacity, but it's currently isolated and presumed to be full of gunk. I didn't have time to mess with it other than to toss in some biocide.
Steering gear is worm gear, windlass is manual. For ground tackle, I have a 40lbs Bruce and a 40lbs CQR backup, as well as a lighter Bruce for a stern anchor. 200 feet of galvanized chain. Spare rope rode too, don't know how long.
Portholes are bronze with some kind of plexiglass in them that has fogged up. Maybe they could be polished clear but I didn't try.
Included equipment:
- 800W solar panels and 10GA tinned wiring
- 800VA Victron inverter
- Victron battery monitor
- DC-to-DC charger to charge lithium batteries off the engine
- Victron solar charging controller
- VHF radio
- Walker Bay hard dinghy
- All running rigging replaced with new or good-used, most blocks replaced with new Garhauer
- New heavy dock lines
- Piles of spares, fasteners, wiring, electrical spares, fittings, paint, epoxy, lubes and so on
- Fuel transfer pump and fuel polishing filters
- Fuel and water jerries
- Head is a composting Nature's head
- Ice box
- Solid fuel heating stove
- Life jackets and new flares, flare gun
- 12V fans (not installed)
- Gimballed two-burner kerosene stove and oven

This is a project boat. Do not even think about this boat if you're not a hands-on person capable of working and welding on it. It needs at least 3-4 months of solid work, including hull stripping and painting, and then there will be a list of projects that can be done afloat. This is a boat for someone with more time than money. She is beautiful and sails well. We went over eight knots with it several times, and sustained over seven knots for hours at a time whenever the wind was there, so it can be sailed hard, too.
It balances really nicely and is a sweetheart under sail. There are winches, non self-tailing, but we rarely used them.
Rust situation: The hull and deck are Corten steel, and while this kind of steel still rusts, it does so less readily that ordinary mild steel. You can see this on deck and the topsides, where there are many spots that are weeping, but not flaking. The whole deck and house will eventually need repainting, but this isn't an urgent job and can be done piecemeal, afloat.
It seems the bulwark cap and lifelines are mild steel, because they're much more corroded. At the very least, most of the stanchion bases will need to be cut out and replaced. This is the worst rust issue on the boat, by far. Temporary repairs were welded before the voyage from the Pacific.
The underwater portion of the hull has pitting in spots. This seems to be the result of having been docked in a marina with stray currents for over a year. These pits can be pad-welded or filled in with epoxy filler. Up to you. I have left the pits unfilled so they can be seen, as I was planning on repainting the bottom.
Inside: There is some rust along the frames on the starboard side galley area. This seems to be mainly due to a leak from the galley pump, which has been replaced. In addition to cleaning and repainting, I'd consider re-welding the frames to the hull in a few spots just to be sure.