tophatyachts.com

Hello everyone, this is my first post on the site. I have a Mk.0 Top Hat for sale on the Mornington Peninsula. Originally named "Selene", I believe she is a Mould Craft production yacht. I think she spent most of her time around Blairgowrie and Sorrento. I've had her for many years on my property and a significant amount of restoration work has been done on her. This included:
New coach roof and hatches, replacement of timber along both gunnels (professionally completed). The deck, coach roof and cockpit was epoxy sheathed with 1/2 oz. mat. A rebuilt Yanmar 1GM (Inc. new head) was installed with a flex. coupling. There is an Auto Helm ST-30 Bi-Data system and Plastimo Mini Contest compass, both new. The pushpit, pulpit, bow cap/roller and nav. lights are new. The VHF is a Standard Horizon Eclipse +. There's still some work to do before she's ready for the water. The twin spreader mast has been stripped and the rigging appears in good condition, although the inner stay needs replacing. Most of the items to complete her are included, many are new. Unfortunately, there are no sails or spin. pole, as these were lost on another Top Hot that was wrecked in Mornington Harbour several years ago. She has a timber boom in sound condition. The S/S water tank in the bilge and fuel tank under the cockpit both have about 22 litres each/capacity. There is a steel folding cradle, rigid hull inflatable tender and plough anchor/chain/line. I will attach some images of her shortly. Feel free to contact me if you may be interested in her.

I'VE HAD PROBLEMS UPLOADING THE IMAGES, SHE IS ALSO ADVERTISED ON GUMTREE WHERE THEY CAN BE VIEWED.

Thanks,

Garry.

Garry,
Your Selene is one of the first 6 Top Hats built by Mouldcraft. Its good to hear you have been refitting her. What price are you asking?

To upload photos you have to resize them to a max of 1024 pixels in width so they will fit here. Best also to reduce size to around 300kb max also.

Garry I would be interested in details of that Top Hat that was wrecked [for our history] as that is an uncommon occurrence for Top Hats.
Would also be interested in a short story of your ownership of Selene.

I'll have a look at Gumtree.

Garry,

Just had a look at the photos on Gumtree and I can report to you all that Garry has done a superb job on the restoration of this classic Top Hat.

WELL DONE GARRY!!!

This would be a nice yacht to own.

Hi Phillip,

Thanks for your comments regarding Selene. The credit for the work replacing the coach roof,hatches and gunnels really goes to a shipwright who I met at Sandringham Y.C. He did a great job and also installed the engine bearers for the Yanmar 1GM. I've had Selene since the early 90's (yes, a long time...) She hadn't been in the water for a while and needed a fair amount of work. In between travelling and spending a lot of time crewing on other boats,( instead of working on my own !),most of the time consuming work has been done. She originally had a Vire moter installed, this was the first item disposed of...The glue joins along both gunnels had gone, and the coach roof was also pretty tired. The rest of her was in pretty good condition after stripping back. The interior is essentially unchanged, except for re-painting/ varnishing. The hull/topsides have had a single pack polyurethane applied. The antifoul is a bit tired. I'll download images of the various stages taken prior to painting. Thanks for the info. re: downloading images. I have put a price of $6,500 neg. for Selene. I would welcome comments or advice from you or anyone else on whether this is a realistic figure, taking into consideration the market and also that she requires work to complete.

With regards to the other Top Hat I mentioned, she was a Mornington Yacht Club yacht named "Brigadoon" (I don't think it was her original name). Not sure if she was a Mould Craft or not, but I do believe she had been up around St.Kilda before coming to Mornington in the ?late 90s. I crewed on her a number of times and from memory, her fit out below was very similar to Selene. She had a charmed life, once being T-boned by a Couta Boat off Mornington, down she went, upright on the bottom, with full sails still set. She was salvaged, but she finally went up on the rocks on the beach near M.Y.C during one of the gales the harbour is infamous for (and my main, No.1, kite & pole went with her !). I'll try an get a bit more info. on her and I do have a number of photo's to download as well.

Regards,

Garry.

Garry,
Yes Brigadoon is also one of the original 6.
I'd love what photos you have for the TH history.
Please send them full size to seaka at bigpond.com where I can download them without the restrictions of this web site.
That is also the email for anybody else that has historical Top Hat Photos and would like to add them to the TH history.
All credit will be given to the photographer(s), and please send a small story to explain each photo.

From what you are saying Selene has had the right treatment in her restoration and would be a fitting example of the original Top Hat.
Your price, considering her history is in the ball park.

Well done!

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