1991 Jade Clipper, EUR 280.000,-

In commission and in daily use. I live aboard her every summer. She is not a project and not a stored boat: she sails, she heats, she anchors, and everything on board works. Come and use her the day you take her over.

PROVENANCE - DOCUMENTED, NOT CLAIMED

Designed by Ingenieurbüro Ostermann, Wilhelmshaven, and built in Wilhelmshaven in 1991 to the construction drawings, with professional yard work on hull and joinery. Registered in the Norwegian Ship Register (NOR).

She comes with an unusually complete paper trail:
• Original construction drawings
• Surveyor's report from Wilhelmshaven, September 1991, describing her as built to Germanischer Lloyd guidelines for plate thickness, frame spacing and watertight subdivision
• Condition survey by Norsk Båt-Taksering, September 2019 (see below)
• Complete build receipt archive — several tens of kilos
• Norwegian customs decision and declaration, 2013
• Original bills of sale, apostilled and notarised

For a boat of this kind, this archive is the substitute for a famous designer's name, and I would encourage any serious buyer to work through it before making an offer.

INDEPENDENT SURVEY - NORSK BÅT-TAKSTERING, SEPTEMBER 2019

Surveyed afloat by Knut Tronstad, chartered surveyor and licensed yacht broker (NBF/NBTF). His conclusions, in summary: hull, deck and superstructure all assessed as good; engine newly overhauled and in good condition; gearbox newly overhauled; electrical system, wiring and batteries good; interior neat and well maintained; standing and running rigging both assessed OK.

His overall verdict was that she is a large, well-built and spacious steel cruiser in good technical and cosmetic condition, that she has been substantially invested in and shows the marks of careful maintenance by a competent and responsible owner, and that the inspection revealed no faults or defects of significance to operation or safety.
The full report is available to any serious enquirer.

CONSTRUCTION

• Flame-sprayed galvanised steel hull (metallised), then 4 × coal-tar epoxy plus antifouling below the waterline, primer and two-pack above, and 3 × coal-tar epoxy internally. This is a premium corrosion-protection process rarely applied to yachts, and it is the reason a 35-year-old steel hull presents as it does.
• 25 mm flat keel sole (under 10 m²) — she sits upright on her own bottom, unsupported
• 10 mm in the keel area, 5 mm hull plating below the waterline, 4 mm above, 3 mm deck
• Flat-bar frames 55/5 at 400 mm centres, plus longitudinal stringers
• Collision bulkhead forward; hull divided into three sections by bulkheads with heavy gasketed doors
• 4 tonnes of lead ballast
• Design displacement approx. 18 tonnes (1991 survey).
• No seacocks or through-hull valves anywhere in the vessel. Combined with keel cooling and a dry exhaust, there is no seawater system aboard to fail.

THE KEEL AND BOARD

A long keel in teardrop section, flattened underneath, with a fin each side at mast height so she takes the ground level and upright. Inside it, a solid iron board runs in a narrow slot and is lowered by hand crank from 1.50 m to 3.00 m. Its position is read off markings through inspection windows in the mast support.

The board is never locked: on grounding it simply rides up in its suspension. There is no ballast-lifting mechanism to fail — the ballast stays in the keel.

That combination opens the Wadden Sea, the Danish South Sea and the Scandinavian skerries, while 3.00 m down gives her grip and stability offshore.

ALL-SEASON CAPABILITY, TESTED

• Doghouse steering position with wheel, fully enclosed with the canvas up
• Eberspächer 9 kW hydronic heating, radiators in every compartment
• New calorifier, heated by the Eberspächer or 220 V — and the loop runs in reverse, so shore power alone can heat every radiator on board
• 2 × 20 mm insulation with a 10 mm air gap to the plating
• Standing headroom 1.80 m, 1.90 m in the saloon
• Lived aboard through Norwegian winters. Tested, not claimed.

ENGINE AND DRIVE

Mercedes-Benz OM 352, marinised. 130 hp, throttled to 90 hp — original specification, and part of why she has lasted. Fully mechanical, field-serviceable, parts available worldwide.

• 3,249 hours. Completely overhauled by a professional ship yard in 2021 — approx. 500 hours since. Gearbox (Hurth 1:3) overhauled at the same time.
• Keel cooling via cooling boxes in the bottom — no raw water in the engine, no strainers to block
• Dry exhaust led aft with silencer
• New dripless shaft seal
• 3-blade bronze propeller, 600 mm
• Day tank 200 l, two main tanks, multi-stage filtration plus a changeover filter for redundancy
• Alarms for coolant, oil pressure and shaft seal
• Proportional bow thruster (professional grade, fitted 4 years ago by a professional ship yard) on its own 24 V bank

Realistic speeds: 6–8 knots under sail; around 5-6 knots under power.

STEERING

Three ways to steer her: wheel with manual steering pump in the doghouse, hydraulic autopilot (7 years old, professional grade), and a tiller — the hydraulics can be disconnected.

ELECTRICAL — RENEWED 2025-2026

• 24 V lithium house bank, 314 Ah, new 2025 — an upgrade on the 420 Ah lead bank it replaced, with far more usable capacity, faster charging and much less weight
• 80 A 24 V alternator charging the start bank, with a Victron DC-DC charger (fitted 2025) feeding the lithium house bank from it. The alternator never sees the lithium bank's charge demand directly — the correct architecture for a lithium retrofit, and the reason the original charging system can stay as it is.
• Separate start bank and separate thruster bank, each with its own 220 V Victron charger
• Victron inverter, 12/24/230 V throughout
• Solar array new 2026, approx. 300 W
• LED throughout: tricolour and anchor lights, floodlights, dimmable cockpit lighting, red night lighting for the working areas, red chart light
Navigation and communications
• Chartplotter, radar, AIS and echo sounder — all new 2025
• SSB transceiver plus separate HF receiver
• NAVTEX
• SeaMe active radar reflector (functioning)
• Fixed icom VHF (2007) plus handheld
• Compass

GROUND TACKLE

Horizon 1500 windlass, 45 kg Spade anchor, 90 m chain. In constant use and it has never failed to set.

RIG AND SAILS

Aluminium mast, 18 m measured, van der Noit / NL profile, stepped on a hot-dip galvanised mast tube over a box substructure (600/250/10) below deck — she is designed as a tilting mast, though I have never lowered her myself.

A full wardrobe, built for long-distance work:
• Mainsail with battens, three reefs
• Second, batten-free mainsail, three reefs
• Roller genoa 120 % with three reefs
• Medium roller headsail for normal conditions
• Small roller headsail for heavy weather
• Storm jib
• Storm trysail
• Blister (asymmetric spinnaker) with new snuffer
• Two whisker poles for twin headsails downwind
• Five manual winches

Sails are older but properly maintained: all older sails overhauled by a sailmaker in Germany 2011, newer sails repaired in France 2013, headsail serviced 2024/25 including a new UV strip, mainsail serviced 2025/26.

Rigging: standing and running rigging both assessed OK in the 2019 survey, and I had a thorough rig inspection by my rigger last year, which found no faults. Nonetheless the standing rigging is due for replacement on age — see below.

DOMESTIC AND SAFETY

• Gas hob and oven; bottles in a dedicated gas locker on the transom, shut off by solenoid when not in use, with a Xintex S-2A alarm and two sensors
• Dedicated freezer plus a separate fridge/freezer
• Two heads, two wet cells — shower aft
• 1,200 l fresh water · 1,200 l diesel · 1,000 l black water
• Compressed air system with receiver; black water discharged at sea by 0.8 bar air
• Two automatic electric bilge pumps, each on its own battery bank, plus a manual pump with a loose suction hose reaching every compartment
• Fire extinguishers placed around the vessel
• Separate workshop compartment with bench and lockers
• Projector and screen in the saloon, equivalent to a 70" TV

TENDER

Great White 270 RIB with aluminium hull, 4 years old — planes with one person aboard. Mercury 6 hp, 2 years old. Included.

WHAT I WOULD WANT TO KNOW IF I WERE BUYING HER

I would rather you hear this from me than from your surveyor:

• Standing rigging is due for replacement on age, not condition. It passed the 2019 survey and last year's rig inspection. I am obtaining a quotation: it will either be renewed at my cost before handover, or the price adjusted accordingly — your choice.
• No ultrasonic thickness measurements on file yet. Next haul-out is spring 2028. Any buyer is welcome to commission measurements at any time and I will make the boat available. See the note on galvanising below.
• No liferaft.
• No windvane self-steering and no watermaker. The autopilot is capable and the tankage generous, but ocean passages would want both.
• Fixed VHF dates from 2007. It works; it is on my own list.
• NAVTEX is aboard; I am not certain the antenna is still connected.
• Sails are maintained and complete, but not new.
• The tilting mast has never been lowered by me. The tabernacle and substructure are original design features; I cannot confirm it is practical single-handed with an 18 m spar.

On corrosion, since it is the first thing anyone asks about a 35-year-old steel boat: flame-sprayed zinc is not a paint barrier — the epoxy is the barrier, and the zinc is what protects the steel wherever that barrier is breached. On an ordinary painted steel hull a scratch lets rust creep sideways under the coating, and that is how painted steel boats actually die. Metallised steel does not undercut in the same way. That is why I am comfortable inviting measurement rather than avoiding it. The inside of the hull is coal-tar epoxy, not metallised, and that is where I would concentrate a survey.

PAPERS AND TAX

• Norwegian Ship Register. Clean title, no encumbrances.
• No Norwegian VAT or duty liability. Imported as removal goods under a Norwegian Customs decision of 27.08.2013 and declaration of 12.09.2013; the two-year holding period expired long ago. Documentation included.
• The customs declaration states expressly that CE marking is not required — she predates the Recreational Craft Directive.
• NOT EU VAT paid. She left the EU customs territory in 2013, and Returned Goods Relief runs to a three-year limit, so it is not available. An EU-based buyer must budget import VAT (approx. 19 % Germany, 21 % Netherlands, 25 % Denmark/Sweden) on top of the purchase price. Norwegian and UK buyers, and cruisers not basing the boat in the EU, are unaffected.

I would rather price this openly than have you discover it late. It is reflected in the asking price.

VIEWING

Sea trial and independent survey always welcome, at any stage. She lies in the outer Oslofjord, afloat and in use. Come and sail her, and bring your own surveyor.
Reason for sale

I bought her for a long expedition voyage. Changed circumstances mean that voyage will not happen, and she deserves an owner who will take her where she was built to go. There is no urgency on my side; I will keep using and maintaining her until the right owner turns up.