BOAT REVIEW Vindex 350 S Retro

Bob and Sally de Fluiter are no strangers to this magazine. In 2008, I reviewed their 10.6m sailing catamaran Given Fun on these very same waters, while in 2019, the magazine reviewed their 925 Dan Leech power cat, Double Parked. Both boats had been built from scratch by de Fluiter in the family garage, taking three-and-a-half and five years respectively.
Yep, no question de Fluiter’s a serial – and certifiable – boatbuilder.

When the itch for another boat project required scratching a little over two years ago, de Fluiter decided that repurposing a Vindex 350 flybridge would be quicker than building another new boat.
“I wanted a sedan. I looked around at a lot of boats, and most of them don’t lend themselves to removing the flybridge without a lot of work.”
Finding a suitable Vindex took months and many false leads. However, de Fluiter eventually found a tired 1988 Vindex 350 in Gulf Harbour that seemed to fit the bill. Typically, there was no mucking about; de Fluiter had the launch back home in Tauranga, hauled out, and a tent erected around it within days. A veritable shower of bits and pieces was removed from the launch and farmed out to other boats, TradeMe, or the skip.

Restoration
Retro is one of the later models of the Noblecraft-built boats and is of all GRP/foam sandwich construction. Converting the launch into a sedan was simple as the flybridge was screwed to the cabin top from beneath.

To replace the slight loss of structural strength the flybridge provided, de Fluiter added twin external longitudinal top hat girders. These also help conceal the 340W solar panel and provide space for the interior downlights. The eyebrow at the front of the cabin top was extended 150mm to improve the aesthetics and help prevent sunlight reflecting onto the front windows. The handrails were inset from the edge by 200mm, which gives a much better handhold when moving along the side decks.
Little was changed in the bow area apart from filling the front windows, making the front sleeping cabin considerably cosier. The aft cockpit has been revamped with new screens, seating, lockers, a washdown pump and a shower.

While the standard Noblecraft interior layout has been retained, de Fluiter has tweaked it to make it more usable. In the front cabin, the original V berth has been swapped out for a double bunk against the starboard bow, making the cabin seem much bigger. The second cabin to port has another double extending back under the dinette and remains original apart from its trim. The head compartment is opposite, and while snug, it has sufficient space for a shower.
Upstairs, the main cabin is wonderfully open, light and spacious. The port side is largely original; however, the bench height has been raised 100mm to the standard household height of 900mm.

“Originally, it [the galley] must have been built for pygmies.”
The starboard side has been completely rebuilt and now includes a fridge, freezer, a more spacious helm station, and another seat. The helm seat is a beauty. In addition to the usual raise and lower functions, it has a fold-back bolster at the front to facilitate standing. The seat can also be lowered and turned 90o to port to effectively become extra seating for the dinette opposite.

Decor-wise, de Fluiter has removed or glassed and painted the original dark teak interior. Apart from the varnished cupboard doors and the white vinyl ceilings, everything inside is now white two-pack paint. This has transformed the interior and adds hugely to the sense of space.
The side windows were left original. However, the three front windows were all replaced with clear armoured glass, with the centre frame being converted to an opening hatch for ventilation. There’s now a sliding window in the aft bulkhead just above the stove, and the new three-panel folding rear doors can be clipped open or shut.
Jessie Gipa from Passion Painters Marine applied all the immaculate paintwork inside and out, with de Fluiter adding the final touch, an ‘S’ for sedan after the usual ‘350’ graphics.

Engineering
Wisely, de Fluiter replaced the original Volvo 200hp engine and its sternleg with a new Volvo D4, a 3.7-litre, four-cylinder diesel. This block comes in four models ranging from 175 to 320hp, and de Fluiter chose the 300hp version. According to Ben Quin from Coastline Marine, the engine supplier and installer, the engine and stern leg combination was essentially a straight swap, with only minor changes to the transom and engine beds required.

The engine drives counter-rotating propellors through a Volvo DPH sterndrive, which Quin considers bulletproof.
“It’s [the sterndrive] a man doing a boy’s job.”

Most launches of this vintage have a cramped engine room with a maze of pipes, wires, and fittings weaving in and around a rusty engine and countless oil leaks. Working out what goes where, let alone tracking faults, can be a nightmare.
Retro’s gleaming white engine room is incredibly spacious and has one of the cleanest, most straightforward layouts this writer has ever seen. Only one standard has been good enough – perfection. The bilge area beneath the main cabin contains the twin fuel and single water tanks, which are all new, and there’s still a tremendous amount of room left for storage.

The same workmanship standards have been employed on the wiring, switchboard, batteries, the NMEA 2000 backbone, and a Simrad instrumentation package. The steering and engine controls, bow thruster, anchor, chain, warp, windlass and bow roller are all new for peace of mind.

Handling
Unless you enjoy drama, the shallow hull of a Vindex makes a bow thruster almost essential, and de Fluiter had Retro off her marina and into the fairway like a poodle on a lead. Once out into the harbour, Retro was quick onto the plane and up to her usual cruising speed of 17-18 knots.

Without the flybridge weight and windage, Retro feels livelier, quicker out of the hole, and more responsive than a standard 350. Interestingly, de Fluiter has noticed a significant improvement in the noise and windage at the anchor with the flybridge removed, and the launch is less affected when manoeuvring at low speed in a breeze.
The Ultraflex hydraulic steering was effortless, with just enough feedback to know what was happening. The electronic engine controls were equally slick.

On test day, we saw a maximum of 27 knots. However, Retro’s most comfortable cruising speed was in the 17- to-20-knot range. At this speed, the engine burns 1.7 litres of fuel per nautical mile. The engine power seems well suited to the hull. While a bigger engine could have been fitted, there are limits to any GRP/foam hull of this vintage with such an easily-driven hull.

Besides the happily restrained snarl from the Volvo, the other impressive piece of kit was the Hydrotab trim system from Lusty & Blundell, which, in auto mode, is a true set-and-forget system. Instead of horizontal tabs, the Hydrotab system uses considerably smaller Interceptors that operate vertically. These provide a significantly higher lift-to-drag ratio than conventional trim tabs.

Besides effectiveness, the Hydrotabs are designed to live virtually permanently in seawater without fouling issues. The Interceptors are pushed down by a bladder, filled with compressed air from a small pump, and raised by releasing the air, assisted by a spring. This avoids having anything electrical outside the boat. The Hydrotab system can be programmed for a chosen angle of attack, and it operates virtually instantaneously to deal with side-to-side trim.

Summary
Changing Retro from flybridge to sedan has made the launch sleeker and far easier on the eye. Retro’s now a real sailor’s launch. Much of the credit is due to de Fluiter – he has an eye for aesthetics, backed up by a lifetime of boating and boatbuilding experience. Of course, it’s come at a price in time and money, about which de Fluiter remains philosophical: “If you spend money on an old boat, you’ve probably overcapitalised. You’d still overcapitalise even if you’ve got it for nothing.”

So, while Retro has a 36-year-old hull, in terms of engineering, wiring, onboard systems, paint and upholstery, she’s essentially a new boat at around half the cost of a similar new offering. Looking at the project in those terms,  will unquestionably give her owners many years of trouble-free and reliable boating at a reasonable outlay. From a broader perspective, it’s great to see a classic New Zealand production launch get a fresh lease on life.
Well done, Bob and Sally/>