Family living sea-faring dream... on yacht seized from a fraudster
WHO says that crime doesn’t pay for some?
A couple are planning their dream life on the water after they bought a criminal’s multi-million pound yacht for a knock down price of £66,000.
Jon and Louise Stevens snapped up the 85ft motor yacht in a government auction after it was seized from a convicted fraudster by police.
The vessel, named The Cavier, had been abandoned in a wharf in Southampton for 13 years and was found in a run down state when the couple took it over nearly three years ago.
They have since spent more than £300,000 restoring the yacht, which they have now renamed Juliette after their two-year-old daughter.
Now it is seaworthy, Jon, 31, and Louise, 28, have rented out their flat in Guildford, Surrey, and are living permanently on the yacht with Juliette. Jon, a property developer, said: ‘Louise and I have worked on ships before and we met on board one.
‘We began by doing up houses but it has always been our dream to renovate a boat. When we bought the yacht two-and-a-half years ago we didn’t intend to keep it.
‘But we invested so much time and money into it we couldn’t just let it go. The boat had been in Southampton for 13 years but eventually the owner did something dodgy and it was seized and sold at a proceeds of crime auction.’
He added: ‘We started by removing absolutely everything inside and we’ve done up the engine, electric plumbing, navigation and upholstery.’ This summer the family will sail it around the north of France and the Channel Islands, and next summer they hope to cruise around the Mediterranean.
The Sanlorenzo yacht can travel at 35 knots and it has three 1,100 horse power engines. It also boasts three decks, five en suite bedrooms, a kitchen and a living area.
It would have cost several millions of pounds new and is now said to be worth about £400,000.
Mr Stevens admitted his friends and relatives were sceptical about the mammoth project initially.
He said: ‘Our family and friends at first thought we were absolutely mad to buy the yacht given the state of it, but they’ve been so helpful.’