Hi Gavin - many thanks for the tip and information about the prop shaft bearing/seal - will double check how that's been fixed.

Yes, the hull definitely is very sound, very robust. I don't know when the anodes were last replaced, I think it must be at least 11 years: apart from replacing all the anodews and a couple of seacocks, there were no issues or repairs below the waterline.

I sailed with Tony on Tai Shan on what I think was her first long voyage. The build was (to me) an amazing story. He had a large pile of steel delivered to the Hamble and just created a (very sound) boat. Two things I remember from our voyage from the Hamble (to Exmouth, I think). One was that we started taking in water at the stern at sea during the night. I turned out that the prop shaft passed through a bearing/seal which was held in a flat metal plate bolted, rather than welded, to the aft bulkhead/stern. Some of the bolts were missing or had come loose with the vibration, allowing a leak to develop.Slightly scary, since the plate was quite large and, had it come adrift, would have resulted in a catastrophic inflow of sea water. The problem was mysterious and I never heard why it happened. 

The other memorable thing was using a satnav, the first time I had ever seen one. Not a GPS, that came much later. I've still got one, an armoured version rumoured to be left-over stock from the Gulf Was. I don't know what happened to Tony; I had an idea that he went to Australia but I could be completely wrong.

That was Tony Richardson. See JRA newsletter issue 8, page 25.

I'm trying to track down Tai Shan's original builder/owner. 

A few years ago his daughter attempted to contact me via Paul at Brighton Boat Sales. I I tried the number he passed on to me several times, but I think it was wrong as nobody ever answered, and I left multiple messages. 

After three months of sanding and painting, replacing anodes and various seacocks, testing the rudder and bow thruster, Tai Shan is back in the water and I'm now working on the decks. 

Everybody who has seen Tai Shan in the boat yard has been very enthusiastic and complimentary about the construction: the hull is very sound. After so many years on the water with minimal maintenance, we were impressed by how good the hull is. 

As part of the renovation, I removed the name board  on the transome and i won't be bolting it back on: I would love to rerturn the board to the builder / his family so any tips on getting in touch would be appreciated.