15 Aug About the Boat
Lots of people have many questions about our boat. How big is it? Why did you choose it? Is it safe? What’s it rate? Does it have a kitchen?
The answer is yes, it does have a kitchen, but us sailors call it a galley! The boat is a year 2000 J/Boats J/46 Sailboat. It was designed by Rod Johnstone of J/Boats and manufactured at TPI Composites in Bristol, Rhode Island. Yes, it was made in the good ole’ USA. It is 46 feet long and 13.8 feet wide. It weighs in, or displaces, 24,000 lbs, 9400 of which is lead ballast in the keel. Fully loaded with all of our cruising gear, food, water, tools, etc. she weighs quite a bit more than that.
Speaking of the keel, it has a shoal draft fin keel and spade rudder. This means she draft’s (or requires) 6’3″ of water to sail. The fin keel and spade rudder combination mean that the keel and rudder are separate. This is very efficient for sailing, but some hardcore blue water sailors don’t like this setup and prefer a full keel with a connected rudder. Our thought here is, we have a bit more speed which gives us flexibility in weather routing, combined with modern forecasting and software, we hope to stay out of the worst weather that would favor the heavier full keelboats. Speaking of the heavier full keelers, they are mostly made of solid fiberglass, steel, or aluminum. Our boat is cored fiberglass “SCRIMP” construction. This means that a sandwich of fiberglass and wood is created under vacuum pressure, think of a cheeseburger, the buns are fiberglass and the meat is wood. This allows for very strong construction, in a lighter and stiffer boat vs solid boats.
Inside she has a beautiful wood interior with two staterooms. One v-berth with en-suite head & shower (or master bathroom in land terms), and one aft cabin. There is a second washroom and shower to aft and behind that a generous storage space, which we call our garage where our watermaker and tools reside. She also has a saloon which seats up to 8 for dinner, and full kitchen with stove, double sink, refrigerator and freezer (we currently do not use the freezer for power consumption reasons until we add more solar). There is a separate desk for navigation and blog post writing.
Speaking of navigation we have a good selection of tools for communication and navigation. Our suite of electronics includes B&G 2000 instruments measuring speed, depth, wind speed, and wind direction. Connected to it is a B&G Zeus 3 Chartplotter at the helm along with a B&G 4G radar system. The 4G radar uses less power than previous radars, which is important on long sails and is also high definition with a range of 36 miles. Downstairs all of this comes together in a NMEA 2000 network (NMEA 0183 instruments are tied in via an Actisense NGT-1 adapter) and into Expedition racing software on a Dell laptop. For communication, we have both built-in and handheld VHF radios, as well as an SSB (single sideband radio) for longer range communications. We haven’t used the latter yet as we do not currently have an antenna for it, hopefully, we can try it soon. We also have an iPad with Navionics charts and a few other apps such as satellite information, weather, and an alarm which syncs to our cell phones for when we are off the boat.
All of this is powered by a large 600 amp-hour LifePO4 battery bank, 250 watts of solar panels (hopefully more to come), Eclectic Energy D400 wind generator, and a 150 amp alternator on our Yanmar diesel engine which puts power to the water via a feathering 3-blade propeller. Power and charging is managed via three different regulators (solar, wind, alternator). Power for cooking is saved by using a propane stove and oven, further reducing power consumption all lights in the boat, including navigation lights, have been replaced with LED.
Upstairs the boat is driven by a large wheel in a generous cockpit which allows for lounging. We have a dodger and a bimini top to protect us from the weather and sun. We have a total of six sails currently: mainsail, #2 jib/genoa, #3 jib, #4 jib/storm sail, R2 spinnaker, and G3 spinnaker. Up forward is a 44lb Delta anchor with windlass and chain, with a Danforth anchor and chain/rode combo as a backup and second anchor. This keeps us safely in one spot when we anchor for the night. To get us back and forth from our anchorage to shore we have an 8ft inflatable dingy with an aging 5hp Tohatsu 2-stroke outboard motor as well as an inflatable paddleboard and an inflatable kayak.
So far we love the boat and love the way she sails. She is fairly fast for a cruising boat, and to our standards much more comfortable than the racing boats we are used to. Several others have sailed similar models around the world and at high latitudes previously, so she is a proven design. We will keep you updated on how she works for us as we go along. Fair winds!
You can learn more about the boat and its design at the following links:
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