Monday, December 7, 2009
Murphy is alive and well and living with us.
Well, Murphy's Law is working overtime again. John was recently working on our house and injured himself, tearing the bicep muscle in his left arm off the tendon. For a week we didn't know what he'd done to himself. All we knew was that he was in tremendous pain. The options were broken arm (the most preferable scenario), burst muscle or bicep tendon torn off the bone. When the surgeon examined him he announced that it was the latter and John had emergency surgery two days later in Cairns. Five days later he was told by the surgeon that the tendon had torn off the muscle not the bone - still not good but certainly better than the other. So here he is, now in a full cast from shoulder to wrist and he is going nuts. He can't work on the boat, he can't work on the house - although he tries to do a few small jobs. With a number of people showing interest in Sokari it is very inconvenient not to be able to get some of the cosmetic jobs finished. John was so depressed at his inability to do these jobs that he decided to drop the price from $260K to $248K for a month only. I know that as soon as he feels better, he will realise that we shouldn't do this and the price will go back up. He's just feeling a bit down right now. Sokari's a good boat, she has been our home for a lot of years and has always looked after us. We would trust her to take us anywhere in the world.
Monday, November 9, 2009
We're still in rainy Cairns
John and I had planned on sailing Sokari down to Cardwell to haul her out, clean her bottom and give her a few coats of antifoul. Unfortunately, the fates have been against us. A couple of months ago, the afternoon prior to us setting sail, bushfires threatened our home on the Tablelands burning to within 15 feet of the back wall. So, we hightailed it from the boat up the mountain, straightening out all the bends on the Gillies Highway and reaching the property in record time. Luckily, a couple of friends had spent hours there fighting the fire until firies could arrive, saving our home. Our sincerest thanks to these heroes. By the time we were able to go back to Cairns the weather had turned bad. In between trying to build a house and organising our departure date around house jobs we haven't been able to get away. It seems that when we are busy on the house the weather is calm and when we can arrange to get away it starts blowing a gale. So here we are still sitting on our mooring in Trinity Inlet. But we hope to get away soon. Our apologies to those who were wanting to inspect Sokari in Cardwell. We will get there as soon as we possibly can and will let you know.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Inventory
Description: Catamaran, off-white hulls, cream decks, green & gold logo, gold names.
Contact: John & Rosemary Ph: 0418 886 794 or 0427 855 838
Email: svsokari@hotmail.com
Location: Lifted out of the water in Cardwell on February 1, 2010. Sokari will remain on the hard for the cyclone season.
Year Launched: 1993 on the Sunshine Coast
Designer: Roger Simpson, Simpson Design
Dimensions: LOA 43 ft 6 ins; Beam 24 ft; Draft 3 ft.
Power Generation: Petrol Generator; 5 solar panels (2 x 74 and 3 x 40 watts); Air Marine wind generator; Inverter 1 x 1200 watt and 1 x 300 watt.
Engines: Kubota D850 x 2. The originals gave 15 years loyal service but were replaced by two more low hour motors in February 2008.
Accommodation: 2 Kingsize forward cabins; 2 singles in aft cabins. Port aft cabin is currently used as a workroom.
Shower: Yes – in port hull. Bathroom includes shower, toilet and vanity unit. Original instantaneous gas hot water service will be replaced with stainless steel brand new system – still in its box.
Toilet: 2 electric – one in bathroom, one in bow of starboard hull, forward of cabin and aft of crash bulkhead. Both replaced in 2008.
Sail Wardrobe: Main; furling headsail – replaced in 2006; tri radial spinnaker 1½ oz.
Ground tackle: 45 & 52 lb. CQR; 30 metres 10mm chain, heaps of 20 mil rope, Orca electric anchor winch.
Safety Gear: Yes
SALOON:
Chart Table: Yes
Electronics: VHF DSC Icom M502; Kenwood 680 HF & Tuner; GPS (3) – Apelco; Navman and USB GPS for your computer. Innovatek DVD/Radio/MP3 Player with Monitor; Kross LCD flat screen TV; Depth Sounders (2) – Autohelm Seatalk (port hull), Lowrance X29 (stbd hull), Autopilot – Autohelm 3000.
Tender: 10 ft. aluminium Stessl dinghy and 2 outboards (3 h.p. & 4 h.p. Yamaha)
Gas Bottles: 2 x 9 kg.
Computer: Purchased January 2010 new Netbook with Navigation software and USB GPS dongle.
Contact: John & Rosemary Ph: 0418 886 794 or 0427 855 838
Email: svsokari@hotmail.com
Location: Lifted out of the water in Cardwell on February 1, 2010. Sokari will remain on the hard for the cyclone season.
Year Launched: 1993 on the Sunshine Coast
Designer: Roger Simpson, Simpson Design
Dimensions: LOA 43 ft 6 ins; Beam 24 ft; Draft 3 ft.
Power Generation: Petrol Generator; 5 solar panels (2 x 74 and 3 x 40 watts); Air Marine wind generator; Inverter 1 x 1200 watt and 1 x 300 watt.
Engines: Kubota D850 x 2. The originals gave 15 years loyal service but were replaced by two more low hour motors in February 2008.
Accommodation: 2 Kingsize forward cabins; 2 singles in aft cabins. Port aft cabin is currently used as a workroom.
Shower: Yes – in port hull. Bathroom includes shower, toilet and vanity unit. Original instantaneous gas hot water service will be replaced with stainless steel brand new system – still in its box.
Toilet: 2 electric – one in bathroom, one in bow of starboard hull, forward of cabin and aft of crash bulkhead. Both replaced in 2008.
Sail Wardrobe: Main; furling headsail – replaced in 2006; tri radial spinnaker 1½ oz.
Ground tackle: 45 & 52 lb. CQR; 30 metres 10mm chain, heaps of 20 mil rope, Orca electric anchor winch.
Safety Gear: Yes
SALOON:
Chart Table: Yes
Electronics: VHF DSC Icom M502; Kenwood 680 HF & Tuner; GPS (3) – Apelco; Navman and USB GPS for your computer. Innovatek DVD/Radio/MP3 Player with Monitor; Kross LCD flat screen TV; Depth Sounders (2) – Autohelm Seatalk (port hull), Lowrance X29 (stbd hull), Autopilot – Autohelm 3000.
Tender: 10 ft. aluminium Stessl dinghy and 2 outboards (3 h.p. & 4 h.p. Yamaha)
Gas Bottles: 2 x 9 kg.
Computer: Purchased January 2010 new Netbook with Navigation software and USB GPS dongle.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
The Metamorphosis
Sokari was "born" (we actually sent out birth notices when she was launched!)without any decorations. Just like a human baby, the adornments came later. We had ordered off-white paint and didn't check it until the day we were to paint so it came as a great surprise to find that we had been supplied with cream paint. It still looked good but it wasn't the look I was planning on. For a few months we wandered around Moreton Bay, over to Tangalooma and down around the islands - mastless. It was around 6 months before we got around to building the mast at John Gilbert's yard in Doughboy Creek (Brisbane). The thrill of motoring down the river and up to Brisbane's Botanic Gardens with our mast finally standing was really something. The only sail we had was a spinnaker that we had kept from our previous monohull. No main or headsail yet but that stick looked damned good up there above us. We picked up a pretty good second hand main from Rock Bottom and over the next few months we accumulated a few good headsails so finally we were able to sail our baby. My son, Peter, had bought a 30 foot Diamond which had been set up for cruising and he sailed down from Mooloolaba meeting us at Tangalooma then we all sailed back to Brisbane where he stayed for a few years on the piles at The Gardens while he worked in the city. On one of our trips into Moreton Bay we met a lovely couple, Dick and Johanna, on their steel Van de Stadt "Johanna". We became fast friends very quickly - as we do out here on the water - and they made a big fuss over us not having any stripes to break the "blandness of the cream hulls" but we couldn't decide what colour we wanted. We were prepared to wait and headed north in the mid 1990's. On arriving in Gladstone, Dick's words came back to us and we finally decided to get rid of that "blandness" and gave Sokari a distinctive set of stripes in dark green with a narrow strip of gold in between. Before launch we had applied her name on both bows and across the rear beam in gold and these were set off with the green. Eventually we had a boom cover and side covers made in the same colour. We have always been happy with her "look" as she was easily recognisable.
In 1999 we did a trip to Indonesia, crossing the Gulf of Carpentaria in 48 hours. We had been told by boat builders that extending a boat's length by 1 metre should add about 1 knot of speed. While gaining extra speed wasn't so important it would mean a little less time "out there" if conditions were bad, so in 2001 John built swim platforms which he added to the boat up on Admiralty Island in Trinity Inlet, Cairns. On the beach, he initially made a jig which he used to make a mould and built the two extensions in our cockpit. On the beach again, he attached them securely to both sterns. "They'll fall off" was the prophesy of some people. But they were secure and have been on ever since. The boat builders were correct. In virtually identical conditions to our first two trips across the Gulf, we were now doing it in 42 hours. We'd cut 6 hours off the trip. We were rapt. John would sit as we sailed along and stare at our wash. When a wave came from the side it would wash over the extension, then the water would pour off and the sterns would pop up. It wasn't the prettiest look without an outer "wall" on them but they certainly worked well. In 2006 we eventually decided to extend the outside of the hulls back to the end of the platforms and we were really happy at how they looked. By then we were ready for a complete change in the paint scheme as well and agreed to leave the stripes off this time. Because "Sokari" is a falcon-headed Sun God we had a logo made of a stylised falcon and it was affixed towards the aft section of the hulls.
In 1999 we did a trip to Indonesia, crossing the Gulf of Carpentaria in 48 hours. We had been told by boat builders that extending a boat's length by 1 metre should add about 1 knot of speed. While gaining extra speed wasn't so important it would mean a little less time "out there" if conditions were bad, so in 2001 John built swim platforms which he added to the boat up on Admiralty Island in Trinity Inlet, Cairns. On the beach, he initially made a jig which he used to make a mould and built the two extensions in our cockpit. On the beach again, he attached them securely to both sterns. "They'll fall off" was the prophesy of some people. But they were secure and have been on ever since. The boat builders were correct. In virtually identical conditions to our first two trips across the Gulf, we were now doing it in 42 hours. We'd cut 6 hours off the trip. We were rapt. John would sit as we sailed along and stare at our wash. When a wave came from the side it would wash over the extension, then the water would pour off and the sterns would pop up. It wasn't the prettiest look without an outer "wall" on them but they certainly worked well. In 2006 we eventually decided to extend the outside of the hulls back to the end of the platforms and we were really happy at how they looked. By then we were ready for a complete change in the paint scheme as well and agreed to leave the stripes off this time. Because "Sokari" is a falcon-headed Sun God we had a logo made of a stylised falcon and it was affixed towards the aft section of the hulls.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Why we chose the design and her construction
Sokari is for sale
This Blog is for those people who are looking for a serious cruising boat. Sokari is a 12 metre Simpson cat (she's 24 feet wide and draws 3 feet)that was extended during construction by 450 mm and later another 900 mm was added to her sterns making her just under 13.5 metres. We’d been told by boat builders that increasing her length would increase her speed. We found this to be true when crossing the Gulf of Carpentaria in similar conditions to the previous trip before we’d added the extensions. We cut 6 hours off the trip.
Our main criteria when looking at designs was for a cat that had the ability of doing long range cruising in isolated areas. We originally wanted to just cruise the Top End of Australia, but we were so happy with her performance that we started branching out into Asia.
We wanted a designer who was professionally trained and who knew what he was doing. We believe that Roger filled that need and that he designed a safe sailing boat for families. He told us once “Don’t tell me what speed you’re doing. Just tell me you’re enjoying yourselves”. We got exactly what we were looking for – a safe, fun and comfortable boat with a turn of speed (but we won’t tell Roger the last bit!)
With Roger Simpson’s blessing and help we changed the original narrow cabin top selecting the top from his 12.01 design. Although the 12.01 is a narrower boat, the top extended out over the hulls negating the need to bend as much when walking into the hulls and it also had a blister top. We stretched the top to fit Sokari’s extra width giving us a lot more interior space compared to other boats our size. This created a tiered deck but as we find that in the tropics we spend more time relaxing in the cockpit or inside the boat than out on deck in the hot sun, that concept is much more practical.
We built Sokari on the Sunshine Coast (S.E. Queensland) and launched her at Mooloolaba in 1993.
We changed the rudders during construction deleting the skeg hung rudders for large balanced spades; these have worked out just fine giving good turning ability at low speed.
In consultation with Roger we also opted to put a 55 foot mast on her for light air sailing. We figured we could always reduce sail if necessary but it’s not so easy to increase the height of a shorter mast.
We put Kubota D850 diesel motors in because they are one of the more common motors around the world and parts can be obtained easily. Marine motors can be expensive to repair and parts hard to obtain in out of the way places. Also by placing heat exchangers on these motors they run in a less corrosive environment. We also chose these motors because low hour replacements out of Japan (they change them at around 500 hours which is like new for a diesel) can be bought cheaply. We recently replaced our two for $3,000 delivered to Cairns.
The choice of shaft drive was for a similar reason - easily worked on. The shafts on Sokari are in fibreglass tubes with a foam core fin joining them to the hull. This gives them good protection against being hit in the water and they can also be greased easily.
Fixed blade propellers are cheaper in the long run and don’t have so many ongoing problems.
The hulls are made of sandwich construction Klegacell with a layup of 225 csm, 600 biaxial and 225 csm on the outside. The inside layup is 225csm and 600 biaxial .
The wing deck and superstructure is ply glassed over and all corners are reinforced. The bows were also reinforced with extra layers of glass.
The usual collision bulkhead was placed in each bow but here again we changed things and also placed a horizontal bulkhead in the collision area for extra strength.
When constructing the bulkheads we added an extra 25 x 100mm solid timber beam (no joins) running from the doorway in one hull across the wing deck to the doorway in the other hull.
She has two super-kingsize beds and two singles, in four cabins. Her roomy interior was built for her tall owner (6'7"). There is a designated chart table in the saloon in the nav. station. A bathroom with shower, instantaneous gas hot water service, toilet and handbasin is in the port hull with access via either of two staircases into the hull. We have found her to be a comfortable and safe cruising boat no matter where we have been or how rough the conditions are. She handles all conditions well. A second toilet is in the starboard hull ahead of the owner's cabin. She is fitted with a 60 litre Trailblazer fridge which we have found very reliable; 5 solar panels - 2 x 75's and 3 x 40's.
She carries 2 x 125 litre diesel tanks under the cockpit sole, easily accessed through a large opening hatch above them. She carries just under 500 litres of water in the aft half of the keels with the potential to carry more forward if wished. However, we preferred to keep the weight down and rarely did this.
There are 4 large lockers in the fore deck. One deck locker is used for gas, holding 2 x 9 kilo bottles with room for extras. This drains overboard as per regulations.
All the changes we have made have been with experience of having two other yachts and after consultation with many other people who had cruised in similar cats. Advice was sought from many people including pro boat builders.
When launched she floated 25mm above her DWL (design water line) which meant that she was below her design weight of 5.5 tons empty.
We believe in safe cruising and looking after your boat as it will then look after you.
We have spent years sorting out what works and what doesn’t. When we get back into cruising it will be with a modified version of the same boat - a little bigger and a few different things. The design is good, and it is hard to find a good design
In 2002 I was ready to sail from Thailand to Europe and continue around the world but due to Rosemary’s medical problems we had to return to Australia for treatment.
If you're seriously interested in having a look,(not just a tyre kicker as we are very busy people and live hours away from the boat)please feel free to phone us on 0418 886 794 or 0427 855 838 or email us on svsokari@hotmail.com. If you are simply after information on boats or cruising and not interested in buying, you can still talk to us. Just let us know and we'll be happy to help if we can.
This Blog is for those people who are looking for a serious cruising boat. Sokari is a 12 metre Simpson cat (she's 24 feet wide and draws 3 feet)that was extended during construction by 450 mm and later another 900 mm was added to her sterns making her just under 13.5 metres. We’d been told by boat builders that increasing her length would increase her speed. We found this to be true when crossing the Gulf of Carpentaria in similar conditions to the previous trip before we’d added the extensions. We cut 6 hours off the trip.
Our main criteria when looking at designs was for a cat that had the ability of doing long range cruising in isolated areas. We originally wanted to just cruise the Top End of Australia, but we were so happy with her performance that we started branching out into Asia.
We wanted a designer who was professionally trained and who knew what he was doing. We believe that Roger filled that need and that he designed a safe sailing boat for families. He told us once “Don’t tell me what speed you’re doing. Just tell me you’re enjoying yourselves”. We got exactly what we were looking for – a safe, fun and comfortable boat with a turn of speed (but we won’t tell Roger the last bit!)
With Roger Simpson’s blessing and help we changed the original narrow cabin top selecting the top from his 12.01 design. Although the 12.01 is a narrower boat, the top extended out over the hulls negating the need to bend as much when walking into the hulls and it also had a blister top. We stretched the top to fit Sokari’s extra width giving us a lot more interior space compared to other boats our size. This created a tiered deck but as we find that in the tropics we spend more time relaxing in the cockpit or inside the boat than out on deck in the hot sun, that concept is much more practical.
We built Sokari on the Sunshine Coast (S.E. Queensland) and launched her at Mooloolaba in 1993.
We changed the rudders during construction deleting the skeg hung rudders for large balanced spades; these have worked out just fine giving good turning ability at low speed.
In consultation with Roger we also opted to put a 55 foot mast on her for light air sailing. We figured we could always reduce sail if necessary but it’s not so easy to increase the height of a shorter mast.
We put Kubota D850 diesel motors in because they are one of the more common motors around the world and parts can be obtained easily. Marine motors can be expensive to repair and parts hard to obtain in out of the way places. Also by placing heat exchangers on these motors they run in a less corrosive environment. We also chose these motors because low hour replacements out of Japan (they change them at around 500 hours which is like new for a diesel) can be bought cheaply. We recently replaced our two for $3,000 delivered to Cairns.
The choice of shaft drive was for a similar reason - easily worked on. The shafts on Sokari are in fibreglass tubes with a foam core fin joining them to the hull. This gives them good protection against being hit in the water and they can also be greased easily.
Fixed blade propellers are cheaper in the long run and don’t have so many ongoing problems.
The hulls are made of sandwich construction Klegacell with a layup of 225 csm, 600 biaxial and 225 csm on the outside. The inside layup is 225csm and 600 biaxial .
The wing deck and superstructure is ply glassed over and all corners are reinforced. The bows were also reinforced with extra layers of glass.
The usual collision bulkhead was placed in each bow but here again we changed things and also placed a horizontal bulkhead in the collision area for extra strength.
When constructing the bulkheads we added an extra 25 x 100mm solid timber beam (no joins) running from the doorway in one hull across the wing deck to the doorway in the other hull.
She has two super-kingsize beds and two singles, in four cabins. Her roomy interior was built for her tall owner (6'7"). There is a designated chart table in the saloon in the nav. station. A bathroom with shower, instantaneous gas hot water service, toilet and handbasin is in the port hull with access via either of two staircases into the hull. We have found her to be a comfortable and safe cruising boat no matter where we have been or how rough the conditions are. She handles all conditions well. A second toilet is in the starboard hull ahead of the owner's cabin. She is fitted with a 60 litre Trailblazer fridge which we have found very reliable; 5 solar panels - 2 x 75's and 3 x 40's.
She carries 2 x 125 litre diesel tanks under the cockpit sole, easily accessed through a large opening hatch above them. She carries just under 500 litres of water in the aft half of the keels with the potential to carry more forward if wished. However, we preferred to keep the weight down and rarely did this.
There are 4 large lockers in the fore deck. One deck locker is used for gas, holding 2 x 9 kilo bottles with room for extras. This drains overboard as per regulations.
All the changes we have made have been with experience of having two other yachts and after consultation with many other people who had cruised in similar cats. Advice was sought from many people including pro boat builders.
When launched she floated 25mm above her DWL (design water line) which meant that she was below her design weight of 5.5 tons empty.
We believe in safe cruising and looking after your boat as it will then look after you.
We have spent years sorting out what works and what doesn’t. When we get back into cruising it will be with a modified version of the same boat - a little bigger and a few different things. The design is good, and it is hard to find a good design
In 2002 I was ready to sail from Thailand to Europe and continue around the world but due to Rosemary’s medical problems we had to return to Australia for treatment.
If you're seriously interested in having a look,(not just a tyre kicker as we are very busy people and live hours away from the boat)please feel free to phone us on 0418 886 794 or 0427 855 838 or email us on svsokari@hotmail.com. If you are simply after information on boats or cruising and not interested in buying, you can still talk to us. Just let us know and we'll be happy to help if we can.
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