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.