This is the fourth segment of Scott and Mary Flanders' discussion of a new offshore cruising design that they hoped to launch next year in time for a Scandinavian cruise. To see their previous post of this series: http://bit.ly/Adventure_Design_3. But unfortunately, they have some news that impacts the project —BillP.
The Lightspeed 41 Adventure Series project has hit a reef. If I wrote this from Labrador it would be a sunker, or from the South Pacific, a boomie. All have the same conclusion...the project requires someone with a little more financial horsepower. We wrote the boat had to be CAPABLE, SAFE, AND AFFORDABLE. When we wrote those words, we meant affordable for us and in our heart of hearts it was. However, it isn’t.
The project needs a small group of like-minded people interested in adventure boating to bring the project to life; from completing the drawings, then building a towable model, constructing tooling to maximize efficiency of the build, and on to production. It is now clear it is beyond the scope of what we can do alone. If others express interest, and a few step forward with the resources to move this forward, we will enthusiastically continue down this path. If you are one of those interested in developing this new kind of adventure motorboat, please contact Jim Gardiner at 252.402.8810, otseg@aol.com, or visit www.compmillennia.com.—Scott and Mary Flanders
This is the last of four initial design and design concept postings. Following this posting will be a summary conclusion of all four. After the conclusion we will begin the real-time tuning of the final design, building a model to water test to prove or improve the bottom design and also to prove the weights and balance calculations. Construction will follow soon after.
In the last posting we discussed the forward portion of the boat and now we move on to the aft end. The overall length of the engine and gear, including enough service access room between the front of the engine and the bulkhead, dictates the transom-to-house bulkhead dimensions. Once again, we wanted the house as far aft as possible for the best ride at sea, and set as low in the hull as possible for the most stability.
Once the ends were established we could design the interior. To achieve the most efficient interior volume it made sense to offset the saloon door to starboard and the companionway to down below to port. The galley is to starboard and an L-shaped settee and table is to port. The settee slides out to make a double berth for occasional guests. The L-portions will also sleep a grandchild and, of course, that makes Mary very happy. Down below is a centerline shower and head compartment, and a closet with storage to starboard. The queen berth is forward of those.
The walkway between the saloon door and companionway entrance is diagonal across the cabin so we offset the second helm chair to starboard. Because comfort at sea is paramount, we chose military grade, shock-mounted helm chairs for running at speed through chop or well-spaced swells. The helm chairs and shock-mounted bases will be mounted on a raised box that is a design portion of the galley area.
The systems are simple beyond simple. She is a 12-volt boat with a small inverter for charging laptops, camera batteries, and so on. U.S. or E.U. shore power will run though a panel to a 56/60 cycle battery charger and to the hot water heater element. That’s it for AC voltage. The 450hp diesel is plumbed with a hot water loop to flow through a hot water heater along with a bus heater for cooler cruising areas. We have two 6-volt AGM batteries providing 300 amps for the house bank capacity and a Group 31 AGM starting battery. Interior lighting is LED, as is the tri-color combination running and anchor light. On the cabin top are two 265-watt solar panels. Forward is a small watermaker, a head intake pump, saltwater washdown pump and a water jet pump for the bow thruster. Two individual sea chests feed the raw water requirements, one in the forward area and one in the engine room. The only thru hulls in the bottom are for the head and sink outlets. Fuel tankage is 500 gallons of diesel and 60 gallons of water. It couldn’t be simpler and that was our goal from the beginning.
The drawings put words into perspective. These were the four initial dimensional drawings. We have made changes since and there will be more fine-tuning, but the basic concept is what you see here. Note the very fine entry and high chine for absolute efficiency at sea and displacement speeds while coastal cruising.
Obviously, there are many details we haven’t mentioned and many more to be determined. Our goal is to begin sea trials May 2018 and be staged in southern Labrador for the crossing to Greenland no later than July 1st. From Greenland, the route takes us to Iceland, the Faeroe Islands, and on to Norway, wintering south of Oslo. In 2019, we are signed up for a cruising club cruise on the west coast of Sweden. We have no plans beyond there; however the possibilities could be great fun. Will she head back to Norway, more of Sweden or the Baltic, or all of the above over several years? Because of her low air draft and shallow bottom draft, the canals through Europe to the Mediterranean is another possibility. Isn’t it fun to dream, then turn those dreams into reality? What's even more fun is when the dreams are yours, not ours.
If you haven’t already guessed, her name will be Adventure. What else could it be?
Scott and Mary
