via Facebook http://ift.tt/2lSSsQ3 David Coon
Tuesday, February 28, 2017
Sunday, February 26, 2017
We have an announcement!
It's A Boat!
NAME: SV Harmony
DATE: 2007
WEIGHT: 10,800 kg (11.9 tons)
LENGTH: 16.5 meters (54 feet)
Proud Owners: David and Angela
After more than eleven months of looking we finally found our dream boat! We had agreed on a catamaran several years ago, but finding the perfect one took awhile because we were really focused on balancing performance, comfort, and price. To find the right boat, as is typical for him, David had long lists of must haves and trade offs, computer scripts that scraped internet web sites every day, interactive graphs, and dozens of spreadsheets. Angela had three basic criteria: under 40 feet, located in the United States, and ready to live-aboard with little refitting required before cruising. How we ended up with a 54 foot boat in South Africa that needs work is a long story, but suffice it to say we are both very happy with how things turned out.
A few specifications on Harmony, a Schionning designed Wilderness 1650 built in Knysna, South Africa:
| LOA | 16.5 meters |
| BOA | 8.5 meters |
| DRAFT | 0.56 meters |
| HEADROOM (Hulls) | 1.97 meters |
| HEADROOM (Bridgedeck) | 2.04 meters |
| MAST HEIGHT | 19.5 meters |
| SAIL AREA (Main + Headsail) | 143 square meters |
| PAYLOAD | 2,200 kg |
| DISPLACEMENT | 10,800 kg |
| BRIDGEDECK CLEARANCE | 0.925 meters |
| BEAM TO LENGTH RATIO | 13:1 |
| FUEL CAPACITY | 400 liters |
| WATER CAPACITY | 600 liters |
| MOTOR | 2x 40hp Yanmar Diesels |
| CRUISING SPEED | 10 - 12 knots |
| TOP SPEED | 20+ knots |
She is an owner's version with three cabins (plenty of room for guests!) and two heads. Here's a look at the layout:
Exterior
If you look closely you can see that the windows need to be replaced. One of the many items currently on the "to do" list. The trampolines are also missing. We do have them - they just need to be re-installed. I vote for sooner rather than later since I recently slipped on the deck while it was raining and had visions of sliding into the lagoon.
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| Helm Station |
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| Tons of Seating |
Interior
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| Galley |
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| Nav Desk |
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| Coffee Bar...Just Add Water! |
We have dubbed this area the coffee bar. But with an outlet, a blender and a pass thru window to the cockpit, I think once we hit the tropics this might just become known as the adult blended beverage bar.
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| Port Hull |
Down Below
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| Master Bed |
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| Washer Dryer |
I was so not expecting this...a combination washing machine/ dryer? At first I thought this was completely ridiculous. Even though we have a water maker and David is an expert at power management, I really thought this was a bit much. I had accepted the fact that I would be doing laundry with a plunger (specially designated for this purpose - I had already warned David that he had better not commandeer my laundry plunger for ANY other purpose) and a bucket. But I've slowly come around on this one.
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| Yanmar 3JH4E 40HP |
The Geeky Stuff
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| Fischer Panda 4kW Genset |
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| Spectra Watermaker |
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| Thermostat and Fuel Filter Lines |
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| Wires Everywhere! |
That's it. Hope you enjoyed the tour!
Sunday, February 19, 2017
First Impressions of Africa
We've been in South Africa for about three weeks now. We have only seen a tiny part of the country and have not been spending our time as typical tourists or visitors, but from what we have experienced so far it is an incredible place. Most tourists in South Africa come in search of the Big Five: lions, elephants, rhinos, cape buffalo and leopards. Our goal is to get the boat ready for us to live aboard, so our big five are: no mold, running water, flushing toilets, working lights, and clean sheets. We've got three of the five, so it won't be long before we are live aboards.
Our days are mostly spent on the boat (cleaning, diagnosing, fixing, organizing) or shopping (parts, groceries, things for the galley). Our first two weeks we didn't have a car, so we did a lot of walking. It's about a mile walk to the grocery store. So between not having a large kitchen and not wanting to carry a lot home, the grocery store became a daily habit. At times I thought if we spent as much time working on the boat as we did grocery shopping, we would be done by now.
Knysna, the town we are in is absolutely lovely, although a bit touristy. The boat is on Thesen Island, which David describes as a cross between Martha's Vineyard and Southampton (or La Jolla for the West coasters). The Knysna Lagoon is a large, protected lagoon surrounded by lush green mountains. The open wetland is teeming with wildlife. It's home to dozens of birds and an endangered sea horse, called the Knysna Sea Horse, which only lives on the south coast of South Africa. We haven't seen one yet but look every time we walk the docks at low tide. We have seen several starfish and many schools of fish.
The food is excellent. One restaurant had Zebra on the menu but otherwise it's mostly what you'd find in Europe. American brands are expensive but Coke and Oreos are the same. We're on the shore so there's lots of fresh seafood. Within walking distance there's an amazing fish market/restaurant, a chic bar with gourmet flatbreads and half price sushi specials, and a wonderful bakery with fresh bread and Rooibos cappuccinos. We definitely won't starve here.
Prices are strange. The dollar is strong so most things are cheap. Lunch and dinner out typically costs $4-7 USD. We celebrated purchasing the boat with a fancy meal for two with wine and dessert that cost around $40. A loaf of bread is 50 cents. We hired a wonderful local named George to help us work on the boat for less than $20 USD per day. But anything imported is expensive, sometimes double or more. Tools are outrageously expensive. And forget the Dyson vacuum we lusted after.
The one thing that has made the biggest impression on us so far are the people. The people here are wonderful, very welcoming and kind. There are so many examples and anecdotes we could share to prove this point. During our first week here we were shopping for a wet/dry vacuum (who does that their first week in Africa? - I told you we aren't typical tourists!) The store only had one and it wasn't quite what we were looking for so we asked the saleswoman if she could recommend another store. She could clearly tell that we weren't familiar with the store she named and said "follow me". She proceeded to walk us across the parking lot and down the street a bit to the store she recommended. Can you imagine a Best Buy employee doing the same? All retail employees we have encountered are super helpful and friendly. When you ask for a product, the answer is always, "follow me", never a dismissive "aisle 3".
In all, we really have accomplished a lot in three weeks. David is now conditioned to get in the right side of the car and to drive on the left. We are old pros at the grocery, always getting our produce tagged and weighed before going to the cashier. We found the laundry and discovered that ordering things online from Cape Town can be just as fast or sometimes even faster than Amazon Prime in the States. We are getting faster at translating from Rand to Dollars and from Celsius to Fahrenheit (although the same can not be said for translating from Afrikaans to English.) But most importantly, even though we are just at the beginning of this great adventure and we have no idea where it might lead, we have already made new friends and lasting memories.
First Look at sv Harmony
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| Knysna Lagoon |
The food is excellent. One restaurant had Zebra on the menu but otherwise it's mostly what you'd find in Europe. American brands are expensive but Coke and Oreos are the same. We're on the shore so there's lots of fresh seafood. Within walking distance there's an amazing fish market/restaurant, a chic bar with gourmet flatbreads and half price sushi specials, and a wonderful bakery with fresh bread and Rooibos cappuccinos. We definitely won't starve here.
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| Our Hood |
The one thing that has made the biggest impression on us so far are the people. The people here are wonderful, very welcoming and kind. There are so many examples and anecdotes we could share to prove this point. During our first week here we were shopping for a wet/dry vacuum (who does that their first week in Africa? - I told you we aren't typical tourists!) The store only had one and it wasn't quite what we were looking for so we asked the saleswoman if she could recommend another store. She could clearly tell that we weren't familiar with the store she named and said "follow me". She proceeded to walk us across the parking lot and down the street a bit to the store she recommended. Can you imagine a Best Buy employee doing the same? All retail employees we have encountered are super helpful and friendly. When you ask for a product, the answer is always, "follow me", never a dismissive "aisle 3".
In all, we really have accomplished a lot in three weeks. David is now conditioned to get in the right side of the car and to drive on the left. We are old pros at the grocery, always getting our produce tagged and weighed before going to the cashier. We found the laundry and discovered that ordering things online from Cape Town can be just as fast or sometimes even faster than Amazon Prime in the States. We are getting faster at translating from Rand to Dollars and from Celsius to Fahrenheit (although the same can not be said for translating from Afrikaans to English.) But most importantly, even though we are just at the beginning of this great adventure and we have no idea where it might lead, we have already made new friends and lasting memories.
Tuesday, February 14, 2017
Happy Valentines dinner at the beach shack. Wishing everyone love and happiness.
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Saturday, February 11, 2017
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