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.

We really like the size of the cockpit. It is much bigger than that of the other boats we considered. One of our nice to haves was seating for two at the helm so we could sit together and enjoy the view as we travelled. Check!

Helm Station

Tons of Seating

It needs some paint but otherwise is comfortable and safe. The perfect cockpit for us.

Interior

We really like the spaciousness of the saloon, galley and navigation station.

Galley

Nav Desk

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.

Port Hull

Down Below

We are so happy with the amount of storage on this boat. This is the pantry/vanity area between the cabin and head in the owner's hull. Right now I feel like there is no way I will fill all these lockers, shelves and cubby areas. But I'm sure I will feel differently once we stock up on spare parts and tools, not to mention provisioning for passages with a full crew.

Master Bed

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.

Yanmar 3JH4E 40HP

The Geeky Stuff

If you have stuck around this long, you must be a boat geek. I'll leave you with a few photos to peak your interest. David has promised some ultra geeky highly technical posts, so stay tuned.

Fischer Panda 4kW Genset

Spectra Watermaker

Thermostat and Fuel Filter Lines

Wires Everywhere!

That's it. Hope you enjoyed the tour!