Follow the sailing adventures of the cruising yacht NAHANI
Nahani is a "one-off" 42' steel yacht which her creators, Steve and Chrissy Edwards, named a "Cape Jervis 42". She is a cutter-rigged sloop, with a rear cockpit part covered by a doghouse. She has a square transom and a stern-hung rudder, and a long keel.
Registered Australian Ship number: 856488 Registered port: Fremantle
Howard Peachey supplied the hull design - a frameless steel hull with two chines. Steel plate is 8mm on the bottom, 6mm between chines and 5mm on the sides.
Roller furled headsail about 110%. Hank on staysail. Main with 3 reef points. MPS rigged on retractable bowsprit. Headsail controlled with barberhauls so no jib tracks. [Top]
Deck, doghouse and cockpit are constructed of 3 layers of marine ply, glassed and painted. Decks are finished in industrial non-skid. Hull and decks are cream, cockpit interior white.
Industrial strength stanchions fore and aft finish at the bow in a pulpit with a seat, and in a "jungle gym" at the stern, with a dinghy on davits projecting behind.
From the cockpit, you enter the main saloon via a steep 5 step companionway. As you stand at the foot of the companionway, the galley is on the port side and the big nav station on the starboard side (designed to be used standing). Beyond that is the saloon area, containing four sea berths (two each side) and a large table made from an old piece of swamp kauri which was once the top of a sea chest.
Further for'ard a door leads to the main cabin. It has a big double bunk on the port side, masses of storage under the bunk, along the starboard side and across the boat behind the bulkhead that separates the interior from the anchor locker.
Turn to face aft, and you see two more doors on either side of the companionway, leading back aft. On the starboard side the door opens into the head, and beyond that a utility and storage area known as "the shed". On the port side, the door opens into a guest cabin, with another large double berth.
Notable features of the interior are the headroom (about 6'6"), the warmth created by a variety of recycled timber - oregon for structural items, cedar wall panelling and tasmanian oak floors - and navy upholstery, all lightened by cream walls and ceiling.
From the deck you can access the capacious anchor/sail locker in the bow, and the even more capacious lazarette across the stern.
The engine (a 110hp Yanmar turbo diesel with intercooler), lives behind the companionway steps (removable for access), with inspection ports from both the shed and the guest cabin. [Top]
We acquired a beautiful, well-laid out, strongly-constructed boat when we bought Nahani. But as any boat owner will tell you, there is always something to spend more money on: they say that BOAT stands for "Bring Out Another Thousand". Most of our money has been spent on technology, which the captain loves, and which also makes it easier for a couple of sexagenarians to sail the boat two up. Roughly in chronological order, we have:
The only major modification to the sailing fundamentals was having the boom shortened and the mainsail accordingly reduced in size. The main gain was that the boom no longer reaches into the cockpit, making it safe to stand up to adjust the mainsheet and traveller even when the boat is at risk of a jibe. It also makes the boat more manageable under full sail. More minor changes recommended by the surveyor when we bought Nahani were the replacement of the original lifelines and jacklines, both of which were made of plastic covered wire. The lifelines are now stainless wire. In the case of the jacklines we initially put in spectra lines, but subsequently replaced them with Wichard jacklines - flat tapes which are safer if you walk on them, and which also have a luminous strip for night visibility.