Jonny and Kate's Sailing Adventures

Once the decision is made that your choice in life is to cast off lines and do something many dream of but only a handful of people do, the biggest choice to make (in our opinion) is the right boat to take you on this trip.

The boat will be your home, and provide safety and comfort along the way. For most people it will also be a significant investment financially, so it needs to be perfect for you.

We started the 'hunt' in summer 2006. By October we have narrowed our choices down considerably, and it took until late November 2006 to find the right boat.

Well, Newtsville, a crazy name (but that sort of fits with me and Kate !)

She is a Colvic Countess 37, her hull was ordered in 1992 and she was fitted out by a master shipwrights and finally commissioned in summer 1996. She is in her third ownership.

She is a centre cockpit cruiser, with a semi-long keel and a skeg hung rudder.

 She is 37 foot in length, with a healthy 13 foot beam and 9 ton displacement! The decks are teak, and she is cutter rigged (with twin headsails and a sole aluminium mast supporting a fully battened mainsail). Below deaks she has been fitted out impeccably! There is a large double cabin forward with en-suite and volumous storage, moving aft there is the saloon, with seating to port and a table, and an arm chair (!) to starboard with futher storage. There is a 'U' shaped galley to starboard which is immediately at the foot of the companion way. To port of the companion way is the navigation station, with a pilot berth running behing that to the aft cabin. The aft cabin has (again) more storage than we have ever seen, with a double berth running athwartships across the back of the boat, and a huge ensuite heads on the starboard side!

It's taken a while to find a layout plan of Newtsville. As most Countess's were home completed all vary slightly. After a bit of photo-shopping I've managed to do my best to try and demonstrate her layout:

It's best to come and find us and look for yourselves!!  

We signed all the papers, and the bank transfered the money, and as of 15th December 2006 she is officially ours .

We've loads of pics - but won't clog the site with them just yet, but we couldn't resist so here's a couple ....

Despite her being in pretty good overall shape there are a number of areas we have improved and additional equipment we have bought. We have detailed all this in our journal as we've gone along, but here's a brief summary of the work we've done to Newtsville:

• Installed new chartplotter and radar (Raymarine C70)
• Installed new DSC VHF unit (Standard Horizon GX1500E), with remote mic in the cockpit
• Made new instrument panel for the nav station
• Cleaned the boat top to bottom (bilges to headlining - literally!)
• All sails valeted and serviced
• Sail covers and sprayhood cleaned
• Tender cleaned
• Outboard serviced
• Liferaft serviced and repacked into a cannister before being mounted on the stern in a new bracket
• Safety equipment; new fire extinguishers, throw lines, horseshoe bouys, spot lights, flares, fire blankets and buckets!
• More fenders and warps bought to protect her
• Decks cleaned to remove 12 months of Hamble grime!
• New batteries (Lifeline AGM's for domestic bank and Numax for engine starting)
• New wiring for batteries and DC distribution panel
• New DC panel fitted
• 12v sockets fitted
• New battery switches and split charge relay system
• Main battery fuse installed
• Battery monitor and shunt fitted
• New wind generator bought and fitted on a custom made mounting bracket
• Solar panel bought and fitted
• Regulator for wind generator and solar panel installed
• Engine hours counter fitted
• Spare VHF aerial fitted to stern
• SSB radio (Icom M802 with AT140 tuner) installed
• Ground plate for the SSB installed, and 8 metre fibreglass whip aerial installed on trasom
• Pactor modem for SSB fitted
• New FM Radio with CD player and iPod connection fitted
• Raymarine Liftags installed
• New cushion made for the aft cabin
• New curtains made for the aft cabin
• Aft cabin door replaced with a curtain
• All cushions steamcleaned
• Cushions recovered
• Fitted sheets made for all bunk cushions
• Webasto heating serviced and repaired
• Hydrovane self steering system fitted
• Anodes replaced
• Seacocks serviced / replaced where necessary
• New ASU holding plate fridge system fitted
• Hand operated drinking water tap fitted including 5 litre drinking water tank
• Pumps replaced on both heads
• Fuel transfer pump replaced
• Bilge pumps replaced
• Engine serviced
• New anchors (Rocna 20 and Guardian G37) bought
• EPIRB bought (GME MT403G)
• Additional shelves installed in many cupboards
• Storage units fitted to both heads compartments
• LED cabin lights installed with additional lighting above pilot berth
• New red LED lights installed above galley and chart table
• Steering system serviced and overhauled
• GPS repeater installed in cockpit
• New paddlewheel on log
• New masthead unit on wind instruments
• Radar reflector fitted (Echomax 230BR)
• Quick Rider 1000W 12v Windlass fitted with 50mm2 cables, two foot switches and an 80amp thermal breaker
• 12v Supply installed for the dedicated navigation / SSB laptop
• Canvas covers made for the outboard, all hatches, winches and rope bags
• Flyscreens made for all hatches (including companion way)
• Cockpit cushions made and covered in waterproof canvas
• Thorough spares inventory compiled and documented
• LED replacement lamps installed in anchor light and tricolour

I think that was just about all (so far!) a few more bits to go (fitting mast steps) but I think we're nearly there  I am very aware however that this has been a refit, and by now means a finite preparation - things will need doing along the way and things will break, but this is all part of the cruising lifestyle we're signing up for. Doing the above ourselves has really built our knowledge of the boat and its systems, we really are becoming a jack of all trades!

An important consideration for any boat is displacement - too heavy and it will sail very slowly, too light and it won't cope with rough weather. Taking advice from many, we have decided to go for a moderate displacement vessel.  We found the following website useful in enabling us to compare the ratios for displacement - here.

We looked at a variety of boats meeting our criteria and graphed them as follows:

For a larger image click here