Arctic- what 40-45' yacht?

Tintin

Tintin

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Hi everyone,

I am toying with the idea of spending a few years doing sail-ski and sail-trek trips in Norway and Svalbard.

Ideally I am after a yacht between 40 and 45 foot, with twin aft cabins.

I have been looking at the Ovni 43 and 435, but so few come up for sale that thoughts turn to GRP boats.

Any suggestions or thoughts most welcome.

Thanks
 
Quiddle said:
How many do you need to be for sale?
https://www.yachtworld.co.uk/boats/category/type/Alubat/OVNI+435

Ovni 395s were on my long list for my next boat but they are sloooow, too slow for me despite their other attributes. An aged Rassy/Malo etc. would be preferable.
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Sadly 2 are under offer, and none of the others is insulated, which is a criteria for me. I hear it is a long hard job to insulate an Onvi after build.

Gonna have a look at Rassy and Malo - thanks for the suggestion.
 
A fantastic plan, I can suggest sources of advice.. Andy Schell of 59 degrees North Sailing is doing what you envisage, and is very helpful with advice. 2 GRP Swans.
Worth an email, and a listen to his podcasts, On The Wind, for inspiration. Including a Bob Shepton interview, who used a Westerly..

A guy who crewed for me shares your ambitions, he discovered some issues with the Norwegians about what skipper's tickets they want you to have ( he's American though), that might be worth checking. Especially with the Sysselman.

Michael Schneider is doing it on a custom expedition boat, Alu, called Qilak, he's a very helpful guy as well.
 
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It might help if you gave us an idea of budget. Things can get expensive quite quickly. I like the look of the Boreal 44 but don’t know if it has twin aft cabins. I also have a thing for Bestevaers - there’s one in our marina that has been to Greenland. But they’re both spectacularly outside of my budget.
 
For the kind of trips you hope to make, my first requirement would be a pilot house or deck saloon. Not having to sit outside in the cold makes a huge difference.
I experienced this when I crewed on a yacht built for the arctic on a delivery to Nova Scotia from the Azores. That was an aluminium Dick Koopmans design, the boat has travelled to Svalbard, Greenland and an attempt at the Northwest Passage. The pilot house is an absolute boon for that kind of voyages.
I think you would be well advised to look around in the Netherlands, there are quite a number of sturdy aluminium and steel boats over there.
 
Re Ohlin's mention of Qilak above, here is a copy of a post I made last month on a thread on the Boat Design Forum about expedition yachts in high latitudes.
I said :
Here is an excellent write up about another aluminium almost bullet proof yacht designed for high latitudes cruising -
Qilak: The super-rugged yacht built for fast high latitudes cruising https://www.yachtingworld.com/extraordinary-boats/qilak-fast-high-latitudes-cruising-121332

This is what her Builders have to say about her -
KM YachtbuildersQilak • KM Yachtbuilders http://www.kmy.nl/yachts/qilak/

And her Designer, Owen Clarke -
20m Custom Aluminium High Latitude Explorer and Blue Water Cruising Yacht : Owen Clarke Design - Yacht Design and Naval Architects https://www.owenclarkedesign.com/20m-high-latitude-explorer-and-blue-water-cruisi

A quote from the YW article -

"Crouched in Qilak’s excellent and spotlessly clean engine room, Carlier explains the fuel system which is supplied by four separate diesel tanks which can be linked together, isolated or paired up in any combination. They feed a 200lt ‘day’ tank warmed by the fuel return lines from both the main engine and the generator. In very cold conditions heat is needed to avoid increased viscosity and ‘waxing'".

They also mention that:
"The machinery is cooled using a heat exchange system relying on a large reservoir of glycol stored in two 400lt tanks set in the bottom of the hull. They are located well aft where there is less threat to their integrity in the event of a collision.
The same glycol that circulates around the machinery is used in a multi-radiator central heating system running throughout the yacht making for extremely comfortable conditions below."

I added this comment :
An effective way of heating the yacht would be a priority in high latitudes, and they appear to have found an excellent way of doing this with the glycol heat exchanger. An outboard engine (or two), even if they are diesel, are going to be hard pressed to compete with a system like this.

My post is #82; the thread started a year ago with a chap asking about the viability of having an outboard engine on a yacht going to the Arctic.
Here is the thread -
https://www.boatdesign.net/threads/engine-for-antarctica.61029/

I had also submitted an earlier post (#64) mentioning the high latitude expedition vessel Seal.

Seal - 56' High Latitude Exploration Yacht https://www.edjoydesign.com/seal/

For more info about Seal, have a look at her Owners' website -
Expedition Sail -- charter yacht Seal in Alaska, Antarctica & South Georgia
https://www.expeditionsail.com/

I appreciate that the vessels mentioned above are considerably larger than the OP's requirement of 40' - 45' in length, but I think they do illustrate fairly well that the way many people seem to go for high latitudes sailing of this nature is with aluminium or steel.
 
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The west coast of Norway and Bear Island are ice free in summer. The west coast of Svalbard is ice free, other than a few bergy bits in the fjords, and is in continual daylight in summer. For these parts, any seaworthy wood or GRP boat will do fine.

I have no idea why people talk about exploration yachts; all the exploring has been done. Likewise expedition yachts. People are just cruising like anywhere else.
 
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Minn said:
I have no idea why people talk about exploration yachts; all the exploring has been done. Likewise expedition yachts. People are just cruising like anywhere else.
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+1

Except heating would b mandatory.

I do wonder how many of these, 'well' built, aluminium or steel yachts are actually used in locations where a seaworthy GRP yacht would, or could, not venture.

Jonathan
 
For further information google 'Chris Bray' and 'Teleport' and find more detail on the NW Passage that Chris and his partner (now wife) completed some time ago.

For those old enough - Chris is the son of Andrew Bray (Aussie Bray) (to distinguish him from the other Andrew Bray) who wrote for Yachting World in the 80's (not sure of timing) of his circumnavigation with wife and 2 children (one being Chris). Andrew's yacht was 'Starship' and Chris' (keeping in theme) 'Teleport'.

Andrew still has Starship (or did until very recently) - she is moored not far from Josepheline (just out of sight).

Jonathan
 
Minn said:
The west coast of Norway and Bear Island are ice free in summer. The west coast of Svalbard is ice free, other than a few bergy bits in the fjords, and is in continual daylight in summer. For these parts, any seaworthy wood or GRP boat will do fine.

I have no idea why people talk about exploration yachts; all the exploring has been done. Likewise expedition yachts. People are just cruising like anywhere else.
Click to expand...

My thoughts exactly for what I want to do - hence looking at production GRP boats.

A pilot or deck house seems a necessity to me, echoed above by others.

Do you think a Jeanneau 43ds would cut it? I have sailed one in the med ages ago and liked it for that.
 


I think a dodger might be nice. But not really essential. The trouble with deckhouses is that sooner or later the sea takes a smack at them. The weather in the Arctic High can be quite nice but it can be rather bouncy getting there and getting back.

I like this a lot:

 
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What a great photo, Minn.
EDIT: You've added a photo! For clarity, I was referring to the first photo.
 
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