Circumnavigation - 1978 Broom Ocean 37 "Arthur" - Ireland

[oceanfroggie]

Forty year old Broom Ocean 37 "Arthur" skippered by a pal of mine Paul, has been circumnavigating Ireland this summer and is now nearing the end of his epic series of passages. This vessel is normally based on the Inland waterways of Ireland. What is particularly impressive is the passages have all been made at displacement speeds of 7-8kt which required detailed passage planning to fit into short weather windows, especially on the North and NW Atlantic coastline.

"Arthur" is due to arrive in Rossaveal in the next few hours having cruised anti-clockwise around the Irish coast since July. Only two more passage legs remaining to return Inland to Lough Derg on the River Shannon navigation.

Skipper Paul has posted updates on his facebook blog. Link below.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/TravelswithMYArthur/?ref=bookmarks

Status as it was back on August 8th when Arthur arrived at Killybegs to wait out Atlantic weather systems.

Its an epic achievement at displacement speeds.

 

[mersey]

Excellent, would be interested in a write up from them. Either here or in the Broom owners club magazine if they are members.

 

[oceanfroggie]

Excellent, would be interested in a write up from them. Either here or in the Broom owners club magazine if they are members.

I will pass it on. They arrived in Rossaveal this afternoon after a challenging six hour passage through an autumnal Atlantic swell.

 

[Montemar]

Excellent, would be interested in a write up from them. Either here or in the Broom owners club magazine if they are members.

Hear hear!
I suspect the BOC would be very interested as it is an epic trip.

 

[Greg2]

Well done to them!
Our second boat was an Ocean 37 - could cruise at circa 12 knots comfortably with the Perkins HT6354s. Any reason they stuck to displacement speeds? Economy perhaps?

 

[oceanfroggie]

Well done to them!
Our second boat was an Ocean 37 - could cruise at circa 12 knots comfortably with the Perkins HT6354s. Any reason they stuck to displacement speeds? Economy perhaps?

Hi Greg

I suspect 8kt is a self imposed limited due to the 40 year old engines. Over the years two Irish based Ocean 37s were lost at sea due to boat fires that were attributed to the same model of Perkins. In both cases ruptured lines spewing oil onto hot turbo was suspected as the cause. We were at the scene in the 2005 incident and this year unfortunately an acquaintance had a similar loss in July.

In both cases the crews were saved, 2005 without injury, this year one crew member had year minor burns as the fire spread so rapidly and they had to literally jump into the water to escape. A local fishing vessel picked them up. Arthur's crew would have know both skippers so were probably wise not to over stress the old Perkins with the benefit of experience and hence limit RPM to displacement speeds.

Noel

"Arthur" arrived safely in Rossaveal yesterday after a challenging passage before the next wave of Atlantic systems comes in. Only one passage leg remaining down to Loop Head to complete the circumnavigation when the next spell of good weather occurs.

Brooms really are built like bricks and can cruise anywhere. It is particularly impressive that this epic trip was made at only 7-8kts requiring long passages that had to fit into available daylight hours and weather windows.

Anybody interested in Paul's photo and video blog click on the FaceBook group link on the 1st post.

 

[kindredspirit]

Paul's Facebook blog is very interesting with his short videos.

 

[oceanfroggie]

Paul's Facebook blog is very interesting with his short videos.

Paul’s FaceBook group for his cruise blog:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/TravelswithMYArthur/?ref=bookmarks

 

[Greg2]

Ah, that makes sense Noel. I remember the first incident - I think the owners replaced it with an Ocean 37 that was for sale with Norfolk Yacht Agency

 

[oceanfroggie]

Ah, that makes sense Noel. I remember the first incident - I think the owners replaced it with an Ocean 37 that was for sale with Norfolk Yacht Agency

They did indeed and a very nice specimen "Norfolk Lady" was. I still get the heebeegeebees thinking about that incident. Luckily nothing went wrong during the rescue attempt.

 

[Greg2]

They did indeed and a very nice specimen "Norfolk Lady" was. I still get the heebeegeebees thinking about that incident. Luckily nothing went wrong during the rescue attempt.

We had looked at Norfolk Lady at NYA and remember reading about the incident shortly afterwards. Very good that everyone came out of it okay but stuff like that can be scary. Had an incident on our Fairline Targa 35 - ‘smoke’ billowing from the engine bay - a calm day so mates came alongside and all pax evacuated leaving me and my boy to deal with the situation. Thankfully the ‘smoke’ turned out to be steam - calorifier pipe had chafed through on the alternator (long story)!

 

[oceanfroggie]

Congratulations to the crew of ‘Arthur’ who this afternoon completed their epic coastal circumnavigation of Ireland.

In June skipper Paul Scannell set off from Portumna on the inland River Shannon on board a well maintained 40 year old Broom 37. The counter clockwise circumnavigation was achieved at displacement speed of 7kt, which was particularly impressive given the length of passage legs that were possible at this speed. Atlantic storms since early August hampered the last quarter of this epic adventure but finally this morning at 7am ‘MV Arthur’ set off from Rossaveal on the west coast, making passage through the Arran islands, past the cliffs of Moher, Loop head and into the mighty Shannon estuary to Kilrush creek marina.

This may have been the first circumnavigation by a displacement speed inland motor cruiser. Hats off to them for passage planning and weather management.

More info here on Paul’s Facebook blog https://www.facebook.com/groups/TravelswithMYArthur/?ref=bookmarks

Rounding Loop Head this afternoon.

Circumnavigation map. Counterclockwise.

Photo last July of Arthur off the South Coast of Ireland heading east.

 

[mersey]

In June skipper Paul Scannell set off from Portumna on the inland River Shannon on board a well maintained 40 year old Broom 37.

That's a Broom Ocean 37, not a Broom 37 which is a totally different boat, as shown below it is different to the Ocean 37.

This may have been the first circumnavigation by a displacement speed inland motor cruiser.

The Ocean 37, is not a 'displacement speed inland motor cruiser', it's a semi displacement vessel, which is more than capable of planing speeds. It also was not designed as an inland craft, the twin engines and planing capability indicate this.

 

[oceanfroggie]

That's a Broom Ocean 37, not a Broom 37 which is a totally different boat, as shown below it is different to the Ocean 37.

The Ocean 37, is not a 'displacement speed inland motor cruiser', it's a semi displacement vessel, which is more than capable of planing speeds. It also was not designed as an inland craft, the twin engines and planing capability indicate this.

Forgive I omitted “Ocean”. Correct the vessel is an older design the the 37 you posted. The larger 37 above is well capable of continuous planing speeds.

However the Broom Ocean 37 was not designed for nor capable of proper planing due to the small Perkins engines and especially the wide keel. Realistically even in their heyday they were rarely operated above 12kt limited to semi planing. With younger engines when pushed to WOT they would start to plane on their keel resulting in tilting and directional instability. Realistically 40 year old Perkins with high hours on this shape of hull are limited to displacement speeds of 7-8kts max. Old engines resulted in two Ocean 37s catching fire and sinking, one in 2005 (we rescued the crew) and another this summer 2018 (crew rescued by fishing vessel). The skipper of Arthur was wise to not over stress these 40 year old engines and IMHO correct to limit their load to displacement speeds. Proof was in the pudding, and successfully completing this long circumnavigation without mechanical problems.

 

[Firefly625]

well I think it looked a great trip and at the speed the owner was happy at it would have been lengthy and required planning and they did great. Thanks for posting Oceanfroggie

 

[Whopper]

Is that the general tone of response people receive when expressing an opinion on the Broom Owners Club?

Anyway not to take from what was a great achievement from Arthur and crew. Well done! No doubt this voyage and photo log will inspire other boats from the Irish waterways out into salty waters.

 

[Greg2]

Is that the general tone of response people receive when expressing an opinion on the Broom Owners Club?

Anyway not to take from what was a great achievement from Arthur and crew. Well done! No doubt this voyage and photo log will inspire other boats from the Irish waterways out into salty waters.

+1
Some reasonable points made but a tad sharp I thought.

Having previously owned an Ocean 37 some years ago with the Perkins I can say that she would do 17 knots flat out and cruise comfortably at around 12 knots. Any faster than those speeds and there would quite possibly be a problem with planing on the base of the keel - I discussed the same with Brooms and they were of the view that would be the case - in fact they had knowledge of it happening (the discussion was about boats with that hull being re-engined).

The Ocean 37 was built with coastal cruising and the inland waterways of Europe in mind so an eminently capable seaboat. I am guessing that Noel was referring the vessel in question having cruised predominantly inland but whatever is the case I think it is laudable that they took a vessel of that age on such a voyage. When a boat gets to that age the propensity for things to go wrong increases and to my mind not stressing the engines over many miles was probably a prudent move, particularly given that those engines are obsolete and parts can be a challenge.

 

[Cashbuyer]

That's a Broom Ocean 37, not a Broom 37 which is a totally different boat, as shown below it is different to the Ocean 37.

The Ocean 37, is not a 'displacement speed inland motor cruiser', it's a semi displacement vessel, which is more than capable of planing speeds. It also was not designed as an inland craft, the twin engines and planing capability indicate this.

Ooh. Get you. Who cares? It was a great achievement and an interesting post about Arthur’s travels

 

[oceanfroggie]

Tonight "Arthur" is at Foyne YC where the old transatlantic "clipper" flying boats were based during WW2. Due in Limerick tomorrow and then upstream climbing 102ft through the Ardnacrusha hydro electric dam lock to the non-tidal inland River Shannon, and on to Killaloe at the base of Lough Derg for mid afternoon.

Foynes YC half way up Shannon Estuary

 

[Wavey]

I have very fond memories of the Ocean 37. It's the boat I learnt most of my navigation and seamanship skills on while crewing for an owner who would otherwise have been single-handed (his wife hated boats!). We did numerous trips from Penton Hook on the Thames to France, Belgium and Holland including one truly horrendous channel crossing.

If I had to sell my current boat and replace it with something cheaper in order to continue boating then the Ocean 37 would be very close to the top of my list - but only if I could find one that had been re-engined!

Wonderful boats