DIY PRAM BOWS
Over a 40-year career with his company Heritage Expeditions, Rodney Russ has been to places about as far from civilisation as you can go. Not content with a lie-down and a cup-of-tea kind of retirement, he commissioned a new 24m sail-assisted expedition v
There is a precedent for pram-bowed blue-water yachts. Wind vane steering guru Bill Belcher was building at Waiheke in 1977 to defend his title as winner of the 1974 Singlehanded Tasman Yacht Race.
He received a letter from the race organisers to say that they’d ‘metricated’ the race classes – that required an adjustment to
So the ever-resourceful Belcher hand-sawed the bow off – with designer John Spencer’s blessing.
Belcher used to boast he owned the only pram-bowed ocean racing yacht in the world – but did acknowledge the many dinghy designs that preceded him.
RIGHT Adventurer with a yen for visiting out-of-theway destinations. Rodney Russ at the helm of Strannik.
BELOW She’s more small ship than motor sailer.
he’s named Strannik. It roughly translates to ‘religious pilgrim’ and if you consider wildlife conservation as religion, she’s been putting this creed to the test – from the Russian Far East to the Tropical Pacific – since her launch last year.
After a lifetime traversing the Southern Ocean, Russ has learned a thing or two about what makes a great expedition vessel. Despite our proximity to some of the most extreme locations on the planet, expedition vessels are rarely seen in this neck of the woods. The need for strength and self-sufficiency precludes most of the market in New Zealand and for this reason Russ’ research took him to American designer George Buehler.
Buehler took the features of the northwestern salmon troller and converted the form into seaworthy, economical long-range cruising motorsailers. They’re affectionately termed ‘diesel ducks’ and almost have a cult following in the 38–45-foot range. Bill Kimley of Sea Horse Marine builds diesel ducks in his Zhuhai shipyard in China’s Guangdong province and turned Buehler’s Strannik concept into reality.
SKimley has a long history of building steel cruising boats and stepped up to the Strannik challenge – the largest of the diesel duck range and the first to be built in full commercial RINA CLASS survey. Australian adventurer and former diesel duck owner Don Mcintyre handled the build’s project management.
The rigorous RINA CLASS standard is for unrestricted worldwide navigation – Strannik is capable of going places well off the beaten track. Construction is more akin to a small ship than any anything else. A 456mm wide steel keel box (filled with concrete) supports 30 x 12mm frames with 8mm steel hull, deck and cabin plating. The flybridge is the only fibreglass part of the vessel (to reduce weight). The hull has full watertight compartments.
The walk-in engine room is an engineer’s dream. Centre stage is the John Deere 6135AFM75 M2 pushing out 425hp @1900rpm via a ZFW 3.43:1 gearbox. It’s so clean and white you could hug it. The engine’s flanked by twin Northern Lights 26kva generators with automatic battery chargers.
These are supplemented by 2 x 400-watt wind
generators and a large solar panel array supplying 24 volts to a 2000Ah battery bank. To starboard of this set-up are two reverse-osmosis desalination plants producing 10,560 litres a day, supplementing the 8,517-litre freshwater tanks.
Further forward is an Alfa Laval fuel-polishing system, to clean up the diesel before distributing it to two 1,800-litre day tanks. That’s a lot to take in and requires the boat reviewer to rest on the stairs and catch his breath before heading up to the main saloon.
The ship-like construction flows into a layout designed for comfortable, longduration living. At the substantial transom is a water level swim/fish platform,
The pristine engine room’s dominated by the 425hp John Deere.
Trawler-style windows – she’s equipped for all conditions.