PLC control
Samara employs a powerful, infinitely expandable, vessel-wide Empirebus PLC (Progammable Logic Control) digital switching system, linked to Maretron digital control and monitoring. All electronic onboard systems, including tank levels, batteries, temperatures, lighting, air conditioning, entertainment systems and helipad and rear platform operations, can be custom programmed and controlled.
alternators take care of electrical needs when the vessel’s underway,
Her relatively small generators reflect the unusual efficiency of Samara’s electrical systems. At anchor she can maintain quiet ship mode for a couple of days.
ADVENTURE ON THE MOVE
The ability to carry, launch and refuel a helicopter was one of the main drivers of Samara’s design. A helicopter gives the couple the freedom to come and go as they please and allows them to explore places most cruisers will never see.
Accommodating a helicopter posed a number of design and engineering challenges, but Pachoud had been there before with Kukai. Samara’s helicopter pad is a marvel. The structure required to support the aircraft is extensive, but the design also had to
incorporate tankage for 1,750 litres of aviation fuel, fuel delivery and monitoring systems, landing lights for night operations and strap-down points on the deck.
The flight deck works a charm. In landing mode, the helipad slides aft on tracks, the Radar arch slides forward and the deck railings fold flat to provide the helicopter with a clear approach. Spotlights switch on if required.
The pilot can remotely activate landing mode from the aircraft on approach. When empty the flight deck doubles as a great party venue.
You are not restricted to the helicopter when you want to explore. The aft platform houses Samara’s customised, landing craft-inspired tender on a rotating, float-on, float-off cradle. The remote controlled hydraulic platform between the hulls lowers 300mm below the water’s surface, revealing a pair of deep transom lockers/garages, each designed to accommodate a five-metre Hobie Tri-yak sailing kayak. The tender cradle can be removed to leave the platform clear.
On the port side, an under-deck locker holds a pair of motorcycles, which are craned in and out of the tender using a traversing derrick and then driven on and off the beached tender via a drop-down gate in the bows. The starboard underfloor locker holds bicycles.
A DREAM REALISED
Samara shows what can be achieved when owners, designers and builders work together to reach a goal, in this instance an elegant, efficient and technologically-advanced expedition yacht capable of travelling the globe.
Samara has already crossed the Tasman, and while her owners will spend the rest of this southern hemisphere summer cruising around New Zealand, they intend to eventually take the boat home to Canada. With a boat like Samara they’ll probably take their time, doing a bit of exploring along the way. B