Stevens 47 Custom Cutter For Sale - Laying Opua, New Zealand.
Fantastic Value at US$160,000
Much has been written about the quality of the Stevens 47. Many people have espoused its sailing qualities, achievements and pedigree. However, no amount of reading or talking can substitute for actually sailing one. Over the course of two and half years we were continually impressed, even surprised, by her performance and comfort. She sometimes surprised others too, those who she left in her wake, and were impressed enough to ask about her. The Stevens 47 was designed by the renowned firm of Sparkman & Stephens, who are responsible for designing some of the worlds greatest ocean sailing vessels: Running Tide, Bolero, Tenacious, Brilliant, plus eight Americas Cup Winners, to name just a few.
The Stevens 47 was one of Rod Stephens favourite designs. He felt that it was a yacht where he had put it all together. Rod Stephens: I knew the Stevens 47 was going to be fast when we designed it. Then I sailed on it during
Antigua Race Week and was just delighted. Each day we showed we had it right, especially when we got on the
wind. The 47 won six trophies in the series. And yet, for all her speed, the Stevens 47 is a true cruising
boat, with accommodations that offer all the amenities and then some. Quite an accomplishment, Id say.
The Stevens 47 was named by Sail Magazine as one of the best designed, best built sailing vessels under 50 feet sailing the oceans of the world today. Built in 1984, Next Chapter was fortunate in that she was never a
charter vessel. Although designed by Sparkman and Stephens, the name Stevens 47, comes from Bill Stevens, who bought many of these magnificent yachts from the highly respected boat-builders Queen Long, for his
Caribbean charter fleet. Next Chapter, under three of four different names and owners, spent much of her life in the fresh-water of
Lake Superior, and was well looked after. She still has the original warm
teak interior, including the
teak and holly sole. Over the years she has undergone a couple of refits, and more recently, many upgrades to make her a fully equipped and self-sufficient ocean cruising yacht. With an in-mast
furling mainsail, and of course,
furling headsail and staysail, she is very easy to sail short-handed, or even single-handed. I recently sailed her single-handed across the pacific, from
Panama to
Tonga without any difficulty. Next Chapter is still fully equipped and ready to take you on your life-changing journey. She is fast, safe and beautiful.
Is this your Next Chapter?
In 2008/10, the previous owner carried out a great deal of
work and upgrades, including the following, most of which was not used until I bought her in 2011.
New in-mast furling
mainsail with vertical battens by Doyle
Sails, including new traveller, track and running
rigging.
New 150%
genoa by Doyle
Sails with foam luff, (new Sunbrella U.V strip fitted 2012)
New Trumax
Gennaker by North Sails including North Sails Snuffer works brilliantly.
New running
rigging.
New standing rigging.
New Garhauer
boom vang.
New
steering cables.
New Force 10
galley stove
New fridge and
freezer these have subsequently been replaced again in 2012 with 12V units.
In 2012 we carried out significant upgrades including;
New 12v Frig-o-boat fridge and
freezer. Two independent units for redundancy.
New
batteries 660AH for house plus oversized cranking
battery.
New 316L S/S targa incorporating
wind generators,
solar panels,
davits,
engine crane,
liferaft launcher, and rear seating. At the same time, we replaced the
lifelines aft of the gates with one inch 316 tubing. This makes mounting BBQ, lifesling,
kayak etc much easier.
New
solar panels 2 x 160W and
MPPT controller.
New wind generators 2 X 500W
Marine Kinetics fitted with high efficiency external regulators/controllers.
Nav station completely rewired. Sundry
electrical improvements and upgrades.
Replaced lower half of alloy
fuel tank which showed signs of pitting, and fibreglassed same.
Installed high capacity
fuel scrubber.
All anti-foul removed,
hull sanded & inspected nothing found two coats of Interprotect applied.
New gel-coat on topsides, new boot stripe etc.
New 25kg
Rocna and 100 metres 3/8 chain.
Cockpit upgrade including; new upholstery, laid teak decking (7/8) on sole and seats, new
paint, new speakers.
New
VHF and RAM.
New class B
AIS transceiver installed, plus automatic
antenna splitter.
New masthead
VHF antenna. Second VHF antenna fitted to targa.
Replaced mainsail,
genoa and staysail furling lines.
New infra-red Magma
Catalina Gourmet series BBQ
All routine
maintenance has been carried out systematically. The
engine oil/filter every 100-120 hours. The
fuel has been scrubbed at each fill, then a new 2 micron filter fitted. All winches, turning-blocks,
steering gear etc, serviced every six months.
The engine runs faultlessly, as you would expect from a
Yanmar with < 2500 hrs. Starts instantly and runs smoothly, and at 3 lph is very economical.
Many cruising yachts we have met have difficulties with autopilots, either drawing too much
power to use at sea, or being unreliable. Our
autopilot (Raytheon 6000
linear drive,
Raymarine computer and two control heads) steers every mile at sea allowing the crew to relax. And even though we have the 12V fridge/ freezer, we never have to run the engine to charge the
batteries at sea.
The installed
Raymarine E120w is a great instrument, but coming from a computing background I preferred to control everything from a
laptop. Just a personal preference. The
laptop is networked to the Raymarine system and the
NMEA data for
AIS. Again, my personal preference is to use
OpenCPN, and so the system is fully configured to run
OpenCPN and Raymarine, side by side. This also allows all data,
charts,
radar etc, to be viewed in the
cockpit without installing a second E120.
Accommodation:
Spacious main
salon with leaded glass cabinets and
oil lamp
Three private cabins/stateroom
Aft stateroom with en-suite
head and
shower
Forward stateroom is a spacious V-berth
Third
cabin has upper & lower bunks
With
salon, there are a total of nine berths
Inner sprung mattresses in aft stateroom and portside
cabin
Galley is in-line to port in walkthrough to aft cabin
Large head/shower to stbd adjacent to fwd cabin
All upholstery is Seafoam green in good condition
Good ventilation & light with twelve opening
ports, six overhead hatches and three large Dorade vents.
Insect screens for
ports and
companionway.
Low wattage LED cabin lights three x red/white
Nicro
solar fans
Teak and holly
cabin sole
Good sound system with inputs at nav station and salon table
Folding cockpit table
Custom made cockpit
cushions seats eight comfortably
Linear Mode
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