A couple of years back, we picked up a 35’ modified Charybdis MkII
steel ketch, designed by Robert Tucker, home built by a blacksmith, and launched in 1978. At the time, we were imagining we would be doing a fair bit of
offshore sailing, and this is the perfect
boat for that; in terms of construction, it’s a real go anywhere
boat. The boat had been moored in Poole for the previous thirty eight years. We bought her, had her hauled, surveyed, repainted and re-rigged. We took her over to Carentan in
France, where she is now moored.
Our problem is that since we bought her, our circumstances have changed, and we’re not physically up to sailing anymore. : (
The good news is that she is massively strong, handles fabulously and looks really sleek. The bad news is that she has little to no
plumbing aboard, and the
electrical system is very rudimentary. However, if you’ve ever had to deal with someone else’s ideas of brilliant boat system designs and
repairs, you may prefer to install your own systems anyway…
Commissioned: 1978
LOA: 35.5 ft (10.82m) (plus bowsprit)
Beam: 10 ft 8” / 3.3m
Draught: 5.5 ft / 1.7m
Displacement: 18,000 lbs / 8160 kg
The
engine is a Lister SR4, four cylinder
diesel, 30 horse - Clydesdales, not show ponies. It's one of the most reliable engines made. It is air cooled so you have no underwater fittings, no heat exchangers to clog up, or cylinder
head warping or
overheating. It is in excellent condition. As long as the
fuel is not frozen or waxy Listers will start in all conditions. There's two 30 gallon (135L)
steel fuel tanks. The
gearbox is hydraulic in neutral and reverse
gear but manual in forward
gear, so if there was ever a problem, you can start the
engine in gear to get you home. At the end of the
gearbox is a 2:1 reduction gear which drives a 1 3/4”
stainless steel shaft which is in turn in a
stainless steel tube. It is of
commercial fishing boat standards. She swings a 2 bladed, 19.5”
propeller. There are lots of spare engine
parts.
Structurally, the bottom of the
keel is 3/4" thick, the
keel is 6mm,
hull is 4mm, chines are 5mm, decks are 1/8" plate,
cabin sides are 4mm. She is framed every 18 inches with 1 1/2" x 1/4" bar. All surfaces are curved on the
hull and she has 1" by 1" square profile thick wall tubing every 18” on the
deck. The original Charybdis Mk II design had a 4 ft draught, but that was modified on this boat and extended to 5' 6”. The keel is a long fin, with skeg hung
rudder, and she tracks and manoeuvres superbly.
For
sails, there's a cruising chute with snuffer, 180% tri-radial on a
Harken furler, a hanked-on
genoa on the forestay, a heavy
weather foresail with hanks, a
storm jib and other jibs, plus a spare set of main and mizzen
sails. All the sails are in great condition, except for the main and the
furling genoa which are in good condition. Most are from Quay Sails of Poole. The foresail
sheets lead to a pair of Gibbs two speed
self tailing winches in the
cockpit. All chain cable with Bruce and Danforth
anchor, Moyle
single action/anchor
windlass. There's also an
Aries lift-up
wind vane included.
Belowdecks, there is an aft
cabin, not connected to the main cabin, a
galley and
saloon in the main cabin, and the forepeak area houses (boats?) the heads,
heater, and sail and hanging locker areas. The forepeak heater's a Refleks
diesel drip feed with hotplate, and the
galley boasts a lovely brass Taylors kerosene
oven. There's an Eberspacher diesel
heater for the main cabin, but we haven't tried it. The
interior is fitted out with Burmese
teak and Australian jarrah woods - not the flimsy stuff you get these days, but heavy solid planking. As previously mentioned, the
plumbing and
electrical systems are rudimentary, as is the nav system (charts) and olde style depthfinder. There are some quite nice brass kerosene lamps for illumination.
Most of the standing
rigging was replaced in 2016.
There's a fairly recent
survey for the boat, which we'll make available to those seriously interested. It's structurally very sound, but, as we said, could use some plumbing and
electrical upgrading, as well as a sandblast and
paint job.
It's presently in
France. If you're not in France, and if you're reading this, you're likely not, consider the advantages of already having your boat in France. Holidays sailing along the coast of the
Mediterranean or the Channel, on your boat already conveniently located there. Croissants and a sea breeze every morning. Does it get any better than that?
Asking $19,000
If you're interested, let's talk!
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