Home / Logs / 2006 / October 12, 2006
Makara Is Born
October 12, 2006
As you may have noticed, we have been remiss in updating our website over the last several months. No, we didn’t have a computer crash and we haven’t been goofing off. On the contrary, we have passed some significant milestones in our efforts, which have occupied most of our non-professional lives. Add to this other elements of preparation and you have the reason for the delay in updating our site. This is now changing!
First, as noted briefly on our site, the construction of Makara has started. Huzzah! In fact she is out of the mold and moving forward. If you wonder what a Passport 470 hull looks like, the picture on the right will answer the question. Also, up until now, this website has either contained old photo's or illustrations. It is a wonderful thing to have real pictures to show you.
This is not a typical hull as we have insulated the bulk of it. So really we have two boats. Makara has a standard Passport solid laminate hull and an inner layer not unlike a cored hull. Those who understand vessel structures realize that this amounts to a fairly substantial and strong hull in the areas of the insulation. The structural strengthening is a by-product of the effective thickening of the hull due to the insulation layer since it is glassed in. If you look carefully you will also notice copper strips glassed into the hull on the port and starboard sides - these are the ground radials required for long distance short-wave communications at sea.
Here is a shot of the deck just out of the mold. Note we do not have the trademark super-sized windows of many Passports. We opted for more cross ventilation and smaller holes that are easier to plug if breached. Personally I like the look of the ports rather than the larger windows, but I have been accused of being a bit strange on many occasions by my vaunted skipper. On the other hand, I will probably be the one affecting the mechanical patch if one does fail, so I got my way on this.
The final shot is a test mating of the deck and hull. Sweet looking lines, low windage profile. What is not to love?! More will follow in later logs.
Getting to this point occupied a lot of time this summer. We were very active in the detailed designs of almost all systems on the vessel. If nothing else, each was reviewed and blessed. We did have substantial input to the electrical system and the lighting plan. As an example we have a DC generator which we had to purchase and ship to China. Getting that generator to China is a whole story in itself.
Makara's layout has substantially changed from what we had originally planned. We poured over several revisions of CAD drawing provided by the very capable Graham Bowes, Passport's engineer and designer who does everything from deal with the details of the custom aspects of the designs to overseeing the build operations in Xiamen China. Between Thom Wagners’ creative insight and historical knowledge base and Grahams many talents, especially for detail work, a very nice internal arrangement was derived.
Borrowing a few tricks from the new Vista series of Passports, we now have a watertight bulkhead forward (hurray!). I’ve always wanted one of these for obvious reasons (no I don’t regularly run into things) and had almost given up. Not only that but a much better walk around berth forward is now in the design.
The only thing I gave up, quite willingly, as I am the repair crew for these as well, is a second head forward. Thankfully, we now have only one head. We still have a full standup shower forward and a small vanity in the forward cabin for wash and brush ups!
Another change is the dinette area. Originally, we had an L-shaped dinette but not a fold down bulkhead mounted table of many 470’s. Still don’t have the fold down, but the dinette is now U-shaped. Actually, it is much nicer and more symmetric than before. It will, as is all the main cabin upholstery, be finished in Ultraleather. The small liquor cabinet on the starboard side is gone and the starboard settee is now a bit longer. The actual structural bulkhead near the mast position is now even across the boat which gives more space in the forward cabin and allows a larger storage area to starboard as you enter the forward cabin. There is no door between the aft cabin and the head to help privacy as this is now “the” head on Makara. We have a larger closet area in the aft cabin that includes a largish wet locker. This you will recognize as a bit of a compromise as it means access will disturb the occupants of that cabin. But at sea it is usually just the two of us and a more comfortable place for the nominal off watch crew on passage is the sea berth settee in the main cabin.
Finally we have some really nifty elements we have added to the design. The hatch on the aft deck is not a normal deck hatch, but a flush fiberglass hatch. No stubbed toes, no Plexiglas to scratch or break or slip on. We have engineered a dedicated liferaft locker in the port lazerette right outside the companionway. The raft is removed by sliding it out, rather than pulling it up. Should come out nice and easy if needed (hope not). The Winslow raft that will go in there is not overly heavy but a dead lift of 60 or so pounds is not easy especially in an emergency. In addition, this arrangement protects the valise encapsulated vacuum-packed raft nicely. In the Nav station area we now have a dedicated printer locker, and a special little hideaway for a purpose built ships PC. No, this is not your normal PC. It is more akin to what is used in police cars, very rugged. A story for another time relates to a long history we have had both personally and professionally with onboard computers for boats, ships, vehicles and the odd spacecraft or two. For now let’s just say we are pretty good at it.
One other aspect that we have completed is more artistic. We have a tradition of not only having a boat structurally sound and well equipped, but also of being aesthetically pleasing. We will be living on this vessel a long time. The interior finish has been set, but our boats have always had some artistic symbol on the outside. On Perigail it was, well, the “Perigail” name graphics. If you look close at the “pink” Perigial spinnaker, you can also see our avian logo. Long story short, after many iterations we have our hull graphic as shown above.
In case you don’t recognize it, the star pattern is in fact the major stars in the Pleiades, one of the many meanings, and my favorite, for the name Makara. Maybe we’ll put the sea monster interpretation on an asymmetrical spinnaker!
As you can see, we have accomplished a lot of work. But that is not all. Our preparation not only encompasses doing the planning work for the boat but also our financial planning, life strategy, realignment activities, and crew preparation. The latter translates to PT (physical training for you non-military types). Nancy has completed preparation for her fourth Marathon (New York on November 5th) and is in prime shape. The sailing master (me) has been on a regimen of cardio and strength training and is on track to be ready for Makara when she arrives. Both crew have slimmed down considerably (that is as far as I will go quantitatively).
Now that Makara has been born, we have started widening our planning and research to more detailed consideration of the rig, sails and additional equipment we will bring onboard. In short there are many topics for us to add to this site in the near future. Nancy is also working diligently to update the site design consistent with the new logo design. Stay tuned!