S/V Blue Calypso
Length Overall: 13.1m
Beam: 3.5m
Draft: 2m
Displacement: 16t
Construction: 5mm steel hull, 3mm steel deck
8mm toughened wheelhouse glass windows
Engines: 2 x 46hp Mermaid diesels (see Engine Saga if you want a good read....)
Rig: Cutter rigged schooner
Year of Build: Early 70's with a full rebuild 2010 - 2015
Calypso was one of those Pandora's Box projects, where peeling back revealed another layer (or disaster, depending on whether you're a glass half empty kind of person) that needing fixing, and very soon a 3 month project turned into a 5 year rebuild (see - The Rebuild for the photos).
Could we have bought a ready-to-go boat and started sailing a lot sooner? Well, yes and no. A lot of people do just that, and find along the way the boat isn't quite right for them, or have to deal with the previous owner's niggles and shortcuts that might have been hidden come sale time. Long distance cruising has a habit of bringing things out of the woodwork that wouldn't normally be an issue on a weekend cruiser, and having had a few of those issues on my last boat, building one myself was about the only solution.
The other thing Lauren and I hear all the time is "you've got SOOOO much storage". We can't sleep more than a couple of other people for that exact reason - Blue Calypso has been built for long-distance cruising (as opposed to weekend'ing with all & sundry) and we need to store serious amounts of food, water, and bits & bobs (it's amazing how much dishwashing liquid you go through cruising!) to sustain ourselves.
I consider us lucky that we took on this project when we were young, and aren't fighting bad backs and old age as well as all the other fun things a project like this throws at you. Would we do it again tho? Well.... there are a few nice half-finished catamaran projects kicking around.....
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