34′ Falmouth Cutter (2016) Email Listing to a Friend

ASTRID is a boat for a person who appreciates Lyle Hess’s very capable and seaworthy traditional designs executed with the finest workmanship and detail. The 34ft Falmouth Cutter was the last of a line of cutters designed by him. He counted this design as one of his best and made a number of refinements to the lines. ASTRID has been built as a cruising boat for a couple who appreciate simplicity and beauty in life and sailing. She has a very comfortable and roomy interior and is built to accommodate taller people with 6ft 7in headroom at the centreline and longer and higher bunks and counters. She has the interior room of most 40 footers. Throughout the build, the emphasis was on quality of materials, strength, function, longevity, understated elegance and fine workmanship. She was built without compromise.

ASTRID has been built from a bare fiberglass hull produced by Channel Cutter Yachts. Her decks and cabins are cold-molded and combine traditional aesthetics with watertight and strong construction. She has been built with meticulous and uncompromising detail and materials.

Full build blog and details can be seen at knjwoodworking.blogspot.ca

Serious inquiries can be directed to FC34ASTRID@gmail.com or Greg Horne at Custom Yacht sales.

$375,000 CAD

Sika Spruce spars have been built and rigged. ASTRID is ready for for sails to be made and go sailing.

Accommodation Details:

ASTRID has a very spacious and open layout with only two full width bulkheads. The result gives a very spacious feeling, and from the forward cabin one can see all the way aft to the lazarette and transom. When below deck, the feeling of space never fails to amaze people, even when four or five adults are sitting in the salon.

The Fo’c’s’le has a large sitze tub and a workbench with a flip-up lid to port. To starboard is a hanging locker and linen/clothing lockers. There is full standing headroom under the scuttle. The stize tub is of generous size and is drained by a hose and foot pump. Forward, on the centreline, is the head with a flip-up teak lid.

Forward of the Fo’c’s’le are large sail locker/chain bins with access through removable vented double doors.

The Salon is a traditional symmetrical design with two settees with end cabinets forward of them and a pilot berth to port and bookshelves to starboard. A 46″-long ash salon table that flips out to 34″-wide allows comfortable sitting for four or more people.

Aft of the salon to starboard is the icebox/chart table and the cabin heater. The heater is a diesel “Herring” made by Navigator Stove Works. Aft of the salon to port is the L-shaped galley. There is an ash flip-up table that connects the galley and icebox which altogether creates a very generous amount of galley working space. The galley has a custom made stainless steel countertop with one large round sink welded in for a seamless joint. There is a hand pump for salt water and a foot pump for fresh water. The stove is a Force Ten North American compact double burner.

Aft of the galley, in order, comes a 2-ft wet locker, a small storage cabinet, and open storage bins in the port quarter. Under the cockpit is the equipment area open to the boat and easily accessed. Aft of the heater is a generous double bunk, then a storage bin and lazarette locker that also houses the 20L aluminium heater fuel tank.

The engine box was designed for maximum access. Once the companionway ladder is removed from its spring pin hinges, the lid is double hinged and can be fastened up. Then front door can be lifted off its hinges and the dropboards can be removed port and starboard. The result is very good access with no silly gymnastics necessary to work on the engine.

All tankage is under the cabin sole so the space under the settee’s and in all cabinets is free for storage. There truly is an incredible amount of storage aboard.

The cabin sole and cabin roof camber was set to give 6ft 7in headroom at the centre line. Bunks and settees are also designed with slightly longer lengths. The cabinet counter heights are 38 inches.

Building Specifications:

The very best materials, fasteners, adhesives, hardware and coatings was put into building ASTRID. Just the material costs for this boat run well in excess of $250,000 CAD. Time of build is in excess of 8000 hours by a professional builder with absolute attention to every detail of construction and materials. Some material details are:

All plywood is French made BS 1088 either sapelle or Ocume mahogany plywood
All screw and bolt fasteners are silicon bronze. Sizes above #8 and 1/4″ are USA made.
Structural adhesives are either Aerodux Resorcinol, System Three G2 epoxy or West System epoxy
A number or adhesive destruction tests using heat and impact were carried out on the various glues.

The hull was built by Channel Cutter Yachts. The hull was coated below the waterline with Interux Interprotect 2000E and sprayed with Awlgrip paint above the waterline.

Bulkheads are set on 18mm closed cellular foam and epoxy ‘glassed to the hull with epoxy and biaxial cloth and 10oz finishing cloth. The plywood was planed so the fiberglass would be flush with the plywood and would be adhering to more than just one layer of veneer. The hull was prepped with a coarse grit ginder and wiped down before laminating.

Deck and Cabin Roof Beams are air dried tight grained Douglas Fir and laminated with Aerodux Resorcinol. Five Laminations per beam.

The Deck is cold molded Western Red Cedar with an overlay of SilverBali. The lamination schedule is:

The first fore and aft layer is 5/8″ Western Red Cedar that is glued and bronze ring nailed to the beams
The second and third lamination’s are 5/16″ x 6″ opposing diagonal Western Red Cedar
The final layer is 7/16″ Silverbali, a tight fine grained oily wood that makes for excellent deck material and wears smoothly unlike teak.
All the staple fasteners were pulled out after gluing the diagonals
the Silverbali deck was set without permanent fasteners. The temporary fasteners set in the rabbet were removed and each carefully filled with epoxy. Three rounds over the boat over a whole day was spent filling each of these holes in the subdeck to ensure no water passages into the deck should a leak occur in the seam rubber.

Cabin Roof. The cabin roof is cold molded Western Red Cedar and Areodux. One layer 5/8″ fore and aft T&G and two opposing diagonals or 1/4″. The roof is ‘glassed over with epoxy and dynel and 10oz cloth.

The Bulwark is three laminations of solid teak for a finished thickness of 1 1/2″. The bulwark is through-bolted with 3/8″ bronze rod and also supported with blocking and stanchion bases. The bulwark was bedded with 3M5200. The bulwark cap is solid teak with Arodux glue joints.

The deck to hull joint; The deck beams are bedded and bolted to the 1/2″ x 4″ fiberglass flange with 3/8″ carriage bolts. The decking overlays the flange and is permanently bedded with 3M5200. The gelcoat was removed over the top 12 inches of the hull and the subdeck rabbeted and the joint ‘glassed over with 2 layers of biaxial and 1 layer of 10oz finishing cloth. The fliberglass joint was covered with the covering board and hull sheer strake.

The Teak Transom and Hull Sheer Strake are both epoxed to the hull with System Three G2 epoxy. The transom is also fastened to the hull with 1/4″ machine screws tapped into the fiberglass.

The Rubrail is a solid piece of Angelique. There are no scarf joints to break open. It is carefully bedded with 3M5200 and through-bolted with 1/4″ carriage bolts.

The cabins are cold-molded 3/8″ teak over marine plywood. Through bolted with 3/8″ bronze and glued with Areodux.

All Hardware is Silicon Bronze and carefully bedded with prepared surfaces and countersunk holes so a ring of polyurethane forms around the bolt or screw. Wood surfaces such as the rubrail and bulwark are prepared with shallow grooves so there is bedding compound stuck in the joint . Fasteners were hardened up after the appropriate setting time for the bedding compound so it would not all be squeezed out. Much of the hardware is custom cast by either Port Townsend Foundry (Port Townsend) or Achinback Foundry (Langford, BC). Most other interior and exterior hardware is either USA or European made.

Samson Post and Mast step are purple heart. Mast step is set on solid fiberglass floors and secured with bronze bolts and bronze brackets.

Interior woods:

Cabin sole is solid 7/8″ teak
Plywood bulkheads are overlaid with 1/2″ tight vertical grain Douglas fir set in Areodux
All shelving and bunk and settee slates are Yellow Cedar
Hull Ceiling and counters are Ash.
Cabin trim and cabinets are Honduras mahogany
Deck head and cabin roof and sides are painted white for a light look.

Ballast is solid lead casting ‘glassed to the hull with 8 layers of mat / roving

Rudder is solid Sapelli mahogany with bronze drifts and black locust cheek plates epoxy glued and copper riveted. Bronze pintles and gungeons are bronze riveted to rudder. Tiller socket is lined with bronze plate. Tiller is solid black locust with socket end lined with bronze

Finishing

Exterior brightwork is 8-9 coats of Epifanes varnish.
Exterior paintwork is Interlux Brightside and on the cabin roof Epifanes Mono-Urethane.
Wood exterior painted surfaces received a coat of System Three S1 penetrating epoxy before priming.
Interior varnished surfaces received three coats of Epifanes Gloss and one or two coats of Epifanes Rubbed Effect varnish for a total of four to five coats.
All exposed surfaces throughout the boat were properly sealed and finished. The level of finish is to a very high standard.

Equipment Specifications:

Engine: 36hp Buhk 3 cylinder Diesel motor with heat exchanger. Kobelt bronze engine controls. Perko Bronze water strainer, Racor Fuel filter. Stainless steel propeller shaft with Norscott dripless shaft seal and Campbell Sailor three blade propeller.

Ground Tackle: Plath USA bronze single speed manual windlass. 35Lbs CQR with 300ft 5/16″ Hi-Test chain. 20Lbs Hi-Test Danforth stern anchor with 300ft 3/4″ nylon rode. 55lbs Kingston Yachtsman thee piece fisherman storm anchor.

Bilge Pump: 30gpm Edson bronze bilge pump.

Winches: LVJ or Wilmex self tailing. Mast winches M5 Murray bottom action winches.

Tanks: Two 316 stainless steel water tanks each 100L each baffled and custom built to fit. Whale galley foot pump and Fynspray brass hand pump for salt water.

Propane: The propane system for the galley stove is located in the lazarette locker and is completely isolated from the rest of the boat and drains directly overboard. There are two fiberglass 17lb propane tanks hooked to a single stage regulator. This ensures that you know when one tank is empty and have to physically change the tanks. There is a manual gas shut off valve that can be operated from the galley area.

Electrical: The electrical system was kept purposefully simple and is built upon a 100 watt solar panel and two Trojan group 31 AGM batteries.. While there is room to expand the only demands are lighting and two 12V charging outlets. All other electrical requirements such as VHF and GPS are hand held. Other components:

Main panel is a ten position Blue Seas panel with analog DC Ammeter and Voltmeter.
Victron BMV-700 battery monitor
Blue Solar MPPT solar controller
Blue Seas ACR
Battery charger
Blue Seas Busbar
All wiring done to ABYC standards with Anchor marine wire and heat-shrink terminals
All wiring is tidy and accessible and runs in conduit.

Other Deck Equipment:

Sunbrella cockpit awning, dodger and covers
Three strand dacron “Vintage” lifelines
Polyform F-Series fenders
bronze and ash boathook
Oil back-up nav lamps
Teak boarding ladder
Cape George Cutter lapstrake fiberglass dinghy

Spars:

Mast and Boom – Sitka spruce round hollow (see blog for full details). The Sitka spurce was sourced on the Queen Charlotte Island, now Hiada Gwaii. The spruce was in between 30 and 40 ft lengths so there is only one scarf joint per side and staggered top and bottom. All hardware is silicon bronze. Rigging is 3/8″ stainless steel 7×7 hand spliced on bronze thimble with 5/8″ Merriman turnbuckles.

Bowsprit – Solid Tight grained Douglas fir, Air dried, no glue joints. Same for boomkin.

Sails and Rigging : Running rigging is Dacron 1/2″ three strand white New England Blocks are Davey tuffnol or ash wood. All shackles and hardware is bronze.

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