Invincible – 1 year on!

Today is the anniversary of the day we took possession of our Fountaine Pajot Mahe 36 catamaran in La Rochelle, France and what a year it has been. Our annual report:

 Mooring

We had hoped to spend most of our time on anchor during our travels, both to keep costs down and for the additional freedom that this gives. Overall we spent 30% of our time anchored in the last year, however, if we exclude the time spent fitting out in La Rochelle and my return to the UK to work my notice the figure was 37% and marina time was 42%. The time on passage was probably more than I expected at 10%, most of which was the Atlantic passage (16 days) and Cape Verdes Passage (5 days).

In the pie charts above, the mooring time is displayed as pre- and post- the Atlantic crossing or roughly our time in the Canaries versus the Caribbean. It can been that the time at anchor increased dramatically from 14% in the Canaries to 59% and time in marinas reduced from 77% in the Canaries to 10% in the Caribbean.

Time on the Hard (lifted out on Boat yard) is possibly higher than expected only due to the need to renew antifouling and then the need to repaint an area following the buckling of a shackle on the anchor bridle causing the chain to drag across the hull. No damage was done but the antifoul was scraped off. We also wanted to spit and polish the boat for all the visitors due for our wedding so we were off the water for much longer than was really necessary.

Budget

We would rather not share all the details of our personal spending, however the following figures will hopefully be of use for those planning a trip of their own. Please note: the figures below represent 44 weeks of spending, as recording was not started until I was on the boat fulltime.

Category	Amount
Mooring Fees	£2,275.15
Diesel	£422.02
Petrol	£92.02
Gas Cylinders	£74.86
Internet Access	£68.75
Laundry	£98.51
Water	£16.59
Customs Fees	£78.77

 

Mileage

Nautical Miles travelled: 6028nM

Longest trip: 2275nM (Mindelo, Cape Verdes – Le Marin, Martinique)

Although, we use the engine for battery charging as well as propulsion so the figures are not exact, this works out as 7p per mile!

Route

Things that worked well:

• Mahe 36 – Overall we would say that we are very happy with our choice of boat. It gives us unparalleled living space in a boat of its size, which is very important when living aboard. She has definitely proven her seaworthiness on the trip so far as well as speed and comfort of passage. We have also been really pleased to have bought a new boat for the reduced repair work required and ease of maintenance. The few warranty issues have been quickly and painlessly resolved by our brokers MI Cats and FP. With special thanks to Karen George at MI Cats for her excellent service and assistance.
• Seagull Water Filter – Without a water maker this meant we could drink local tap water from the tanks without the need to buy and carry expensive and heavy bottled water (we also add chlorine tablets to the tanks as a secondary precaution which is filtered out). Several visitors have all said that the filtered water tastes as good as bottled water.
• Raymarine Autopilot – As a relatively short handed crew, “Auto” has spent the majority of hours at the helm on our trip and never missed a beat
• Furuno GP-32 GPS – We use this extensively on passage for GPS readings, on anchor as an anchor alarm and as a volt meter for the batteries. It draws very little power and does all you need it to.
• Fishing – Lots of fun and regularly fills the freezer. Little effort to troll lines when you are sailing anyway and great sense of achievement to eat your own catch. Please note: Ciguaterra poisoning is a risk in tropical waters and pelagic fish only should be taken.
• Incidences Spifurl – Our furling Spinnaker / gennaker sail. Gave us much need propulsion during the Atlantic crossing. There is a technique to furling but now we have learnt it we will happily use this sail in up to 22 knots.
• Delta Anchor – Sets quickly and stays set, really pleased with this purchase which has been in regular use and saved us a fortune in mooring fees.
• Large fenders – We bought both tear drop and tube shaped large fenders which we can easily store in the large bow lockers of the Mahe. Perhaps there is a bravado in having small fenders which skippers like to parade, but we have never regretted a pound spent on fenders and our top sides have not a scratch. We have also lent them out to more than one boat along the way, on one occasion following a very expensive damage on the previous attempt. The roughness, ill-placement and instability of the pontoons, fuel , lifting and reception berths encountered have to be seen to be believed… not to mention strong winds, rafting, inadequately secured neighbouring boats on stern-to moorings.
• Trojan T105 6V batteries – We have upgraded our battery bank using 4 of these batteries and achieved a 25% increase in capacity. This reduced engine hours for charging and has made life more comfortable to allow us to us laptops, lights etc as we wish without constant monitoring.

Things that did not work so well:

• CQR Copy anchor – Bought as a bargain, dragged and dragged and dragged. The high freeboard and lightweight design of the Mahe 36 means it needs an much oversized anchor compared to the equivalent monohull. We did buy one grade up it needed more, but the design of this anchor was not good and we would snorkel and see it drag and not dig in.
• Honda Generator – We bought a £300 Honda Generator as a backup to charge the batteries and as an external source of power. It is stored in one of the engine bays and we lift it out to use. Although it still gives piece of mind to have aboard as a secondary power source, it is inconvenient to use for regular charging and is not as efficient as engine charging.

The negatives section may seem very short and perhaps not as open as it should be. However, it is honestly all that we can think of and we attribute this to the very detailed research and amount of time we spent in planning the kitting out of the boat. It also helps that as a new boat we didn’t inherit anybody else’s bad decisions and everything fitted was chosen specifically by ourselves.

Other Statistics:

Countries: 9

Visitors: 12

Weddings: 1