Return to home page Last updated April 8, 2010
Table of Contents
About the boat CanKata
About the
equipment aboard CanKata
About the safety
items in CanKata
About the Smiths
– updated
(New photos
of Dylan, Laura, Tehja and Taylor)
Our Web Team - updated
About
the boat
Registration (O.N. 823598):
http://www.tc.gc.ca/ShipRegistry/detail.asp?lang=e&ShipID=823598
The Builders: (CanKata is the 37’ Privilege)
http://www.alliaura.com/en/indocca.html
About
the name
When we first bought our wonderful
Privilege 37, her name was Camcat. We
knew her for six months before we bought her, so a drastic name change didn’t seem
to work for us. After considerable
consideration, we decided to change the “m” to an “n” to make it more Canadian,
added an “a” at the end to make it sound more feminine, and change the “c” to a
capital “K” to incorporate a martial arts movement. And the name CanKata was born.
About the layout
CanKata is a catamaran, which means it has
two hulls – a starboard hull (the right side if you are facing forward)
and a port hull (the left side if you are facing forward). A “nacelle” joins these two hulls.
The starboard hull, which is our
guest hull, consists of a queen size berth at the stern of the hull, cabinets
and library midship, and a full “head” (bathroom for you landlubbers) and the
front of the hull. The head consists of
a toilet, sink and shower stall.
The “nacelle” contains the salon, which
consists of a large dining table and a navigation station. You enter the nacelle from the cockpit and
step down 3 steps to either of the two hulls.
The port hull has a queen size berth
at the stern of the hull, a galley (kitchen for you landlubbers) midship, and
the stateroom is up front. The
stateroom (which is where Darrel and Loretta sleep) consists of a head and
walk-up berth.
All the berths have plenty of closet space
and ports and excellent cross-ventilation.
At the front of the boat, there are two
large lockers for storing equipment, lines, and fenders. There are also two trampolines for lounging
and catching the rays (although they serve a structural use as well).
At the very front of the boat are two
pulpit seats for early morning coffee and dolphin watching.
At the very back of the boat are two “sugar
scoops” (with 3 stairs taking you to water level) from which to swim and enjoy
other water sports. The starboard hull
sugar scoop has a transom shower for rinsing off salt water and spilt rum.
It is very easy to walk around the
boat. Lifelines make it difficult for
those aboard to fall overboard. The
boom is above the cockpit canopy, which makes it difficult for those aboard to
get whacked in the head and knocked overboard.
The water we will be sailing in will be warm, clear and sparkling so it
will be difficult to resist jumping overboard.
We spend most of our time in the cockpit,
including when we eat, read, play games, and relax (weather permitting). The cockpit has a lounging pad on each side
and a canopy to protect us from the sun and rain. The helm station is also in the cockpit. If you are standing in the cockpit looking
astern of the boat, you are looking at one of the nicest backyards you could
imagine.
About
the equipment aboard
CanKata is well equipped to provide a safe,
comfortable and pleasurable trip, both at anchor and at sea. The list below is an amalgam of mechanical,
electrical and plumbing equipment, some of which came with the boat from the
manufacture and some which was later added to meet our customized needs.
Yanmar 27 hp diesel engines c/w SD 20 saildrives
Two 32 imperial gallon fuel tanks
Four 6 volt Trojan 215 amp hour house batteries connected in
series and parallel for a total 12-volt system with 430 amp hours
Two 24 series starting batteries
Hot water tank with heat exchanger
ECH2O Tec. 200-DML-1 watermaker – 8.4
gallons per hour
2000-watt inverter/charger
Refrigerator with cold plate
Freezer with cold plate
Double sink in galley
Microwave
Force 10 two-burner c/w oven and broiler
Two holding tanks
Raytheon ST 50 autohelm
Northstar GPS/chart plotter
Magellan 315 handheld GPS
Icom IC-M59 VHF
Standard Horizon HX406S handheld VHF
Suunto Vector wrist computer
Toshiba Satellite A10 laptop
Toshiba Satellite M40 laptop
Motorola family radio system
Link 10 battery monitor
Air X Marine wind generator
Icom M802 SSB c/w AT 140 tuner
Pactor modem
Brass clock, barometer, temperature and humidity gauges
Stereo system c/w CD changer, cassette player and four
speakers
Kyocera KC120 watt photovoltaic panel
Raymarine SL72 Plus radar c/w 24 NM antenna
Raytheon tridata – speed, depth, wind direction
Depthmate SM5-B portable depth sounder
Lewmar Ocean 1 electric winch c/w 003 gypsy
Three Lewmar 44 ST two speed winches
Manual washer spin dryer
Olympus digital camera
CQR 45 lb anchor c/w 200’ ACCO G40 3/8 (10 mm) high test
galvanized chain
Bruce 33 lb anchor c/w 400’
Force 10 barbeque
Cockpit canopy c/w rain-catcher
Fishing rod and reel c/w trolling holder
Pole spears
About
the safety items
CanKata meets and exceeds all the necessary
safety equipment to comply with Canadian and USA regulations. The list of safety equipment includes:
Personal flotation devices for ten
Flares
Lifebuoy
Man over pole
Fire extinguishers
Sound signalling device
Safety harness
Para-Tech sea anchor
Delta drogue
4-person Avon offshore life raft
Personal strobe lights
Medical kit
EPIRB (emergency position indicating radio beacon) ACR
GlobalFix 406
c/w integrated GPS
Carbon monoxide detector
Radar reflector
1,000,000 candle portable spot light
About
CanKitty
The tender to CanKata is
an Avon RIB (rigid inflatable boat) that has a fibreglass bottom for a fast and
stable ride (you’ll notice that we did not mention “dry”). The overall length of CanKitty is 10’ – 3”
(3.1 m) and can comfortably carry 4 people plus cargo at speeds approximately
20 mph. CanKitty has a 15hp Yamaha 4
stroke motor and all the necessary safety equipment. When not in use, CanKitty is stored up out of the water on the
two davits at the stern of CanKata.
About
Darrel and Loretta Smith
Believe it or not,
we were born and bred in the prairies.
Saskatchewan is the birthplace of both of us and our son, Dylan. Maybe all those dusty summers and frigid
winters are what made us yearn for a life at sea, and a life close to the
equator. Certainly, our eight years in
Prince Edward Island and just as many years boating on the Big Rideau Lake in
Ontario gave us a pleasant taste of what a boating life could be.
We have over 50
years of combined boating experience, and nearly as many years of experience
working as professionals in a government agency (Canada Mortgage and Housing
Corporation). We are avid sailors,
snorkelers, and explorers. We plan to
become avid fishermen, djembe drummers, and mouth organ players. Darrel’s
technical skills and in-depth knowledge of boats and their systems will no
doubt prove handy as we sail CanKata around the world.
Our boating qualifications
VHF Radio Operator
- 1994 (Darrel only)
CPS Boating Course – 1996
Basic Cruising Standard – 1997
Intermediate Learn to Cruise – 1998
Coastal Navigation – 1999
Celestial Navigation – 2000
Martial Arts – brown belt – 2001
Diesel Engine operation, maintenance and repair – 2002
Fiberglass repair – 2002
First Aid and CPR – 2003 (Loretta only)
Amateur Radio License – 2004 (VA3DME and VA3LME)
Scuba Diving – 2004
(Darrel only)
Dylan, Laura, Tehja and
Taylor
The hardest part of our lives to have left
behind is our son and his family, who live in Airdrie (just north of Calgary,
Alberta).
They will be our lifeline to Canada and
family and friends, and we hope the four of them will be the most frequent
visitors to CanKata.
Our Web Team
This site was started in April
2004 after excellent guidance from our good friend and computer expert, John
Harding. John continues to provide us
with great advice and tips. If anyone
needs computer help, we highly recommend him!
Here’s John’s website: http://www.compu-home.com
Another good friend, Hugh Graham, has taken
on the challenge of helping to keep the website updated. He and a network of others ensure that
everyone is notified of the updates. What would we do without friends?
We hope you enjoy visiting our site,
reading our news, seeing our photos, trying our recipes, and sharing our
experiences as we sail around the world!