Celebrating Thirteen Years Online
Celebrating Thirteen Years Online
65' Ketch 'Rachel'
A Fast Blue Water Sailing Yacht in Aluminum
Copyright 2008 Michael Kasten
65' Larger Aft Perspective | 65' Larger Forward PerspectiveThe Concept
The 'Rachel 65' has been developed directly from our 96' Zebulun design. In keeping with the names given to our 96' design 'Zebulun' and our 115' prototype 'Leah', this design has been named after Jacob's first true love, Rachel, Leah's sister. Planned for fast ocean voyaging, this concept design is configured with a a skeg hung rudder and a fin keel with ballast bulb.
The purpose of the bulb is in order to concentrate the ballast as well as to provide an 'end-plate' effect for the fin keel. The skeg hung rudder in combination with this kind of keel will provide excellent windward ability and also accurate tracking at sea.
The hull form is planned for construction in Aluminum, including deck and house structures. The radius chine shape is easy to plate, and in fact the majority of the surfaces simply use flat panel material. If steel were to be considered, it would simply be a matter of increasing displacement to carry the structure.
Beam is around 16.5' in this model; draft is around 6' - 9" to the DWL; the waterline is just over 59' and displacement would likely need to be around 95k lb or so. It is important to note however that beam, draft and other dimensions are very much a variable until an actual interior is planned; structure is determined; equipment is specified; the rig detailed; and all weights have been calculated. Only then can the hull dimensions; ballast amount; and draft be settled with any certainty.
The Interior
A variety of interiors would fit, however at 65' it would be possible to retain quite a bit of the Zebulun's interior general scheme.
Right aft would be a large owner's stateroom containing a king size double berth, en-suite head, ship's office / desk to one side and a generously sized hanging locker opposite.
Just forward of that, the pilot house would contain a galley, nav station and pilot area. Below and forward would be a generous saloon approximately 9' 4" long by the full beam of the vessel, i.e. around 16' or thereabouts. The engine room would be below the pilot house, and would be flanked by fuel tanks. Below the saloon / lounge would be the water tanks and house batteries, plus quite a bit of storage space.Immediately forward of the saloon, a pair of bunk rooms would be located one port, one starb'd. They would share a common day-head forward of the bunk rooms, accessed from the hallway between. Right forward at the end of the hallway would be another double-berth stateroom. An en-suite head would be located opposite the day-head, but would accessed from the stateroom only.
At the extreme forward end would be the fore-peak for lines, fenders, rode, spares, etc. Check out the links below which show this configuration in 'transparent mode' for the interior bulkhead locations.
Transparent Interior Perspective Port | Transparent Interior Perspective Starb'd
In general I use a modular approach to the interior. The layout described here is based on a frame spacing of 28 inches. This is works out perfectly, since three stations make a 7' bunk room; two stations are just right for a head compartment; four stations make a generous double berth suite, another four make a perfect saloon size, etc.
Alternate Layout
If the pilot house were instead viewed as a place to be "outside" then there is good justification to create a hard dodger open on the aft end with covered settees inside, in addition to the exterior cockpit. A few images in the following links show the idea...
Perspective Above Aft | Perspective Above Side | Perspective Above
With enough deck space aft to stow a shore boat on the aft deck, it would be ideal to have two stairways down to the swim platform, one against the hull side on each side. Then it would be possible to access the swim platform even with the shore boat stowed on the aft deck. At the top, the stairways would emerge onto the aft side decks.
There would be a vertical transom face in-between the stairways to the swim-deck. With a WT door in the aft transom face, there would be excellent access to the lazarette via the swim platform. That would provide a convenient stowage spot for the outboard motor as well as dive gear or other water toys.
With one continuous low cabin trunk, the interior sole would be at a single level. The engine would be located be placed below the inner cockpit deck (below the hard dodger). There would be plenty of room for other mechanical systems in there, as well as good access.
Outboard of the engine room, it would be ideal to have a quarter berth on each side. These could even be doubles. My own favored layout from there forward would be to have a galley to port, nav station to starb'd, then just forward of that, settees with pilot berths outboard and a large coffee table in-between, then a head / shower to port and starb'd, and then right forward to have an owner's cabin with 'island' style berth on center right forward. This is quite similar to the forward layout I've created for the 50' Renegade or the 60' Peregrine.
The Rig
For either layout, the ketch rig would be ideal, and would be configured similarly to the Sonja 50 Preliminary Sail Plan, though of course much larger. Another rig consideration would be a two mast schooner, much like the rig of Zebulun.
I usually prefer to place the masts according to what works best for the interior, rather than per some esoteric nonsense as to their 'perfect spot'. For this model, possibly if it were a ketch the main mast would be close to the middle of the twin forward heads, with the mizzen somewhere near the aft end of the pilot house. If it were a schooner with approximately equal proportions between fore and main, possibly the fore would be at the aft end of the forward stateroom and the main mast at the aft end of the saloon.
I have not fooled with any specifics regarding the rig because mast locations and rig type very much depend on an owner's rig preferences (ketch, schooner, etc.).
Summary
As described, the interior fits nicely into a length of 65' overall. It is possible that it could be shortened by a few feet, but at quite a cost to the amount of elbow room inside... In all, I think this would be an ideal platform for two couples with four kids, or with up to four guests.
Click for Larger Image
Please see the Plans List page to review our available Boat Plans.
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