When a designer builds a yacht for his own use it is intriguing to see just what he has got up to. When the designer is Commander du Cane, of Vospers, the whole thing becomes even more exciting.
First of all, the statistics - `Dimarcha´ is 60 ft in length overall, 51 ft 9 in on the waterline with a maximum beam of 17 ft. 03/4 in and in greatest draught, of approximately 5 ft. She is mainly of plywood construction, and is a big boat for this form of building, while twin G M diesels each developing a maximum of 323 s.h.p. will drive her along at about 19 knots at full throttle or 16.1/2 knots at cruising revolutions. Such are the bare bones and though mildly interesting in themselves they need to be clothed with a bit of detail of whys and wherefores.
Sticking everything in the stern; having the sound insulation carried out by experts specialising in such work; and flexibly mounting both the engines and vee drives as has been done here, has led to an exceptionally quiet vessel where one is only just conciooous of the motors when in the saloon or wheelhouse.
All the steering is intended to be done by an S.G.Brown automatic pilot and by twiddling a milled knob this can be adjusted for a new heading quite readily enough for Commander du Cane to manoeuvre the vessel up the crowded Hamble River by this means alone. The auto-pilot can be overridden by a small lever on the steering panel which simply applies helm in the direction required. If one tires of this lever there is a miniature wheel which can be used in the conventional manner while there is also a steering position on the sun deck. All the work is done on an electro-hydraulic system .
Also in the wheelhouse are the presentation for the Decca 202 radar, the Armo-Brown gyro compass (which is part of the auto-pilot system) plus an overhead aircraft compass, the Hecta echo sounder, Woodson ship-to-shore radio and Woodson d/f set. A veritable Alladin´s cave, in fact. There is also of course, all the engine instruments and single lever controls.
The vessel is still alive and well having been re-named a number of times througout her history. She is now the M Y Angela and is working out of Chania in Crete providing cruises around the islands of Theodorou and Lazaretta.
Details of the kit
Scale 1/24 Length 780mm Beam 230mm Sailing weight 1.6kgs
Glass fibre detailed hull, Light weight glass fibre deck, Moulded clear Styrolux Cabin, Moulded clear canopy, Vacformed Boston whaler kit, Moulded motor mounts, Moulded deck recess, Pre-printed deck paneling, Vinyl cut vinyl "wood" panels, Vinyl cut "Aluminium" window frame, Pre cut masking films, Full metal fittings set, Cast resine fittings, Propshafts, propellers, & skegs, Full size plan, Digital instructions, Decals set. |
