I'll give you some history on Chewbacca.
Crowther 10M design is a popular Locke Crowther design in Australia where they are often raced as a "one design". These catamarans all have the same fiberglass mold, but this one had Lock Crowther design and add bulbous bows and the slanted transoms so it has a little extra waterline and additional buoyancy in the front and back, which reduces "hobby horsing". The boat also has a nice high bridgedeck which is important to reduce the cross sea pounding that troubles the catamarans with a low bridgedeck.
The boat was christened "Two Up", and won many races in Australia right from the start. It became somewhat a "known" boat. Ray Walker brought the boat up to San Francisco to see if he could get interest in a Crowther 10M racing/cruising group and he continued to race and cruise the boat in San Francisco and the West coast area. Two Up won many races there including winning 2 times the very difficult Double Handed Faralons race. The boat was clocked doing 22 knots on the way back nearing the Golden Gate Bridge. In 1995 Ray got transferred to Singapore and offered the boat to us.
We were mainly interested in cruising, but thought how neat it would be to have a fast cruising boat, especially one with a good history. Over the next 5 years we slowly turned Two Up into a cruising boat. Our goal was to keep the boat as simply to maintain as possible so we could enjoy extended cruising without breaking the bank.
When our girls turned 5 and 7 we left San Francisco in October 2000 and headed for Mexico. Our boat (now called Chewbacca) proved to be a great cruising boat. Easy to sail and beautiful at anchor. One of the boats we cruised along with, a 64 foot Deerfoot used to anchor near us and every night he would always come over for drinks on our boat because it was more comfortable than his. A 22 foot beam makes a very stable platform whether sailing or at anchor.
The fastest we have ever cruised on Chewbacca fully loaded with all our cruising gear was doing 14 knots coming around Point Conception. We were in big following seas with the wind off our rear quarter, and were surfing along really nicely under autopilot the whole time. The bows never submerged and the ride was straight and dry.
Our average cruising speed is usually 5 - 6 knots, but with flat seas and 18 knots off the rear quarter we can cruise along at 11 knots.
We spent the next 8 years going up and down the Mexican coast, Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Panama. We went through the canal and on to Cartagena, and spent a total of 3 years in the San Blas Islands. Somewhere at the end of this I got a job as the construction manager building a marina in Panama. We spent the last 2 years building a resort and boatyard, and that is where Chewbacca is up on the hard in Panama now.
The bottom was last done in Cartagena 3 years ago. When Chewbacca was hauled out of the water last month I had the boatyard workers clean the bottom and get ready to prep the bottom for new paint. I had used Jotun paint and it lasted very well for 3 years, but it was time to redo the bottom. Since I ran the boatyard for 2 years, I know all the workers, and will have the bottom sanded and painted for the new owner.
I will try to walk you through Chewbacca.
Cockpit; When you stand in the cockpit there are 2 bench seats behind the cabin. There are also 2 steering station seats (the white plastic seats shown in the photos) which you can steer from either side, but actually, the autopilot has steered the boat 99.9% of the time. The only time I handle the tiller is when we come into a port, anchor, and when we went through the Panama Canal, I hand steered the whole time. From the cockpit you have access to all the reefing lines, haylards and sheets. The GPS and depth sounder, engine tach. are mounted here. Below the steering station chair is the autopilot control housing, and next to that is the Yamaha engine control/starter consul. There is also a fuel locker in the rear of the cockpit. Underneath the cockpit floor is the engine nacelle. You can lift the cockpit floor hatch to easily access the Yamaha 9.9hp High Thrust engine. There is a pulley that lifts the motor up out of the water when sailing, which can add 1 - 1.5 knots of speed from the reduced drag of the large high thrust propeller.
Behind the cockpit is our back deck area made of teak slats. This deck area is large enough that we would put out our deck chairs and small table for sundowners. On the starboad side there is a swing down engine mount for the securely storing the dinghy engine. If needed the 8hp dinghy engine can also be swung down into place to replace or assist the main motor. On the port side of the teak deck is a swing down aluminum swim ladder. The stainless steel dinghy davits are mounted on the back deck.
There are 2 large storage lockers in each stern hull. These lockers are watertight (separate from the boat interior) and also hold the rudder posts. Again, these make great storage areas for our light items such as empty gas/water containers, boogie boards, deck chairs etc. Behind this is the reverse transom built of foam core, which also serves as a rear collision compartment, just as the bulbous bows form a separate collision compartment. When the original owner was showing me all the built in designed safety features of this boat, I was impressed in how this boat has so many separate watertight compartments, I think you could take a chainsaw to it and cut it up and it would still float.
Going forward outside; the tramp (new in 2009) is very large. A large tramp keeps the catamaran's weight down, and allows wind and waves to pass through. Because of the high bridgedeck, we have never had problems with water coming up through the trampoline or into the cockpit. She is an extremely dry boat. In fact, when sailing with the autopilot, the front tramp becomes the place we would typically all sit and read or watch the dolphins play between the hulls. It also makes a huge hammock to sleep on in the tropics, or seems to be the gathering place when having large groups of cruisers over.
A teak catwalk runs down the center of the tramp areas, and there is a manual windlass mounted to the rear nearest to the mast. This helps keep all the weight of the anchor chain to the center of the boat. There are 3 outside "sail" lockers there. One we use as a chain, anchor and fuel locker. The next we use as a head sail locker (the working jib also has a storage bag so you can store the sail on the headstay) and shade canvas, and the third locker we use as a propane locker and keep the snorkel gear in.
The only good way to sleep while at anchor is to have good oversized anchors and lots of chain. We carry 180 feet of chain in case we need to put out 2 anchors or Bahamian moore using a large stainless steel swivel. Our 2 working anchors have always been Fortress anchors, but this year we purchased a 25kg Rocna anchor because of it's superior holding. These 3 anchors cost over $2000 together, but it is well worth the peace of mind knowing you are anchored well. Catamarans need to anchor with rope bridals, and we have 2 of them in case we want to anchor fore and aft.
Inside; Stepping through the door you go down 2 steps and stand in a recessed "well" area. If you look at the photos you see the center nacelle or pod below the bridgedeck. The back half of the nacelle is the engine compartment, the front half is the foot well. When sitting around the salon table, you are actually sitting on the bridgedeck floor, with your feet in the nacelle well. When you turn left or right to walk across the bridgedeck to either hull you have one step up onto the bridgedeck and then you must bend over slightly to clear the 4 1/2 foot head room clearance. If you are sitting on the settee/storage box near the galley, there is enough head room.
When you get to either hull you have 3 steps down into the hull. There is about 7 foot headroom clearance in the hulls.
Once in the port hull you have the galley admidships with a big round opening hatch overhead. The galley has 2 stainless sinks and plenty of counter space. The formica counters were all replaced with corian counters in Cartagena. There is a 2 burner Force 10 stove and plenty of storage. There is a large built in ice box (that could easily be converted into a 12V fridge).
Going forward through a bulkhead you have a long narrow room that was built for a single bunk and pantry space for the galley. There is an overhead opening hatch in there.
Going back from the galley you enter the stateroom where there is a large overhead hatch and a small settee which also serves as a step into the queen size bed. There are 2 opening side hatches there. In the stateroom there is a hanging locker and counter with storage space.
The starboard hull has the same style state room, but the settee has been extended and the door area of the hanging locker.
Going admidship is an 8 foot long bench seat/storage and the nav station where there is space for the radios and books and a pull out drawer for a laptop with a large hatch overhead. Going forward is the head and small sink with a opening hatch. (On some of the Crowther 10M catamarans they use this area also for a shower, but we never did because of the bother of pumping out the shower water from the bilge. We always showered in the cockpit.)
The 2 forward hulls are aprox. 3 feet wide and narrowing at the bow, and about 15 feet long, so they make good storage for light items. It should be noted that throughout the boat there are 19 watertight bilge sections built beneath the floors, and the bow areas also have "water dam" sections for safety. If you were to take a hole in one section of the hull below the waterline, it would be limited to a segregated bilge area of about 8 inches deep by about 3 feet long. About 6 of these separate bilge areas have inspection ports in them, and can be used to store small things in. On the galley side we store bags of flour, snacks etc., and on the starboard side (my side) we would store maintenance and spare parts.
engine(s); When we bought Chewbacca it was suggested we replace the 2 stroke motor for a Yamaha 9.9hp high-thrust 4 stroke engine. This is a great engine, and is ideally suited to the boat. The Yamaha high thrust engine was designed just for sailboats and can easily move the boat along at 6 knots and is very fuel efficient (1/2 gallon/hour), and very quiet. It worked flawlessly for 11 years. Three years ago on the trip back from Cartagena to Panama the "black box" packed it in. We had 150 miles to go, and no wind. It wasnt a problem, because we just swung down the 8hp dinghy motor on it's special bracket and motored along, making 5 knots. When we got to Panama we ordered in a new Yamaha High-thrust engine and installed it there. These engines are built on a 25hp frame, and are built to last. This one even has a spin on oil filter just like a car engine. We spent another season using the engine in the San Blas, and later that year I got my job at the marina. The engine probably has 50 hours on it (I'll have to check the hour meter).
The dinghy outboard is a Yamaha 8hp two stroke. It is also 3 years old, but only has one season on it. It is a long shaft, so it works also as the auxilary or spare motor.
Electrical system; From the start we wanted to keep Chewbacca simple to maintain, and from the cruiser stories it seemed a heavily loaded electrical system typically lead to high maintance costs. When we left we had only two 6 volt batteries. Three years ago we replaced that with four 6 volt deep cycle batteries, so we could extend the time between charging the batteries and we could also run our laptop/navigation equipment more.
We have 2 manual foot pumps for galley fresh/salt water, and a manual pump head and manual pump holding tank, because unlike the electrical pumps, these are foolproof.
To charge the batteries we have 1 solar panel, but the bulk charge is put in with the Honda 2000 generator hooked up to an Iota 45 amp charger. We can run this everyother day for 1 hour. The Yamaha outboard also has a small alternator on it, so if we are motoring, the batteries are being charged also.
We are sadly ending our cruising for now because our 2 girls are at the High School age, and after 8 years of home schooling in Central America with mom and dad, they have asked if they could attend "regular" school back in the states. Who can blame them. So now we are looking for someone to take care of Chewbacca. She has been a perfect home, and a great seaworthy boat.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us, or see additional information at our web site as I try to update it periodically.
