Cabin Fever

Cabin Fever.

The Banjo is a minimalist boat.

That's how I wanted it to be and I stuck to my objective right through the build process.

The biggest killer on a multihull is WEIGHT. Weight serves no purpose on a trimaran. It only makes the boat slow. Excessive weight on a multihull can even be dangerous in extreme weather and sea conditions.

I am obsessed about heavy stuff finding it's way onto the boat. Keeping things simple saves a lot of weight.

The galley has a single burner gas stove. Trimarans don't heal much, so there is no need for the stove to be gimballed. I bolted an aluminium pot (with it's base cut out) onto the ring of the stove. That will act as a pot and kettle retainer in rough weather or when the boat is being driven hard.

The sink is a small s/steel prep bowl sunk into the galley work surface. No plumbing in the galley. The sink is emptied by pouring the water over the side. Water comes out of a large collection of bottled water. No pumps, no leaks, no blockages.

The heads are also spartan. Another s/steel prep bowl for a washbasin. Again no plumbing. Water straight out of a bottle into the basin. Pour it over the side when done. The loo? Bucket and chukit. There is a built-in toilet seat and a bucket slides underneath it. It has never blocked, has no evil smells and amuses my children no end.

The main cabin has two bunks. (there are two more in the forepeak). To starboard, as one enters the cabin, is a small nav area. The chart table will NOT take a folded chart. Chartwork is done on one of the bunks. There is a VHF radio and that's it. We will use handheld GPS's for navigation and a sat phone and laptop for communication with Race control and the outside world.

Up on deck is a speedo/ echosounder unit.

There is a small autopilot for helping with helming duties. We are sailing two-up.

Our electronic needs will be fired up by two 45 watt solar panels mounted on the stern, feeding into two 105 deepcycle batteries.

To ease the drain, navlights have LED bulbs, ditto the cabin lights.

All the electronic stuff making their way onto small boats? Mostly there because the owner wants to play with gadgets, just like kids with computer games and playing on cell phones.

The Banjo disappoints a lot of folk because there are none of the "must have" gadgets on board. It does make for a nicer boat, cause you just hop on board and SAIL the blooming thing. And FAST!

In the food department we wil be sailing in the "Express" division.

We are planning on leaving with frozen pre-cooked dinners for the first four nights. (put into a cooler box with frozen bottled water as ice) Then we must move onto a collection of simple one-pot meals and my co-skipper has advised me that he is good at fishing. So I've scrapped stocking up for two dinners and replaced them with the fish he still have to catch.

Look out for us on St Helena. We are the two skinny guys.