SV Kered

The delay caused by the crane problems yesterday meant that the stepping of the mast could not take place until an enormous Oyster 82 had been launched at about 13:00. This was the first Oyster launched since the business was rescued from administration, and was quite a big deal locally. All the staff were on the dockside to cheer in the boat, accompanied by local media interest. We were amused in the evening to see Kered in the background as the Oyster launch was reported on local TV. First job of the afternoon was to pander to tradition as we placed a silver sixpenny piece on the step for good luck. George V Silver Sixpenny piece glued into the mast step The Mast assembly fully dressed and ready to go. The mast stepping crane at Saxon Wharf sits on top of the travel hoist, which meant pulling Kered back to the launching pit so that the mast could be lowered on to the mast step on deck. Once the big Oyster was out of the way, the team pulled Kered back to the pit, and

Finally, we get to the day we have been looking forward to since last October - launch day! We had an inauspicious start when the crane which had been hired to lift Kered onto the transport developed a fault and simply refused to lift ( we were told later that a load sensor had failed ). Anyway, a second ( and much larger ) crane was despatched to the Discovery yard, and Kered was loaded on to the low loader just after lunch. Kered being lifted off her trolley.............. ............and lowered gently on to the low loader bed. The journey from Marchwood to Saxon Wharfe starts. Launch was due to take place at Saxon Wharfe on the River Itchen, about an hour away for the low loader. We had a slow drive following the truck and Kered was unloaded very efficiently by the Saxon Wharfe staff. Unloaded by Saxon Wharfe's giant ( 200T ) travel hoist. There were a few jobs to do before the launch itself and it was about 15:00 before Kered was put in to her natura

Once we had decided on the boat's colours, woodwork, floors, and work surfaces, the subject of options raised it's ugly head! There were things that we knew we wanted to improve the autonomy of the boat; things like a generator, and watermaker but making the final decisions isn't quite as easy as saying "we will have that and that". The watermaker is a big power user so we wanted to maximise output while power was available - either motoring or while running the generator. We ended up going with Discovery's recommendation of a Dessalator unit, as they have good experience with this brand on the original Discovery yachts. The model chosen was the Freedom 100, producing 100L/Hr. Dessalator Freedom 100 watermaker. The main water tank is just over 400L, but we had an additional 200L tank fitted in the bow. Anyone who has cruised extensively will know what a pain laundry can be, so we specified a small ( 3Kg ) washing machine that we know had been fitte

Back in early 2017, we were at the Northshore Shipyard in Itchenor near Chichester, investigating getting some work carried out on our current boat, a Southerly 110. The shipyard was formerly Northshore yachts who build Southerly yachts until their final demise in 2014. We both commented on how sad it was that Southerlies were not being built anymore, and that the hull moulds were left outside in the elements where they were clearly degrading. At about this time we became aware that Paul and Sheryl Shard from Distant Shores TV ( www.distantshores.ca ) were investigating getting a new yacht built to replace their Southerly 49 'Distant Shores II'. The comments they posted suggested that what they were looking at sounded suspiciously like a NEW Southerly! It became clear that they were working with Discovery Yachts, and when they announced an open yard event that they would be present at, our curiosity led to us making an appointment for a chat. Well, when we talked to Paul and S