ABOUT THE BUILD AND BOAT
- Celeste is a custom-designed and built cutter-rigged sloop, built 1986. She was commissioned by a wealthy real estate developer in Victoria, British Columbia; he wanted a beautiful classic-looking yacht with modern design features and modern performance. He had Francis Kinney, naval architect and yacht designer in New York City, design her. Francis Kinney was one of the foremost designers at Sparkman & Stephens for over 30 years; he designed the 12M yachts for the America's Cup. He authored the 7thand 8th editions of Skene's Elements of Yacht Design. He designed Celeste independently after retiring from S&S. Celeste was built by Jespersen Boat Builders in Sidney.
- Celeste's hull is 1 1/4 inches thick, built of 3 layers of Western red cedar and a final layer of Honduran mahogany saturated in epoxy resin, all the wood laid up at opposing angles. Her keels on is a huge timber the length of the boat, through which the keel is bolted. The keel is a fin keel with 6,750 pounds of lead for ballast. This gives her a ballast to weight ratio of 38.5%, which makes her very stable. She's 17,500 pounds gross weight, so relatively light for a cruising yacht. And that makes her fast.
REFITS
- 2013 and 2014- She was taken to Platypus Marine boatyard in Port Angeles, WA. Platypus Marine stripped and thoroughly dried her hull as a preventive measure against osmosis in the future. Celeste did not have any osmosis but the owner wanted to prevent that happening the course of ownership. Once that was done, the hull was sheathed all the way up to the toerail, in fiberglass and then add a foot-wide layer of Kevlar to the waterline for ice resistance (this was for going to the Arctic) but it's also nice insurance against any floating debris. Then of course she got a new barrier coat and paint on the whole hull. In this refit, she was repowered with a brand-new Yanmar 3YM30 engine. She also received new Rolls Battery Engineering AGM batteries (460 amp hours), new wiring, new plumbing, all new electronics, Refleks diesel heater, a couple of replacement through-hulls, rebedded deck fittings, new“next-generation” anchors, new running rigging, new low-draw refrigerator, new watermaker, new LED interior and exterior lighting, and safety equipment including a Jordan Series Drogue. Her rudder (dropped, inspected, and rehung during the 2014 refit) is hung on a skeg independent of the fin keel, which makes the best combination- fin keel for speed and windward pointing ability, but the rudder and propeller protected by a skeg. Her cabin and coamings are varnished Honduran mahogany laminates. Her deck is marine plywood with teak over top and her coach roof is marine ply with fiberglass and paint. The interior cabinetry is finished, which you don't find on production boats or yachts of lesser quality.
- 2017- As well as making smaller upgrades in between. In 2017, Platypus Marine stripped and redid all her varnish, installed a new V-berth hatch, redid her lifelines and stanchions, and installed a bigger holding tank. Just as importantly, Port Townsend Rigging fabricated and installed all new standing rigging. And a new mainsail fitted.
- 2019- Installed a new Spectra Ventura watermaker, replacing the smaller one from 2014 for higher volume output.
- 2021- Celeste received new paint on her cabin top, bulwarks, and toerail, as well as all her deck fittings and hatches again rebedded (after a few years of passage-making and cruising in the South Pacific), and all her ports removed and rebedded.
- 2023 and 2024- She received a new hot water heater, new pressure water pump, new turbine-type fuel filter (making filter changes easier) for her engine, new insulation for the engine compartment, a new hatch for her aft cabin, a new starting battery, a new Jabsco head, a new 120% genoa,and a new mainsail cover and of course the regular maintenance: haul-outs for bottom paint and servicing seacocks, zincs for her prop, prop shaft, and rudder stock, varnish, engine oil and filter changes, etc.
ELECTRICAL
- 12V and 120V systems with breaker panels
- 2 Rolls Battery Engineering S12-230 AGM (230 amp-hour) house batteries
- One new 12V AGM starter battery
- Battery charger
- 30 amp shore power cable
- Xantrex battery monitor (digital amp and volt meter)
- Small inverter that can be plugged into 12V plugs for small items like laptops
- Larger inverter, not installed (I think it's 30 amps, not sure)
- 3 large solar panels: two 100-watt panels on the coach roof; one 250 watt panel on the dodger top, for a total of 450 watts
- Solar regulator
ELECTRONICS
- Furuno radar with 25 mile radius.
- Raymarine MFD/GPS chartplotter with radar overlay mounted in the companionway on a hinged door, so it can be viewed easily in the cockpit. Radar can be programmed to sound an alarm if a target comes within your set guard zone, very useful for short-handed sailing.
- Two autopilots, and two hydraulic arms that connect to the tiller.
- Raymarine depth sounder and speedometer
- Furuno GPS, mounted over the nav station. It displays coordinates, can have way points programmed into it, reads out cross-track error from your course to your waypoint, bearing to next, current course, and you can also program it to be an anchor alarm. Instead of running the chartplotter, owner used this GPS for long passages.
- Standard Horizon VHF radio with AIS receiver with closest point and time of approach to the target, their course and speed, etc. You can program this to sound an alarm, just like the radar.
- Iridium satellite phone with independent exterior antenna.
- SSB radio
- 460 amp hour AGM Rolls batteries for house batteries.
- AGM starting battery, new 2024.
- Shore power 110V AC circuitry, including battery charger and hot water heater, and shore power cable.
- Three big solar panels put out enough power to run all the systems, and two more down below can be plugged into the electric system via 12V plugs, and moved around the boat to be always in the sun.
- Spotlight with 12V extension cord can be plugged into a 12V outlet for coming into anchorages at night.
INTERIOR
- She can sleep 4 comfortably, 6 if you want to race: Large two-person V-berth with "bedside table" and drawer/locker; smaller but very comfortable 2-person aft cabin with its own hanging locker. Two settee berths either side of the table with lee boards for sleeping on passage. Pilot berth above the port side settee with lee board.
- Pressure water, with new pump installed 2023.
- Hot water off the engine's heat exchanger (6 gallon hotwater tank, new in 2023) and off the shore power heater.
- Separate shower in the head.
- Hand pump Jabsco saltwater head, new 2024.
- 15 gallon holding tank, new 2017, like-new condition.
- Spectra Ventura watermaker makes 6 gallons an hour at about6-8 amps.
- Foot pump fresh water at galley and head sinks
- 2 fresh water tanks holding about 80 gallons total.
- Saltwater hand pump at galley sink.
- Force 10 propane stove and oven in the galley. Two burner stove top.
- Propane grill on the stern pulpit: small round one, and new Dickinson BBQ.
- Refrigerator with Engels compressor using only 2-4amps when it runs. This is an incredibly efficient compressor designed in Japan.
- Fully equipped galley with pots and pans, silverware, plates and bowls, mugs and glasses, cooking utensils, dishtowels, placemats, Bialetti coffee pot, baking dishes, cutting boards, dish rack, etc.
- All LED lights throughout the cabin and for tricolor and anchor light.
- Two fans in the cabin
- Three cabin heaters (great for cruising beautiful cold places like Alaska, New Zealand, and Tasmania): Up in Alaska, owner used the Refleks gravity fed diesel heater (no electricity necessary) the most. It is also great for putting a kettle on. "Bus" heater, which runs off the engine's heat exchanger with a fan; also warms the cabin very quickly. There is also an Espar forced air heater with a separate furnace in the lazarette installed.
SAILS AND RIGGING
- Asymmetrical spinnaker (blue with yellow stars on it to echohe r name!), great in light air, original but like-new condition, in a nice sail bag that makes setting and packing it easy.
- Carbon fiber spinnaker pole, new in 2017
- Brand new (2024) roller furling 120% genoa never used
- High-cut Yankee roller furling jib for strong winds, original but excellent condition, almost never used
- Staysail, original, but still in excellent condition. (Hanks onto the removable inner forestay.)
- Storm jib, new in 2014, never used. Hanks onto the inner forestay, a bit smaller than staysail and with an orange top to it
- Mainsail built in 2017, that has about 8,000 miles on it.Still in good condition. Needs one batten car replaced
- New mainsail cover (2024)
- Rigging and mast inspected in 2025, found to be in excellent condition
- Original keel-stepped aluminum mast, in very good condition
- All new standing wire rigging in 2017, by Port Townsend Rigging
- New running backstays in wire and Spectra, 2021, never been used, stowed below decks to keep out of the sun
- Harken roller furler on forestay
- Removable inner forestay
- New rope brakes for reefing lines 2021
- New halyards 2018
DECK AND EQUIPMENT
- 2 Mantus Marine "new generation" anchors.
- 45 pound anchor at the bow with 100ft of stainless steel5/16in chain (new in 2021, barely used, and 300 feet of 3/4 inch rode.
- 35 pound anchor at the stern. Can be used either as a stern anchor or as a spare for the main anchor. This is essential for stern anchoring in places like the Marquesas. The line is essential for stern-tying in tight coves in places like Alaska.
- Electric anchor windlass - switch replaced 2021.
- Nesting rowing dinghy - 10ft 4in when assembled, 4 feet 4 inches when it nests - fits perfectly between capstan and cabin. 2 brand new pairs of oars, one from West Marine, one from Shawand Tenney in Maine. Danforth dinghy anchor with line.
- Aluminum boat hook
- Gaff for fishing
- Deck brush
- All the necessary (and beyond!) sailing hardware - snatch blocks, jib sheet cars, spare shackles, blocks, etc etc
- Jack lines to clip into for sailing offshore
- Throw cushions for the cockpit
- Canvas dodger in good condition, with windows in excellent condition
- Compass
- Wind vanes: Aries wind vane
- Tiller steering, which makes the wind vane work a lot more effectively
SAFETY EQUIPMENT
- Jordan Series Drogue, new in 2014, never used.
- 4-man Revere life raft in hard case, mounted on deck, due for service.
- EPIRB and ditch bag. EPIRB needs new battery.
- Life jackets : 1 hydrostatic, 2 that inflate on contact with water, 2 big orange ones.
- Katadyn manual water maker for use in emergencies
- Flares, fire extinguishers, fog horn (flares might be out of date)
- Manual depth sounder to take soundings from the dinghy
- Tethers, jack lines
- Strobe lights that activate in the water
- Handheld GPS
- Iridium Satellite phone with hard-wired external antenna for superior reception, and OCENS Satellite Systems “Sidekick” router
- Bilge Pumps: electric and Whale manual
- Plugs for burst seacocks
OTHER
- Pretty much every tool you can think of:
- Battery powered grinder, sander, skill saw, jigsaw
- Lots of hand tools like screwdrivers, wrench sets, pliers, wire cutters, socket sets, torque wrench, grease gun, multimeter, prop puller, etc
- tons of spares - plumbing, wiring, sail repair kit and sticky-Dacron, spare pressure water pump, sailing hardware (blocks, shackles,etc), fasteners of all kinds, spare propeller
- Paint, sandpaper, brushes, solvents, West System epoxy
- Fishing gear: handline, rods, lures, leaders, weights, club,knives, etc
- Plastic tupperwares to hold food
- Jerry cans for fuel and water
- Buckets, hand bilge pumps
- Bedding: sheets, towels, pillows, blankets
