Dec 14, 2017
Living the dream! Longtime CY staffer and now blogger Lynn Lortie with her husband Pat left Midland more than a year ago to make their way into the Great Loop and head out on a three year sailing odyssey. Follow their progress right here in CYOB
We have been asked many times what make of boat Adamant 1 is. She is somewhat unusual with her rigid dodger, high topsides, big windows and large foredeck. Most people are surprised when we tell them that Pat designed and built her. It is everything we wanted in a cruising boat and the bonus part is that she sails well! A job well done by a produce manager and a banker!

Adamant 1 came about because we could not find anything for sale that had everything on our wish list. She had to have big water and fuel tanks, lots of storage, a separate freezer compartment, and be roomy enough to live on. It had to be big enough to handle the ocean, but small enough for me to handle alone if anything should happen to Pat. In 1999, after a few weeks on the drawing board, Pat had the plans figured out. He lofted the drawings on our basement floor, and then transferred them to mylar sheets. We ordered a truckload of pine and a 45 gallon drum of epoxy resin, crossed our fingers and went to work. It took a lot more wood and a second 45 gallon drum of resin but we have the boat we wanted.
Adamant 1 was constructed in the half hull format. She is made of 3/4” pine strips glued together with thickened epoxy over 10 building frames. The pine was then covered with a layer of 1/8” cedar, placed on the diagonal. Following the cedar is three coats of cloth and epoxy on the outside and two layers on the inside. Then the two halves were taken out of the shop, and assembled upside down. The keel, constructed of 3/4” oak strips, was lifted onto the upside down hull. Once the two hulls were epoxied together and the keel was epoxied into place, we painted the bottom of the hull and the keel with black barrier coating. The neighbours thought we had built a submarine, because that is what it looked like upside down, painted black.

We then hired a crane, dug a 5' deep, 15' long hole and had the boat rolled over. The keel was put into the hole and the boat rested on cribs we had made. This allowed us to work on the boat without having to climb up steps. We then got our first look at what we had created. It looked big and it looked awesome! It was early in the spring of 2000 and we had a long summer of work ahead of us. Pat was “adamant” he was going to have the boat floating in two years, which is where the name came from.... he was the adamant one! So we geared up and started the inside. By the way, we both had full time jobs, so the boat was built in the evenings and on weekends!

In our special issue next week on Dec 21, we continue the saga of Adamant 1’s construction. Don’t miss it!
Read Part B of Building Adamant 1

By Andy Adams
Regal Boats’ new LS36 is what we call a day boat. Regal says the LS36 merges their luxury yacht series with their bowrider series and the result is the LS36. This comfortable bowrider is perfect for cruising the lake or hosting friends and family for the day on the weekend.
We feel the styling deserves mention right off the top. This is a big boat at over 37-feet on an 11’7” beam but the clean and almost traditional lines give the LS36 a timeless sporty look that we think, really sets it apart. It’s a Yacht-certified vessel. I counted approximately 21 places for people to sit! You would probably never take a crowd that big but it can certainly handle a gang.
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By Zuzana Prochazka
Every few years, boat builders update their lines with refreshed designs and new features that eventually proliferate throughout their entire offering. Dufour Yachts is in mid-process of such an evolution as the builder changes up their line of sleek sailing cruisers.
One sign of this transformation is the naming convention that is morphing from triple-digit numbers ending with a zero, to simple double-digits that one would guess designates the LOA – more on this later. The latest model in the refresh is the Dufour 37 which replaces the previous Dufour 360.
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I start every article, story or TV segment about boating out of the biggest city in Canada the same way. Citing the multiple people who told me I would “quickly get bored of Toronto harbour” or that “there’s nothing to do in Lake Ontario” and that it was only a matter of time before I moved marinas to a much more appropriate setting just north of the city.
With all due respect to my pals who boat in Georgian Bay, I don’t foresee that happening anytime soon. Next year will be my tenth in Toronto Harbour and I love it more each year.
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Introducing the next graduate in our CYOB marine career path series, Nathanial Stabenow from the East Coast of Canada.
An individual of many hats, Nathanial has had a diverse career in the marine industry taking part in commercial diving, marine navigation, rigging and boat building. He now works as a marine engineer on the LaHave ferry in Nova Scotia. Here is Nathanial’s unique career path.
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‘A chain is only as strong as its weakest link’ is a cliche that is quite applicable in boat maintenance. In a literal sense, a weakest link can apply to an anchor rode, and a weak link in this chain can spell disaster.
Transport Canada specifies the sizes of anchors required in the Canada Shipping Act, detailed more commonly in the Safe Boating Guide:
For Sail and Power boats up to 6 m (19’8”): One (1) anchor and at least 15 m (49’3”) of cable, rope or chain in any combination...
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The Samana 59 Smart Electric is a new sailing catamaran equipped with alternative energy solutions and EODev’s electro-hydrogen REXH2.
To reduce its carbon impact, the Samana 59 Smart Electric has a virtuous energy architecture composed of a REXH2 that can provide up to 70 kW of continuous power, a battery composed of LiFePO4-EVEPOWER (Lithium Iron Phosphate) cells of 63kWh integrated by EVE SYSTEM and Alternatives Energies and 42 m2 of “slim” type solar panels that can provide up to 6145 W. This energy mix allows to take advantage of all the embarked renewable energies (solar, wind).
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