Canal du Midi

[Rogermorgan]

Hi all

I intend to take my Sunrise down the canal du midi in the spring of 2010.
Has anyone done this?

[Jadzia]

Hi Roger,

You may have already seen it but there is an advert for a Sunrise Sport called 'Orchid' on the Apolloduck website in which the owner briefly describes his trip from the UK to the Med through the French canals. Might be worth trying to contact him?
We were told by Jadzia's previous owners that they had taken her through some French inland waterways, but more than that I cannot remember and we have lost touch with them.
Sorry, cannot help more than that.
On another subject, we damaged the Starboard prop recently and had to replace it. I shall write a piece on the subject when time permits.

Best regards,

Nigel and Sheila.

[Rogermorgan]

Thanks for the update. David says he thought that the Sunrise 36 was too wide for the Midi. So he went the long way round to the Med. The French have since emailed me to say that the mimimum width is 5.45m. So I should be fine.

On another tack, your boat was the last one we moulded at Solaris Catamarans Ltd in 2000. It was originally made for an American friend of mine, Patrick Williams.
It was later sold from Solaris and was towed to the Isle of Wight for completion. I saw the completed boat in Alderney and it looked excellent inside and out.
When making her we used a different layup that should make her a little lighter and stronger.

[Rogermorgan]

Nigel and Sheila

My apologies for repeating myself in my last post to you.
I must be getting old!

However Davids' boat was our first boat we moulded

[Jadzia]

Hello Roger,
I find it so fascinating to be conversing with the person responsible for the manufacture of our mouldings!
When we bought her I never dreamt we would find out so much about her, not only from the original owner but from yourself. Can you explain what makes our layup different? Also, what I find hard to understand is the transoms are much deeper in the water than I believe the original design intended. When at rest the bottom steps are awash but we would expect the transoms to be clear of the water or is this wishful thinking and are other Sunrise's this low in the water? We have an engine under each berth in the stern cabins (20 hp Beta's with shaft drives) and a diesel tank in one hull and water tank  in the other so there is a lot of weight near the stern, but still....! Maybe we are fretting unnecessarily over what is really quite normal. Perhaps moving the tankage to the forward end of the boat would help? Maybe we should remove all the junk we have accumulated over a period of time, that would probably help the most!
Back to the mouldings, where can I find the HIN or other identifying marking? Is there a CE mark to be found? As the RCD came into force back in 1998 before Jadzia was moulded I guess there must be some kind of id somewhere.
We are aware that she does not need to be RCD compliant as she was effectively home completed and not sold for 5 years after completion, but it would be nice to know these details.

After being finished on the Island she spent some time travelling with her new owners, mostly in UK and European waters I think.

Regards,

Nigel and Sheila.

[Jadzia]

Sheila has just reminded me, with the paperwork that came with Jadzia was an original Solaris Yachts brochure. The featured Sunrise in the brochure is called Meerkat. When we bought Jadzia in 2006 the broker  we bought her through (based in Emsworth in Chichester Harbour) had another Sunrise for sale called Meerkat which we now believe to be the same boat in the brochure. I do not see her name registered on this forum so does anybody out there know anything more on this subject? I understand from the broker she sold soon after we bought Jadzia, but no more than that.

Well I thought it was interesting anyway.....

[Roger]

Also, what I find hard to understand is the transoms are much deeper in the water than I believe the original design intended. When at rest the bottom steps are awash but we would expect the transoms to be clear of the water or is this wishful thinking and are other Sunrise's this low in the water?

No bottom steps awash on Catkin in calm water (although the transom isn't clear either) - maybe we have saltier water in Wales 

We do have quite a bit of weight up front though - the 2 water tanks are in the forecabins and the diesel tank is at the front of the "lounge".

[Rogermorgan]

Dear Nigel & Sheila

Sorry I have taken so long to get back to you. I have spent quite a bit of time on White Fin at Port Medoc. I am getting her ready for the Canal du Midi next April.
In answer to your questions:
Part of the layup used in your boat consisted of biaxial & quad axial fibers. If my memory serves me well this glassfiber cloth used glassfiber strands that are straight and are at X angles to each other. They have no kinks in them which makes the hull very strong. The weakest cloth is CSM (Chopped Strand Mat). This is just short bits of fiber 1" or so long bonded with pva to make a cloth. You boat has this inbetween the quad cloth as quads cannot be layed on themselves. Previous Sunrises used woven rovings (mine). Which is as it says, is a woven glass cloth like any fabric with the strands going over & under (kinks). Again this requires CSM in between. Quads are difficult to work with CSM the easiest. The Sunrise with it's strong chines is not the obvious candidate for quads as the cloth does not like to bend......It's all a compromise.
The Sunrises we made prior to yours have a thicker lay-up to make up to the required strength.

The  Sunrise original spec was for a single engine in the centre rear locker with an out drive like (like a Prout) or 2 x Yanmar 9GM (9hp single cylinder raw water cooled). Both these options are a lot lighter than most of the motors now fitted. Mine has 2 x 27hp! With these larger motors go larger tanks (2 x 25 galls). Further more, the original Sunrise interior was lagged in cord foam backed carpet on the cabin walls. Nearly all our Sunrises were beautifully clad in wood with extensive teak trim. (Like a real yacht) The mast is 4 foot taller etc…I could go on but basically all this adds to the weight so the rear steps can be awash. Moving the fuel tanks forward or to the nacelle will help. Or don’t fill the tanks up to much! The Hull number should be on the rear port transom. These boats were completed at home   so they do vary.  Hope this all helps.
Regards Roger Morgan

[Jadzia]

Roger,
Thank you very much for the information, most useful. I shall look for the HIN this weekend. The original Sunrise specification may have been for a single central engine and Sonic type leg, but I have to say that the twin arrangement is far more preferable. And I have to agree that modern diesels, although they are considerably lighter than their early counterparts do still weigh in rather heavily when you add freshwater cooling and all the extras that come with them. (Jadzia is fitted with 20 hp Beta diesels)
We only have one fuel and one water tank, situated under the cockpit, but they are 120 litres and 150 litres respectively. That is bound to add to the weight problem!
We have found the primary cause of the bottom step being awash, the drains for the centre rear locker were blocked and the locker was full of water! As we do not use this locker it was pure chance that we found the problem last weekend. Jadzia is now much higher at the stern, and looks all the better for it.
Do please keep us informed of your progress during the planning of your trip next April, and also during the trip itself. That passage really is one that Sheila and myself feel we must do, after retirement, when we are able to devote several months to it.
Once again thanks, and we hope all goes well.

Best wishes,
Nigel & Sheila.

[Galley Ho]

Nigel & Shiela

There is a very good write-up of  Michael Bryant's  trip down the Canal du Midi in Eloise, his Prout 34, Event, at:
http://michaelbriant.com/eloise_diary.htm. 

Since the Event has a beam of 15' 8", Jadzia should be able to make it. Michael has written a book on the French canals, this is available at this site, although I haven't seen it.

Michael  is a writer who manages the Prout Owners Association, and he has a lot of interesting stuff on his sailing page. (Hit sailing on the top of the above web page.)

On another note, I want to thank you again for your  responses to my "Performance" post. To update you, we have made an offer on Duet.  If we buy her, you will probably seeing a lot of us on this site.

[Rogermorgan]

Just to say I have arrived at Cap d'Adge from Bordeaux on 17 May 2010. So a Sunrise can make it.

[Rogermorgan]

Just to let you all know that White Fin a Solaris Sunrise 36 Sport is now at Sant Carles Marina in Spain after making it  through the Canal du Midi via Cap d'Adge. An excellent trip!

[Roger]

Is it me, or are all the Sunrises migrating south?

Over the last year, I have seen one go from Scotland to Portugal, one from Scotland to Wales, and yourself moving further south into Spain from France.

[Rogermorgan]

It's the weather silly. Having said that, this summer has been a lot better than the last three summers. These 3 poor summers were the cause of me moving to Spain. There is plenty of marina space at reasonable prices and flights are cheap. What more do you want?