Our Nauticat is for sale

1983 Nauticat 44 Ketch Sojourner

Sojourner is regretfully for sale but we know she'll bring as much pleasure to her new owners as she has to us. She's proven herself by taking us safely to Alaska and Mexico.

This cutter-rigged ketch (4 sails: main with 3 reef points and lazy jacks, roller-furling 100% jib, self-tending staysail, and mizzen with 2 reef points and lazy jacks) is a well-maintained yacht ready for either cruising or living aboard and is temporarily located on the Washington coast in the amazing cruising grounds of the Pacific NW's San Juan Islands and Canada's Gulf Islands. She is in a marina where live-aboards are allowed (upon approval) and there is an awesome mountain view from the aft deck.

Sojourner has a full keel with cut away forefoot. The overall length from the davits to the pulpit is about 50 ft., beam is 12.2 ft, draft is 6 ft., and height of the main mast over the waterline is 57.5 ft. Her gross tonnage is 15. The interior head room is as follows.

Aft cabin: head = 6'2", shower = 6', cabin = 6'3"
Pilothouse: hatch area (28" x 61" above steering station) = 6'8", balance = 6'4"
Main cabin: 6'6"
Galley: 6'3"
Fwd Head: 5'10"
V-berth: 6'

Newly-upholstered cushions, drapes, carpet, and polyurethaned interior make her look almost new!

The V-berth sleeps two and has its own hanging locker. There is a forward head just aft of the V-berth and across from the galley. The galley has Corian countertops, a 2-burner propane stove with oven, a microwave, and fridge/freezer. The U-shaped setee with a collapsible table converts to an almost king-sized berth. It seats 6 comfortably and 8 cozily. An additional freezer is located underneath it. A single setee provides for one more sleeping berth. There is enough storage on Sojourner for long journeys. The customized Vetus water bladder enclosed in a polyethylene shell holds approximately 200 gallons of water.

The aft cabin has a queen-sized walk around bed. There'll be no crawling over one another to get to the head in the middle of the night on this yacht! There is a hanging locker and lots of storage lockers for clothes, etc. A separate shower across from the head is a convenient feature of Sojourner's aft cabin.

The enclosed pilothouse and new forced air furnace (see update below) make cruising in cold, wet weather truly a delight. The pilothouse has a huge nav station allowing you to store and work on paper charts, an L-shaped setee with drop-leaf table, and single setee with an additional fold-down table which can be used for chart plotter/computer navigation. There are locking sliding doors both port and starboard to access the pilothouse. The engine, generator, batteries (a 12v starting battery and 2 - 6v banks of house batteries) and furnace can easily be accessed below the insulated pilothouse flooring. Likewise, if there is any necessary removal of the engine and generator, this can be done through the large pilothouse hatch. Two steel fuel tanks hold approximately 240 gallons of diesel.

Equipment includes VHF radio, hailer, EPIRB, Autohelm ST7000 (2 stations), Garmin 128 GPS, Icom IC-M710 SSB radio (compatible for Sailmail), Furuno radar, Sealand RO desalinator, Heart inverter, a feathering Max prop, dripless shaft seal, and lots of spare parts. The 135hp Ford Lehman diesel engine has 3,911 hours on it and the Onan 6.5kw generator 504 hours. Ground tackle includes a windlass, a 30kg Bruce anchor with 300 ft of chain, and a Fortress 21# anchor with 50 ft of chain and 250 ft of rope. In addition, there is a 6 person self-inflating PLASTIMO offshore life raft (with auto arch) mounted on the foredeck.

Sojourner has a customized swim platform and davits to carry a polyethylene Bullfrog dinghy which is powered by a 15hp Yamaha motor. Her exterior teak handrails and pilothouse trim have been varnished, new bottom paint rolled on, and the hull's been waxed and buffed so she's ready to go. These owners are ready to move on to new adventures.

UPDATE: A new Webasto HL60 furnace was installed on Sojourner as of October, 2008, to keep you warm and toasty in colder, inclement weather. If it's protection from the sun you need, she also has a full awning for the warmer climates.

Location: Blaine, Washington

Listed at $182,500

We welcome any inquiries. Contact Cindi/Dave via e-mail: SailingSojourner@hotmail.com

Please continue to scroll down in the blog and click on older posts for add'l pictures and information.

The admiral decided she had given me enough time in Mexico and at sea, and the adventure should continue down a different path.

We started the uphill slog out of Mexico. After the usual thrashing and bashing we rounded Cape Flattery and headed east into the Straits of Juan de Fuca on exactly the same date we left years before.

Since then we've been spiffing up the old gal getting her ready to take another captain and his mate on their dream voyage. We've completely stripped the interior to bare mahogany and finished her with 3 coats of satin polyurethane. We had all the cushions redone, added new carpeting and drapes and all the other countless projects to help her put her best foot forward.

Sojourner has been an adventure. No boat is the perfect solution for every problem, but this boat has been the best compromise I could imagine. She was definitely worth the hours we spent searching for her and the hours we've spent living our dream aboard her.

I think the Finns are great seafaring people but they must live on dried fish. I decided I needed more room for beer and leftover pizza so I added an "American-sized refer". It took a little bit of
cabinetry remodeling and furniture moving skills but I think it was well worth it. We just have to remember to open the fridge on the port tack only!

We had 5 glorious seasons in Mazatlan, San Blas and Puerto Vallarta meeting lots of cruising sailors and basking in sunshine. Before leaving San Francisco we purchased a new Bullfrog dinghy and a 15hp Yamaha motor. The combination is fantastically stable and unbelievably quick. I've spent countless hours miles offshore communing with whales, manta rays and sea turtles in Banderas Bay.

It was time to find a better way to carry the new (and heavier) dinghy aboard so I designed new davits and a folding swim platform while in Puerto Vallarta. Luckily I found a marine engineer slipped a few hundred yards away who had a floating fab shop aboard. With his hydraulic bender, tig welder, and every other tool you could think of we fabricated a pretty good system.

After cruising to Skagway, Haines and Sitka, Alaska we were ready for a little bit more sunshine so we headed out the Straits of Juan de Fuca and rounded Cape Flattery making our way towards warmer weather.

As a youngster I dreamed of sailing my own boat underneath the Golden Gate Bridge. I finally got the opportunity but it was so foggy we never saw the bridge. Several weeks later we left Frisco Bay and after provisioning in San Diego we pushed off for Cabo San Lucas.

After getting comfortable with the operation of our new home we headed north to Alaska and into some of the most beautiful cruising grounds in the world. We felt like the Titanic when we saw our first iceberg calved from Sawyer Glacier. The middle picture is on the upper end of the Behm Canal around Revillagigedo Island. We spent a few days in Traitor's Cove tied to a floating "dance floor" and had the whole place to ourselves.