An all-timber cruising smack named 'Jane'

In creating the beautiful timber cruising smack Jane as a tribute to his late wife,  Christopher Sinn committed himself to achieve absolute quality from stem to stern.

Jane is a handcraft 14.3m all-timber smack built by respected shipwright Tim Phillips and his team at the Wooden Boat Shop at Sorrento in Victoria. We have been following this build for some time and now the stunning motorsailer has been splashed.

Owner Sinn chose a Yanmar 4JH4-HTE marine diesel engine to power Jane, which we should mention as the following press release was supplied by Yanamr's PR agency.

Jane has the design strength and sailing capability to cruise anywhere in the world in style, comfort and safety. While she has plenty of performance under sail, she’s also more than capable for extended periods of cruising under power.

YANMAR POWER

The Yanmar 4JH4-HTE is a four-cylinder, four-stroke marine diesel engine with a displacement of 1.995 litres. An intercooler is integrated into the turbo charged induction system. Peak power of 110mhp is achieved at 3200rpm.

A powerful yet lightweight engine, the Yanmar 4JH4-HTE is the ideal engine for vessels like this. It is said to be a quiet engine with a compact installation envelope. Low noise combined with low emissions and low vibration is ideal for cruising.

TIMBER BEAUTY
Built from Cedratta, Iroko and Kauri timbers, Jane was the product of a lot of effort and consideration. Owner Sinn and his adult childred worked on the hull throughout the two-year build process, encouraged by Phillips at the Wooden Boat Shop. This ended up being most weekends for two years.

Sinn's son is an experienced architect and he and Phillips created a unique interior design.

"My son was able to look at the layout of the cabin and bring subtleties to the design which created more space," Sinn said.

"He and Phillips complemented one another very well and some of the ideas incorporated into Jane have been adopted in boats subsequently built at the Wooden Boat Shop.

"My daughter-in-law is a graphic designer and she contributed her flair with colours, the choice of galley items, and even our own Jane stationery," Sinn says.

A STUNNING SMACK
A smack design once used for fishing, Jane is a stunning vessel. It is in the living and entertaining areas that the true brilliance of this boat is said to shine through. The main cabin is described as amazingly open and spacious, yet contains a dedicated navigation station, library, wood heater/stove and a curved settee that seats six.

For’ard is the owner’s cabin, featuring a double bunk with separate head/shower. Aft is the pilothouse which opens out to a large self-draining cockpit. All told, Jane has the capacity to sleep seven. We're told she is an exceptional dayboat yet excels equally as a long-distance cruiser.

Owner Sinn has thus far restricted himself to long weekends on Port Phillip Bay. His run across Bass Strait from Sorrento to Hobart for the Australian Wooden Boat Festival was his first big trip across open water.

"I have no doubt that I could live aboard Jane for three weeks at a time," said Sinn.

"I have 800 litres of water and 800 litres of diesel on board. On the trip down to Hobart I motored all the way on the Yanmar 4JH4-HTE achieving 7 knots with the engine running at 2200 rpm. Fuel consumption was 4.5 litres per hour, a very creditable performance considering that Jane displaces 20 tonnes.

"The trip across Bass Strait went smoothly. Although we had some difficult conditions at times, the hull tracked exceptionally well and the Yanmar never missed a beat," Sinn says

Yanmar says under fair-weather conditions, the Yanmar fuel burn will provide Jane with a useful range of about 1000nm. With the Yanmar 4JH4-HTE on board, Chris can be assured that irrespective of wherever he goes in the world, Yanmar technical support is close at hand from any major port.

In addition to the Yanmar 4JH4-HTE installed under the pilot house floor, Christopher also has a MASE I.S. 3.5 generator fitted in the same space. The MASE generator delivers ample power to drive the navigation system, equipment in the galley and other on-board needs.

More about the Yanmar and Mase at Power Equipment, see
www.powerequipment.com.au. Detail about the build and further photos of Jane and other wonderful wooden craft at The Wooden Boat Shop, see www.woodenboatshop.com.au/.