Bollard Sea Fever -- One Man's boat

If your dream, like those of so many others, is to sail around the Pacific dropping into the most remote island groups, then Mark Cochrane has the ideal yacht for you -- the 50ft Bollard Sea Fever ketch Island Lady.

Now lying at Iluka on the NSW north coast, Island Lady has fulfilled the dreams of Cochrane and his four fellow syndicate members and is now awaiting a new adventurer to step aboard.

Built of 6mm steel plate by Perth boatbuilder Barry Kempthorne in 1979, the vessel is as sound as the day she was launched and while she'll never win any yacht race around the buoys -- she is perfect for comfortable, long-range cruising. She also has a draft of only 6ft so she can negotiate most island anchorages.

Cochrane and his four partners met while doing a sailing course in Ballina in the early 2000s and when they graduated they did a few offshore jaunts in a yacht owned by one of the quintet. This started them all thinking about venturing further afield, specifically to the little-known islands that string between Papua New Guinea's eastern "tail" and the Solomon Islands. The adventurers choose the Louisiades group as their destination.

This diverse group, that included a real estate agent, a surgeon, a nurse and a bloke, Iain McCabe, who had grown up living with his family on some of the most remote lighthouses in Australia, looked around for a suitable vessel and in 2007 bought Island Lady. The ketch was being refurbished in a yard on the far north coast and they decided to complete the work.

They formed a syndicate of five and decided they would keep the ketch for five years, during which time they would make their dream voyage, and then sell the boat.

The first order of business was to have the boat put on the hard so the whole hull could undergo an ultrasound examination for rust or faulty welds. Cochrane says it was a tribute to Barry Kempthorne's boat building skills that after almost 30 years the hull was declared to be absolutely sound.

"We spent about $100,000 doing up the yacht for the trip," Cochrane told BoatPoint, "The interior joinery work was beautiful but needed sanding and revarnishing. The big Gardner diesel was overhauled and things like a generator, new freezer and modern electronic navigation equipment was fitted."

The yacht is fitted with radar, chart plotter, depth sounder and radios. A large bow thruster makes docking the heavy yacht easy and a 35kg plough anchor with 80 metres of 13mm chain ensures she stays snug in any anchorage. A new Maxwell 3500 anchor winch makes light work of hoisting the plough. A six-person life raft is stored on deck and a substantial tinny or RIB can be carried in the stern davits.

A large holding tank and a macerator are fitted to handle black water.

Below decks, Island Lady has accommodation for seven. There are twin V-berths in the bow, two bunks in the saloon and a double and a single in the aft master cabin. The yacht can carry 1500 litres of water and 2000 litres of fuel which Cochrane says gives her a range under power of close to 1000 nautical miles.

The ketch rig makes the sails a manageable size and a dozen winches of various sizes keep all the sheets and halyards under control. There are two helm stations, one in the cockpit and a very protected one in the saloon. An auto pilot has also been fitted.

Having completed the dream cruise to one of the more remote corners of the Pacific, Island Lady is now for sale. Cochrane says more than $15,000 has been spent on revarnishing the interior and a putting new bimini and clears over the spacious cockpit and a new mainsail cover.

"She is an oldie but a goody," Cochrane says. "She is in mint condition and we reckon she is the best value for money of any yacht for sale in Australia under $200,000."