Solo 47

A bunch of shipwrights were preparing the Solo 47 for a leading role in the Sydney Boat Show and Black Sabbath was playing when I stepped aboard. It was doubtless the first and last time heavy-metal music would be heard on this dignified boat The Solo is more your Vivaldi kind of cruiser. Definitely a classic of sorts.

We set off under clear skies and meandered through the tangle of moorings at Bobbin Head as the boat's manager set about getting another thing straight.

You don't even cruise on a Solo 47. No, you proceed. We proceeded down river, along a straight, around a bend, and headed off merrily to nowhere in particular. In other words, we barely scratched the surface of this seaworthy boat's potential. One look and you'll see it screams adventure.

Made in Hong Kong primarily for the American trawler market, the Solo 47 is a ship-like boat designed for covering long distances with a modicum of engine effort and maximum comfort. The round-bilge, displacement cruiser has a deep forefoot to part the waves, but also 2000kg of lead ballast, a flat run aft, and less rounded bilge sections to prevent rock and roll.

Enamoured by the boat's performance, the owner predicts the market for passagemakers of this type can only grow. Interest in the boat at the Sydney show confirms as much. Though there are some go-fast types who will never warm to the idea of proceeding about the waterways, there are others for whom this is their preferred method of travel.

The owner plans to cruise the Hawkesbury and Clarence river systems and head north to, where else, the Whitsundays. He also makes a valid point about the Solo 47 being a more abiding way to cruise, I mean proceed, than the rough-and-tumble of fast sportscruisers which have an insatiable thirst for fuel.

LIVING ABOARD
The layout endears the Solo 47 to the Australian way of life. For starters, there's a cockpit which is covered so you can enjoy the great outdoors without getting grilled.

There are bulwarks so you can walk around the main saloon and access all parts of the boat internally and externally. And the high gunwales make this a particularly safe vessel for taking children aboard.

Down below is a second bathroom and a spare cabin with bunks in case you decide to take some crew for the ride. Yet for the most part, the Solo 47 is true to name. It is primarily a liveaboard cruiser designed to pull at the heartstrings of retiring couples. It's also perfect for sailors looking for a passagemaking boat that doesn't depend on the vagaries of the wind.

Thoughtful living areas include a bar, a massive master suite in the bow, internal and external helms, and all-weather seaworthiness. Though the owner makes the point that the Solo 47 is a bit slow in getting around it does 10kt flat out and proceeds comfortably at 8-9kt at sea there are some advantages with going about your boating in an orderly way.

While I didn't reach the open ocean, I have no doubts about the Solo 47's claims offshore. It looks like a well-designed swordfish boat of the kind to survive The Perfect Storm. Trevor Gowland, who was conceiving boats before I was born, delivered the Solo 47 from Broken Bay to Sydney Harbour in what can only be described as downright atrocious weather.

"To be quite honest it's probably the best motorcruiser I've ever been to sea in. It's just got a beaut feel about it. It's very steady, it doesn't roll, it pulls up nicely," he says.

Indeed, the motion is quite unlike traditional, round-bilged boats. Some old salties, the types with parrots on their shoulders, might even say the Solo pulls up too quickly. Obviously the lead ballast and the hard edges on the chine lines back aft contribute to its steadfastness.

Gowland says the Solo 47 is a proper boat for the big fraternity of salties who like to go to sea. By this he doesn't mean merely poking your bow out the Heads, but serious coastal passages and long-range undertakings of the Pacific kind.

TO SEE THE SEA
The conditions in which Gowland delivered the Solo 47 to Sydney were borderline for a lot of supposedly ocean-going boats. He had 40kt on the nose and spilling 3-4m seas. But there was no greenwater aboard and down-swell the hull never gets off-line.

The heartening thing is, considering it's a displacement cruiser, the Solo 47 ships very little water aboard. The hull has prodigious amounts of freeboard and reserve buoyancy up front, and a Portuguese-style bow which prevents greenwater flooding the bulwarks. The 20,100kg hull stands up to 3.3m above the waterline.

Offshore or upriver, the Solo 47 doesn't need to work hard to get around.

Its single six-cylinder, turbocharged, aftercooled, direct-injection Cummins engine is continuously rated for 220hp and produces maximum horsepower at just 2500rpm. At 2000rpm and 9kt the engine uses about 20lt/hr.

Your range on the Solo 47 is more than 2200nm. In other words, the 4000lt of fuel in its belly will take you from Sydney to Cairns and beyond.

"You haven't got your hand in your pocket filling it up all the time," quips Gowland. "Most of the twin-engined sportsboats go about 200 miles for $3000. And you soon get sick of that if you're retired on a set income."

BUILD QUALITY
A joint venture between Jet-Tern Marine and Harvey Halvorsen from the former Kong & Halvorsen yard in Hong Kong gave rise to the Solo 47. The home-away-from-home cruiser has been well-received in America.

The hull is hand-laid fibreglass smothered in vinylester resin, with vacuum-bagged, balsa-cored top and side decks to reduce weight. The hull and deck are glued and bolted together. Some 107 moulds make up the boat.

Rigidity comes through the use of longitudinal stringers and transverse frames, with added security in the form of five watertight compartments.

Deck gear is all 316 stainless. This includes the nice high rails around the bridge, the anchor roller assembly, the clever hawsepipes incorporating cleats, the cockpit ladder leading up, and the rubbing rails.

The extra-large swim platform is hinged so you can reduce thumping in a seaway not to mention reduce the boat's waterline length and, therefore, docking fees. The decks are all self-draining and finished in a very aggressive grade of non-skid.

I liked the sliding tracks along the gunwales which allow fenders and/or boards to be positioned wherever you might need them.

A gate on the foredeck leads out to the Portuguese bridge. This allows you to access the rope and storage lockers. Back aft, the transom door is big and inviting. Overhead hatches lead from the top of the cockpit ladder and from pilothouse to the bridge.

The bridge is an even bigger outdoor living area than the cockpit. Equipped with a hinged mast and staysail, plus a boom with an optional electric winch, the bridge space and lifting gear allows you to store and launch a large tender Even with the tender in place, there's plenty of room for a barbie, to pack guests aboard for a sightseeing tour of the harbour, or recline in the sun.

The central helm has seats for skipper and first mate, however, and some extra seating for friends and family would not go astray. Some criticism has also been made of the fact that you can't see the bow from the bridge station and that the wheel should be offset so you can gaze down the boat's flanks when close-quarters manoeuvring.

From the pilothouse, which is accessed back through a forward hatch or from an internal timber companionway leading up from the saloon, the view for'ard is unobstructed. The big reverse-sheer on the safety-glass windscreen will shed a tsunami. The Dutch-style opening side doors let you split the top and bottom halves to allow fresh air to flow inside, but not the white horses.

Though the Solo 47 was fitted with a bow thruster which could shunt the hull sideways and help counteract prop walking, there's still no view from the pilothouse to the transom of the boat. Thus, mooring necessitates poking your head out the Dutch doors and taking a bo-peep back aft. Unfamiliar fuel wharves may be a challenge, though owner/drivers will soon grow to learn where their boat ends.

Trevor Gowland showed his talent behind the wheel by parking the Solo 47 without a hitch.

Underway, yours truly found the boat a very relaxed way to proceed. You can steer hands-free and rely on the autopilot, sit on the big bench seat and drive with your toes, or deliver a tweak here or there while standing behind the olde-worlde timber wheel.

Nice touches in the pilothouse include the big driver's lounge, the sleeper bed behind for night shifts, and the full-width dash with room to flush-mount more electronics and gauges than you'll ever need. Also, the family or kids can watch the box, read a book, or whip up dinner without distracting the skipper.

From an owner/driver's perspective, the Solo 47 is an intelligent boat. If it starts raining or snowing outside, no worries. You pull the doors closed, put the airconditioning up to warm, turn on the wipers, and continue on your merry way. In this way, the boat and crew are unflappable.

TWO FOR TEA
Though the bulwarks shave space off the Solo's saloon, it's a wonderful living area for a couple and practical enough to serve a family of four or entertain the troops at short notice. American cherrywood joinery, teak-and-holly flooring, high-gloss finishes on most areas including the coamings, and burr maple table tops add to the sense of class.

An L-shaped sofa, covered in a classy antiquated fish-print, wraps around a two to four person dinette to port.

Below decks is a commissionary with wine cellar, cabinets and storage recesses for provisions. To starboard is a cabinet including drawers with dedicated glass holders, bottle storage, and room for books.

On the ceiling are handrails, while the sides are flanked by big windows and wooden slat blinds for privacy. Two leather sofa chairs lean against the starboard wall. It would be a nice boat in which to kick back at anchor or the marina and immerse yourself in a book.

The central galley adds to a sense of peace in that it feeds every area of the boat and is on the centreline so you can stew a curry while steaming.

Amenities include twin stainless sinks, six drawers, six cupboards (one given over to appliances), crockery holders and Corian benchtops.

The aft edge of the galley doubles as a bar. Four bar stools let you prop yourself at the counter and order a meal. The chef has a domestic fridge/freezer, three-burner gas oven and grill, a separate counter-sunk eutectic fridge/freezer, and there's an exhaust fan.

A hatch under the galley floor offers alternate access to the engineroom. Day-to-day servicing is best attended to via the watertight door off the companionway leading below.

At the foot of the stairs is a laundry area with washer/dryer.

Well-insulated, the large engineroom affords the single Cummins engine plenty of breathing space. The engine is flanked by fuel tanks with filter systems and, as you can imagine in this single-screw set-up, there's plenty of room for extras such as the 12kW generator, watermaker, water pumps, airconditioning unit, and so on.

FEELING AT HOME
Accommodation comes in the form of a guest's cabin to port, with two bunks and a stateroom with island berth in the bow. The two details which set this boat's accommodation apart are lofty headroom thanks to a deep bow, and a retractable wall in the guest's cabin which opens up the interior even further.

The two heads are there to satisfy daytrippers and owners. Both have a full-sized shower fed by over 750lt of water. Jabsco electric loos, extractor fans and Corian benchtops are featured, but the high-gloss teak-and-holly flooring is bound to take a beating.

Above all else, it's the master cabin which has the goods to subdue restless retirees. The island berth is a beauty, with an inner-spring mattress and easy access. There are his-and-hers hanging lockers, a husband and wife each get a three-drawer 'lowboy' plus two big drawers under the bunk. A TV/VCR combo faces the big bed.

Somewhere I found a copy of Joseph Conrad's classic, Typhoon. "But every ship Captain MacWhirr commanded was the floating abode of harmony and peace," wrote Conrad. A fitting quote, indeed...

The Solo 47 is big on space, low on maintenance, easy on fuel. Above all, it's a seaworthy trawler with a sense of adventure, an air of romance, and more than a hint of style.

You don't need to be a retiree popping Viagra to get off on its virtues. Just some super A and extra twilight time will see you reeling back and proceeding with your cruising plans.

HIGHS

LOWS