Queen's Ransom III is a 54 foot sailing sloop. She is build number 22 and from 1996. The Najad 520 was designed by Carl Beyer and built by Najad Varvet at Henån on the island of Orust, Sweden.

I set out below her specification and equipment in some detail as considerable thought has been devoted to equip her for safety, comfort and ease of handling.

She is a centre cockpit yacht with a low sleek coachroof and a vast aft deck. The cockpit is protected by a fixed windscreen which provides for a second protected helm and navigation station with a Raymarine autopilot controller with a turning knob, as well as radar/chart plotter as well as protection for paper charts. There is a teak bulwark around her teak deck.

She has a main saloon and can sleep eight in four double sleeping cabins: aft cabin, passage cabin, forward port cabin and forward cabin. However, normally she would carry a crew of up to six.

She is sloop rigged with cutter rig option and equipped with Selden spars. The main sheet runs on a traveller behind the cockpit. A vertical fully battened main in Vectran and a Vectran genoa are made by Kemp Sails. The sails are 680 and 800 sq ft respectively. She also carries a spinnaker (1,763 sq ft), an asymmetric spinnaker or cruising chute (1,722 sq ft), staysail, storm jib and trysail. A carbon fibre spinnaker pole is carried to make foredeck work safer and easier, as well as a jockey pole. She has electric hydraulic in-mast and genoa furling systems and Andersen hydraulic primary winches, as well as a further nine Andersen manual winches. A Navtec manual hydraulic system controls the twin aft stays and vang/kicker. A detachable inner fore stay is used to fly a hanked staysail or storm jib on with running backstays to balance the mast. There is second spinnaker pole to allow two head sails being poled out on each side. Preventers are permanently rigged together with a tack line for the asymmetric and the down haul for the pole.

She has a traditional handcrafted mahogny (unstained African mahogny) interior with teak plywood cabin soles with holly inlays. The headlining is white vinyl covered panels with mahogny strips. Her main cabin seats eight around the table to port and there are two armchairs to starboard. There is a navigation station by the companion way to starboard which can take a folded admirality chart, as well as the computer, instruments and communication equipment. The main electric switch panel and another autopilot controller are also situated here. Behind the navigation station is the passage cabin with two bunk style berths.

Her galley is located on the port side aft of the main cabin. The galley has a Force 10 stove, double sink, pressurised hot and cold water, sea water pump, microwave oven, espresso maker, fridge and freezer, as well as a washer/dryer. The aft cabin called the "Queen's Cabin" has a double bunk with a desk to starboard and a sofa to port. The aft heads with shower cubicle is accessible from here.

There are two double cabins and the forward heads located forward of the main saloon. The forward cabin has a double bunk and seat, while the port side cabin has two bunk bed style berths.

The cockpit is protected by high comings and a bimini. It has a bracing bar that can be fitted in the middle to provide bracing support when healed. It can be fully enclosed by a cockpit tent to provide a second dining area. The aft deck called the "Quarter deck" provide a lounging area in good weather.

Communication systems

Her call sign is MXRL7. She has a triple station Simrad VHF DSC; MMSI number: 235036742. There is also three handheld Axis and one Icom VHFs onboard. She has an Icom SSB radio and an Iridium satellite phone for long range communication by voice and email. The radios are backed up with a Lowe HF-150 receiver and a Sangean ATS 909 receiver. She has a Simrad class A AIS transponder to identify other vessels and relay position, course, speed and other data. She is equipped with a ICS Nav 6 plus Navtex to recieve weather information and navigational warnings. There is also a Ray 430 loud hailer/fog horn with two intercoms and a complete set of signal flags. Her navigation lights have LED for tricolour and anchor lights, as well as a mast top strobe.

Navigation systems

She is equipped with a dedicated PC with an iPad back up. The navigation software is Open CPN and Euronav Seapro. Those are integrated to the AIS transponder. The navigation programmes' weather routing capabilities are supplemented by LuckGrib and Avalon Offshore. Zygrib and Weather4D programmes can also animate weather files. They have also racing modules to assist improving sailing performance. The main computer with a screen at the navigation table is supplemented with a Raymarine 1500 waterproof screen in the cockpit with a mouse. She has a 4 kw dual station Raymarine radar/chart plotter system with MARPA (Mini Automatic Radar Plotting Aid) to track other vessels and chart/radar overlay capabilitites. A FLS Gold forward looking sonar provides information on the seabed ahead.

Domestic systems

She carries 690 litres of diesel in two tanks which gives her a range under engine of 450 nautical miles. Her water tanks can store 1000 litre of water and a Technicomar watermaker that produces 96 litres per hour. The 60 litres hot water boiler is run by the engine or 220V. There are two waste water tanks of 100 and 80 litres respectively. She is equipped with two Eberspracher heating systems and a Climma airconditioning system. Hot and cold deck showers can be found on both the aft and foredeck together with a seawater pump on foredeck.

Safety

She carries a six man Ocean Safety life raft. There is a grab bag with flares etc. Man over board (MOB) retrieval is helped by a Jonbuoy that can be automatically released, rescue sling, throwing line and two life rings with lights. She carries two Mc Murdo 406 Mhz EPIRB and two McMurdo Fastfind PLBs. One of the EPIRBs has a hydrostatic release. For safety craft to locate her, she has a Simrad SA50 Search And Rescue Transponder (SART). Setting off an alarm and finding a MOB is helped by three Ocean Safety MOB1 personal AIS. She has five fire extingishers including one automatic in the engine room, as well as a fire blanket. There are two combined fire and CO2 alarms. A twin sensor Neureus gas alarm is installed with waterproof sensons and automatic shut off. The mast can be climbed singlehanded with a Swisstech mast lift, which also can be used to lift a man-over-bord or other heavy items. A "Shoot-it" wire cutter is carried to deal with a dismasting. A Seabrake drogue can be deployed in heavy weather. Two automatic electric bilge pumps and one manual are installed. A forth independent high capacity bilge pump is also carried. All sea cocks have double hose clips and dedicated wooden bungs. She carries a collision mat made by Kemp Sails to use in an emergency. She has a SeaWarden alarm and remote monitoring system installed.

Ground tackle and tender

She carries a 38 kg Spade anchor stored in a double bowroller with 60m 10 mm chain. Her secondary anchors are a 35 kg CQR and a 35 kg Danforth High tensile anchor with 5m chain and 60m warp, as well as 23 kg folding anchor with 3m chain and 40m warp. The kedge anchor is a 10 kg Danforth High tensile anchor with 5m chain and 40m warp or a 40m leaded rope anchor line for ease of handling. The anchor work is assisted by a Lofrans Project X3 1750W windlass. The autopilot, windlass and bowthruster have also remote controllers.

Queen's Ransom has a 3.2m tender with a capacity of five. The Zodiac FR 320 Acti-V is called "Princess Ransom". She is powered by a Mercury 9.9 Hp or alternatively a Mariner 3.3 Hp outboard. A crane on the stern helps lifting the heavy outboard. Princess Ransom is either stored in the lazarette on the Quarter deck ("Prinnie's cabin") or inflated on the foredeck. A dedicated sling is made to assist retrieving her.

Mechanical and electrical systems

Queen's Ransom is powered by a 145 hp Volvo Penta TMD 41B diesel engine with a Darglow Featherstream feathering propeller to reduce drag. She has a hydraulic reverse gear; Volvo Penta H2. The engine gives her a cruising speed of 6 knots and top speed of 7.5 knots. She has a Vetus 9.5 hp bowthruster. She has two 24 v and two 12 v electrical systems. The main 24 v system has 10 maintenance free AGM batteries each of 115 Ah at 12v; providing 575 Ah at 24 v. The system is charged by two alternators with a capacity of 80 amps (24v) and a Fisher Panda 8 (6.3 kWa 3 cylinder) generator powering a Victron Quattro 24 v 120 Amp 5000 W combined battery charger and inverter. The second 24 v system is for the smooth operation of navigation systems, computer etc when big consumers are in use such as windlass and winches. The 24v and 12v systems are monitored by a Link20 and Blue Water Systems meters respectively. It uses Mobitronic voltage droppers to reduce the voltage to 12 v. The two 12 v systems (for starting the engine and generator respectively) have a Mastervolt charger.

Instruments and steering

Queen's Ransom has Raymarine ST80 instruments and Raymarine hydraulic autopilot with dual rams and dual pumps. It should be capable to operate on a single ram or pump if necessary. There is also a Hydrovane windvane installed. It acts both as a energy efficient self steering system and emergency rudder. On top of this a Raymarine ST2000 tiller pilot is installed which can steer the Hydrovane if motoring; should the primary rudder or autopilot have broken down.

The Najad 520

The most significant improvement over the winter was to replace all standing rigging and most running rigging. Obviously the mast had to come down which meant an opportunity to check and replace things high aloft. We replaced the tricolour and anchor lights with LED bulbs to transform life time and energy consumption under sail or at anchor. We fitted a strobe light at the top of the mast, which is not compliant with the collision regulations, but nice to have in an emergency. A deck light on the stern pole was also added, which can also be swung to light up behind the boat.

A 38 kilo Spade anchor was bought given our problems in Muros last year. Spade anchor should generally be unrivalled to set and hold. I also purchased a dedicated anchor buoy/tripping line in webbing that always stays just above the anchor and rolls up itself. A Seabrake sea drogue was also added this year.

We have added a spinnaker to the sail wardrobe. Imelda and I designed it in red, white and black. Another addition is a hank-on jib for the inner stay, to have a more appropriate head sail in heavy weather.

The computer had to be replaced as the motherboard gave up. I bought a Digital Yacht PC as the new main system. Also the stereo/CD system had given up, so it was replaced. The Jonbuoy was also renewed. The outboard, a Mariner 3.3 had once suffered water intrusion and therefore replaced with exactly the same model.

She was hauled out of the water for a short period to be antifouled and inspected. Gosport Boat Yard found a few things including the rope cutter and feathering propeller which they corrected.

Following the heavy criticism of the tool box, see "Reports from the engine room" August 5th 2007, rusty items have been replaced by better quality ones; hopefully to the delight of the first mate; Mr Johansson (grade 8 competence level 12).