It's been more than 10 years since my wife and I purchased Oceanus. The time has come for us to sell her. We are too old to take her to sea and she needs a new steward to take her on more epic voyages.
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| Encore headed for a first place finish in the TransPac. |
Oceanus is a 1971 Columbia 43, one of the last great CCA designs created by Bill Tripp, Jr. We sailed her more than 10,000 nautical miles in the open ocean; sailing from Newport, Ore., to Southern California, the wild West coast of Mexico’s Baja peninsula into the Sea of Cortez. Then to Hawaii, 27,500 nautical miles in 21 days. We spent 13 months exploring the Hawaiian archipelago. There were so few cruising boats there it felt like we had those magical islands to ourselves. We then sailed to our new home in Olympia Washington.
The Columbia 43 was the perfect vessel for the job. At the height of his career, a new race boat design from the board of William Tripp Jr. was big news in the yachting world. The Columbia 43 is a case in point. Before the first hull was even built in 1969, Columbia had 21 orders in hand for the flush-decked sloop. By the time the first boat was launched, 60 racing skippers put money down for one.
The 43 did not disappoint. It was an immediate racing success winning several major ocean races in the first few years. Encore was first in class and 11th in fleet when she sailed in the 1971 Transpac from San Pedro, Calif., to Honolulu. Another 43, Blue Norther, was the overall winner in the Ocean Racing Class of the Newport to Ensenada Yacht Race. With 539 entries, it was the world’s largest ocean race at the time.
One magazine advertised the big sloop as the “Magnificent Aggressor” in the headline. “This is undoubtedly one of the most aggressively designed ocean racers ever created by the famed naval architect, Bill Tripp…. Classified as light-displacement, the Columbia 43 exhibits the highest sail-area-to-wetted-surface ratio of any of his designs.”
At about 23,000 pounds all up, she would be considered a medium displacement sailboat by modern standards, but during the waning years of the Cruising Club of America (CCA) rating rule she could be considered light. By comparison, a Columbia 50, an earlier Tripp design with nearly the same waterline length and beam, weighs more than half again as much.
Columbia ended production of the 43 in 1974 after producing 152 of the boats. They remain popular because of their fine sailing qualities, strong build, and spacious accommodations.
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| Oceanus' spacious interior is perfect for the cruising couple, with a large galley and head. |
Of all Columbia 43s, Oceanus is unique because the interior was gutted and, after strengthening the hull with full length stringers and new bulkheads the previous owner optimized the interior for a cruising couple or small family. Jason, the previous owner, did excellent work and his interior design is strong, beautiful and comfortable. Midway through his refit and rebuild he was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer and had to sell Oceanus. We became her new stewards and continued with the rebuild and refit, which took another three years of very hard work and more than $90,000.
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| Light, bright interior accented with African mahogany and fine fabrics. |
Each piece of gear we bought was absolutely the best we could find. Everything inside the boat, wiring, plumbing, water tanks, fuel tanks, fuel lines, furnishings, upholstery, instruments, batteries was new, except the engine, which Jason rebuilt just before the diagnosis. On deck we bought new sails, new running rigging, dodger, bimini, enclosure, cockpit cushions, anchor, chain, and windless.
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| During the haulout we completely referbished the bottom and topsides. |
During a 6-and-a-half-week, $10,000, haulout we worked from dawn into the night every day to the point of exhaustion. In addition to days and days of sanding and fairing, we installed new through hulls, prop, sandblasted the bottom and applied three coats of epoxy primer and two coats of Pettit Trinidad giving her a smooth racing bottom. We hired the best painter on the Oregon coast to spray a coat of Alcraft 2000 (improved Algrip). We also pulled the mast and inspected and updated the rig.
I hired expert help with the engine, wiring and installation of our Hydrovane windvane steering.
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| The large U-shaped galley features a front-open refer, a top-open freezer and a three-burner stove and oven as well as a fireplace and loads of storage. |
Since the 2015-2016 rebuild we have replaced the 11-gallon water heater, pressure water pump, and all six of our deep-cycle batteries. We also replaced the bow pulpit, the lifelines and the canvas Bimini with a hard top.
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| The forepeak has two bunks, the top one can be used as a workbench and desk, which is how we used it. |
We hope to sell Oceanus to someone who will take her into the second half of her life and love and care for her as we have. We know we will not recover a fraction of what we have invested in her but we need to make enough money to buy a newish used Toyota sedan so we can do some more traveling. For this reason we are asking $37,500.
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| The owner's bunk is near the middle of the boat for maximum comfort at sea. |
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| In addition to a queen-sized bunk the owner's stateroom has a comfortable chair and lots of stowage for clothes and books. |
In many ways Oceanus is better than new, but she has her faults. They can all be fixed, but not by us. We are selling her as is, where is.
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| Oceanus has a bath tub/shower in its head, unique and handy! |
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| Head features a custom Afracan mahagony medicine cabinet, composting head, foot-pump water, tub, shower, towel cabinet and plenty of storage. |
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| The previous owner replaced the toe-rails with wood bullworks that look great and add to the security on deck. |
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| Oceanus has a 55-pound Rockna anchor, 300 feet of G-7 Anchor chain, and an electric windless as her primary anchoring system. It also has two other anchors including a kedge set up. |
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| Oceanus' 10-foot cockpit is one of her best features. Its a joy underway, at anchor or in a marina. It has a teak table and a White/Danforth compass. After 10,000 open ocean miles we never shipped any water into the cockpit. Sleeps two comfortably. |