FOOL’S CASTLE

For anyone who might be interested, here is a tour of our boat, Fool’s Castle.  She is a Nauticat 43’ deck salon motorsailer ketch built by Siltala Yachts in Finland.  Ketches have two masts, the taller of which is in the front and supports the mainsail.  Ours is cutter rigged, which means that it has both a jib and a staysail forward of the main.  We also carry a spinnaker or “kite” or “chute” as they are sometimes called.  The rear mast carries a smaller sail called the mizzen. 

Spinnaker

Due to the height of the pilot house, there is not room for a dodger or bimini under the boom, which leaves that outside steering station exposed to the sun.  While Fool’s Castle is not a center cockpit boat, there is still an aft deck behind the cockpit where we stow our liferaft, boarding stairs, extra propane canister and dinghy motor.  The dinghy hangs on davits from the stern.  Fool’s Castle has a lot of freeboard (meaning the hull is tall above the waterline.)  This makes her a dry ride, but also makes her interesting to steer in reverse, since the wind affects her more than lower boats. 

The bow features a bowsprit with rollers for two anchors and a chain locker where we store 400’ of chain and a couple of hundred feet of line for the lunch hook.  There are also two shelves in there to support propane cannisters.  We have an electric windlass to help us raise the 100 lb. anchor.

Forward Head

V-berth

Below decks and forward, there is a V-berth that sleeps two comfortably or three if they don’t have any luggage.  There is a head adjacent to the V-berth. 

Aft of that is the galley on the port side and a dinette on the starboard side.  The galley has a propane stove with an oven and three burners and an undercounter refrigerator.  The dinette features a stand up refrigerator and a freezer stowed under the forward settee.  There is a water maker under the aft settee.

Dinette

Main Salon

Inside Steering & Nav Station

The engine is under the floor of the main salon.                                                                                                                                                                                             To accommodate the engine, the main salon is two steps up from the galley.  The main salon has another table and U-shaped settee on the port side and a steering station and cabinetry on the starboard side.  Behind the interior wheel is a navigation station. We have both VHF and SSB radios, radar and a GPS chart plotter.

Aft and down two steps are a Pullman cabin with two bunks and a larger head with a separate shower.  Behind that, is the master cabin.

Pullman Cabin

Shower

Master Cabin

Aft Head