Converting SOULMATES into a Blue Water Cruising Yacht

In this Part 1 out of 2 articles, I will explain how I turned my double-handed racer into a blue water cruising yacht for long distance, around the world sailing.

SOULMATES was built in 1991 by Goetz Custom Sailboats and was originally named KATIE G, after Eric Goetz’s then three-year-old daughter. Goetz had Rodger Martin design his boat to be a doublehanded ocean racer and fast cruising boat to be his personal boat. Her design era is apparent by her fractional rig, which has four sets of in-line spreaders that is held up by running backstays. The boat’s plumb bow and deep-bulbed keel are on par with modern designs. The boat is steered with a tiller instead of a wheel. She is much more racer than cruiser. 

When I bought the boat, I knew she was strong enough, fast enough and had ample storage space for sailing around the world safely, but I was not ready to retire. For eight years, I raced the boat with a crew of 11. When Covid hit in 2020, I discovered doublehanded racing. With retirement getting closer, in 2021, I contracted with Scarano Boatbuilding in Albany, N.Y., to make major modifications to convert my racer into a better cruiser. This article goes through the major work they accomplished. 

It took two days to sail the boat from New Rochelle, N.Y., on Long Island Sound, down the East River, around the southern tip of Manhattan and then 140 miles up the Hudson River to Albany to get to Scarano’s. The yard is huge, and they do a lot of commercial boat work as well as private yachts. The team there does glasswork, woodwork, rigging, engine work and canvas.

SOULMATES Work List

My long work list included building taller cockpit coamings, converting the forward ring-frame into a crash bulkhead with an opening hatch, building an anchor roller sprit, installing a windlass, moving the running backstay attachments from the back of the doghouse to the transom, and creating lockers and drawers throughout the boat. 

Blue Water Cruising Yacht Needs Taller Cockpit Coamings

One of the most visible changes was the creation of taller cockpit coamings. While cruising, the cockpit is your living room, so it should be comfortable for reading, entertaining, eating, and just watching the world go by. SOULMATES was originally built with very low coamings to make it easier to get around when racing; in fact, most true racing boats don’t even have coamings. Replacing the coamings was a major undertaking since the new coamings had to carry the loads of the mainsheet and primary winches. The design was complicated, since I wanted the winches inset into the coamings to keep the heavy winches as low as possible. Before the modification, the winches were mounted directly to the deck outside the narrow, low coamings.

I commissioned Rodger Martin and Ross Weene at Rodger Martin Design to spec out the laminate schedule of the new coamings that ended up being 13 inches tall, compared to the original coamings that were only 5 inches high. Most of the design work was completed just before Rodger passed away in 2021. Ross finished up the design and electronically transferred the 3D file to Scarano Boat Building where they used their multi axis CNC machine to mill-out the design in a block of foam that became the mold for the port and starboard coamings pieces.

The new coamings were made to fit and they were glassed into position after the old ones were cut off the deck. The amount of glasswork was substantial. Besides being more comfortable to sit against and keeping the cockpit dryer, the new hollow box shape of the coamings provides a comfortable place to sit and from which to steer with a clear view, and, being hollow, they provide a lot of extra storage.

Adding an Anchor Roller Sprit

The second most notable change is the addition of an anchor roller sprit. Once again, Rodger Martin Design created the design and Scaranos built it.

The boat has a plumb bow, so getting the anchor far enough forward is important. Care had to be taken so that the anchor would not interfere with the retractable sprit for the asymmetrical spinnaker. The roller also had to be aligned with the new Maxwell windlass that was installed at the same time. 

Creating a Water-Tight Crash Bulkhead

For offshore safety, I had the forward ring-frame converted into a water-tight crash bulkhead with an opening hatch. Notice that the hatch opens forward, so that if the compartment floods, the water pressure will push the hatch closed. This way, if we hit anything that opened a hole in the forward part of the hull, water would not flood the boat. Notice that the windlass motor is aft of the new crash bulkhead. This keeps the windlass motor in the dry part of the boat. The anchor chain falls through the water-proof sleeve into the chain locker below the starboard vee-birth. I did this to keep all the weight of the anchor chain as far aft as possible.

Moving The Running Backstays

Even with a full racing crew, having to set running backstays after every tack and jibe in order to keep the mast standing was a handful. A simpler solution was to move the dead end of the running backstays from the deck at the back of the cabin house to the transom. This way, with a single reef in the main, the sail can be tacked and jibed under the runners. Therefore, both runners can be set and left in position.

While cruising with a 560 sq/ft mainsail, it does not take a lot of wind for us to tuck in the reef. Ross Weene spec’d out the design for the new carbon chainplate and the laminate schedule inside the aft corners of the boat, and Scaranos did the work. When jibing in the middle of the night in the Gulf Stream with the wind blowing 20 knots, I truly appreciated not having to deal with the running backstays.

Increasing Storage Space For Cruising

The boat was originally built with water ballast to make her faster while sailing doublehanded. To increase storage space, I had Scaranos cut into the tanks and create shelves and lockers. Not only did this give the boat more storage space, but it also made the boat look more inviting by replacing the large smooth white surfaces with varnished wooden doors and drawer fronts.

Scaranos also made huge lockers inside the aft water ballast tanks. The drawers that had been in front of the water ballast tanks were very small and now the replacement drawers go all the way out to the hull, making them much bigger.

In another article, I go through changes to SOULMATES after the work at Scaranos, that helped me turn my racing sailboat into a true blue water cruising yacht.