Nauticat 521

MCA Cat 0 coded Sparkman & Stephens designed Nauticat 521 ketch configured for luxury liveaboard long-distance cruising. Extensively updated and refitted and offered for sale in turnkey order.

FURTHER BROKER’S COMMENTS:

SALAMANDER OF LYMINGTON is a Nauticat 521 pilot-saloon ketch-rigged staysail cutter designed by Sparkman & Stephens and built by Siltala Yachts in Finland in 1987. Sold to her current owners by Grabau International’s Alex Grabau in 2009, SALAMANDER underwent a comprehensive refit and upgrade at the Berthon Boat Company, covering all aspects of the yacht and her systems to ready her for planned family bluewater adventures.

Living onsite and working closely with an appointed refit manager, the 2010 refit, which eventually cost many times the original purchase price of the boat, focused on reliability, redundancy, and comfort at sea. Such was the depth of her refit that following her ‘shakedown’ cruise, which encompassed a 35,000Nm full circumnavigation, SALAMANDER was subject to a 7-page editorial feature in the December 2014 issue of Yachting World.

Following her return to Lymington, rather than sell and move on to fresh projects, her owners were truly in love with SALAMANDER and their new life aboard. The decision was made in 2015 to code SALAMANDER for charter, both to MCA Category 2 and subsequently in 2021, and very unusually, to MCA Category 0 (unrestricted miles from shore). SALAMANDER’s new life of luxury fully-crewed charter began soon after with summer day-charters around the Solent, followed by annual trans-Atlantic circuits with the World Cruising Club’s ARC and ARC Europe.

Continually updated and maintained since her 2010 refit, SALAMANDER’s specification highlights include:-
• Raised pilot saloon configuration
• Four accommodation cabins with berths for up to 12 including converting lower dinette and occasional saloon berth
• Replaced American Diesel Corp 139hp diesel engine with Borg Warner Velvet Drive hydraulic gearbox
• MaxProp with rope-cutter
• Vetus 24vDC bowthruster
• Ketch rigged cutter with self-tacking staysail
• Harken genoa and staysail furlers
• Sander Sails Vectran and Dacron sail wardrobe plus North Sails asymmetric with ATN snuffer
• Standing rigging replaced 2010, inspected annually and partially further replaced 2022-24
• Teak laid decks – 12mm with no fastenings – replaced 2010
• Hull stripped and epoxy treated – 2010
• Long fin lead keel with skeg-supported rudder
• Lewmar self-tailing winches
• Simpson 175kgs davits with Avon 315 RIB and 15hp outboard
• Sprayhood, bimini and cockpit cushions
• 3000w Nilsson twin gypsy anchor/mooring windlass with 75lbs CQR anchor
• Full Raymarine instrument package from 2010 including twin plotters, radar, AIS transceiver, autopilot and VHF’s with DSC
• Navtex
• SSB radio with insulated backstay and Pactor modem
• Iridium Go satellite communications with fixed aerial
• 4-burner gas stove with oven/grill
• Twin under-counter fridges/fridge-freezers plus further large capacity chest freezer – all seawater cooled
• Full sized heads (electric in forward heads)
• Black and grey water holding tanks
• Webasto diesel fired hot air cabin heating system
• 12vDC ventilation fans
• Washing machine
• TVs and stereo systems
• Yanmar 2GM20 diesel generator with 10kva output
• Twin Mastervolt 100amp battery chargers
• Sterling alternator charge controller
• Sterling inverter
• Recently replaced AGM service batteries, engine start battery and generator start battery
• HRO Seafari 170 lph reverse osmosis watermaker

Now offered for sale to make way for new land-based projects, SALAMANDER is UK-flagged and deemed UK VAT paid. She remains coded to MCA Cat 0 (6 persons) and Cat 2 (12 guests and 3 crew) with all the necessary equipment. She has been inspected annually, including an out-of-water survey every five years (last out-of-water survey being 2023). Her owners maintain her to a very high standard to comply with the coding requirements and their meticulous attention to detail, including annual hauling for fresh antifoul and anodes.

OWNER’S COMMENTS:

SALAMANDER has fulfilled all our expectations and if we had our time again, we would not hesitate to buy her for a family adventure or a charter operation.

She has been ideal for a day charter boat for guest celebrations, spectating national and international events in the UK, Caribbean Regatta Mothership work, safely taking guests across the Atlantic and offering bespoke charters in the UK and the Caribbean.

She is a magnificent blue water sailing yacht and an exceptional live aboard boat for all seasons.

Her uncluttered aft deck has proved a highlight for all activities and the room inside for up to 12 guests seated in the saloon and dinette has been a real bonus whilst on charter should the weather be inclement.

Her S&S Nordic style design has been admired by many. She is fine looking and sturdy.

Special design attributes for us have included:-
• Her high free board has been a great advantage in the Atlantic with following seas, surfing 6 m waves majestically without deviation, with speeds over ground ranging from 11 to 18 knots!
• In the Pacific her helm position on the high aft deck is a great advantage when negotiating and eyeballing narrow coral atoll entrances.
• Crossing the Southern Indian Ocean we could navigate from the lower helm position in the pilot house with all the instruments and the chart plotter duplicated below when the weather was not so inviting outside. Grey wet skies and the occasional 5 metre waves on the beam for 8 to 10 days might put the hand rail in the water from time to time, but the persistent grey wet weather did not affect us as we remained comfortable and safe inside, as well as warm and dry.
• Crossing the Atlantic again on our return to the UK, when looking for wind, trying to cross the Azores High in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, we were able to motor for 7 days and 7 nights continuously, to find on reaching the Azores we still had a further 400 litres of fuel in the tanks!
• Whenever and wherever at anchor we always enjoyed the light space in the pilot house with 360 degree views in all weathers.
• The separation of the dinette and saloon has given us two fantastic workspaces for our increasingly digital nomadic lifestyle, leading to domestic harmony 24/7 for the last 14 years.

We will be very sad to say good-bye to our home, office and sailing transport to a world of amazing people and faraway exotic places ….. Thank you, SALAMANDER!

MANUFACTURER’S BACKGROUND:

The Nauticat history dates back to the late 1950s, when the founders cast the first small fiberglass boats. In 1966, local sailors asked them to build a comfortable 10-meter motor sailboat with a suitable wheelhouse. Nauticat 33 was born, and the designer of this yacht was V. Aarnipalo, a Finnish engineer. The overall shape of the hull was not something exceptionally new, it was very reminiscent of the sturdy Scandinavian structures that were often seen fighting through the stormy Baltic Sea or decorated with flowers and good mood during festivities under the midnight sun.

As Nauticat 33 became more and more popular and the company was developing, the demand for larger boats was natural. Nauticat 44 and 36, developed by V. Aarnipalo, later accompanied Nauticat 33. Due to the international cooperation, another Nauticat 38 motor sailboat was born in 1975.

Inspired by the success of the 35th shipyard, designer Kaj Gustafsson launched the Nauticat 32 in 1990. It was the smallest Nauticat ever built with a wheelhouse concept, and this yacht has become an exceptionally beloved one all over the world. Due to the various rigging and keel options, the Model 32 has been tailored to different markets and needs.

In 1990, the shipyard acquired a motorboat manufacturer called Oy Flipper Ab, and for a short while, in addition to motorboats, the shipyard produced Nauticats Flipper.

Once again, more attention was paid to the best sailing qualities. During the recession in Finland in 1993, the shipyard and its designer introduced the Nauticat 39. This yacht had embodied the new philosophy of the shipyard. More area for sailing, more efficient hulls under sail and more efficient forms of keels and rudders. This yacht immediately became a success, and in 1995 it was followed by the Nauticat 42, offering the same concept as the Model 39. The 42nd was warmly received by a wide audience. The Model 42 was well adapted to various conditions and needs. The boat immediately found happy and proud owners in Europe, the USA and Asia.

In the early 1980s, Nauticat 52 was launched. It was the largest yacht built by the shipyard, and later the Model 52 was replaced by the Nauticat 521, and this exceptional offshore yacht received younger sisters called 43 and 40. All three yachts were created on the Sparkman & Stephens drawing board. These yachts were very different from the traditional Nauticat, both in terms of design and performance. These yachts were the first steps in the direction of sailing yachts with the wheelhouse, which were to be presented later.

The wheelhouse was lower than before, the hull looked more like a sailboat, and the entrance was in the cockpit, and not from the side of the wheelhouse, as before. The models 521, 43 and 40 were designed to cross the ocean, and this is easy to see if you look, for example, at the capacity of the fuel tank and the water tank.