Designing the Boojum 25: A matter of choices

Notes by designer Michael Kasten | Copyright 2011 Michael Kasten When I met them, the owners of Boojum were already quite accomplished voyagers. Prior to commissioning the design of Boojum, both of them had sailed solo but more or less in tandem, i.e. each in their own boats, across the Pacific from Seattle to Auckland. TC Vollum made this trip in her 20 Flicka sailboat, and Charles Vollum sailed in his own Nor' Sea 27. They arranged rendezvous at each port along the way, but for the most part did not sail together, therefore accomplishing their voyages entirely solo. Having already done this kind of trip under sail, TC decided that she wanted to be the first woman to circumnavigate under power, to do it solo, and to do so in the smallest boat that could make the trip in safety. With this in mind, Charles and TC came to me with their request and we got started. Besides the usual seaworthiness and seakindliness requirements there was TCs mandate, Its got to be cute!

Boojum underway with paravanes deployed We started quite small at 20 feet, then in order to gain accommodation space we went to 22 feet. Then finally in order to achieve a private head compartment the design was increased to a whopping 25 feet, at which size TC put on the brakes and said, No bigger. Her experience sailing the 20 foot Tikaroa across the Pacific had taught her that bigger is not necessarily better..! Since Boojum would be a true all-ocean passagemaker, sufficient fuel was

required for at least a 3,000 NM leg before refueling. Another requirement introduced early-on was that the vessel be trailerable, and therefore limited to a maximum of 8 feet of beam, less than 15,000 pounds, and not over 12.5 feet from keel bottom to pilot house top for the sake of the usual 14 foot freeway bridge clearance while on a trailer. Further, Charles required standing headroom in the pilot house. Standing a full 6 6 tall, accommodating Charles height was no small feat. Hmmm you say. Conflicting requirements you ask? Well, yes but those were not to be the last of such disparate requests. Also required was that the vessel sit on the hard at low tide upright. Thus we introduced twin keels actually becoming a tri-keel arrangement if you include the skeg / rudder combination aft. Roll attenuation was given a high priority, therefore a paravane rig was added. A get-home strategy was needed, so sails were added. And finally, since Charles is a wizard with technology, the equipment and systems eventually became rather elaborate for such a small vessel. The upshot of all this is that as we added features and equipment, we also added displacement, and with added displacement came added fuel, and so on! We did squeak under the maximum desired trailering weight, but just by a nose. As it has turned out, Boojum is really quite a remarkable little yacht. I use the word yacht intentionally, because this is a vessel that despite her diminutive size, is lacking nothing. It is amazing what we fit into that boat including a queen size double berth aft, plus a full size settee for dining that can sleep another two adults forward.

9-3c Boojum 25 Plan (Michael Kasten) Many other things we did including provision of fuel for 3,000 NM; a positive stability range of 180 degrees, in other words fully self-righting; twin keels so Boojum could sit upright while ashore or aground or on a trailer; foil shaped paravanes for low drag; a fold-down ladder on each side that is hinged coaxially with the paravane poles so the ladder can be deployed separately when Boojum is on the hard or for swimming while afloat; a sliding water tight pilot house door that is able to be pulled tight into the house side via an eccentric to achieve a true WT seal; a fold-up anchor davit so that the forward tug fender can be used for pushing a barge or another boat; a fold-down mast for which I designed stainless quick-release turnbuckles; a reclining pilots chair complete with extendable footrest; forced air heat throughout; a water maker; hot and cold running water; a fuel polishing system; an oil change system; a controllable pitch propeller system; an iPod-integrated stereo; side scan and forward-looking phased array sonar; auto-pilot, VHF; fish finder; radar; SSB; windshield wiper; and the list goes on Basically all the equipment a gadget freak could ever wish for was put aboard, with a few extras thrown in for good measure. It might be simpler to describe what we left out!! Needless to say, Boojum is a heavy little beast for her length. Under way, Charles reports that her motion is very easy without the paravanes. With the paravanes deployed, roll amplitude is negligible. Heavy displacement is a big advantage here, in particular for such a small vessel. Steering and tracking are also reported to be excellent with NACA 0012 series foil shapes having been used for the rudder, bilge keels and centerline keel. The accommodation space is perfect for two, and quite spacious for one very much as intended. As for being cute yes certainly! And as for the planned circumnavigation not long after construction was started, Charles and TC invited me out to dinner one night where they announced that they would need a much bigger boat the reason being that their family size would soon increase..! Now they have two extraordinary kids, JJ and Tommy. With raising and home-schooling their children having suddenly become their entire focus, all notions of solo sailing on the briny deep faded well into the background. Since then, Boojum has traveled around New Zealand where she was built, and then extensively throughout the Pacific Northwest, including the coast of Canada. And there is always the inevitable chatter about putting her on the deck of a cargo vessel and hiking off to Scandinavia or Ireland or the canals of France. Meanwhile, I have designed several larger boats for Charles, up to and including 60 feet in size. However TC has remained true to her original notion:Bigger is not always better.