Antares 44 “Blue”
Notebook full of questions
When buying a house, the first visit to your eventual home is uneventful. It is not until the second or third trip, when you are pretty sure that this is the one, that the detailed examination starts. This was also true for our choice of the Antares. The first time we saw her was at the Miami boat show. The second time was at the Barefeet Party in Rhode Island, where we were focused on the speech that Erin and Chris were giving. Now in Annapolis, the third time was our chance to really get to know her. We had studied all the photos on the web 100 times but there is nothing like seeing a boat in person. We had many pages of questions for the builders, the owners and the boat. After 3 days, people had learned to avoid Jason and Gail because they will ask you a question of some odd boating sort.
In the 1960s chrome sold cars, in the 1990s drink holders sold cars but what sells boats to the crew of Two Fish? Let’s see some of the features that caught our eyes.
Storage for gas and halyards
#1 I hate piles of line lying around the deck. If you are like me, the storage spots will make you heart sing. I am not sure if this passes seamanship exams as the lines will develop kinks, but, what the heck, this is cruising.
As an added bonus, the locker is a great place to store the cooking gas with proper ventilation, thus avoiding a BOOM. Propane gas is heavier than air so you need to have vents underneath. Not easy in a boat, right?
Rope Jammers for the Halyards
#2 I like to be organized and, more importantly, not send crew forward to the mast in a storm. Because in the Antares every line leads to the cockpit, this should prevent anyone going swimming when reefing the mainsail or other maneuvers. Right beside this collection of jammers is a powered winch, eliminating any excuses for reefing early.
Electrical Panel
#3 We have become accustomed to electricity, just like the caveman became hooked on fire. After the popularity of fire every caveman had to find a cave with decent ventilation. The electricity junkie Two Fish crew had to find a boat that had evolved beyond the 12 volt battery. This system can create and manage both 110 and 12 volt. There is a huge focus on safety with properly labeled and protected wiring. It is daunting at first, but required if one wants that long list of things from that company in Cupertino, an ice maker, air conditioning, the navigation equipment of an aircraft carrier and underwater lights to watch the fish swim by at night. No joke.
Twin Raycor Fuel Filters
#4 I have read one too many articles about the merits of clean fuel. They even have created a fancy name for cleaning fuel, fuel polishing. This term confused Gail for many months so don’t try to make sense out of it. Bad fuel can have water, sand or metal to name a few things. It can also provide a home for fuel bugs. These bugs live in the layer between fuel and water. And for breakfast, lunch and dinner they eat diesel. This yummy diet can sustain generations of the family and as the elders pass on they get sucked into the engine. Bugs are not good for engines and one discovers this while in tight quarters with a stalled engine. So to avoid this terrifying situation, we are going out of our way to have clean fuel. The Antares comes standard with twin Racor fuel filters to keep the engine running.
Antares Family (Craig, Salwa, Laurie)
#5 The folks that build the boats and the people that own them are good folk. They want to collaborate and create the best full-time live-aboard catamaran. It is the opposite of a mega-corporation and owners and builders are all working towards the same goal.
The Annapolis boat show was a huge success for us. We affirmed that this was the right boat for us and began to understand many of her strong features. We scoured the show to learn more about our systems and choices, continuing the process of deciding some of the elements of our work order. We came home with a few pamphlets and ideas and looked forward to many more lengthy discussions.
Future reading material
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