Newbridge Corribee, mk1

This is my house. It’s smaller than it looks in photo’s, or at least I’m told so every time a new person sees her in the flesh.

Kudu is one of the first generation of Corribee’s, built in 1976, and is 20ft and 9 inches in length, or about 6.5m. At the tallest point of the cabin I have 4ft 6inches of headroom, so standing up on the boat is not an option. There’s no toilet either. I’m in my third year of living on her. This is my home, whatever the weather, and whatever the season, I live on here all year round.

Kudu has been modified a great deal from the standard Corribee over the years, and so I thought a page to document the modifications would perhaps be interesting to some, and maybe give some ideas to fellow Corribee owners. Kudu is currently undergoing a substantial refit (more like a rebuild actually), so some of the things listed here might not be totally finished, but to avoid a big impossible dream page, anything listed here has at least been started and is near to completion or more probably finished. It’s worth noting that this configuration wasn’t done overnight, it has been an on going project as I’ve learned from mistakes and been more capable of properly undertaking the work.

On board power

Shore power on small boats was unheard of when Kudu was built, so the first job I did when I got her was install a 230v system to take a mains supply off whichever pontoon I happened to be moored to. Kudu has a fairly impressive electricity system on board really, and would put many larger yachts to shame.

• 200ah AGM battery (chosen because of better charge/discharge characteristics than flooded cells)
• Sterling switch mode battery charger, running on it’s own circuit off the RCD
• 230v domestic socket outlet (UK), again off the RCD.
• 40w solar cells & charge controller (to keep the battery alive whilst away from shore power)
• 150w inverter, hidden and available as a normal domestic socket outlet at the chart table. This is great for running laptops and other low powered 230v devices directly from the battery.
• BEP marine switch panel
• Marinco stainless shore power inlet socket (totally waterproof)
• NASA BM-1 battery monitor

Creature comforts

Living on a small boat, a tiny boat, year round in Britain is enough to contend with, so while the purists may frown at such luxuries on a small boat (I challenge them to live on their purist boats), I have designed everything with the utmost priority of sea keeping in mind.

• Stainless sink (Penguin engineering) under the companionway steps.
• Hot/Cold pressurised water system via a mixer tap (again from Penguin).
• Hot water provided by a Surecal calorifier, but due to the lack of an engine, hot water is only available while connected to shore power.
• Stereo. I love music, so thought has gone in to this. Mk1 is a Phase Linear 12v car amplifier, with Kenwood coaxial speakers, mounted on MDF in the forepeak. It’s produces a reasonable sound, but I have mk2 under construction which features totally custom designed MDF speaker boxes, housing Focal Access 100 10cm speakers. My laptop plugs into the amp via a Qunex 3.5mm jack to RCA adaptor.

Cabin modifications

I have rebuilt nearly every bit of wood in the cabin, with the exception of the bulkheads. It has all been done with sapele, and genuine marine ply, and finished with jersey cream paint for the ply, and Deksolje D1 for the hardwood and trim.

• New stainless compression mast post
• The entire hull and coachroof is insulated with 12mm Plastazote, nitrogen expanded foam.
• Extra buoyancy with unused voids (under the cockpit) filled with 25mm Plastazote.
• Movable cabin table which doubles up as an emergency washboard. See here
• Origo 3000 methylated spirit burning stove. Safe, and super reliable.

External modifications

• Custom made stainless bow roller with stem strap, see here
• Custom stainless winch mounts, see here
• All lines lead aft to the cockpit via Spinlock jammers and Harken winches on the coach roof.
• Harken sheets winches, modified with Barton self tailing attachments.
• Lewmar ocean fore hatch, with optional vent.
• Barton main sheet track

Navigation

This is definitely an area of the boat that needs attention, but Kudu currently has:

• Standard Horizon CP180i chart plotter
• NASA Clipper depth/speed log & wind instruments
• Icom IC-M401E VHF
• Simrad TP-10 tiller pilot
• Plastimo bulkhead compass