Kudu is a Mk1 Corribee, built in 1976 by Newbridge yachts. She is 20 feet and 9 inches long, 7 feet wide, has 4 foot 6 inches headroom, and I live on her!
- Kudu on a buoy in the river Orwell
I’m happy to help any fellow Corribee owners out if I can, and even simply appease the curious, so if you have any questions about Kudu or life thereon, please do feel welcome to contact me via the comments box on this page.
I bought Kudu in the Spring of 2008 after seeing her for sale on a website. I took the train from London to Leicester to see her, and within a short while had agreed to buy her. Part of the deal was that the owner would tow Kudu up the country to my Parent’s house in Lancashire. Once planted firmly on their drive way, I spent nearly every weekend traveling from my home and work life in London, up the the Lancashire countryside to work on the boat. I rebuilt her galley, laminated the aging rudder, installed a very comprehensive shore power system, and generally made her suitable for living aboard.
There are some pictures of the refit, here
Since I set off around Britain, I have done yet more modifications, most of which where done at anchor using a cordless drill. Open boat surgery including drilling and GRP work are quite interesting while in the middle of a river. One day, I even rewired the entire boat after deciding the existing wiring was too complicated and likely to cause problems.
See the sub menu to the side for in depth details about various aspects of sailing the boat, and indeed living on it.
Note: this section is work in progress.
Hi Nathan I have had some great laughs at some of your commentry I live on a 25ft tophat over in Australia sailing up and down the barrier reef, well some one has to do it lol i noticed your compass was very close to your electricial instruments have you noticed if that causes you much deviation?? you might be interested in our yacht site http://www.tophatyachts.org/ live the life mate
Glad my misery could be of service
Only joking, I loved it most of the time. Erm, yeah that thought of the deviation did occur to me, but I decided I wasn’t ever so bothered in coastal waters. I used the GPS nearly all of the time, and if that ever gave up, I know the compass (and my chart work) was accurate enough to get me safely to where I wanted to be given such short distances. That, and for all but a few legs I could see land anyway.
Will check out the site.
Hi again Nathan i think i know what is wrong with your auto pilot…. when it wants to pull the tiller to starboard it seems to only have a small amount of room to do it before it hits the main unit so it has full range on the port side but only partial movement on the starboard what do you think ???