Dreamer's Fancy

Mini Cruising Yacht

"Moonlight can play odd tricks upon the fancy, even upon a dreamer's fancy."

Named after a famous line from Daphne du Maurier's Gothic novel Rebecca and the Alfred Hitchcock movie based on it, Dreamer's Fancy is a small catamaran cruiser based on the Wharram Tiki 30 homebuilt design.

Hull

Like most homebuilt boats, Dreamer's Fancy has been substantially customized to better suit her owner-operators' needs and taste. Her primary points of diverence are a twin mast sail rig, a hybrid solid ⁄ fabric forward deck instead all-fabric, a lowered bridge deck with fully custom deckhouse, and an additional hybrid aft deck.

Amas

Port

The port ama contains storage space forward, a double bunk in the center, and a galley aft.

Starboard

The starboard ama contains a single bunk forward, a personal office in the center, and a head aft.

Forward Deck

The forward deck is between the first and second crossbeams connecting the amas, and consists of two lightweight fabric trampolines flanking a center spar and a narrow "catwalk".

Bridge Deck

The bridge deck is between the second and third crossbeams, mounted along the underside of the beams.

Forward Seating

At the forward end of the bridge deck is a seating area with a combined counter and fold-down tables. The counter is built as a face-framed cabinet with inset doors on soft-close hinges and sliding latches.

Benches
Counter
Sink
Fold-Down Tables

Canopy

The forward bridge deck is covered by a flexible fabric top canopy supported by a set of telescopic stainless steel risers, allowing for it to be adjusted between an enclosed configuration at sitting height and an open configuration at standing height.

Deckhouse

A small semi-enclosed deckhouse is placed at the aft end of the bridge deck. In order to maintain the parent Wharram design's intended structural flexibility between elements of the boat, the deckhouse is built up from the bridge deck rather than the cabin superstructures on the amas.

Aft Deck

The aft deck is located between the third and fourth (final) crossbeams. It consists of a partial-width solid deck which is slightly raised to be level with the top edge of the third beam, flanked by a pair of fabric trampolines connected to the flanking amas. A recessed section houses a four-person life raft in a low-profile sealed canister (924 x 574 x 359 mm), and a swim platform with folding dive ladder is mounted below the final crossbeam.

Propulsion

Dreamer's Fancy is configured as a long range motorsailer with both a sailing rig and outboard engines.

Sails

The sailing rig is a two-masted arrangement based on Wharram's Tiki 38 and Mana 24 designs, with the main mast being mounted on a longitudinal spar between the first and second crossbeams and the mizzenmast being mounted directly on the third crossbeam. Both masts are rigged with Southeast Asian "junk" style battened sails.

Engines

The engines are twin 3000-watt Torqueedo Cruise electric outboards. They are mounted inside engine wells which are built into the sides of the bridge deck just aft of the deckhouse. The wells are open-bottomed boxes built of 25mm marine plywood with a 150 x 50 mm internal crossbar for the outboard to clamp to; they measure 1200 x 300 x 800 mm each with the upper 400mm above deck level. The outboards lift completely into the wells when tilted up so that they do not drag in the water and are shielded from damage.

Steering

Dreamer's Fancy has an outboard rudder at the stern of each proa, with a tiller running forward and a tie bar connecting them over the third crossbeam. The tie bar is then linked to an Optimus electric power steering system which is remotely controlled from the helm station.

Power

Dreamer's Fancy incorporates a robust 24-volt power distribution system fed by solar arrays to support both onboard systems and “home office afloat” equipment.

Solar Panels

Two sets of flexible monocrystalline photovoltaic panels are mounted on the forward canopy and on the deckhouse canopy, with each array being tied into the boat's power grid by its own MPPT type controller.

Batteries

Four 24-volt lithium ion phosphate batteries are connected to the power grid in parallel via a Lynx battery management system. The batteries are divided between two 700 x 400 x 400 mm cabinets constructed from 18mm marine plywood, each of which holds a pair of batteries with corresponding emergency disconnect switches and terminal fuses on the positive side.

Shore Power

A standard North American 240-volt, 50-amp shore power input is routed through an isolation transformer into a combination charger-inverter unit. A motorized reel system is installed to handle the relatively heavy and stiff heavy-duty power cable.

Generator

A pair of portable generators are stored in the port side cabinet for emergency backup and ashore use. The cabinet is vented to the exterior in order to enable running the generators.

Lynx Distribution System

The solar panels, batteries, and shore power input are all connected to a Lynx distribution system, with a modular bus bar that has battery inputs on the left side and DC loads and other inputs on the right side. Also connected to the bus bar are a Cerbo GX communication module, and two 12V step-down converters for the helm electronics.

The majority of these components are installed in the upper console cabinet, which is 350 mm high by 1600mm wide, tapering from 40 cm deep at the base to 25 cm deep at the top. Lynx distributor modules are 290 x 170 x 80 mm each and the BMS module is 190 x 180 x 80 mm, but the bus bar connections interlock so the bus bar is 944 mm (288 + 152 + 252 + 252). The Cerbo module is 154 x 78 x 48mm, the low power DC modules are 53 x 51 x 28 mm, and the SmartSolar module is 186 x 131 x 71mm. The batteries are split between two 700 x 400 x 400 mm floor cabinets, and the charger-inverter and isolation transformer are installed in a third 700 x 600 x 300 mm floor cabinet.

24V DC Switchboard

In addition to the steering gear, the lower console contains a manual power switchboard with twelve switches spaced into four groups of three: (Console Lights, Helm Lights, Courtesy Lights), (Anchor Light, Navigation Lights, Docking Lights), (Spot Light, Spreader Lights, Underwater Lights), (Port Bilge, Starboard Bilge, Horn).Two USB-C chargers are mounted outboard of the switches.

Electric

Lights

  • Cockpit Lights:
  • Courtesy Lights:
  • Anchor Lights:
  • Navigation Lights:
  • Underwater Lights:

Pumps

Dreamer's Fancy is equipped with a compact automatic bilge pump and a high volume manually switched bilge pump in each hull. In addition, a Coast Guard standard P6 dewatering pump is stored in the emergency locker.

Electronics

Navigation

Dreamer's Fancy uses a state of the art Garmin "glass cockpit" with twin 12" chart plotters and secondary 12" monitors. All of these are mounted on the front panel of the upper console, which is split into three sections measuring 800 x 380 mm in the center and 400 x 380 mm on the sides.

Communication

The boat is fitted with primary and backup VHS radios, with the primary radio having AIS transmit and recieve capability.

Entertainment

Dreamer's Fancy includes an onboard stereo system controlled via the chart plotters. The stereo, amplifier, and subwoofer are installed in the port corner cabinet, while the four line level speakers are in their own housings mounted over the cabinet and the aft deck.

Antennas ⁄ Sensors