Issuma is a 15.34m (50') steel staysail schooner, built to Michel Joubert's Damien II design. The boat was built by the well-known metal boatbuilding yard of META (which also built Bernard Moitessier's Joshua design), in Tarare, France. As with many (or most) of these boats, they were sold for completion by the owner.
I understand the first owner unfortunately passed away before completing the boat. The second owner, Yann Sergeant, who took most of these pictures and drew the interior plan, completed the boat and also sailed it 48,000 miles (under the name Shekin V).
Original Damien II design drawing (Issuma was lengthened 1.5m from this):
META built these boats supported by big wheels at the bow and stern, so the hull was slowly rotated during construction, making it convenient to work on. Steel hull plating is 4 mm – 6 mm thick (thinner above water line) welded clinker (overlap) style rolled steel with 8mm x 6 cm frames spaced 46 cm apart.
Deck is 4mm steel plate.
Interior
framing.
All ballast is in the lifting keel (centerboard). The centerboard trunk goes all the way to the deck (it is covered by a piece of plywood when the keel is down). The ladder into the centerboard trunk in the picture was just there during construction. It is just possible for a person to squeeze into the centerboard trunk, but not to turn around.
The keel has 4.5 tons of ballast and is also a 700 litre fuel tank.
Installing the keel:
Both 15m/50' aluminum masts are stepped on deck. The aft mast is stepped on top of the pilothouse, which is about 30cm/1' higher than the deck where the forward mast is stepped.
Interior layout:
Engine/Propulsion/Fuel:
72HP John Deere 4239 diesel engine (marinized by Baudoin) driving a hydraulic pump, connected to hydraulic motors on each of two folding propellers. With normal cruising speed of 4.5 to 5 knots, about 5 litres of fuel per hour are consumed--basically using about one litre per mile of motoring.
Daytank under cockpit holds 70 litres of fuel. Keel fuel storage tank holds 700 litres fuel. Other internal fuel tanks hold a total of 200 litres fuel. In addition, 550 litres of fuel are carried in 11 "jerry jugs (50 litres each)", which are stored in purpose-built boxes belowdeck. This gives a theoretical range under power of about 1500 miles.
Heating System:
Two drip-pot diesel heaters are installed in Issuma, a Lofoten model in the
Pilothouse, and a smaller Alaska model up forward, beside the washing machine.
Neither is setup to run while
sailing except in very light wind conditions (normally chimneys are removed and pipes are capped before sailing). Both feed by gravity from the
diesel fuel daytank under the cockpit. Both have total stack heights of about 2.5m/7.5',
which helps with the draft. Both have "barometric dampers" which add air to the stack
to reduce the amount of heat that would otherwise be lost up the stack. Neither heater
has a fan (actually, both came with 12 volt fans, but 12 volt fans are inefficient on a
24volt boat and the heaters run fine without fans).
Previous heaters used on this boat included a Sig Marine 120 drip-pot diesel heater which worked fine, but was not big enough for winter use; a wood stove which worked fine but required a lot of tending; and an old Wallas kerosene heater which I never had much luck getting operational.
There is a Heater Craft cabin heater (similar to a bus heater) that runs off the engine coolant when the engine is running. When motoring, it produces enough heat for arctic conditions.
 Alaska
heater up forward |
Lofoten heater in Pilothouse |
Galley:
Galley has a two burner propane stove with oven, fresh and salt-water foot pumps for the sink. Once upon a time there was a refrigerator, but it was removed after it stopped working. Living without refrigeration is not difficult once you learn how.
Electrics/Electronics:
Safety Equipment:
High liferails and jacklines (to connect safety harness tethers to) to keep people aboard.
Bombard 10 person liferaft, EPIRB, flares, hand-powered desalinator, handheld GPS & VHF
Lifesling and concussion ring with floating light.
Boarding ladder