About Daydreamer

The material on this web page discusses Daydreamer's design in both broad terms and fine detail and from both objective and subjective points of view.  The sections on this page are as follows:

History of Design/General Description

Designed by Eva Hollman and imported into the USA by Willem Eickholt and Associates, some 25 FD-12s were built by the Ta Yang (Tayana) yard in Taiwan from the mid 70's to mid 80's.  The design is that of a strongly-built, moderate-displacement blue water cruiser with sufficient storage and amenities to provide a comfortable lifestyle for extended periods away from civilization.  The hull has a long fin keel and skeg-hung rudder, slight clipper bow and canoe stern.  Hulls are foam-cored for added stiffness and to provide sound and heat insulation, and flotation.  Many FD-12s had foam flotation added to make the boats unsinkable.

Decks are flush with low pilot house and aft cockpit.  The cockpit is relatively small with high coamings to minimize consequences of being pooped by a following sea and a high bridge deck keeps any water from flooding on into the interior.  Lifeline stanchions are 34 inches high and stoutly constructed of 1-1/4 inch stainless steel tubing which is further knee-braced to the high bulwarks.  Bronze hawseholes through the bulwarks, backed by substantial cleats, are provided for docking lines forward, amidships, and aft.  (Having the dock lines captive in the hawses makes going through locks hugely easier and more secure.)

While hulls and decks were of a standard design, interiors were custom-built to meet purchasers' requirements.  Generally, interior layouts have the galley and nav station in the pilot house, saloon forward from the galley, and staterooms/heads further forward and aft.  Deadlights set into the hull and windows in the pilot house result in a well-lit interior.

In the "for what it's worth" category, Myron Arms has had a number of articles published in Cruising World magazine about his voyages aboard s/v Brendan's Isle, another FD-12.

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Daydreamer's Specifics - just the facts

Built in 1981, Daydreamer is hull number 21 of the series.  Like many other FD-12s, foam floatation has been added in the forepeak and lazarette sufficient to make her unsinkable.  Daydreamer is cutter-rigged with a quick release inner forestay.  The yankee is roller furled while the inner forestaysail is hank-on (the storm jib also hanks onto the inner forestay).  The main is fully-battened with two slab reefs and cunningham and uses Harken battcars to reduce friction ... it's possible to hoist the main all the way to the masthead by hand and it makes reefing, well, not a pleasure but certainly no struggle, even on a broad reach.  A second track to port of the battcar track extends to the deck and to the mast head.  On passages, the storm staysail can be kept in a bag on deck, slugs already in the track and ready to hoist.  The original battenless mainsail was retained as a spare when the full batten/battcar main was installed.  It can't run on the battcar track, so the storm staysail track was extended to the masthead for the spare mainsail.  The spare mainsail's foot was cut high at the luff so it can fly loose-footed above the stacked fullbatten mainsail.

Standing rigging is discontinuous 1X19 wire and of significant size (the lower cap shrouds are 1/2 inch).  All standing rigging terminal fittings are Sta-lock, except for 2 Norseman fittings.  The inner forestay is backed by standing intermediate backstays -- no running backstays are fitted.  Rigging screws are large open bronze turnbuckles to provide easy visual inspection and to prevent thread galling, to which stainless on stainless threads are quite susceptible.  The large-section mast has two sets of spreaders and is keel-stepped for added rigidity and strength.  The rigid boom vang can also top up the boom so there is no separate topping lift needed and a boom gallows provides a secure rest for the boom.  The boom is fitted with a "Dutchman" boom brake to slow down unintentional gybes.  The mainsheet is an end-of-boom six-part tackle with Harken ratchet block on the cockpit-mounted Harken traveler.

Teak was used extensively both topside and in the interior, including rub rails and cap rails, full teak deck, and cockpit coaming and seats.  In the interior, bulkheads of marine ply are faced with either a white "formica"-like laminate or teak battens.  Overheads are white laminate panels over a light ply held in place by screwed teak strips.  Ceilings (i.e. insides of the hull) are trimmed with horizontal teak battens over white laminate.  Cabin soles have marine ply bases topped with alternating strips of teak and a contrasting lighter-colored wood (holly?)

Interior layout:

The forward-most compartment is accessible only from the topside and sealed off from the interior.  It is used to store a spare anchor rode and gasoline (petrol) for the outboard.

Aft of this is a large storage area with large twin deck hatches.  This area contains the anchor chain locker and a washer/drier.  It is also used to store all extra sails, rocker (or flopper) stoppers, spare sail batten, spare rigging, plywood and lumber stock and the outboard motor, along with various odds and ends.

Next aft is the forward head, with sink, shower head, and Lavac toilet.  A door into the forward storage area provides access to the washer/drier.  Standing headroom here is 6ft 2.5in (189 cm).

Next aft are the two forward staterooms.  The port stateroom has a single berth while the starboard stateroom has two bunk berths.  The staterooms are separated by a fore-and-aft bulkhead that contains a shared hanging locker and smaller individual hanging lockers.  Lockers and drawers under the berths provide ample storage.  Standing headroom is 6ft 0.5in (184 cm).

Aft again to the saloon with settee and bookshelves to port and dinette to starboard.  The dinette will comfortably seat 4 and squeeze 5 while another place can easily be added by using a separate seat.  (A removable cockpit table may be added at the settee to seat two more.)  A diesel-fired space heater, flat-panel television with digital set top box and DVD player, and AM/FM/Cassette/CD player provide comfort and entertainment.  Standing headroom is 6ft 1 in (185 cm).

Aft of the saloon and two steps up into the pilot house, where the nav station is to port and galley to starboard.  The nav station has a large plotting surface (27in x 36in/700mm x 900mm) with storage under, forward-facing seat, 2 large outboard storage bins, and a storage area where the navigation computers are housed.  Autopilot controls inside the companionway or the autopilot remote control allow the boat to be steered from inside.  Standing headroom in the pilothouse is 6 ft 2 in (188 cm).

The galley is large with U-shaped counter top.  Twin, deep, near-centerline sinks (which drain on both tacks), three burner gimbaled propane-fired stove with oven, separate microwave oven and copious storage make meal preparation relatively easy.  Galley counter top, backsplashes, and fiddles are of "Trezzini", a composite material similar to but a bit lighter in weight than man-made marble or Corian.  Storage areas include 12 deep drawers, 3 outboard lockers above the counter with sliding doors, two large and one small locker with swing out doors, and a very large storage bin accessible from a hatch in the counter and from a hatch in the dinette seatback.  Large stainless steel-lined refrigerator and freezer compartments have top-access from hatches in the aft counter top.

Aft of the nav station to port is the aft head and wet locker.  The head has sink, shower and Lavac toilet.  3 storage bins plus under-sink locker provides ample storage.  The wet locker also houses a 16 gallon diesel day tank and the pre-filters and membranes for the water maker.  Standing headroom is 6ft 1.5 in (187 cm).

Through the aft head is the aft stateroom, with single berth to port and double berth to starboard.  A makeup table and hanging locker are located between the berths.  7 drawers and 2 storage bins are located below the berths and at the foot of the double berth.  Maximum standing headroom here is 6ft 5.5in (197 cm), the headroom drops to 5ft 5.5in (166 cm) as the stateroom overhead moves aft and under the cockpit seats.

Aft in the aft stateroom is a door providing access to the forward section of the lazarette.

On-deck features, from fore to aft:

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Surveys:

Daydreamer has always been insured, which is of no consequence here aside from the fact that the insurers have had a requirement that she have an occasional out-of-water survey.  We've kept copies of these surveys and a quick review of them will show that Daydreamer has been well maintained and is still in fine condition.  You can have a look at them here:

We had another survey done April, 2006, in Newcastle, Australia.  The survey findings were positive and consistent with the other surveys available above.  We had a copy of this survey posted here for a while but the surveyor that did the work feels that he retained copyright and demanded that we take the material off the web site.  So while I'm not sure I agree with him and am bothered by a requirement like this that's imposed after-the-fact, it's probably not worth arguing about ... especially now that I have a more recent survey.

Daydreamer's Specifics - a subjective view

Extensive use of teak was common in Taiwanese-built boats in the 70's and 80's.  Being below in these boats has been likened to living inside a fine piece of furniture.  But there can be a downside ... they sometimes can seem like a "teak cave", particularly those boats with relatively low freeboard, trunk cabins, and teak overheads.  Daydreamer is able to have a beautiful wooden interior while avoiding this problem through the strategic placement of hull deadlights, deck hatches and prisms, and white overheads and bulkhead facings.  Being flush deck also helps to open the boat up visually, as the eye is able to take in the full uninterrupted width from gunwale to gunwale.

Teak interiors can still be seen on new boats these days, particularly boats being built in the orient.  But most of the "teak" on these newer boats is just veneered plywood.  By contrast, almost all the teak used on Daydreamer are real hunks of wood, solid lumber used for cabinetry, drawer fronts, and corner trim or the 52 mm wide by 4 mm thick battens used to face bulkheads and cabinetry.  The batten-covered surface provides a lot more visual interest than veneered ply and all of this real wood can be repeatedly sanded back and re-varnished.  Try that with veneered ply and you MAY get away with it once.  On the other hand, the price of quality teak stock today is so high that ordinary mortals can no longer afford to finish out a boat in this manner.  On Daydreamer, teak-veneered ply is found only on the nav station table, some cabinet and bin interiors and some small corner trim bits against the hull in the forward head and aft cabin.

The pilot house, where the windows and companionway flood the galley and nav station with light, is glorious.  The cook and bottle washer are not relegated to a dark, dank hole somewhere but rather can work in an area with a great view, good ventilation, and immediate access to both dinette and cockpit.  The galley is huge by cruising boat standards -- 6 ft wide by 8 ft. long -- large enough for two people to work together (at times, it's a bit like dancing) and with more counter space than many small apartments.  Speaking of counters, the Formica "Trezinni" material has been a great addition,  Like Corian, scratches and mars can be eliminated by a light sanding using superfine sandpaper.  The  use of the same material for the fiddles and backsplashes gives a unified appearance to the galley and, unlike wooden fiddles, won't chip and mar and never need varnishing to look good.  A removable safety bar, used at sea, permits full access in the galley and allows the cook to use both hands even in rough seas.  Also, it's easy for the person on watch to heat up a snack or prepare a hot drink while still maintaining a lookout.  This is no mean consideration; I know of two boats that have been struck by ships where the on-watch was momentarily below in the galley brewing up something to drink.  And the full visibility from the nav station also makes it easy to correlate what's going on outside with what can be seen on the nav station computer charting display, paper charts on the nav table, AIS display, and radar, all while staying protected from the weather. 

As an aside, the deck saloon is becoming a very popular arrangement these days, with the dinette elevated to provide a good outside view.  In my opinion, I think these are very nice for coastal cruising but for watch-keeping while on passage I much prefer to have visibility from the galley and nav station.  Also, pilothouse inside steering is also often high on peoples' lists ... I know I sure wanted it, particularly when we were in Alaska.  But I've become convinced that inside steering is really not an optimal choice.  The wheel and all its gear takes up a lot of space and adds a lot of complexity and often compromises the functionality of the nav station.  We have found that an autopilot controllable from the nav station handles that function quite well.  We are rarely behind the wheel anymore except when going in and out of marinas or into and out of anchorages and you really want to be outside in those situations anyhow, regardless of the weather.

The interior arrangement, an aft stateroom with ensuite head and two forward staterooms that share another ensuite head and common areas in the middle of the boat, provides for a lot of very valuable privacy.  It's an ideal setup for families with 3 or fewer children that can't or won't share a V berth.  Parents can keep the aft part of the boat to themselves and let the kids have the run of the forward staterooms.  It's also a great setup when cruising with two couples onboard.

As for teak decks, well, almost everybody agrees that they can be beautiful yet many folks think that they're a maintenance headache.  In my experience, they're only half right ... a teak deck can be beautiful indeed but it doesn't need to be a headache.  It is also true that teak decks can be easily damaged through the use of harsh chemical cleaners, scrubbing with a stiff brush along the wood grain, and the use of oils and sealing materials that attract and hold dirt and mold.  So the first word of teak deck maintenance wisdom is -- don't do that!  Most of this deck abuse occurs because folks are trying to recapture the reddish-orangish pink tint of new or freshly sanded teak.  I'm willing to accept the appearance of a deck that has weathered a bit to a silvery sheen.   And while freshly-sanded teak can be a bit slippery, I'm convinced that weathered teak is one of the better wet non-skid deck surfaces available - boating shoes and bare feet hold well when wet and it won't abrade the skin off your knees, elbows, and hands.  So I limit myself to a gentle cleaning a few of times a year and occasional bleaching (details HERE).  Daydreamer's deck is now 27 years old, still with the original teak planks, all the caulking is sound, and no bungs have popped.

I am in conflict about the dodger.  It is certainly highly functional but I'm not really satisfied with its esthetics.  We developed it during our time in Mexico, where any shady patch was cherished and even the slightest breeze was a welcome visitor.  The full dodger we started out with provided good weather protection and shade but blocked side breezes and limited any breeze from forward as well.  Our solution was to develop a large bimini top over the companionway and pilot house for shade with front and side windows for weather protection that can be completely removed so as to not block even the slightest bit of breeze.  Esthetics notwithstanding, I haven't been able to think of anything better so far.

The dinghy and outboard motor storage and handling has turned out way better than I had ever anticipated.  If you have ever tried to put on or pick up a heavy outboard motor from a dinghy in the water in a rolly anchorage, you'll know how nice it is to be able to handle that task while the dinghy is stable and on deck.  We use a spinnaker halyard lead thru a block at the bow and back to the anchor windlass to do all heavy lifting including dinghy launching and retrieving.  Since it's just a matter of a few minutes to pick the dinghy and outboard up together and set them into the deck chocks, we rarely leave the dinghy in the water overnight.  This way it's more secure against theft and we're always ready to leave the anchorage if conditions deteriorate.

All tanks are below the cabin sole.  The engine location below the cabin sole in the galley has its good and bad points.  Day to day access to check fluids, make minor adjustments (e.g.. valve clearance, V belt tightening) etc. call for the lifting of one of two sole hatches ... no problem.  Full access to the engine requires that three hatches be lifted at the same time.  You get good, clear access to all 4 sides and the top of the engine and transmission when you do this.  BUT this also requires taking down the companionway ladder, which really makes it difficult to get in and out of the boat.  Yet another one of those compromises. 

One last point.  A lot of light displacement sailboats being made nowadays have some really nice, light and open interiors.  Unfortunately, some are so open that you can't always find a handhold when crossing the saloon.  That's fine for coastal cruising but if you want to go offshore, be sure that any boat you're considering has plenty of handholds available.  After all, you don't want to have cross the saloon on your hands and knees when the sea's a bit rough.  And also consider how far you might fly before fetching up against a bulkhead or cabinet if you do loose your balance.  Inside Daydreamer, there's a handhold within an arm's reach from anywhere you can be.  And a nice, deep bilge too!

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Daydreamer - by the (design) numbers

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Some notes on the numbers

Most of these numbers speak for themselves but some might raise a few questions, so I thought I'd address them here.

A sail area/displacement ratio of 15.8, for working sails, would tend to indicate a boat that is a bit under-canvassed in light air conditions.  And that is indeed the case; Daydreamer is a bit on the slow side with only working sails up in winds under 5-6 knots of so.  But this is easily rectified with some light air sails and Daydreamer carries two, an asymmetrical spinnaker and a nylon genoa that is set free-flying on a kevlar luff line.  One time, off the coast of Baja California, I had both of these sails up in a 5 knot following wind, sort of like downwind twins ... it looked like acres of sailcloth up there and we wound up doing 4.9 knots.  The limiting factor to sail area is mast height, which appears to have been set to clear most of the bridges on the USA's intercoastal canal.  A feathering prop would also make a dramatic improvement in light air performance.

As to displacement itself, I suspect that it's closer to 40,000 lbs (18,000 kgs) in cruising trim; i.e. by the time we get all the spares etc. plus full tanks and 6 months of food packed onboard.

The capsize screening value and angle of vanishing stability would both indicate that Daydreamer is a good choice for blue water cruising.  She's not immune from capsizing (what boat is?) but conditions would have to pretty extreme to get her to turn turtle and she's not likely to stay that way for long. 

Naval architect Ted Brewer developed the Brewer Comfort Ratio a few years ago with his tongue planted firmly in his cheek.  But the number does seem to have a bit of validity to it so, for what it's worth, Daydreamer's number of 36.9 would seem to indicate a boat that is relatively comfortable at sea.  See HERE for more info on this and most of the other parameters as well.

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