Designed by Bill Dixon, ‘Joy’ was custom built at Shamrock Quay in Southampton UK in the early 1990’s. Her steel hull was fabricated by Croft Marine, she was finished by boat builder Graham Collingwood and launched in 1995.
She is 55ft long (without the bowsprit and davits), ketch-rigged and has twin foresails, 140% Genoa and 85% Jib, both on roller furling systems. Both the main and mizzen sails are on Leisure Furl in-boom furling systems. All lines lead back to her deep centre cockpit, two of our 6 winches are electric, making her comfortable and easy to sail short-handed, her long keel providing stability in heavy weather.
At a mere 37 tonnes gross weight, she is at her best when the wind pipes up and we are enjoying the sailing when others are seeking shelter.
Since purchasing her in 2011, we have upgraded the electronics with Raymarine touchscreen chartplotters, an E95 at the chart table in the saloon and an E125 which acts as a repeater at the helm station. We have digital radar, Class B AIS and Iridium Pilot satellite communications providing telephone and weather forecasting offshore.
We have also added over 1100 watts of solar panels generating up to 65 amps in full sun using a Morningstar MPPT controller and two PWM controllers. A D400 wind turbine was added in 2016 and a Rutland 1200 in 2018 adding to our self-sufficiency whilst on passage and at anchor.
Our 12 volt Aquabase watermaker supplies us with desalinated water for drinking, cooking and washing. We run this every couple of days to ensure our two 550 litre fresh water tanks are topped up. Our solar and wind energy easily powers this, along with our immersion heater, fridge and freezer, and of course keeps our batteries charged without the need to run our on-board Onan generator.
Stainless steel davits were custom built in Curacao to Jeremy’s design in 2016, and now enable the dinghy to be lifted easily and carried on short passages instead of deflating and stowing. The davits also carry the main solar array and wind turbines.
We fell in love with Joy for many reasons. We wanted a raised saloon so that we could enjoy the view whilst indoors. The centre cockpit and large aft ‘poop’ deck mean that below we have a large aft cabin with plenty of head-room. Our cabin has a queen-size deep sprung mattress, lots of storage and an ensuite bathroom. For guests we have two more cabins forward, a twin room and a semi-double, and another head with integral shower.
Joy of Shamrock Quay 