Our dear friends have come to the conclusion that it is time to sell the boat that they spent years pouring their love, sweat, & tears into. We were introduced to this marvelous boat as we motored into the V&A Marina in Cape Town. Everybody that I spoke to about it wanted to know more, and lucky for us, our kids made fast friends and we got a tour.
We have sailed beside Eva for roughly 10,000 nautical miles and everywhere we went, people referred to her as “their dream boat.” We had the pleasure of spending a year aboard her, cruising from Maine to Grenada and I can attest that Eva is a boat that I will indeed dream about long after she’s found her new owners.
Claude and Jules have spared no expense or attention to detail. Every aspect of Eva, from her joinery, to insulation, to electrical systems and on was crafted and maintained to exacting standards for safety, reliability and long use.
Lastly, before we move on to the dry details, I have been through squalls and nasty gulf stream swell and never got a single drop of salt water on me (in the cockpit or on deck) or any of our gear. Coming from Convivia (or nearly any other boat I have ever heard of) this is an amazing feature.
s/v Eva:
The Eva 56′ is designed by Ed Joy for both high latitude and tropical sailing. She features a lifting keel and is auxiliary powered by 130hp marinized John Deere diesel.
Featuring a svelte, low profile deck salon, Eva was intended for family and chartered adventure sailing. Her systems were designed with a focus on simplicity and ease of maintenance, and Swiss precision abounds. Her spacious aft cabin includes a workstation and ample storage.
All essential lines are led aft to the cockpit for single-handing.
Layout:
From the open transom you will pass by the dual helms and through a spacious cockpit with benches on either side and teak folding table amidships. To the left, in the pilot house is a dining table for 5 (comfortably, or 8 with a squeeze). To the right is the electrical room/panel, and raised nav station with excellent visibility. Aft (and down stairs) is a cozy master stateroom with workstation and ample storage.
Continuing from the pilot house forward; down the stairs and to the right you will find the head. To the left you will see the Refleks heater, the door to the engine room and the breakfast nook. Following the left path will lead you through the galley of your dreams. A Dickinson 3 burner (Mediterranean) stove/oven, large capacity icebox and refrigerator, dual sinks, … get this, a washing machine.
Following the right path from the head, you will find a spacious study/chartroom, with more storage. Forward of either the study or galley is a 4 bunk stateroom and access to the mast, keel winch, and bilges. Forward of that (at the prow) is a shower and workshop replete with vice, gobs of storage and line stowage.
Construction
Builder: Jacobs Brothers
Designer: Ed Joy
LOD: 56’2”
LWL: 47’4”
Draft: 3’2” (1 meter) keel up
8’9” (2.6 meter) keel down
Displacement: 55,000 lb
Ballast: 21,460 lb
Key Specifications
- 360º visibility deck salon with nav station
- Swing keel with simple industrial 24vt cable winch
- Swing rudder with simple mechanical lift system
- Robust aluminum hull construction
- Simple, low maintenance systems
Engine
John Deere 4045TFM 135HP@2500RPM
Prop: Max-Prop Easy 26″ 3 blade
Drive Type: Shaft (45mm) fitted with a flexible shaft coupling Centa CF-AM-140
Shaft seal: Duramax Dripless
Genset: Yanmar 2GM20 18hp 140amp 24/v Balmar
Fuel: Diesel
Separate Racor filters for engine and generator as well as a bypass filter which allows engine to continue running while a filter is being changed
Racor filter fuel polishing system
Rigging and Sails
- Southern Spars Cape Town Mast
- Mast height 24 m (78 ft)
- Antal halyard system
- Southern Spars Boom 7.2 m (23 ft)
- With internal batten storage
- Crows nest
- Profurl C480 headsail furler
- Sta-Loc swage-less fittings
- Dyform rigging
- Shrouds V1 16mm, V2 14mm
- Inner shrouds D1 16mm, D2 10mm
- Forestay 14mm
- Removable inner forestay 10mm, Wichard tensioner
- Backstay 12mm
- Spreaders, two sets, 22 degree sweep
- SSB isolator
- Ulman 110 % headsail, 71 sq m (765 sq ft)
- Ulman staysail, hank-on, 31 sq m (333 sq ft)
- Ulman high roach mainsail, three reef points, 88 sq m (947 sq ft)
- Ulman trysail, separate track on the mast, 26 sq m (279 sq ft)
- Ulman spinnaker, 188 sq m (2023 sq ft)
- Sail reefing, slab reefing from the cockpit
- All lines Spectra except sheets, many spares
- Spectra jib halyard with Antal halyard slider system
- Antal Deck Gear
- Winches
- 2 Primary W65ST/AL
- 3 W48ST/AL
- 2 W52/AL
- Traveler with line driver
- Winches
- Spinlock jammers and clutches
- Aries windvane self steering
Tanks
Water: 264 gal, 1000/l
Fuel: 528 gal, 2000/l
Day tank: 35 gal, 135/l
Holding tank: 20 gal, 80/l (with expansion capacity)
Tank Tender gauges for 2 diesel tanks and 2 water tanks
Sight glass for diesel day tank
Accommodations and Layout
- Sleeps 6 comfortably (study converts to add two people)
- Aft cabin with large bed, storage, and workstation
- Forward cabin with 4 bunks and ample storage
- Head
- Manual Lavac toilet
- Vanity with Corian counter tops, stainless sink (with backup manual foot pump)
- Generous storage capacity
- Pilot house
- Nav station
- 360 degree visibility
- Garmin 4010 chartplotter
- VHF 200i
- Garmin 600 AIS
- Icom SSB
- Iridium Go
- Remote autopilot control
- Comfortable dining table with excellent visibility
- Massive storage capacity under and behind seating
- Electrical panel, and access to electrical room
- Bookshelves
- Nav station
- Study/chartroom
- Doubles as a guest room
- Doubles as a school room
- Doubles as a single person yoga studio (yes, it’s that big)
- Book shelf large enough for two encyclopedia sets
- Massive amounts of storage
- Cushions that convert from seating to a double bed
- Workshop
- Solid oak counter top
- Reinforced strong point for impact work
- Removable fiddle for varied work requirements
- Removable vice
- Ample tool storage
- Dock line and rope storage
- Solid oak counter top
- Shower with small bathtub
- Comfortable to use underway
- Well sized sump tank with manual pump out for reliability and simplicity
- Galley to die for
- Cosy seating for two or three, and shelves for cookbooks
- Dickinson Mediterranean 3 burner stove/oven with gas sniffer
- Gimbaled stove with very robust handle to protect the chef
- Trident solenoid control and gas sniffer
- 90 cubic liter icebox/refrigerator (removable)
- Deep stainless steel double sink
- Fynspray traditional manual salt pump
- Backup foot pump (fresh water)
- Filtered water tap
- Three stage fresh water filtration
- LG 7kg Washing machine
- 2x Thermos holder station for stove-free tea on watch
- Large white Corian countertops with strong effective sapele fiddles
- Ergonomic flow and multiple handholds
- Gas tight propane locker in the deck with 2x Ragasco 18.2 liter tanks, overflow directly overboard
Cockpit
- Dual Helm
- Twin Richie helm compasses
- Edson cable steering system
- Remote multifunction head units at each of 2 helm stations
- Major control lines led aft
- Solid teak folding table with handholds
- Canvas bimini with stout aluminum framing
- Weather cloths, and privacy/shade curtains
- Solar panel array (4)
- Large storage areas below seats
- Deep lazarette starboard side for toys and spare generator (Honda 2000e)
- Strong attachment points and jacklines
- Seats 8 comfortably (14+ in a pinch)
- Easy access open transom
- Attachment points for Aires windvane (not currently installed)
- Shower with hot water
- Radar Arch
- Dinghy hoist (quick retrieval using primary winches)
- Solar panels (4), in addition to those on the bimini
- Antennae array for GPS, AIS, Iridium, Garmin Radar
- Wind generator attachment points port and starboard with wiring in place
Ground Tackle
- Rocna 55kg
- ½” chain
- Fortress FX-55 secondary anchor
- Maxwell 3500 Vertical windlass with capstan
Comfort
- Hatches and Portlighs Goiot tradition (very strong, very reliable, very DRY)
- Hatches
- 1 Large forward 62.62
- 6 medium 50.50
- Portlights
- 10 small 34.14
- 2 medium 34.18
- Hatches
- Refleks Diesel Heater
- With single stove top plate (perfect for heating water for tea)
- Tapped into the hot water system for constant hot water in cold climes
- Plumbing for radiators throughout boat; one installed in aft cabin
- Insulation
- 64 mm closed cell expanded polyethylene (fire retardant and will not absorb water) has provided excellent insulation in both extreme heat and extreme cold (-23 celsius)
- Fans throughout
Safety
- All required equipment on board for SAMSA (South African Maritime Saftey Association) and USCG
- Viking 8 man liferaft
- EPIRB, McMurdo G5 Manual Smart Find Plus, WGPS
- Engine room automatic fire extinguisher, extra port in door for inserting another extinguisher
- Fire extinguishers in each room, smoke detectors, CO detector
- 6 Rule bilge pumps, 4 x 1500 gpm and 2 x 2700 gpm
- Thru hulls are all on standpipes
- Central jackline fittings, jacklines
Engine Room/ Salle des Machines
- Highly insulated for sound and heat, with excellent access
- Door entry from galley
- Large access from pilot house
- Small access from aft cabin (with excellent access to shaft seal and transmission
- Two removable staircases for all around access
- Main engine: John Deere 4045TFM 135HP@2500RPM
- Ample power allows for ease of maneuvering even without a bow thruster
- Generator: Yanmar 2GM20 18hp 140amp 24/v Balmar alternator
- Easy troubleshooting, low cost maintenance
- Fuel: extensive organization for fuel filtering, polishing, and isolating
- Isotemp 40L dualcoil 220vt water heater (connected to generator and heater)
- Spectra Cape Horn watermaker
- Fresh water system manifold for individual sector shutdown
- Three inch standpipe with multiple thru hulls for ease of access and centralization
- Battery banks bolted into a huge stout battery box
- Additional storage for inflatable SUPs, skateboards, toys etc.
Electrical
- DC system 24vt and 12vt (run off of converters)
- House Batteries (1000 ah @24vt bank) composed of 20 Sonnenshein 6vt 200ah sealed Gel batteries
- 24vt main engine start bank ( 2x Deltec 105ah 12vt batteries in series)
- Charged by the main engine alternator
- 12vt generator start battery
- House charging via a 140amp 24vt Balmar alternator off of the generator
- Generator is a Yanmar 2gm20 with fitted alternator mount
- Honda 2000e generator as an emergency charge source
- Battery switching for emergency starts for both main engine and generator
- DC Panel is large and easily accessed, with boat line drawing and nav light indicators
- Victron Phoenix Inverter C24/2000 240vac
- Victron Centaur battery charger 24vt/60amp 90-265vac
- 400 watts of solar panels
- Lighting
- Frensch LED (German quality) with optional red light throughout
- AC and DC outlets throughout
Dinghies
- 11ft 3 inches Wavedancer Yacht Design aluminum dinghy, with sail rig
- Mercury 5 hp, 2 stroke
- North Atlantic Inflatables PVC, 8.8 foot
Eva is for sale in Grenada for $850,000 USD.
For more information please take a look at the construction blog and/or write to us at julzleboeuf@gmail.com and claudeborelsaladin@gmail.com.