A Godly Build

Phillip Heaney has built many traditional wooden boats, including this beautiful cruiser, Athena.

When he was 10, Phillip Heaney experienced a significant lifestyle change. His family sold their home to live aboard the beautiful 40-foot timber ketch Trade Winds in Sydney Harbour’s Rushcutters Bay. The yacht was a one-off design with Jarrah below the waterline and Oregon topsides. It had been built in 1950 — the same year Phil was born, so their lives had concurrently begun. 

The family worked on the ketch and did a bit of coastal cruising. Phil subsequently did a boatbuilding apprenticeship and went on to a very successful career in the marine industry. He designed and built a series of boats for both work and recreation including a 46-foot round bilge steel ketch called Meda, aboard which he and his wife Margaret enjoyed trips to Queensland and Tasmania as well as extended cruising around the South Pacific.

Back home, Argos was sold and in 2014 Phil designed and started to build the superb cruiser presented here — Athena. He planned this vessel along the lines of the Maine lobster-boats that he had seen in the USA during his world cruise, as they are good sea boats with an easily driven hull. He wanted a boat that could do quick coastal passages with a shallow draft to cross bars and explore rivers.

HALF MODEL FOR DESIGN LINES

Phil starts his designs with a profile, deck layout and a midship section, then makes a half model and takes the lines off that. From there he can make the necessary calculations, determine the displacement, and so on.

Phil explained, “My design considerations were for a boat with good visibility from the helm, an island queen-size bed, good access to all machinery, easy boarding from a dinghy and marinas, safe walk-around decks and over-size anchoring gear.”

He noted, “The name comes from Greek mythology, Athena being the goddess of wisdom and war, which is an interesting combination! Our earlier boat Argos was named after the shipwright who built Jason’s boat Argo which went in search of the Golden Fleece. We just decided to keep the Greek mythology theme going, even though we’ve no connection at all to that country. Our earlier yacht Meda also had Greek mythology connections. As well, we always kept our boat names short for easier communications.”

Athena was launched in April 2016. She is 46ft overall with a 14ft beam and a 4ft draft. Her hull is double-planked hoop pine, glued and trunnel-fastened, while the frames and stringers are laminated and epoxy-glued. Her keel, stem and deadwoods are iron bark. The fit-out is Australian red cedar with rosewood and Huon pine.

Phil said, “We had a Yanmar in Argos which ran faultlessly all the way around the world. So, I chose a Yanmar diesel for Athena, model 4LHA-STP 240hp, for its reliability and economy. The gearbox is a ZF/ZFE 63 with 2.5-1 reduction and the prop is a four-blade 24-inch diameter with 22-inch pitch that was made by Austral Propellers in Sydney. 

“We cruise at 8 knots and 2000rpm with fuel consumption of 12 litres per hour, whilst top speed is 12 knots at 3600rpm.”

Other equipment onboard Athena includes a bow thruster, Furuno chart plotter, Coursemaster autopilot, a 6kVA gen set, a 120L desalinator, washing machine, deep freezer and two fridges. There are dual fuel tanks just aft of the engine totalling 1500L that give a cruising range of 1000 nautical miles. Behind those fuel tanks are the two water tanks with a total of 750L. 

The forward cabin has a queen sized island bed and ensuite. The aft cockpit can sleep two people although Phil doesn’t encourage that. The galley has Huon pine benchtops with a three-burner gas cooktop, grill and oven. 

A ‘2–4–8’ BOAT

Phil summed up, “I call Athena a 2–4–8 boat; it sleeps two, there’s room at dinner for four and space for eight to enjoy drinks. I have done all the construction and fit-out including installing the engine and associated mechanicals. On the other hand, I had professionals do all the electrics, the stainless work and covers. Margaret did most of the varnish work and handles the administration side. We are very happy with Athena.”

The first cruise for Phil and Margaret in Athena was from Lake Macquarie to Broken Bay past the dominant headland of Barrenjoey. From there they explored up the mighty Hawkesbury River as far as the historic town of Windsor.

Later that year in November, they presented Athena at the annual Classic Wooden Boat Show sponsored by the Royal Motor Yacht Club at Newport in Pittwater. After some local cruising, Athena headed south with stopovers in Sydney Harbour, Botany Bay, Port Hacking, the Crookhaven River, Jervis Bay, Ulladulla and Bermagui before making the crossing of Bass Strait to Launceston. The internationally famous biennial Australian Wooden Boat Festival in Hobart beckoned, and Athena attended that to acclaim.

Phil recalled, “Going to Hobart we had 30 knot winds from behind when crossing Bass Strait and Athena handled the conditions very well, running straight and holding course perfectly in some very confused seas.”

Following Hobart, Phil and Margaret cruised back home, stopping off at Lakes Entrance, before heading north to Brisbane, stopping at all the rivers on the way including exploring up the Hastings River as far as Wauchope and up the Clarence River past Grafton where they encountered a bridge too low to pass underneath. 

Phil noted, “Towns like Maclean and Ulmarra have put in floating pontoons with water and power to welcome visiting boats — that’s terrific.”

Athena refuelled at the mouth of the Clarence in Yamba then continued north to the Gold Coast’s Southport Seaway and up the Broadwater to Manly. They spent a week on the Brisbane River then some more time in Manly which is one of their favourite spots.

After further cruising on the Broadwater enjoying the wonderful birdlife, they returned south down the coast via Ballina, exploring just under 50km up the Richmond River, then the Clarence again before calling in at Coffs Harbour, Laurieton, Port Stephens and Sydney. 

OVER 6500 NAUTICAL MILES CRUISING

All up so far, Phil and Margaret have seen 6540 nautical miles pass along the keel of Athena, while the dependable Yanmar diesel has recorded 1046 hours. That may not be quite so amazing as their circumnavigation aboard Argos, but it is still an impressive cruising accomplishment. 

Phil has since designed and is building another boat. This time it is a 32-foot coastal cruiser. He elaborated, “I designed this boat for two people to do coastal cruising. She will be a motor-sailor but mainly a motorboat with a good range under power of about 965km. She has a 12.6-foot beam and 4-foot draft. The keel, stem and stern post are in black butt while the rest of the build uses epoxy-glued double-planked Oregon. The engine will be a 75hp Yanmar diesel. The design is along the lines of old Scottish fishing boats; she has a full canoe stern and looks great! This boat will appeal to the traditionalist.”

The achievements of Phil and Margaret and their self-designed and self-built boats are just amazing — and inspirational! Sincere thanks to you both for providing information and some photos on your adventures and your boats.