Salthouse Ketch

Marnie is one of the best examples of what a bluewater passagemaker should be. She was custom built by Salthouse Brothers, one of New Zealand’s finest custom builders, and designed by Al Mason who is one of the most highly regarded cruising designers in the world.   John Salthouse told a prospective purchaser who contacted him in 2012 that it was the best yacht he’d ever built. The current owner has had her for 15 years.

Exceptionally strong, beautifully finished and maintained to the highest standard, Marnie is a very special classic that is in a class of her own. Marnie’s first owner crossed the Atlantic and Pacific and cruised in Europe, the Caribbean and Pacific Islands. Her second and current owner recently completed a circumnavigation. He has spent the extra personal time and money to keep her in top mechanical and cosmetic condition. The result of his loving care, upgrades and improvements is a yacht ready to move aboard and cruise the world.

Marnie’s replacement cost today would exceed $2.5m to build to the same level of quality, workmanship and engineering. Her construction used kauri, one of the world’s strongest woods. Over 15000 board feet of kauri was taken from one tree to build Marnie.  An example of the longevity of kauri is a bowl made from kauri that came out of the ground and was carbon dated to 6,000 years old, displayed on his dining table. 

Marnie’s aft cockpit design with two companionways offers excellent light, ventilation and privacy. Marnie is equally well suited for owner operated family cruising, or world cruising with a captain. The beautiful kauri woodwork includes varnished laminate hull and deck frames and white bulkheads, similar to the Herreshoff style yachts built on the New England coastline of the US. On the practical side there is a full stand up engine room for machinery and systems.

At the forward end of the large, very comfortable cockpit is the aft companionway to the full beam aft cabin with port berth (widened to 45” at the shoulders) and starboard berth, (32” wide).  Both are ideal for offshore sea berths, with direct access to the cockpit.  The primary companionway steps are amidships to the main salon and adjacent to the forward end of the galley to starboard, nav center and engine room door to port. The raised salon has a large U shaped settee to starboard and a straight settee to port.  The original two cabins forward of the salon have been converted to one large owner’s cabin, with Pullman with lots of storage (could easily be returned to a two forward staterooms configuration).  There are two heads, one aft with a very large shower, and the second head forward with access to forward cabin and salon. The cabin sole is 7/8” solid teak and is fully removable. This summer (2013), the owner removed the cabin sole and cleaned bilges which are epoxy coated.  At the same time he cleaned the tanks and waxed the outside of the tanks.

Handcrafted mattresses

Raritan electric heads

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