Wilderness 1030

Home-built from plans or kit

Brand:: Schionning

Designed by:: Schionning Designs

Description:

The Wilderness 1030 is a light and lively cruiser that is responsive and exciting to sail. Simplicity of design and construction make this a very economical boat for its size and capability. She has slim, low-drag hulls and a high power-to-weight ratio, allowing her to accelerate rapidly in gusts and to surf off the top of steeper waves. There are high (2 ft 5 in, 750 mm) and low (2 ft 1 in, 650 mm) bridgedeck clearance versions of the 1030. The high clearance version has less headroom in the saloon, but the extra height over the waves means she can be pushed to windward without slamming. The hulls are drawn with very buoyant bows and stern giving her exceptional pitch stability, making this model a very safe as well as a fast ocean cruiser.

The Wilderness 1030 has enough accommodation for long-term cruising, though the internal volume of the boat has been kept low to give better sailing performance. The low bridgedeck cabin version, has particularly low windage and weight, and has a large 'pop top' that can be raised at anchor to give more comfort inside the saloon. Each hull has a cabin, forward, with the berths lying crosswise on the bridgedeck. One hull has a 'dive in' double aft, the other a head aft. Daggerboards are set off the centreline allowing more space amidships for passageways and for the galley in the starboard hull.

The Wilderness Range
The Schionning Wilderness range of cruising cats is especially designed for simple and quick home or professional construction. Most of the boats, including the hard chine hulls and the furniture, are built from joining ready-made, pre-glassed balsa or foam cored flat panels, for example, from DuraKore. These can purchased as pre-cut kits, available in several options, for most models in the series.

The range has good load carrying potential as fits its purpose as a cruiser, yet hulls are slender enough at the waterline to give a very good speed potential. A generous bridgedeck clearance helps avoid slamming when sea conditions deteriorate. The hulls are flat bottomed, as natural in a chine catamaran construction. The flat run aft encourages planing – but the bottom panel is Veed forward to prevent noisy under-hull slamming. The hulls are also flared forward, on the inside, giving additional buoyancy reserve and thus more safety at sea. The flare also helps to deflect spray from reaching the decks.

Though built mainly of flat panels, the Wilderness range does not have the angular look of a chined boat. Compound curves are strategically incorporated both to improve appearance and to reduce air drag. The deck sections are strip-planked using the already constructed parts as a mould; this allows the decks to be rounded on the turn of the hull. Strip planking the bridgedeck cabin roof also produces similar beneficial curves.

Type:: Performance cruiser

Multihull type:: Catamaran

Construction:

Hard chine hulls, bulkheads from pre-glassed balsa or foam DuFlex, flat panels
Kits with pre-cut panels for hull and bulkheads are an option
Reinforced hull bottoms; Kevlar reinforcing optional
Furniture from DuFlex honeycomb panels
Strip planked decks and cabin roof
Speedy construction with no laminating required to build the hulls
The boat can be built in separate sections which are joined later
Composite chainplates

Construction images:

Sails and rigging:

Fractional sloop rig
Optional carbon fibre mast

Sails and rigging images:

Deck layout and gear:

Good visibility from the helm
Comfortable and secure cockpit
Tiller steering (wheel steering optional)

Deck layout images:

Keels, boards and rudders:

Kick-up rudders
Off-centre dagerboards

Keels, boards and rudder images:

Accommodation:: Port hull: Head and shower aft; workbench, navigation area midships; double cabin forward, berths over the bridgedeck
Bridgedeck: Saloon with large sloping wrap-around window, dinette with U-shaped, rearwards facing seating, 1.9 m (5 ft 2 in) headroom
Starboard hull: 'Dive in' double berth aft; galley amidships; double cabin forward, berths over the bridgedeck