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MEET SAILING VESSEL CURIOSITY

CURIOSITY² IS OUR SELF-SUFFICIENT FLOATING HOME AND TRANSPORTATION ABOUT THE WORLD.

She’s the only home or major possession we own. So we chose her, and her name, carefully. It’s not too long, not difficult to say, clear to understand and most importantly it describes the driving force behind our thirst for travel and adventure.

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

cu·ri·os·i·ty
/kyo͝orēˈäsədē/
noun

Curiosity (from Latin curiosus “careful, diligent, curious,” akin to cura “care”) is a quality related to inquisitive thinking such as exploration, investigation, and learning, evident by observation in human and animal species.  Curiosity is heavily associated with all aspects of human development, in which derives the process of learning and desire to acquire knowledge and skill.

SELF-RELIANCE + SUSTAINABILITY = FREEDOM

We’ve been building our dream boat “in theory” for years.  Which has never been in the form of sketches but rather a list of features that would create the most self-sufficient boat possible.

  • Self-Reliance:  To rely on our own resources and limit our need for a marina or fuel dock.
  • Sustainability:  Thinking about what we do today and how it will affect next week, next year, the next decade, and so on.  It’s the recognition that we’re all part of a living system and that everything we do impacts the world around us.

In other words, we want to be out in the world living and exploring for as long as possible.  Both in terms of not having to worry about our resources or our habitat disappearing.  It’s practical, not political.

S/V CURIOSITY ²

CURIOSITY is a 2023 HH44 Sailing Catamaran. She strikes the perfect balance between performance, safety, and innovation. Built with a super strong carbon fiber backbone (50%) and fiberglass epoxy (50%). She is built to outlive us by a long shot.

Additional Specs ↓

  • LOA: 50.2 FT
  • LWL: 43.86 FT
  • BOA: 23.46 FT
  • Air Draft: 72.18 FT
  • Draft: 5.22 FT
  • Bridge Deck Clearance: 2.7 FT
  • Dry Weight: 25,794 (before we loaded our personal belongings on)
  • Max Load Displacement: 31,967 LB

PARALLEL HYBRID ELECTRIC DRIVES

Parallel hybrid engines allow us to drastically lower our fuel consumption, increase our range, efficiency, redundancy and a whole lot more.  We have 2x BETA 30HP Diesel Engines and 2x 10kw electric drives.

  • Enhanced Maneuvering – The electric motors give us better slow propeller speeds but with rapid power and acceleration when we need it (amazing for anchoring, docking or shallow water navigation).
  • Redundancy – If the engine or gearbox fails on the diesel engine, we can use electric drive to get out of trouble and back underway. If the hybrid electric or batteries fail, we still have conventional propulsion via diesel engines and a gearbox.
  • Hydro Regeneration – The ability to use our propellers to generate power while under sail.
  • No Generator?! – The diesel engine drives the electric motor and generates 5kw of power (per shaft).  Turning our electric motors and diesel engines into powerful generators.

A deep dive into how our hybrid system works here:

HOW OUR HYBRID ELECTRIC CATAMARAN WORKS
Hybrid is all about drastically increasing our range, efficiency, redundancy and a whole lot more. It’s a simple system but it has many modes and that is why we have dedicated an entire video to our set up.
Gone With The WynnsNikki Wynn

💨SAILS

The wind is our fuel and the sails are our engine.  And, there are at least 3 really good reasons to hoist the sails.

  1. We can sail A LOT faster than we can motor.
  2. With hydrogeneration, we can pump a lot of power back into our battery bank while we are sailing.
  3. Sailing is a ton of fun!

Sailing is our primary mode of propulsion and we chose our sails carefully (with a lot of expert help).  We teamed up with Doyle Sails and C-Tech out of New Zealand to create our arsenal for almost any conditions.  Because we are not experts, we leaned on the Doyle Sails team heavily to help guide us to the right sails for CURIOSITY, our cruising style and our intended cruising route (always important factors).  They have not steered us wrong.  We have a beautiful suite of lightweight Stratis sails that are easy to handle.

Sail Plan, Specs, Crossover Chart and more here:

Sailing When We NEVER Thought We Could (our full sail plan)
We’re diving deep into CURIOSITY’S full sail plan, how it compares to our old boat and the sail we feel we’re missing.
Gone With The WynnsNikki Wynn

⛽Fuel (polishing) Filter System

This is the #1 engine maintenance system I wished we had on our last boat.  We’ve had 2 big issues with our fuel in the past (which makes our engines inoperable). 

  1. Getting bad fuel (algae, water, gunk).
  2. We didn’t use the fuel fast enough (because we mostly sail) and having it go bad.

Now that we have a boat that sails even better and has electric motors, the diesel is just backup.  But obviously we want the engines to work when we need them (navigating down a narrow river or a dangerous cut with lots of current).  Which makes having a KTI fuel filter and transfer system a no brainer.  Now we never have to worry about fuel, we know it is good to go! 

If you don’t know about this system and have diesel engines, we highly recommend checking them out.

Jason shows how our fuel filter system works in this video:

Letting Locals Sail Our New Boat
We love our peaceful days at sea but our most memorable moments are always the ones shared with friends. Which is why this week we decided to take all our new Filipino friends sailing. Because they have shared so much of their world with us, now we want to show
Gone With The WynnsNikki Wynn

♻️RENEWABLE ENERGY

We have a robust 48v electrical system that gives us confidence to explore anywhere in the world. No matter where we sail, we know we have all the renewable energy we need to stay afloat.

  • 4,232 Watts of Solar
  • 43.2 kWh LiFePO4 MG House Battery Bank (48v)
  • Hydro Regeneration & Generation – Thanks to our Parallel Hybrid Electric Drives mentioned above

💧WATER

Rain Catchment System – We have 2 ports located near the downward slope of our forward windows that collect rainwater.  There is a t-valve that directs it to where we want it to go.  Either to our anchor locker (give our chain a fresh water rinse) or once we feel the dirt has been rinsed off the deck, to our water tanks.

Watermaker – ZEN 100 by Schenker.  This quiet and efficient RO system runs off our house battery bank and turns sea water into crystal clear drinking water at a rate of 100 liters per hour.  Rich at Cruise RO has been our go to watermaker man since our first day of boat ownership.  He is a fellow cruiser, sells Schenker and provides the best customer service we have ever had.  We very selfishly hope he never retires!  If you are in need of a watermaker, give him a shout (or click).

UV LED Water Purification System – We have used Acuva UV-LED purifiers for almost a decade now.  We first put one into our RV, then on our first boat, then Jason’s mom’s campervan and now we have an ArrowMAX 2.0.  It’s a tiny but mighty system that is easy to install and sterilizes 99.9% of bacteria, viruses and other pathogens.  It also improves taste, odor and color.  We never have to worry about our water quality, no matter the source.  This is especially important because we have a rain capture system.

🔁Water Recirculation System 

I don’t like the idea of wasting water while I wait for the water to get hot, nor do I like having a cold shower.  So, in our shower (and eventually our galley sink) we have a hot water recirculation system.

It’s a simple piece of plumbing that connects to our shower outlet. We flip a small lever, and the water is diverted back into our water tank.  Once the water is hot, we flip the lever back to release the water out of the shower head.  Voilà, hot shower and no water wasted.

⚓GROUND TACKLE

  • Primary Anchor
  • Secondary / Backup Anchor

📡COMMUNICATION EQUIPMENT

Wireless Headsets, AKA, Relationship Savers – Over the years, we've gotten better at communicating while anchoring/maneuvering. We keep our tempers calm and the yelling to a minimum. So, headsets seemed frivolous or pompous like we were trying to be a superyacht or something. Well, I can tell you with 100% certainty: headsets are amazing and worth every penny. In stressful situations like docking, anchoring, mooring, packing the mainsail, etc. Being able to communicate in a calm, conversational voice is why cruisers often call them “marriage savers”.  Plus they are fantastic for communicating while one of us is going up the mast.

Starlink – When we’re sailing across oceans we use the “Mobile Priority 50GB” plan and it costs us $250/mo.  But as soon as we anchor near land, we switch to “Mobile Global” which saves us $50/mo and gives us unlimited data.  Only caveat is we must remember to switch back to the Mobile Priority before heading out for a passage.  So far it’s been working great.  We’re using a hand-me-down Standard Actuated Dish with a temporary install (Thanks Casey!).  Once we get a new dish and do a hard-install on the plate HH designed, we’ll update this listing.

Iridium Go! Exec – Before Starlink there was Iridium.  It’s barebones internet, but it’s how we downloaded wind, weather and routing while offshore. It also acts as an emergency backup for satellite communications (phone calls, internet & text).  We keep it by the ditch bag, if we have to leave the boat in a panic we can hit the SOS button and communicate with the authorities via phone or text.  We used to carry an inReach as a backup, but now we have this instead. We ordered our kit through Predict Wind and they have discounted plans for sailors with Starlink. 

GPS Tracking Map – Since we’re talking connections, there’s huge peace of mind for family and friends with the Predict Wind Tracking Map. We have the Data Hub which integrates with our chart plotter, GPS and nav equipment to track our boat while we sail about the world. We share posts while we’re on passage and people logged into the map can follow our progress. We share ours with our virtual crew as well, it’s a cool way for our biggest supporters to follow the journey in real-time. Here’s the link: patreon.com/the_wynns

🚣🏻‍♂️TENDER

  • 2023 OC Tender 330 Carbon – We put Rigid vs Inflatable tenders to the test and the OC won our hearts.  We met the team in New Zealand that hand builds these and it was such a cool experience we had to document it: How Small Boats Are Built. It’s built super strong yet it’s lightweight, it’s fast to plane and it has drastically more internal volume because there aren’t tubes. We splurged for the full carbon version and added the anchor lid, alloy delta panel and wheels. The 3.3 meter tender is the absolute max we can fit on our davits. If you’re a hardcore sailor make sure and check out the sailing version of the OC.
  • 2023 ZeroJet – We were on a mission to find The Best Small Electric Motor, and that’s when we came across ZeroJet.  It’s a 20hp equivalent that is integrated directly into the tender.  Combined with the OC Tender it has plenty of speed, enough range and it’s a lot of freakin’ fun to drive (hello 360’s). An unexpected benefit – not having an outboard motor banging around when we lift the tender will no doubt preserve our paint job.
  • Our tender is joined with the big boat and registered in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. If you register with RMI it’s only a small fee to add the tender to the paperwork.

🏄🏻‍♂️All The Fun Stuff

While we are a lightweight and nimble cruising boat, we still have all the "necessary" adventure gear. But we are uber picky about what takes up our valuable storage space. So we have dedicated gear guides for each of the following:

This list will continue to grow. We plan to get SUPs and foil boards in the near future. And we have a friend bringing what may become our new favorite form of exercise and transportation, it’s called a Foil Drive and it looks awesome.

PROTECTION AND SAFETY

Custom Fenders – We found Fendertex through PYI and saw them for the first time at the Cannes Boat Show.  Once we realized how much it cost to repair the paint job on CURIOSITY, we thought it’s best to protect it. These fenders are the best in the world. They pack down tiny, blow up fast and can withstand the weight of a tractor.  PYI is the same company that sells the MaxProp we had on our previous boat, and they sell the Jefa systems installed on our HH44 and the coolest multipurpose boat hook/brush/camera mount called Revolve. 

If you’re in need to boat gear they’ve offered a 10% discount off most anything in their catalogue, just use the code WYNNS: pyiinc.com/

Mooring & Dock Lines – We received some beautiful lines from a new company out of the USA called Sail Locker. They have been supporters of ours for a long time and they have a cool story. The initial launch is dock lines which you can find here: amzn.to/3wKLF3J

Of course we have an ePirb, PLB3+AIS, offshore life jackets, jack lines, throwable, life raft, go bag and so on.  We’ll update our safety gear as we continue to build out this page.

FROM DREAM TO REALITY

We’ve documented CURIOSITY’s journey from concept to splash day and beyond. Here is a complete playlist from the beginning.

 DON’T KNOW WHO HH CATAMARANS IS?

Obviously we’re fairly biased because this who we chose to build our dream boat but, HH Catamarans builds the highest quality performance and ocean cruising catamarans out there.  You can learn a lot more about them and all the boats they build (44ft – 80+) on their website.  Make sure and tell them we sent you.

S/V CURIOSITY I

2016-2022

ALL SAILBOAT SHOPPING VIDEOS

We purchased our first boat, Curiosity on April 21, 2016 in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. We didn’t have a clue how to sail but as per our usual, we were overly optimistic and under qualified. But, we lucked out with Kent from Just Catamarans (an excellent broker with loads of sailing experience). It was the beginning of a new chapter and whole new way of life for us. Starting with sailing school  and ending six years later, halfway around the world in New Zealand.

Boat Shopping - Gone With The Wynns
Searching for the perfect boat and all the gear to go with it.
Gone With The Wynns

Disclosure: While we were given a small discount on our HH44, we paid a lot of money for this vessel. The discount was given in exchange for the publicity our HH44 will naturally receive (because we document our life and travels). We retain full creative control and all opinions are our own.