Zen Dog is a 38ft / 11.6m Sportscruiser Motor Yacht, based at the award winning Lymington Yacht Haven marina.
She’s been proudly owned by Mike & Kirsty Griffiths since late 2015.
She’s a very modern French-built Jeanneau Prestige 38s Motor Yacht.
She is approved, inspected and coded by New Forest District Council & HM Maritime & Coastgiard Agency to carry up to 8 passengers plus up to 2 crew on charter trips in the Solent – the area of sheltered water between the Isle of Wight and mainland England.
She is what’s known as a Sports Cruiser.
She is faster and more agile than a “top heavy” flybridge boat, with better protection from the wind and spray.
Her upstairs cockpit has room for all guests in proper, comfortable seats around 2 tables on one level.
There’s a sliding electric roof and rear roll up canvas “camper covers” to let the sun in.
The rear seating area converts into a sunpad for sunbathing. There’s another large sunpad on the front deck (only accessible when anchored or in the marina).
She has powerful central heating so if the weather turns cold, our guests won’t!
Zen Dog’s galley has a really large fridge (by boat standards) and we fill it with soft drinks on charters. You can bring your own alcohol.
She has a Dolce Gusto coffee machine . There’s a kettle and the necessary components to keep tea drinkers happy.
Zen Dog has a proper electic flush loo in a proper bathroom with hot water and a mirror. There’s a hair dryer in case of wind damage (rarely used by Mike the owner).
There are four HD Smart TVs on board. Zen Dog even has her own WiFi.
There’s a lifejacket for everyone (and we insist that guests wear them) plus every conceivable safety item.
We won’t need flares, survival suits, a liferaft with emergency food or an emergency EPIRB beacon in the Solent but, nevertheless, Zen Dog has them all because we are committed to guest safety.
640 hp, 4 propellers, 40mph top speed… and sounds like a Spitfire! She also uses well over 100litres of fuel per hour at that speed so we don’t drive very fast on charter trips.!
She is powered by two Cummins QSD straight six 4.2 litre diesel engines.
They each produce 320hp
Each drives through twin counter-rotating propellers on Mercury Bravo 3 X Drive stern drive legs.
They are shown in the picture below taken during Zen Dog’s annual fortnight out of the water for cleaning and servicing. The props don’t stay that clean for long!
She’s got powerful bow and stern thrusters which can work together to make her move sideways in and out of a berth. The stern thruster’s electric motor cover can be seen between the drive legs in the photo (the black box with the peeling black anti-foul paint.
The thrusters are controlled by the skipper from the helm or optionally from a remote control necklace worn around his neck.
Yacht owners, particularly, are sometimes bemused to see the skipper abandon the helm then step onto the dock and continue to position Zen Dog from there whilst the crew tie her up.
At her 22knot cruise speed, she flies from wave to wave, rarely crashing in between.
Her trim tabs (shown in the photo) can be moved down by the skipper to lower her bow into the path of waves in a head sea, resulting in a shower of spray. Turning her car-like steering wheel, swings the stern drive legs to direct her engine thrust. Steer left and the drives swing to the left, pushing the stern (back) of the boat to the right. The steering is power assisted and much lighter than car steering.
Zen Dog has Raymarine’s latest Axiom multi-function touch screen chart plotter navigation and radar system. This connects to a Raymarine auto-pilot system that allows her to either stay on a chosen course bearing or steer a route set on the chart plotter. In theory it would be possible to set a course upon leaving Lymington and not touch the wheel again until arrival at the chosen destination. In practice, other boats, lobster pots and waves always get in the way!
Her Raymarine HD radar can detect ships, coastlines and other obstructions from many miles away. She constantly transmits her position, course and speed using a device called an AIS Transponder so you can track her whenever she is out at sea.
Click Here to track Zen Dog on marinetraffic.com
She has downview Sonar which can give an almost photographic representation of the sea bed. Raymarine’s website has the examples shown below. We can’t promise you wrecks and turtles in the Solent, sadly!
She also has a secret, James Bond like feature.
The rear seating area lifts electronically to reveal Zen Pup, a small tender dinghy powered by an amazing Torqeedo electric outboard motor. Here’s Zen Pup in his garage at the back of Zen Dog and here’s Mike attempting to outrun the Yarmouth to Lymington ferry! Sadly, Zen Pup isn’t normally available for charter or overnight guests to play on due to insurance issues.
