Details of Lady Coppélia

The name is believed to be derived from the ballet 'Coppélia'. This involves a life size wooden doll which apparently comes to life. The doll is very beautiful. Lady Coppélia, being wood, is said to come to life when she goes to sea and this is so very true. She is very beautiful and turns heads when coming into bays and harbours.

When new she cost £12,500. At that time you could buy 3 or 4 houses for that money.

Lady Coppélia was built in Lincolnshire, England and Launched in 1964.

She was built by Daglass and the type designation is a Fleur de Lys.

Consultant Naval Architect J. Frances Jones, assistant designer P. S. Brown

Length 16 meters

Beam 5 meters

Weight 27 tonnes.

She is constructed with 32mm (1 3/4") iroko on oak ribs and the planks are secured with copper rivets. The superstructure is solid 25mm mahogany and was originally varnished. It had been painted white before I got her and it never will be varnish again because of the work.

Built originally as a motor sailor she had a mast and a 2 ton keel.

The stern tube is not the usual water lubricated type with cutlass bearings. It has lip seals at the outer end and white metalled bearing for the propeller shaft to run in and a packing gland on the inboard end. These bearings require grease or oil to lubricate them. Grease has been used in the past but investigation has shown that a heavy oil made by Vickers is preferable. This is thin enough to keep the stern tube filled with a header tank in the wheelhouse. The oil is designed to emulsify and thicken should the lip seals become defective and prevent serious leakage of the oil and yet still provide adequate lubrication until repairs can be effected. The advantage with this system is that it provides a dry bilge, assuming no other leaks in the hull.

In 1978 she had the mast removed and a major refit by a new owner. The refit included 2 new 115 HP Perkins engines which are still working well. At least they were the last time I used them! Prior to this refit she had Parsons 56 HP engines and I am told very slow gearboxes. These got her the nickname of 'Lady Cop It All' as it took 10 seconds to go from forward to reverse. A long time when you are heading toward a harbour wall! Presumably she had a few accidents. I am in contact with this owners son who has been very helpful with information about the yacht and especially with this web site.

Since being in Turkey I have been able to afford to start and refit the inside of her. In 2002/3 I had a dining area that was opposite the galley pulled out as it was not used and had it rebuilt with a large fridge, washing machine, cupboards and an area as a computer station. Shelves were also fitted for books etc.

In 2003/4 I had the aft heads completely redone and the deck heads (ceilings) replaced in the galley, saloon and aft cabin with panels covered in a foam backed plastic and held in place with mahogany battens to hold them up. A new anchor winch was fitted together with 160 meters of 1/2" anchor chain. The previous anchor winch would only let the anchor chain out on a clutch which made life very difficult single handed. Either it did not run or it all ran out. The original chain was 5/8" and only 80 meters long. As the nicest quiet bays are deep this restricted me to shallower busy bays.

The heat in the cabins can get unbearable after the days sun and is very uncomfortable to sleep in. Sleeping outside is better but you do have to contend with the mosquitoes. So last year I lashed out on air conditioning. It is wonderful..

The rest of the yacht looks like this:-

          Forward Cabin                            Galley                                   Saloon Forward

           Saloon Aft                                  Guest Cabin                           Aft Cabin

If you ladies can give me some ideas and suggestions as how to redesign the galley please email me on ladycoppelia @ hotmail.co.uk (note, leave out the spaces. apparently people search for email addresses and this stops them finding it)