"Rubberduck": Owner modifies Hanse 455 into age-appropriate touring boat

It's a dilemma: when you finish your career, your free time increases at the same rate as your body gradually loses muscle mass. From the age of 30, a person loses up to one per cent of muscle mass per year if they do not engage in intensive sport. Strength dwindles, agility decreases, as does reaction speed and the ability to multitask. And all this just when circumstances allow more time for sailing and precisely these skills would be in demand. Also diametrically opposed: the issue of retirement age goes hand in hand with the desire for great deeds and a personal bucket list.

The routes and destinations that sailors still want to explore by boat are usually ambitious. The big Baltic Sea loop is on the list, Europe on the port side perhaps as far as the Mediterranean. The round England or even the Atlantic passage. The more distant the destinations, the greater the desire and need for a suitable boat that is larger, faster, safer, more comfortable, suitable for long journeys, suitable for long-term habitation and, above all, easy to handle.

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Hans-Peter Glück from Madiswil in Switzerland thought so too. The dentist and his wife Katharina were interested in a single building with various smart solutions. Many of which they devised or developed themselves. Over time, however, it became clear that the individual building, which was planned to be made of aluminium, would take up too much time and, above all, cost too much money.

Plan B: Take an off-the-shelf boat that you hope will be suitable, fit it out to your own taste and, on top of that, implement the many ideas that you hope will turn out well. The choice fell on a Hanse 455 - a proven boat built in large numbers in a good size for long journeys and many days on board.

Modified series boat instead of an elaborate individual construction

Hans-Peter Glück: "Hanseyachts proved to be a good solution. We couldn't convert anything directly there, but we could leave out certain things that we wanted differently. And the Greifswald yacht shipyard, which is based next door to Hanseyachts, was able to install them."

Although a 45-foot boat offers the right level of comfort for long journeys and pleasant sea behaviour, it is also large enough to make handling difficult, especially for an older crew of two. This is particularly true for mooring and casting off, as not only the experience of many skippers shows, but also the "Fit & Sail" study by Bonn engineer Wolf-Dieter Mell, with whom Hans-Peter Glück worked on his "Rubberduck". Mell's study, for which the heart rates of 42 test subjects aged between 60 and 70 were measured during a typical sailing trip, states that, in addition to setting sail, the harbour manoeuvres are not only perceived as a major mental strain, but also as a proven physical strain.

This is where Glück comes in with the Hanse; together with partners from the industry, he has further developed the Comfo-Drive, also conceived by researcher Mell, and brought it to functional maturity. The system consists of the standard diesel engine and a bow and stern thruster with 6.3 kilowatts of power each. A three-axis joystick operates these components, with the Bowden cables for the main engine being controlled by servomotors. The joystick can be used to steer "Rubberduck" forwards and backwards as well as sideways, accelerate and turn. The system is completely redundant; if the joystick and the control motors fail, the conventional throttle lever is available.

Some devices are certainly not essential - but why not, you have time after all

We were able to try out the Comfo-Drive in moderate to gusty winds. The "Rubberduck" can be moored and cast off against the wind, it turns on the spot, it can be held well at the mooring, for example to be able to deploy the lines in peace. This is to be expanded. With a "hold" function, the GPS and steering system should be able to automatically hold the boat in one position. An automatic mooring system is even in the pipeline.

But the system already has a lot to offer: a second mobile control unit can be connected to the foredeck by cable and attached to the railing there. This allows the helmsman to manually hold the boat in place without standing at the wheel, for example when mooring with the stern to the pier, while at the same time having the mooring line handed to him and pulling it through at the bow.

Another clever arrangement helps here, which is installed on the bow and stern on each side for the mooring lines. The line to be loaded is guided through a top-locking luff cleat and an oversized aluminium curry cleat mounted on it and finally onto a winch. These are the electric sheet winches at the stern and a central Muring winch at the front. Once the winch has applied enough tension to the line and the boat has been moored as required, the line can be disconnected, removed from the drum and reattached conventionally to cleats. The procedure is reversed to rig the boat.

But that's not all: the Glücks can lower an underwater drone on a pole mounted on the foredeck. A gimmick? The inventor: "We can use it to look at the subsurface and observe how the anchor digs in." The drone can also be controlled remotely by cable for this purpose. The device is certainly not essential - but why not, you have time.

With "Rubberduck", the traveller sits on a rather massive and multifunctional tare bar

In view of the sometimes elaborate measures, realisations and modifications on board, the entire rig is surprisingly conventional. The standard self-tacking jib has been retained, as has Seldén's furling mast, and the whole thing is fitted with Elvström's triradial fabric made from Dacron sandwich. The winches are electrified, of course. But the traveller is special. It sits at the end of the cockpit on a rather massive and multifunctional tare bracket, a customised design by Edelstahl Haese, and can be operated electrically and proportionally with joysticks.

This means that the mainsheet and its blocks do not interfere either in the cockpit or in their usual place in front of the companionway on Hanseyachts. The targa bracket also serves as a support for the electronic B&G displays and the semi-cardanic radar antenna and accommodates a sun/weather shield in addition to the GPS and a mobile phone antenna. The sprayhood is attached to a fixed disc. A solid handrail is installed aft. A bimini can be easily attached between the sprayhood and the tarp bracket.

A code zero can be used as an additional sail to compensate for the shortcomings of the narrow jib on rough courses. So far, so usual. On the "Rubberduck", however, the corresponding sail bag is attached open at the top to a large ring, which is swivellingly mounted on the hatch of the sail load. A great thing: the sail is stowed where it is set and retrieved, eliminating dragging and set-up time - which means that the sail will ultimately be used more often. A gennaker can also be set directly from the hatch, preferably in a tube.

The upper railing handrail is not designed as a wire, but as a solid tube

Furthermore, a heavy weather or storm jib on its own mobile stay completes the wardrobe. As the textile stay not only attaches to the deck behind the forestay, but also to the mast below, back stays are required, which are tensioned with the rear sheet winches. They are also made of fabric and fitted with aluminium thimbles instead of blocks, making them lightweight and non-intrusive.

The upper railing handrail is designed as a solid tube rather than a wire, which ensures safety when walking on the deck. Small blue LEDs illuminate the tube indirectly. This could be dismissed as a visual gimmick, but it makes it easier to walk onto the foredeck in the dark.

There are no aids on the bow of "Rubberduck" to make it easier to get on or off board; the boat is moored in the Mediterranean, where you usually moor with the stern to the pier. A gangway is then used, which is stowed crossways in a pocket on the pushpit while travelling. A holder for the stern anchor is also very useful in certain areas and situations.

For the power supply, Hans-Peter Glück and his partners again took an unconventional approach. The shipyard's planned on-board power supply system consisting of a starter battery, two service batteries and two additional batteries for the bow and stern thrusters was retained. The two hydrogenerators, gimballed at the stern for greater efficiency, supply the stern thruster battery and the service network with 600 watts of peak power each. Additional power is supplied by the alternator and solar cells.

One E-System supplies the sailing technology on the "Rubberduck", the other the galley

An additional power system consists of two lithium batteries certified by Germanischer Lloyd, each with a storage capacity of 2 kilowatt hours, and an inverter with 3000 watts of continuous power and double the load capacity at peak times. The 12-volt consumers are supplied by a battery-to-battery charger if required. The inverter also supplies the 230-volt appliances under shore power. If the shore power is too low, it adds battery power without interruption.

The main purpose of the additional system: standard household appliances such as induction hobs, convection ovens, washing machines, central hoovers and coffee makers are connected to the inverter to improve the quality of life during long stays. "It's convenient, but uses a lot of juice," reports Hans-Peter Glück. "If we cook a lot, we have to recharge after a day in the anchorage. It's a different story at sea thanks to the hydrogen generators. It also doesn't take long to recharge the lithium batteries.

Fast, automatic refilling instead of holding large quantities is also the maxim for the drinking water area: the water tank equipped with a UV disinfection system only swallows 450 litres. However, a watermaker installed in the foredeck manages 60 litres per hour and thus quickly ensures a fresh and clean supply. Otherwise, there are few conversions or extensions below deck. A swivelling monitor on the port side can be used for the on-board computer or as a TV screen. The safety equipment is quite extensive: there is an active AIS on board, as well as an active radar reflector, an Epirb and a life raft. The communication options are enhanced by an additional 4G antenna with local hotspot, an Iridium Go hotspot and a mobile intercom system for six people (Cee Coach).

Overall, "Rubberduck" and the components have proven themselves

The "Rubberduck" spent around five weeks in and between Greifswald, Neustadt and Laboe, during which time the various components were made to work and improved. Then she set off on a long voyage around Europe with five different crews. The voyage lasted five weeks in stages of between 40 and 450 nautical miles via Holland, Belgium, southern England, Portugal, Gibraltar, Spain and France to Loano near Genoa. Half of the time was sailed, the rest was motorised, which was due to the tight schedule and crew changes.

Hans-Peter Glück: "The joystick and the Comfo-Drive didn't cause any problems, and the traveller and tare bar also worked perfectly. However, the additional electrics still need fine-tuning." This had to be switched by hand and was even removed again for testing purposes and analysed in the laboratory at the manufacturer Aentron. This meant that the Glücks and their "Rubberduck" had already completed a major voyage as a project for the time after the job. The ambitious voyage also had the character of a test run.

All in all, the boat and its components have proved their worth, according to the rather satisfied owner, who is looking to commercialise some of his ideas and for this reason was present at the boot Düsseldorf at the stand of his partner Edelstahl Haese, where he presented a simulator for the Comfo-Drive, among other things.

Hans-Peter Glück analysed the long trip scientifically and methodically together with age researcher Dr Wolf-Dieter Mell. Each sailor had to complete a questionnaire and assess the various new functional elements in terms of their usability and functionality. Sprayhood windows, fixed railings and the handrail in the saloon were the most frequently used. Another realisation; some solutions are simple.

Technical data of the "Rubberduck"

• Type: Hanse 455
• Torso length: 13,55 m
• Width: 4,38 m
• Depth: 2,25 m
• Weight: 11,7 t
• Ballast/proportion: 3,5 t/30 %
• Sail area on the wind: 103,0 m²
• Sail carrying capacity: 4,5 m²

The article first appeared in YACHT 7/2020 and has been updated for the online version.