From the Tayana Owner’s Group manual for the Tayana Vancouver 42:

“Four models of the Vancouver yachts were built by Ta Yang: After Cockpit, Trunk Cabin, Center Cockpit and Pilot House. All these were cutter rigged.

General Design Specifications:

Length overall                                                 41′ 9″

Length on deck                                                40′ 2″

Length at waterline                                         33′ 0″

Beam                                                              12′ 6″

Draft                                                               5′ 10″

Displacement (unloaded)                             29,147 lbs. (1,474 lbs per waterline inch)

Ballast                                                          11,800 lbs.

Sail area:  Main – 407 ft.sq.     Staysail – 255 ft.sq.     Yankee – 493 ft.sq.

Engine:     Yanmar 4JHE

Fuel tankage (standard)           120 gallons in two black iron tanks, but Kandu has three tanks, holding 180 gallons (I have to confirm).

Water tankage (standard)        140 gallons in two stainless steel tanks, but Kandu holds 200 gallons (I have to confirm).

Vertical clearance                    60′ 10″ Mast height above L.W.L.”

Eric evaluated, studied, and researched cruising boats since he was fourteen years old. While other boys his age fantasized about cars, Eric dreamed about boats. In preparation for the upcoming voyage, taking the advice of several popular reference books, he decided to check out the Tayana Vancouver 42—a safe, comfortable, and affordable cruiser; a popular choice among circumnavigators in the 1990’s and 2000’s.

Comparing the aft-cockpit version against a center-cockpit version online, Eric stumbled across a webpage advertising a 1987 center-cockpit Tayana v42 for sale in San Carlos, Mexico. The ship’s inventory read like a dream novel, containing many of the high-quality options that Eric planned to install in his future boat.  When he learned that the current owners had sailed her from Los Angeles to Australia and back to the Sea of Cortez, Eric knew she’d have a lot of subtle niceties that only a long-distance live-aboard cruiser would warrant.

Uncle Bill and Eric flew to San Carlos in September 2010, evaluated the cruiser, felt she had the right stuff, and the next day negotiated a fair purchase price. In October of that year, with one of her former owners along for the ride, Uncle Bill and Eric sailed her up to Ventura, California, where’s she been since; closer to Uncle Bill’s shipwright hands.  Kandu is a fiberglass sailboat, built in Taiwan in 1987.  We bought her used to save money and then spent three years getting her ready for our voyage.  Uncle Bill and Eric have been methodically preparing Kandu for her challenging circumnavigation.  As always, Uncle Bill has been instrumental in the process, working day after day to find and make one improvement after another–a thousand steps toward departure day.

When renaming her, Eric knew of the informal custom that sailors have of attaching the boat’s name to the family.  He named her Kandu so fellow cruisers would address them as the “Kandu Family.”