Like a lot of sailors, Jon Neely loves his boat, but for him the feeling runs even deeper.

“Prism is my boat soulmate,” he said. “I don’t look at other boats because I don’t have to.”

Prism is Jon’s Hans Christian 33T, and the pair have been through a lot together. He bought the boat in Olympia, Washington, in 2013 and since then he has chipped away at an extensive DIY refit, including repowering the boat with a 35-horsepower Beta Marine engine, upgrading the chainplates, stripping and refinishing all interior wood, removing the teak decks, switching to lithium batteries and refinishing the hull in Oyster White Awlgrip, among other projects. The boat has proven to be prone to blistering, Jon said, and after sailing in the tropics blisters began creeping up the topsides. The painstaking removal process included grinding out each blister, drying, filling and applying nine layers of barrier coat.

“If you can touch it or see it, we’ve refinished or repaired it,” he said. 

Neely, who manages the Hans Christian owners’ Facebook page and maintains a fleet sheet of all known boats built, believes that Prism is the “crown jewel” of Hans Christian 33s.

He discovered Hans Christians while living aboard a Caliber 28 in Ventura, California, with his former partner. They met a couple finishing a 13-year circumnavigation on a Hans Christian 38, and fell in love with the design, although decided they wanted something smaller. The 33T, which is 33 feet on deck and 41 feet overall, was a perfect fit.

“Something my late father told me before I ever bought a boat was to make sure it’s a boat you can fall in love with,” Jon said. “He said your heart should always skip a beat when you see the boat, and when you leave her—whether it be for an hour, a day or a year—you should always do a double take.”

Prism is just that boat, said Jon, who has sailed her extensively in the last 11 years.

The longest passage was an eight-day passage from Neah Bay, Washington, to Berkeley, California, but it has sailed extensively on the West Coast, transited the Panama Canal, sailed to North Carolina and back to the Caribbean and beyond.

“I tend to refer to our sailing practices as ‘professional coastal cruising,’ and I take pride in having stopped at many places along the way without missing much,” he said. “Most of our passages are overnight trips, allowing us to take our time and not stress about reaching the next anchorage by sundown. This allows us to sail much more and motor less.”

And Prism is a joy to sail, Jon said. 

“Prism is a fun boat to sail in almost any condition except for steep seas and a headwind,” he said. “She will handle it, but she doesn’t like it.”

In addition to being a proficient sailer, Prism has some interesting features that Jon particularly appreciates, including a Pullman bed that’s the size of a full-sized bed at the feet and a king size at the head. The boat also has excellent storage room and integrated tanks that can carry 85 gallons of diesel and 120 gallons of water, which, when full, add to the boat’s stability.

“For her size, there is no boat, to my knowledge, that offers what she provides for a liveaboard cruiser, sailor and maintainer,” Jon said. “She is a gorgeous boat, sails surprisingly well and is a comfortable home. I’m proud that I can fix anything on her and I have.”

If the boat has a design flaw, it’s that the rudder or engine must be removed to access the prop shaft, he said. 

Like many sailors, Jon finds joy in sailing with friends, both new and old. A handful of sailors have joined the boat for longer stretches and he expects more to join on future passages which could include exploring the eastern Caribbean and then possibly Europe or a return to Latin America. 

“I plan to do whatever sounds fun,” he said.

Clearly Jon and Prism have more adventures ahead of them and the pair seem up to it.

“Does she have her faults or quirks? Sure, but knowing them makes our relationship that much more intimate,” he said. “Prism has never let me down, nor have I let her down.”

Jon shares more about Prism, including details on projects and passages, at www.svprism.com and on Instagram at @svprism.

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