Alpha 42 "Be Good Too" rescue 300 miles off Cape Henry Merged

[neilpride]

Originally Posted by DoubleWhisky

So it is NOT easy...
We are talking production builder here

No,i mean its easy to do the things properly but for the builder point of view bussines is easy to save cost and make top $$$ with crap...

This is the norm this days in production boats, and for the alpha 42 same..

[DoubleWhisky]

So we are completely in agreement, wording aside.
Spending money is not easy when one is in cost cutting business.

You should know it well - CSY story... They were not cost cutters and they vanished. Pity - they built fine boats

[neilpride]

Yeah agree, but there is still fine quality attention to detail builders out there, the Alpha 42 dont come with rudder quadrant stops not even a deck plate to fit a tiller, in a 500000$$$ boat?? LOL!

[downunder]

Originally Posted by DoubleWhisky

Yes, one can not run off them, even when not liking them.
And this lead to the proper installation matter...
Where to put euipement.
How to connect it.
How to make everything waterproof.
How to arrange heating/ventillation to avoid condensation (as far as possible).
Not easy...

And still You need a handy place to stow a Seagull. It is nice to have something to throw overboard. Just to let the steam out, when something is going wrong

Excellent point here. Some manufactures think about this towards the end of the production stage rather than in the design phase.

Good electrics are such important system and in this case certainly a contributing factor in the abandonment.

cheers

[perchance]

Originally Posted by Tootsie

Any news on where the Alpha 42 is now?
Maybe mr.Tarjan can pick it up just outside Long Island?
I think it's weird not to hear anything about salvage attempts

Perhaps they don't want it found as it is probably better from an insurance perspective that the boat is a total loss

[Sand crab]

Remember it was 18° F for the low on Jan. 2 and that was also the high temp on Jan 3 which is the date of the handover. The next day it warmed all the way to 28° but fell to 0° that night. By then they were somewhere at sea.
With temps like that and 4 bodies breathing, cooking, cleaning, and bathing means lots of condensation.
I was thinking a dehumidifier would be a good thing but who knew? They have a water reservoir that fills up with the moisture they pull out of the air so that would have been sloshing all over the place in the bad weather. And they are power hogs. Ya can't win.
I'm just trying to be fair here. I don't think every issue here was caused by the Alpha team.

Patchogue January Weather 2014 - AccuWeather Forecast for NY 11772

FWIW That crappy year for Corollas was 2002.

[rickbase1]

Just to stretch this thread out a little longer...I have to wonder the mindset of the builder throughout this event. I understand the crew were in contact with Alpha via sat phone shortly after the crisis so Alpha could have played a part in the recovery/repair of the boat. I have owned several small businesses and know too well that your success is defined not by the problem, but how you deal with it. After first hearing about it, my mind immediately went to how could I have got out there to deal with the issue. Hull #1 is by far the most important boat, as it defines the company behind it. Even if I had to spend a $ 100k doing it, it would have been money well spent in my mind, if only to be able to say we analyzed the damage, found the problem and fixed it! I will be surprised if they can weather this type of attention without some restoration of credibility.

From everything I have read so far it seems that the people were for the most part left to their own devices. Did Alpha do everything possible to help the stranded crew?

Some options as the builder that I would have considered include:

1) Doing an airdrop of spares, starter, drogue, sat phone batteries, cutting tools, porta power, multi-meter, etc to aid in getting them mobile fast, before the next storm.

2) Sending out a powerboat to bring the boat back.( I know this would not have been easy, but possible. With fuel bladders my 55 ft boat could readily cover 300 miles in less than 20 hours in 12-16 ft seas, (I did it in 2011 going from Turks to Peurto Rico, with strong easterlies) with plenty left to get home towing another boat (and yes, that is very difficult in itself, but not impossible, if the fate of your company rides on it))
3) Para-shooting a company tech onboard with spares, sat phone and a tool kit. ( not easy but possible)

These are just a few ideas of what could have happened within the first 24 hours of the event and showed the meddle of a company that is standing behind their product. I am sure there are many more that avid readers could devise. I would welcome Alpha to expand on this thread and offer us some insight into their thinking and action taken to ensure the well being and safety of the owners of their first boat.

Big boat builders may be able to get away with poor service because they have the critical mass and sales force to overcome it but a small startup must do better and prove themselves to be a viable alternative to the big guys. I understand that it was a hot topic of conversation at the Miami show. Not having heard the lengths to which Alpha went can only leave us to speculate and assume the worst.

Alpha, lets hear your side of the story.

[DoubleWhisky]

Originally Posted by rickbase1

Alpha, lets hear your side of the story.

I do not expect this to happen.
Read their Internet sites. It is quite obvious they think sweeping the dirt under the carpet is the way to go

[downunder]

Once a vessel is delivered its not the job of a builder to recover a vessel that is abandoned.

Now if it is recovered by the insurance company if they do so then the builder I imagine would get invoved.

I would say its completely out of the builders hands unless it is recovered.

[rickbase1]

You may be right in that it may not be their legal responsibility but it certainly would be a moral and business savvy response to the problem, IMHO.

And to DoubleWhiskey, I suspect you are correct, but let's give them a couple of days to respond..........

[rickbase1]

And I was not referring to having the boat recovered after they abandoned, but during the few days when they were trying effect repairs, before the decision to abandon was made.

[Sand crab]

Rick, you live in a fantasy land.

[Jimmy Jazz]

would not be an easy task trying to do those repairs at sea

[ve3qft]

Originally Posted by Sand crab

Rick, you live in a fantasy land.

Yes, he does, but I want to live there, too.

Just as a continuously expanding population drove the housing bubble without any other substance such as an improving economy, a healthy industrial sector, or any innovation in housing construction, so it drives the disposable customer bubble. Companies are no longer required to create quality or provide meaningful customer service because, if you piss off one customer, there will be ten more lined up to take her place. A burgeoning population has made customers disposable, ensuring that quality and longevity of products will continue to decline. If you have trouble with hull #1, just forget about it. The insurance company will pay off the owner and we'll keep building the next ten hulls for the customers lining up.

Of course, this kind of disposable mentality sustains the wholesale rape of the planet and the rapid destruction of everything that makes it possible for us to breathe, but that must come secondary to the pursuit of the almighty dollar. We must have a mansion or a Mercedes for every boat we build, or every tooth we fix, or every lifesaving operation we perform, and the environment can go to hell. Why would we bother to salvage an $800,000 vessel that took years to build and ripped the heart out of the planet? Let it go; recovering won't make us another easy mansion.

I have a minor modification to Rick's suggestion: involuntarily airlift the builder out to the hull with all the equipment they can carry and let them salvage it or go down with it, their choice. If I had my druthers, I'd send the makers of disposable inkjet printers and plastic containers and crapbox houses and every other product that places personal gain above responsible consumption aboard, too. They are the one who made the money and raped the planet--let them deal with the consequences. Maybe they could walk to shore on the garbage they have put into the ocean.

Had I been so rash as to take hull #1 out in the middle of the North Atlantic in January without proper incremental testing and progressive sea trials, I would have stayed aboard to bring her in no matter the cost, because the alternative would be unthinkable: contributing another $800,000 piece of floating plastic garbage to the ocean. Bad weather be damned; I would have died of shame for my monstrous over-consumption had I abandoned her.

[donradcliffe]

To those inquiring about the mindset of most boatbuilding companies--they are losing money on each boat, and the deposit on a new build goes to finish the previous boat--until they finally sink into bankruptcy. They are not in any position to spend lots of money in a futile effort to find a boat in the middle of the ocean.

Boatman, if your AIS transponder is on you are never out of range of the NSA satellites.