Can We Over-Engineer this? B&G Rant !

[colemj]

Originally Posted by DeepFrz

Adequate. Hmmm, sounds like a NA CEO talking, like my products are adequate...

I have been following the voyage of Nereida and she has had autopilot problems for almost the whole way for more than 1 1/2 circumnavigations. That is after an autopilot failure put her first Nereida on a Mexican beach. Would that be adequate?

These are not non stop circumnavigations by the way and almost all of her autopilot systems have been replaced at least once. She now has 2 systems installed and is still having problems. I wont mention the brand but you can find out yourself pretty easily.

OK, I did a bit of looking around her website and I got a different impression of her problems. They did not seem to be specific to the AP or brand of AP - her boat appears to be a mess of corroded wiring and other electrical gremlins. Constantly, she is discovering bad connections, loss of power, dropped power under loads, corroded terminals, broken wires, etc.

I think it is very premature to blame the equipment for many of her electronics failures. It is quite possible that those electronics are being stressed beyond reason.

She also seems to experience almost continuous fuel problems, engine problems and other mechanical problems that seem related to maintenance/age issues of her vessel.

I am by no means dissing her or her accomplishments - just putting a more reasonable evaluation on some of her electronics failures.

BTW, so others don't have to guess, her AP equipment is Raymarine S3G course computer with Raymarine T3 hydraulic linear drive and ST60 control head.

Mark

[Exile]

Originally Posted by colemj

OK, I did a bit of looking around her website and I got a different impression of her problems. They did not seem to be specific to the AP or brand of AP - her boat appears to be a mess of corroded wiring and other electrical gremlins. Constantly, she is discovering bad connections, loss of power, dropped power under loads, corroded terminals, broken wires, etc.

I think it is very premature to blame the equipment for many of her electronics failures. It is quite possible that those electronics are being stressed beyond reason.

She also seems to experience almost continuous fuel problems, engine problems and other mechanical problems that seem related to maintenance/age issues of her vessel.

I am by no means dissing her or her accomplishments - just putting a more reasonable evaluation on some of her electronics failures.

BTW, so others don't have to guess, her AP equipment is Raymarine S3G course computer with Raymarine T3 hydraulic linear drive and ST60 control head.

Mark

I thought I read that this second boat of hers was built in 2009? Still could be installation issues, of course, vs. mfg defect. And there's obviously been more use & abuse in the past couple of years than most boats ever see.

The lack of any standardization with various models of boats, along with the varying competence of installers, makes comparing different brands of electronic mfgs. that much more difficult.

[DeepFrz]

Interesting but they (RM) just replaced a replacement ram, in Hawaii. Both rams were replaced a few weeks before that. I think you overstate the problems with wiring, although she has had those as well.

[colemj]

Well, like I said, I only did a bit of looking around. Her website is very complicated, has no search function, links send one off to other seemingly related but independent websites of hers, and I found little chronological organization or even categorization. Frankly, I found the website(s) to be a nightmare.

So perhaps the only information I found was on an older previous boat? Or problems that were fixed years ago? It was just so hard to navigate those websites that I gave up after painfully digging out several postings of electrical and mechanical problems related to installation, age and maintenance.

Hell, I might not even be on the correct website - you didn't post the url and I simply googled the name of the boat and went to the first site that came up.

Mark

[Exile]

Originally Posted by jr_spyder

Separate from this I expanded the on-board stereo system, and added a Wifi network. A lot of great bonding with my boat over the winter!

Dan, I think our two boats are cousins with Ted Hood playing a hand in both. A Bristol was in the running for my purchanse last year.

JR

Cousins indeed! Both are great boats, and certainly worth upgrading. Speaking of which, that installation sounds downright Herculean! If you're a schmuck when it comes to this sort of thing, I shudder to think how I could have managed it!

Dan

[jeisert]

Have you thought of measuring out all those o-rings, taking educated guesses on the material and trying a place the specializes in O-rings and seals? I use a place for my kids paintball markers (thinking I am not allowed to link here) called oringmonkey email the guy tell him what yo want and it shows up. cheap and easy.