Helia 44: Helia Warranty Issues

[mndreamchaser1]

Originally Posted by Rubikoop

When you say factory installed do you mean by FP in France or do you mean by a dealer in Annapolis?

I've been on a 2013 Helia with Garmin instruments having issues with the Nema network. It seems that the installer fed power to the network at one end and then ran far to many feet of backbone causing a low voltage problem at the helm. This may or may not be the cause of your problem. This wouldn't be the first problem I've seen on poorly dealer installed networks, both Garmin and Raymarine, on new FP cats. The manufacturer's specs are clear and not that hard to follow...

Factory installed by FP in France. Only a second plotter was added locally. I think our power connection comes in the middle, but thanks for the input.

[captainjay]

Originally Posted by mndreamchaser1

Factory installed by FP in France. Only a second plotter was added locally. I think our power connection comes in the middle, but thanks for the input.

I talked to Garmin about this issue and the make an isolation T to stop the 12 volt on the back bone an then an additional power supply is added. I have personally seen a 2 to 3 volt drop on the nema bus on Hull #3. Right now we have the low voltage alarm shut off as Garmin says as long as the voltage stays above 9 volts on the NEMA bus it's ok. I suspect the long term solution is the addition of the isolation T and second power source for the bus.

https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/shop...prod74432.html

[TPF]

Gordon, Thank you for the advice on your Flexofold props experience. Did you get them through Utchimata or another supplier in La Rochelle? I would also be interested in what anchor and chain you set up on your Helia and how it worked in the Med? Thanks again for the advice on the props.

[TPF]

Originally Posted by Gordon

We also selected the 3 blade FlexFold props for our boat fitted with the d2-55's and are very happy with overall performance. We motor and motor sail on one engine most times. Motoring on one engine with 2000RPM we saw 7 to 7.5 kts, with half the fuel burn and accumulated engine hours. Gordon.

Gordon, Thank you for the advice and your experience with the Flexofold props. Did you get them through Utchimata or another supplier in La Rochelle? I would also be interested in what anchor and chain setup you used on your Helia and how it worked for you in the Med? Thanks again for sharing your experience on the props.

[Gordon]

We have 80m of 12mm gal chain + 30m of 18mm nylon anchor warp, with a 35kg Spade (gal also). We lived out on anchor for five months and did not experience any problems and did not have to use more than 70 m of chain.

[spiv]

Hello,
I have a Salina 48 with Volvo 55HP.
Regarding the props, I have 3 blades Volvo folding props. I have had no other props, so I am not able to compare; however, both my engines vibrate when under power.
I had several Volvo dealers looking at them and the common response is that the props have caught a rope and the hub has gone out of alignment, a new hub is $650.
The last dealer told me in confidence that he no longer fits Volvo folding props because they are 'too delicate' and he had to many warranty issues, so, perhaps the FlexiFold are better??? Any thoughts?

About the chain, I used to have 60m of 1/2", but had problems:
firstly the chain would pile up under the windlass and get stuck, so we had to manually move it sideways as retrieving the anchor, a real pain.
Secondly there was a lot of weight up fore.
I lately switched to 3/8" (10mm) Hi-Tensile chain it is stronger and smaller, it fits into the well without piling and my wife is a happy camper, the extra bonus is that I shed about 150kg from the bow.
I have a 40kg Delta anchor and the change in chain doesn't seem to have made any difference: I sleep without worrying....

[mndreamchaser1]

Originally Posted by mndreamchaser1

Factory installed by FP in France. Only a second plotter was added locally. I think our power connection comes in the middle, but thanks for the input.

For those who may encounter this problem. We discovered a bad connector. It was (of course) the one behind the wall, installed by FP, and had been bent so the wires showed. After replacement, all is well.

I have now discovered that a problem like this can totally disable a NMEA system. We found ourselves on the Chesapeake Bay, at night, in almost zero visibility conditions, with no depth reading, no plotter, no ais, no wind and no autopilot! Only the radar worked, as it is not connected via NMEA. Thank goodness, as this is how we navigated and avoided traffic. We were new to steering the Helia (or any cat), so hand steering came with a huge learning curve in high winds under motor power with no visual references.

We have now had built (thank you to Ken Krasco) a bypass for the autopilot to allow us to hook up a completely free standing network for the autopilot (autopilot and one plotter only) in case of emergency. At least this will allow us to use autopilot and see where we are. A huge relief having this backup. FYI.

[Nasa]

Hi. To harp back to the freezer issue, this is what we discovered when try to solve our constantly running freezer. The cabinet in which the freezer is house is completely enclosed not allowing any ventilation over the compressor. In fact the cooling fins are hard up against the back of the cabinet so the only ventilation avalible to it in the original configuration was from the vent below around the sides of this cooling fin box. We put a 12v fan higher up to extract hot air from the top of the freezer were it was being blower by the compressor fan. This didn't work for two reasons, 1)the fan could not be placed high enough to draw the air from the top of the unit so it just sucked air up from the bottom vent the blew it out.2) the compressor was still not getting fresh air flow thus was not able to cool itself.

Our solution was an air conditioning duct vent which allowed free air flow to the compressor fan, and an ability for hot air to find its way out (although we still had to drill further ventilation hole in the top sill of the vent) anyway just sharing how we solved our issue, and thanks to the creative thinking of Multihull Solutions. It may not be elegant, but meat is now freezing on the top shelf and its using 1/3 the power. On second photo you can see the square dark box of the compressor cooling fins and how close the unit is the to the back of the cabinet.

[SailMonAmi]

Originally Posted by Gordon

FP became aware of the door locking issue and on our boat, hull #12 they came to our boat when still on the dock in La Rochelle and replaced the entire top track and main sliding door, problem solved..
We did not experience any issues with the freezer over the seven months on board during the summer months in the Med.

I'm the proud owner of FP Helia 44 hull #13, and have the identical problem. I've been advised by my charter management to fix it and send the bill to FP. I've never done business that way before - any words of advice? Will FP do the right thing and reimburse the work that I'll be ordering up? Thanks!

[jostalli]

Originally Posted by SailMonAmi

I'm the proud owner of FP Helia 44 hull #13, and have the identical problem. I've been advised by my charter management to fix it and send the bill to FP. I've never done business that way before - any words of advice? Will FP do the right thing and reimburse the work that I'll be ordering up? Thanks!

Ha! Have your dealer take care of it. Don't take the advice of the charter company (unless they are also your dealer). Either way I would have my dealer do the negotiations with FP

[SailMonAmi]

Originally Posted by jostalli

Ha! Have your dealer take care of it. Don't take the advice of the charter company (unless they are also your dealer). Either way I would have my dealer do the negotiations with FP

Yes, the dealer (tightly coupled to the Charter Co.) is doing the leg-work/negotiating on my behalf. They have a very good relationship with FP, so I'm hoping the goodwill continues into any negotiations. I'm counting on it.

[DtM]

You will be very brave to do the work and hope to get paid later.

Finalise the negotiation with FP.

[capelastar]

Can assure you will not be able to communicate with anyone at FP for any warranty work, or if you are lucky enough to have them answer your call you will be waiting many many months to try and get anything under warranty! there is absolutely zero customer support.

Guarantee you will be bashing your head against a brick wall! Good luck though!

[domuzes]

Originally Posted by capelastar

Can assure you will not be able to communicate with anyone at FP for any warranty work, or if you are lucky enough to have them answer your call you will be waiting many many months to try and get anything under warranty! there is absolutely zero customer support.

Guarantee you will be bashing your head against a brick wall! Good luck though!

It's now more than a year that we've been trying to get several repairs refunded by Fountaine Pajot (around 5 000 € in total for works they agreed to pay before we did them).
Not only I can confirm what you say, but I can add that their behaviour is nearer deshonesty than negligence or distraction...
So, potentential puchasers: think seriously about this BEFORE buying this brand!

[Dod42]

I never understand why people insist on trying to go direct to FP for Warrantee work. That is what your dealer is for. As far as I'm aware you cant buy direct from FP you have to buy from a dealer (yes you can pickup ex factory but buy through a dealer). With my Toyota car I cant buy direct from Toyota nor get service from Toyota direct they just refer you back to the dealer. This is no different. The dealer has a relationship with FP, you have a relationship with the dealer. The dealer gets a percentage of the sale price to cover the costs of providing you the service. Go to your dealer for warrantee work and let them negotiate with FP.

Here in Australia we have a very good dealer and they sort it all out. The reputation of the Dealer for after sales support was one of the reasons we purchased through them. You don't buy a car without knowing who can or will service it and what the after sales support is like from the dealer. Boats should be no different.

We signed the purchase contract with the dealer not FP direct so if there is a problem it is the Dealers problem. If you are not getting the service you need you are either going about it the wrong way, or through the wrong people.

Just my 2 cents