* Greetings all:
Here’s an update from ile de Grace, Orana 44 #21. Sorry for the long delay, but I’m just now catching up to this thread.
First, I apologize for the pornsters having overrun the Yahoo group – I shut it down last year
Second, having taken
delivery in La Rochelle in April 2008, we are presently in
Tahiti, en
route to Oz, the
Indian Ocean, the Red Sea, the
Med, and then back home to
Annapolis, MD (USA). We’ve put a lot of
work and a lot of miles on our
boat, and here are some thoughts on our common vessel:
· All things considered, the
boat is handling well, but we haven’t really been in a blow to speak of; max winds have been in the 30-40
knot range; max seas in the 10-15 foot range. We have the
gennaker rig, and use it a fair amount. I leave a reef in the main at all times, sinece the last bit of sail doesn’t add that much, and as cruisers, I’m not that interested in hyper-performance. I can sail up to about 45-50 degrees apparent, but it's hard work getting closer, and we usually end up
motor sailing in anything closer that 50 degrees. We've been weighted down with extra
fuel and
water for some of our longer passages, but we're still slower than, say, a Francis 44, which was running a full
knot faster over a four-day period of varying winds with each of us having similar
canvas. No matter; we each got there!
· We re-rigged the reefing
gear to allow us to reef the luff points at the
steering wheel. We put blocks into the cringles, and ran the luff and leach lines around blocks at the base of the
mast back to Spinlock jammers just forward of the winches. That way, we can reef without leaving the
cockpit. Chafe is an issue under either our approach or the original factory approach, and I often go up when the
weather settles or my wife is on
deck and tie off the cringles and release the tension on the jammers.
· We have added a lot of
safety equipment, including stainless handrails around the length of the
cabin top. I think the factory arrangement of having the scuppers serve as handrails is unsafe in most any kind of
weather, and we feel very secure now knowing that the handholds are large and obvious.
· We added a large stern stainless archway, where we have 4 x 135w
solar panels and a KISS
wind generator, as well as our
GPS antenna. We can also raise our
dinghy much higher than the original
davits allow (we kept them in place for harbor use). We also added a swiveling block-and-pulley system for our 20hp
outboard.
· We installed a
deck box immediately aft of the
cockpit seat, and store our SNUBA
compressor and airlines, as well as our drogue/parachute line and chain. We weren’t going to be lounging there often on our
circumnavigation, and the space fills in nicely.
· We installed
backing plates for all our deck
cleats; strangely, these were not backed, and they slip and slide without that essential support.
· We added another support column for our cockpit roof; on the Atlantic
passage, the original stanchion (roughly centerline on the starboard side of the settee) pulled free, victim of a poor design/weld job at its base. In addition to backplating this in
Bermuda, we added a second stanchion on the starboard side of the aft exit from the cockpit table area, at the aft inboard corner of the roof over the master bedroom’s roof . We feel much more secure, since these in effect hold the main
halyard track down.
· We added an insulator (just one) to the top of our starboard
shroud, and installed a
HF radio above the desk in the master
cabin, running the
antenna behind the wall, forward to the
head, and then attached to the chainplate. We get excellent
reception and
transmission.
· We have
Furuno instruments, and after an initial issue where the factory’s
installation contractor apparently used non-Furuno junction boxes and connectors, we’ve had no issues; quite the contrary, I love my
Furuno gear, and we use the
autopilot 99% of the time, linked into the easy-to-use and to-date failsafe
Navnet 3D system. I installed an
autopilot repeater at the nav station, so I can drive from inside or out.
· Our D1-30
Volvo engines have worked great, but recently, we fell victim to what I gather is a common issue: failure of the
saildrive clutch assembly. At present, with 800 hours on the
engine, we are in
Tahiti awaiting
repairs; it’s an intermittent problem – more often than not, when we engage the gear, we get RPMs but no prop rotation. It’s a relatively easy fix, but annoying, and here in the hinterlands, a bit pricey for
parts delivery.
· I replaced the
Volvo fuel pre-filters with
Racor filters, so I can see what’s going on. In addition, I never put fuel straight from a land hose into my tank; I always pass through a
Baja filter. That way, I have three filters before it hits my engine. We’ve seen some skanky fuel in these parts!
· I replaced the plastic thru-hulls with
bronze thru-hulls.
· I added an
electric toilet for the master
head.
· I installed a Spectra Cape Horn
watermaker on the inside of the starboard bow compartment; easy to access,
service, and
monitor. It pushes out 18 liters/hour at about 14 amps on both pumps; 9 liters/7 amps on one
pump. Aside from user error, flawless high-quality water production for
washing, showering, etc. We run it for 4 hours about every third or fourth day (I have the optional Z-Brane, which prevents scaling & biogrowth with a high voltage, low amperage
current running thru the membrane.
· We have the Maestro version (early layout), and have reconfigured the forward part of the starboard hull considerably. First, we took the shallow inboard locker just forward of the escape
hatch and pulled it
outboard about 8 inches, installed proper shelves, and now have a wonderful deep and commodious pantry. Second, we ripped out the flat bunk top, and re-configured the forward space to accommodate a
washing machine (aft against the dook/bulkhead), and just forward, inboard, a portable 12V Engle
freezer that draws virtually nothing, and keeps us loaded with frozen
fish from our generally successful trolling efforts. If you install a washing machine, make sure you can cap off the water drain tube; ours is located about 3 feet above the water line, but in the proper seas, water is forced up and over. I
plug the top before passages.
· We experienced minor but annoying finishing issues with production – a loose vent tube on a port head
holding tank and an improperly caulked cockpit sliding door combined to create a two-source leak issue into our port hull. That took a while to diagnose!
· Our Xatrex
battery monitor (still) cannot register amperage coming to the
batteries from our 9.5kW genset; I haven’t had time or expertise to diagnose this yet, but I’m sure it’s a quick fix. As it stands, I have to intuit my way to managing my
batteries, since for some reason, the folks that installed my
solar and
wind provided only a stand-alone metric for their contribution.
· FP came through on all significant warranty issues, so no quarrels there; I do wish they’d have spent a bit more time on the little finishing details, but all in all, no complaints.
Things We Still Have To Do:
· We need some kind of
dodger for the
helm station; we purchased the so-called
bimini top, but it’s too small for real sun protection, and offers no protection against rain and
wind in the open ocean. Still noodling that design in my head.
· I need to consolidate our
battery monitors, so I can see at one glance where we are.
That’s it; if anyone wants more info or pics or details, feel free to
email me directly, as I have limited access to the
internet per se, and easier access to
email. I can also speak to vendors who have almost uniformly been outstanding in their support as we undertake our journey.
Lastly, our blog is at:
http://sv-grace.blogspot.com
Best to all!
/jon