Bestevaer 49ST

[Pelagic]

Originally Posted by Seaworthy Lass

Our interior is nearing completion. Yesterday, just before KM broke up for three weeks of summer holidays, the protective covers were removed and the boat cleaned out, revealing the interior properly for the first time since Open Day in April.

Looks wonderful and gives you a quiet 3 week opportunity to live and plan the "as built" storage ergonomics, before the soft furnishings are installed

One thing I have noticed with the really good builders is that they plan excellent time management to reach mutually beneficial stages, during yard vacations.

Your boat is now available for your QC and a beautiful sales tool for them to show it off....when the yard is empty.

Are you still on build schedule per Contract or has there been any permissible delays?

[Seaworthy Lass]

Originally Posted by Pelagic

Looks wonderful and gives you a quiet 3 week opportunity to live and plan the "as built" storage ergonomics, before the soft furnishings are installed

One thing I have noticed with the really good builders is that they plan excellent time management to reach mutually beneficial stages, during yard vacations.

Your boat is now available for your QC and a beautiful sales tool for them to show it off....when the yard is empty.

Are you still on build schedule per Contract or has there been any permissible delays?

We gave KM quite a bit of flexibility so there was no set finishing time for each stage (just a generous time limit on completion), so the build is still well ahead of contract. Launch is currently scheduled for October. The mast will then go up and sea trials will be needed, but it seems we may be in before Christmas.

Regarding storage, I am sure things will be rearranged a dozen times as we live with the boat and discover what works, but planning ahead is useful in getting things roughly right without the need for major shifting. We have most of the items we will be living with and I now have a good grasp of what is needed for long term provisioning and how to organise this for easiest access, so there are few unknowns.

For me, despite its size, the galley has been most challenging when it comes to storage, as items need to be conveniently available without digging and everything needs to be packed so it doesn't rattle or break. I have a few items of china and glassware and most storage of supplies is in glass containers (we have found that when the temperature is above 30° for months at a time, items stored in plastic pick up a faint smell). To restrict insect contamination I have absolutely nothing lying around in packets, open or otherwise.

People are often loathe to have glass on board, both as a safety thing and because of the weight, but with larger boats I think this extra weight is less of an issue and in a decade of cruising with glass I have had rare breakages and certainly none of any storage container (we do mostly use plastic plates and mugs on passages when risk of breakage is the highest, so that helps).

One thing I am planning to do in the next week is to carefully measure each drawer and shelf throughout and cut out non skid linings. This is time consuming with some of the awkward shapes, but these linings work incredibly well. Items will then be able to be packed without delay when we move in.

SWL

[noelex 77]

Most boats have very poor security. I often think a thief with a screwdriver could open up many boats quicker than the owner can with those fiddly little locks .

The other problem is if want good ventilation you need to forgo any pretence of security and leave the boat open. This can be an issue in some (fortunately rare) parts of the world where the bad guys can occasionally target owners, not just their possessions. Even in more secure parts of world leaving the boat reasonably closed up when going out for dinner means a hot boat on return. Some boats have small portholes that are too small for thief to enter. This is a big help, but often they don't let in much air, especially for sleeping comfortably on a hot night.

We have addressed these issues in various ways. I will detail the overhead hatch construction and lockable watertight door in future posts, but for now you can see some preliminary details of the companion way.

The companion way hatch has three elements that slide down into a aluminium box and disappear when not in use. No more finding a place to store the washboards .

The three elements are a conventional clear plexiglass board, similar to many boats, a stainless steel security bar and a fly screen. They will have substantial locks. The elements can be used together. For example at night while sleeping if there is a need for ventilation and security the stainless bars and fly screen can be raised together.

I think the system should work well. Of course a very determined thief can penetrate anything, but the companion way should be very difficult to break into and if we are on board the second layer of defence is a master bedroom which is enclosed between two watertight bulkheads with a very substantial and lockable watertight door. If the boat is left for long time both the conventional plexiglass board and security bars can be raised together and locked into place.

Fortunately these steps are are rarely needed, but having them installed and easily useable gives peace of mind and the confidence to cruise some the marginal areas where it not necessarily "unsafe" to cruise, but nevertheless there are legitimate security concerns.

Lets hope we don't lose the keys .

[weavis]

Originally Posted by noelex 77

Most boats have very poor security. I often think a thief with a screwdriver could open up many boats quicker than the owner can with those fiddly little locks .

The other problem is if want good ventilation you need to forgo any pretence of security and leave the boat open. This can be an issue in some (fortunately rare) parts of the world where the bad guys can occasionally target owners, not just their possessions. Even in more secure parts of world leaving the boat reasonably closed up when going out for dinner means a hot boat on return. Some boats have small portholes that are too small for thief to enter. This is a big help, but often they don't let in much air, especially for sleeping comfortably on a hot night.

We have addressed these issues in various ways. I will detail the overhead hatch construction and lockable watertight door in future posts, but for now you can see some preliminary details of the companion way.

The companion way hatch has three elements that slide down into a aluminium box and disappear when not in use. No more finding a place to store the washboards .

The three elements are a conventional clear plexiglass board, similar to many boats, a stainless steel security bar and a fly screen. They will have substantial locks. The elements can be used together. For example at night while sleeping if there is a need for ventilation and security the stainless bars and fly screen can be raised together.

I think the system should work well. Of course a very determined thief can penetrate anything, but the companion way should be very difficult to break into and if we are on board the second layer of defence is a master bedroom which is enclosed between two watertight bulkheads with a very substantial and lockable watertight door. If the boat is left for long time both the conventional plexiglass board and security bars can be raised together and locked into place.

Fortunately these steps are are rarely needed, but having them installed and easily useable gives peace of mind and the confidence to cruise some the marginal areas where it not necessarily "unsafe" to cruise, but nevertheless there are legitimate security concerns.

Lets hope we don't lose the keys .

An often overlooked part of the necessities...

I have security on my boat, which I wont detail, both physical, electronic and via wifi and phone... It went off once and I turned up to find my nephew and friends sat drinking coffee having forgotten that once unlocking the physical and disarming the electronic, there was also the phone alarm...

It worked. That is the main thing.

[malbert73]

Originally Posted by Seaworthy Lass

Our interior is nearing completion. Yesterday, just before KM broke up for three weeks of summer holidays, the protective covers were removed and the boat cleaned out, revealing the interior properly for the first time since Open Day in April.



Navy leather upholstery and bedding will change the appearance further as all the horizontal white HPL will disappear, as will the addition of the dining table, Reflex heater, oven and all the stainless steel hand holds, but for now this gives a good impression of what will shortly be our new living space.



This is the view from the front of the galley/salon looking back towards the pilot house. The table will go in the empty space on the right:

Beautiful! Ive been following along and forget- in the pilothouse you will have simply an autopilot or joystick steernig control? I assume not a second steering station, right? Engine throttle?

Also what is your engine?

[Seaworthy Lass]

Originally Posted by malbert73

Beautiful! Ive been following along and forget- in the pilothouse you will have simply an autopilot or joystick steernig control? I assume not a second steering station, right? Engine throttle?

Also what is your engine?

Hi Malbert
The pilothouse will have both fixed and handheld autopilot controls, but no joystick. We have a 1.9 m long panel for instruments on the starboard side. Instrument purchases are just commencing, as we left that decision as late as possible.

Engine controls will be only in the cockpit. The engine is directly below the pilothouse so we can add these later in there if we find this needed.
The engine is a Yanmar 75hp 4JH4-TE. We had to order it early to avoid getting the common rail unit.

SWL

[malbert73]

Thanks!

And that's a ringing non-endorsement of the new diesel CR technology for serious cruising 😀

While I wish my 4jhe was a bit cleaner running it is now 30 years old and still runs like a top. Old technology


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[TeddyDiver]

Originally Posted by noelex 77

Most boats have very poor security. I often think a thief with a screwdriver could open up many boats quicker than the owner can with those fiddly little locks .

The other problem is if want good ventilation you need to forgo any pretence of security and leave the boat open.

Not to diminish the concern but not yet born a thief to crawl through a dorade vent.
Which brings the point of having adequate ones both in size as in quantity..

[Pelagic]

Originally Posted by Seaworthy Lass

Engine controls will be only in the cockpit. The engine is directly below the pilothouse so we can add these later in there if we find this needed.

One option you may not have considered is 'Throttle Only' in the Pilothouse.

That is what I have and it is great for initial startup and fine tuning motion / noise when motoring in good visibility but inclement conditions.
Find it very convenient at mealtimes with just the two of us.

Close quarters we would always be outside, but in a directly upwind motoring slog, its nice to adjust RPM to comfort from inside.

[poiu]

I was talking to a motorboater recently and he had a remote control for both the throttles and the autopilot and the bowthrusters. His bowthrusters were also the proportional kind. This allowed him to gently pin the boat to the dockside or to hold station whilst he did all the lines solo at leisure. It sounded like a good set up. A recent gadged for motorboats is a hold station function where the computer does the whole thing for you. Pretty neat. I'm not saying get it, just mentioning it as there may be some takeaways for you. I actually like the remote throttle and bowthruster idea. It shouldn't be hard to implement.

[weavis]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11PpoSETkAk

[noelex 77]

The bow roller ready to be fitted:

[noelex 77]

Tank monitoring:

This will be via a Tank Tender gauge. We used this system successfully on our previous yacht.

It is very accurate, enabling tank contents to measured very precisely, but perhaps more importantly it is very reliable. As it needs no electricity there is no chance of any stray current problems.

Our tank tender gauge has arrived:

[noelex 77]

Anchor winch:

I am a believer in overkill for the anchor winch. The Bestevear has the anchor winch mounted a long way from the bow so the weight penalty is not much of an issue.

The selected anchor winch is Maxwell 4000 operating on 24v. It should have heaps of grunt to raise the anchor from deep water without breaking into a sweat or even enough power to lift the anchors of those pesky boats that want to lay their chain on top of ours.

Seeing the winch in person it is truely a "beast". Significantly larger than the 3500 that was mounted on our previous yacht:




In an aluminium boat it is important to isolate dissimilar metals from the aluminium structure so I was pleased to see that KM have fabricated an isolating spacer. The deck is also heavily reinforced around the winch. It is this sort of attention to detail that separates the the good from the excellent builders.

Not a great photo but this is the aluminium deck thickness below the anchor winch:

[packeteer]

impressive as usual!