Hi Farmall
one year have passed and more than 6000 miles sailed. i have gained a lot of experience with the system in which i will gladly share with you.
Firstly the
docking system is an amazing system, (though i have not tried the others in the market) Jeanneau's system is working very well, you can sail sideways in winds up to 15 knots.
But the system also has it faults.
During operations there nothing bad to say about the system. but I have had my headaches with this system in other ways several times during my trip, but luckily i have never had any problems during an actual maneuver in harbor. The problems all seems to occur 3-4 hours into a
cruise with the
engine.
i have had technicians on the
boat more than 5 times now and they have changed all possible spare
parts at least once. In the beginning the
control box was not
water tight which caused a big problem, but this was a quick and easy fix and i have not had any problems with the box since. (Maybe this is what the dealer was referring to at the
boat show?)
Once i get an error the
clutch cannot engage and the main
saildrive is not working, even you are not using the docking system. this mean that when you are not in
gear the prop is actually turning around in low rep. After a reset from the technician it will
work again but then it have happened again and again and everytime they try to change a new sparepart.
My personal believe is that this has something to do with the ignition, which i have just changed this myself.
i now have 2200 to the
canaries isles where i will cross the atlantic which is another 2400 miles. Ask me again in January if this change has worked and i can give you a better idea if the ignition has been a part of the problem.
On a last note i was aware of the possible errors since this is the first time this is fitted on a
Jeanneau 57, and even i have had problems i believe i have saved myself from many tight and difficult harbor maneuvers.
The system is great, when its working,
i hope this could help give you a better idea of what to do, i believe they have learned a lot from the last one year.
if you have any specific questions i will be happy to answer them
Best regards
Drilith