Mahe 36: Buying a Mahe

[Chris Bonnet]

Hi My name is Chris Bonnet,
I have been the Fountaine Pajot Dealer in Southern Africa for the last 14 years, and have sold quite a few yachts over this period.
At present - we have a Mahe 36 which left La Rochelle, France for Cape Town, and will be at the Cape Town International Boat Show. I have made some interesting modifications to it.

1) To increase the ventilation up forward, I have placed an additional small hatch over the head and third cabin.

2) I have opened up the collision bulkhead so access can be made through the collision bulkhead for stowage -plus increase ventilation from the forward hatch.

3) You may be interested to know - the yacht was caught in a 60Knot gale on the Bay of Biscay - just short of La Caruna, with 12meter high waves. The tactic the skipper and crew adopted (they are sailing instructors of mine) worked very well indeed. - So if anyone would like any information on suvival on this sort of storm - please let me know.

The longest run so far - just North of the Equator was 190miles in 24 hrs. The boat - from Cape Town - after the Cape Boat Show will proceed to Durban and from there - to Mauritius where the owner lives, so we have quite an interesting long distance voyage - and possibly very rough sea conditions to complete.

I have been very impressed with this vessel - and hope to sell alot more to South African clients.

If there is anything I can do to help, or assist - or give any further information to, or photos of the alterations I have made, please`let me know.
Regards
Chris.

[jean1146]

Chris I live in Florida and own a Mahe.we went and got our boat in Martinique last April.I would be interested to hear about the storm tactic used by your crew in the bay of biscay.this is always a nasty place.never had over 30kts with my boat,so 60kts should be interesting.

[ireaney]

Hi Chris, I also would love to know how she handled those winds and sea, plus how your crew thought she performed in other wind conditions as a 36ft cruiser, as I am contemplating buying one.
Thanks Ian

[muskoka]

Hi Chris,

In respect of item 3. I think we all want to know! Please post the details.

Cheers

[shadow]

I am actually still waiting for that crazy story about the crazy captain, Coast Guard upon delivery!! Sounds like a great read!! Hope to see it soon and this is a great thread, cheers

[IrieCat]

Anyone with a Mahe in Florida who can comment on the delivery proccess?

[Scott730]

I'm the one with the delivery story, but first, Kev&JO and DtM not all Americans find the term "Yank" very indearing. "YEEHAA"? come on!!

I took delivery of my Mahe in June. My wife and I wanted to sail her with the Delivery Capitain on her maiden voyage. We were told to be at the port to pick the boat up, when we arrived, our Broker did not have us cleared thru port security (there were 3 boats being delivered, 2 Mahes and a power cat). When we finally got thru, my boat was hanging off the side of the delivery vessel about 50 feet over the river. We had to climb over the ship and literally jump off the railing to our boat as the crew rocked the boat back and forth so it would be closer for us! Boy was this a suprise to my wife, but she jumped and made it. Then it started to pour, we had a very nice French Capitain that helped prep the boat and change my equipment from French to English. About an hour into the trip we were surrounded by a C.G. cutter, police boats and a Helocopter. We were approaching a 65' bridge to cross under when we saw a "thing" fall off the bridge, listening to the VHF we learned it was a Jumper, hit the water about 1/2 mile in front of us! As we waited to proceed it stated to rain again. We lost our saleman who took off in the power cat, so our 2 Mahes cruised along trying to raise him on the radio. Within 30 minutes we found him heaved to and being boarded by customs. Turned out that no one cleared us to leave the port! Not a good thing! we all were boarded by agents with automatic weapons, the Major in charge informed me that we could of had our boats seized! We all cleared and were on our way again. we all stop to get fuel and my French Capitain left my boat and my salesman joined my wife and I. We had about 5 hours to our next port and I still didn't have all the equipment in English so I asked my saleman to help, he informed me that I should read the manual and preceeded to make sales calls leaving my wife and I to figure things out for our selves! Everytime we asked for help we got the same reply. When I insisted he help he started raising his voice and stated that he couldn't work with us and wanted off the boat at the next port, I couldn't wait to accomodate him. We arranged for the owner of the brokerage to take his place the next morning. We arrived at a marina very late and as soon as we tied up he was off to the bar. We thought we were done with him but he showed up drunk and wanted to sleep on board, when my wife said OK (She did not want to fight any more) he preceeded to drink a bottle of my wine and passed out!
The next morning arrived and the guy was off my boat, thank god! The broker showed up and we did an over night off shore cruise to our home port, it was excellent! The boat handled very nicely. She is now being outfitted with A/C, Generator and Bimini (you have 8" of clearance over the salon roof, and I did not form the bimini to the contour of the Salon roof, if you do you will have very little room to get out from under the bimini to port side). We are planning a month trip to the Bahamas this Fall. Can't wait.
FYI, the Furuno equipment has been a problem since the beginning. We have had the server replaced and now need to replace the Compass and wind component. Also, this system is not for sale in the U.S., therefore, all parts are shipped from overseas for replacement. So far Furuno has been very good about fixing things and getting us parts. Just a little nervious once it is out of warranty.

[IrieCat]

Who did you get you boat from? I live in Florida also.

[shadow]

Thanks for sharing that crazy story Scott730!! Sorry to hear about your problems but it was amazing to read! Have you had problems with that same saleman before or was he just new to you?? I've been fortunate enough to encounter really nice and helpful agents. But, I guess everyone is nice until they get full payment and then who knows..

[muskoka]

Scott,

One question - did FP provide drawings/diagrams with English translations?

My drawings are all in French - which is OK for the regular sailing bits but a real problem for the technical stuff like electrics.

Cheers

[kev&jo]

Hi Scott,

Sorry about using the term 'Yanks' absolutely no offence intended!

Thanks for sharing your experience with us, we are in two minds about using the Furuno equipment and it will be interesting to see how you get on with it.

Kev&Jo

[jean1146]

Very entertaining scott......all my Furuno electronics had to be replaced.Thanks god the Furuno agent in Tampa was very good.Now I am having problems with the windlass,had to pick up my anchor by hand the other day.waiting for the weather to start cooling off,and the first cold front to move south so we can do some sailing.probably a trip to the Bahamas in April or so.we are very happy with the boat, I have not yet taken any decision on our Bimini,still trying to figure out the best way to do it.JC.

[Scott730]

All my documentation is in English except the diagrams, it is a problem, even the physical cables are labeled in french. We had to buy a french-english dic.. Also found alot of deadended cables and have no idea where they go or what they are for. I'd also like to mention that the 30 amp service panel (Hager) is not sold or supported in the U.S., so even though there is space for more breakers in the panel, I couldn't find any and had to add another sub panel to use for the A/C and any future needs.

[muskoka]

Yeah. Mine is all in French & I'm currently re-labeling everything. It wouldn't be so bad but for the fact that it's all nautical/technical terms which you're average French speaker probably couldn't translate either.

C'est la vie...

[Tropic Cat]

Scott,

No problem mon .... you just have to sail her down to Guadeloupe or Martinique for service. This could be a good thing!