Helia 44: Helia Warranty Issues

[domuzes]

Originally Posted by Seadame

** UPDATE **

Thank you Mr. Chris Bent for stepping up to help resolve our warranty hassles with FP. Chris is the principal at Atlantic Cruising Yachts- the new dealer for Jeanneau Yachts & Fountaine Pajot Catamarans- replacing "Bay Yacht Agency" and its former owner -who was the antithesis of Mr. Bent.

Chris was consistently professional and integress to work with throughout the process of coordinating warranty repairs for our Helia 44; including the Davit supports, freezer vent, teak steps, steering system and windlass platform strengthening.

Chris advocated on our behalf with Fountaine Pajot to get warranty repairs approved and coordinated with the various tradesmen to schedule the work to be done here in Annapolis. I would not hesitate to recommend Chris as a broker who has integrity and good working relationships within the industry to assist with any post sale issues.

Would be nice if Chris Brent had a brother in France who could take FP’s frustrated customers in charge.
Or, more humbly, just answer the phone...

Sorry, just a dream.
But happy for you Seadame!

[onthehook17]

Following up with the issues that some of us have experienced with our Helia 44's.

Freezer: We received the additional vent and now have a high and a low vent facing the companionway. Our freezer continues to not freeze the items on the top shelf and the counter top is very noticeably warm to the touch. Has anyone solved this issue? Has anyone moved the compressor unit to a remote, more ventilated location?

Salon / Cockpit door: Ever since delivery, the locking mechanism on the door between the cockpit and the salon has not worked, the window does not close totally, the window does not lock, and the window sometimes get stuck completely open. Anyone resolve these issues?

I always appreciate the group's feedback.

[captainjay]

Originally Posted by onthehook17

Following up with the issues that some of us have experienced with our Helia 44's.

Freezer: We received the additional vent and now have a high and a low vent facing the companionway. Our freezer continues to not freeze the items on the top shelf and the counter top is very noticeably warm to the touch. Has anyone solved this issue? Has anyone moved the compressor unit to a remote, more ventilated location?

Salon / Cockpit door: Ever since delivery, the locking mechanism on the door between the cockpit and the salon has not worked, the window does not close totally, the window does not lock, and the window sometimes get stuck completely open. Anyone resolve these issues?

I always appreciate the group's feedback.

We now have three Helia's in the fleet. We solved the freezer problem by adding two 12 volt computer fans to the ventilation. One on the bottom blowing in and one on the top blowing out. They are wired to the same power source as the compressor fan. They run when the compressor cycles on. We just made these changes in the last month or so but this seems to have solved the issue.

The doors have a fundamental install issue. The track for the main door runs downhill from starboard to port towards the middle and you can not adjust it enough to make the doors latch. The lower track will have to be removed and shimmed up to make the distance from the top track to the bottom track equal on both sides of the door this will allow the doors to align properly to latch. The track is made as one piece so shimming the half door track to match will be necessary as well.

Jay

[onthehook17]

CaptainJay,

Really appreciate the feedback. Sounds like you guys have worked hard to solve these issues.

What have you done to get the lock catch in the half sliding door (window over galley counter) to stay put in the edge of the window? This seems to me like an impossibly fragile assembly.

On the Hook 17

[Cotemar]

Originally Posted by onthehook17

Salon / Cockpit door: Ever since delivery, the locking mechanism on the door between the cockpit and the salon has not worked, the window does not close totally, the window does not lock, and the window sometimes get stuck completely open. Anyone resolve these issues?

Drop a string from the top of the door frame to the bottom floor frame and you will see the issue as to why the door is not locking.

When the boat was molded, that back wall that the door is mounted on is not flat. It has a curve from top to bottom as the tight string will show you.

The fix is to un-bolt to top of the whole door frame and shim it out about 1/2"

[captainjay]

Originally Posted by Cotemar

Drop a string from the top of the door frame to the bottom floor frame and you will see the issue as to why the door is not locking.

When the boat was molded, that back wall that the door is mounted on is not flat. It has a curve from top to bottom as the tight string will show you.

The fix is to un-bolt to top of the whole door frame and shim it out about 1/2"

The problem is none of them are the same. Wide Ranger, Hull number 2, the track is in at the middle. So shimming out the top would make it worse. I actually pulled this exact same plumb line for Vincent from the factory when he came to St Thomas to inspect the boat. That door you have to press in on the middle to make it latch. Hull #3 Serenity the track is down about 3/8 of an inch in the middle and Glad In It is down but not as much. I agree that the angle of the doors causes a large part of the problem. These doors are built by a company that makes residential doors. They are not designed to run at an angle they should be plumb. But even giving that making the tracks run parallel to each other so that the two doors come together in the middle is fundamental to their proper operation. As for the issue with keeping the half door latched in the middle we haven't figured this out yet. The little friction latch that is there now is not well designed and doesn't hold up well. Some kind of latching pin will likely have to be fitted to secure the half door in place while sailing.

Jay

[Cotemar]

Originally Posted by captainjay

The problem is none of them are the same. Wide Ranger, Hull number 2, the track is in at the middle. So shimming out the top would make it worse. I actually pulled this exact same plumb line for Vincent from the factory when he came to St Thomas to inspect the boat. That door you have to press in on the middle to make it latch. Hull #3 Serenity the track is down about 3/8 of an inch in the middle and Glad In It is down but not as much. I agree that the angle of the doors causes a large part of the problem. These doors are built by a company that makes residential doors. They are not designed to run at an angle they should be plumb. But even giving that making the tracks run parallel to each other so that the two doors come together in the middle is fundamental to their proper operation. As for the issue with keeping the half door latched in the middle we haven't figured this out yet. The little friction latch that is there now is not well designed and doesn't hold up well. Some kind of latching pin will likely have to be fitted to secure the half door in place while sailing.

Jay

I agree that each boat is a bit different, but the tight string will show the problem and how far off it is.

If I owned the boat I would loosen the door top to bottom and shim it to see what made all the locks and slides work well. Measure all the shims and then make them permanent ones.

Everyone is waiting for a fix that may never come.

Do the fix yourself or hire someone to do it for you and send FP the bill, but for god sakes do not live with it the way it is.
That issue would just drive me nuts.

[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.

[TPF]

Helia owners/users: anyone have feedback/experience on Helia 44 engine size or (50HP vs standard 40HP) or probably more important is experience reversing with Volvo 3 blade folding props?

We are picking our Helia up in May 2014 and this has come up as a late issue from FP and dealer. We had ordered the standard 40HP but we're going to install a feathering prop (J Prop) in lieu of the Volvo folding 3 blade. Any experience?

[Cotemar]

Originally Posted by TPF

Helia owners/users: anyone have feedback/experience on Helia 44 engine size or (50HP vs standard 40HP) or probably more important is experience reversing with Volvo 3 blade folding props?

We are picking our Helia up in May 2014 and this has come up as a late issue from FP and dealer. We had ordered the standard 40HP but we're going to install a feathering prop (J Prop) in lieu of the Volvo folding 3 blade. Any experience?

The Helia 44 comes with Volvo Penta D2-40 standard or upgraded Volvo Penta D2-55 engines.

With the VP D2-55 engines you can motor with just one engine most if not all of the time.

With the VP D2-40 you will have to use both engines all the time.

Folding or feathering prop props are recommended.

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ml#post1039814

http://www.betamarinenc.com/index.ph...j-prop-details

[onthehook17]

TPF,
Congrats on the purchase of your Helia.

After researching the folding / feathering prop issue as much as possible at the 2013 Annapolis Show we decided to replace the 2 blade fixed props on our D2-40 engines with a folding Flexofold prop and we are VERY happy so far.
It seems that the only advantage in the feathering props such a Max Prop is the improved performance in reverse. I could not see a reason to buy a much more expensive prop that requires a considerably higher level of maintainence / internal greasing to improve reverse which is where we spend less than 2 % of our time. The feathering props also are less efficient in forward due to a lack of blade shape.

The flexifold prop has taken our forward speed under both engines at 2300 rpm from 4.5 knots (fixed 2 blade) to 7.3 knots. That's huge. I also find no problem in reverse.

We like our 40 HP Volvo's. We motorsail with only 1 engine and use both engines when all sails are down. I do not have any experience with the Volvo folding props.

Hope this is helpful

[mndreamchaser1]

We have an issue. Here's the problem.

We have all factory installed Garmin electronics. 2 plotters, radar, vhf w/ais, speed/depth and wind and autopilot. Periodically, we got an error message that said the connection with the remote gps antenna was lost. When this happened, the rest of the instruments would not work. Early on, the connection would be regained in a matter of seconds or minutes. However, on our first real trip after taking possession, the error message hit, instruments shut down (meaning no readings--showing dashes from the transducer) and autopilot was trying to find the controller to no avail. Long and short, we had no autopilot, no depth, no wind, and no gps for the plotter. Only the radar worked.

I expect this is an issue with the NMEA network that connects all the instruments. We have our dealer's contractor coming to see what they can do. No confirmation yet that this is covered under warranty (I was told they will try), and I'll keep the list posted on this point.

My question. Anyone else had this issue and discovered the cause? We have tightened all connections; checked the gps antenna; checked areas where the cables are tightly turned; and confirmed all software is current.

Help?

[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...

[TPF]

Originally Posted by onthehook17

TPF, Congrats on the purchase of your Helia. After researching the folding / feathering prop issue as much as possible at the 2013 Annapolis Show we decided to replace the 2 blade fixed props on our D2-40 engines with a folding Flexofold prop and we are VERY happy so far. It seems that the only advantage in the feathering props such a Max Prop is the improved performance in reverse. I could not see a reason to buy a much more expensive prop that requires a considerably higher level of maintainence / internal greasing to improve reverse which is where we spend less than 2 % of our time. The feathering props also are less efficient in forward due to a lack of blade shape. The flexifold prop has taken our forward speed under both engines at 2300 rpm from 4.5 knots (fixed 2 blade) to 7.3 knots. That's huge. I also find no problem in reverse. We like our 40 HP Volvo's. We motorsail with only 1 engine and use both engines when all sails are down. I do not have any experience with the Volvo folding props. Hope this is helpful

Thank you "on the hook", appreciate the notes on your experience. Curious as to what you had to pay for what I assume to be (3) blade Flexofold props? Clearly worth it based on your experience with the increase in forward speed at the same rpm.

[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.