Being the happy owner of S/V Silver Eagle
hull #48, I can say you've made a good choice.
We got the electric platform and have a Highfield 340 dinghy. It fits perfectly. Though you should note that the electric platform has a max weight limit of 150 kg (330 lbs). I'm sure you could make that work with a much larger tender but you'll be exceeding the max weight limit so not sure if that will present warranty issues. If you want an extra large dinghy/tender you might be better off getting the
davits instead.
If you decide to get the full Garmin package like we have you will want to get the Garmin GRID (Remove input device). When you're using the
autopilot and the
AIS alarms go off you'll want to silence them. You will find yourself trying to reach through the spinning
wheel of the
helm to touch the chart plotter. Otherwise you'll have to reach your arm all the way over the top. Basically it's a PITA. So I got a
remote device installed just below the
autopilot and in front of the cup holder on the right side of the helm. There really isn't any other good place to get it.
Whether you get the Garmin or
Raymarine, make sure you get the
Volvo Penta NEMA
cables for the engines. They were only $90 each and I for the life of me can't understand why FP just doesn't install them by default. To me that is one item that should come standard from the factory. If you don't get them there is literally no way to tell what the engine
exhaust temperature. All you'll get is the hour meter on the
RPM gauges and fault lights that otherwise tell you very little little.
We didn't opt for the forward facing sonar so I can't speak to that.
We didn't get the
lithium battery pack upgrade but just have the standard five battery house bank. I did spring for the Onan generator and it works great. However, I also got 1200w of Solar and I find that I almost never use the generator. After 9 months it only has 5.3 hours on it and 3.5 hours of those came that way from the factory. Finally one night the wife complained about being too hot when we were anchored out so I fired it up and went to
bed. It now has 13 hours on it and it is coming up on the boat's first birthday. So I'm glad I have the generator and it's a nice back stop but we rarely use it.
We did opt for the Webasco heat from the factory and I am so glad I did. We ran the heat while we were on our maiden
delivery and it was so nice to have heat on the boat under sail without having to run the generator to run the A/C in heat mode. Unless you're only going to ever be in the tropics it's nice to have quiet heat while under way.
Pavel on the facebook owner's group has a good write up on Lithium and 48 volt systems which run the AC with soft start. We might up grade to that in a few years when I bring her back in for a
refit but that won't be anytime soon.
The only teak on the boat is on the princess seats forward, the electric dinghy platform and on the steps up to the helm and to what I have been calling the "Sky Lounge" up top. Other than that no other actual teak on the boat. We instead went with Flexiteak which was put on in La Rochelle and they did a fantastic job. It looks awesome and feels great under foot. We're usually barefoot on the boat in the summer time and we can't say that we've really complained about the Flexiteak getting too hot.
As for the
water maker, we didn't take the factory option but instead chose to go with the much more expensive option and got a
Spectra Newport 400 12v version. We can make
water straight off of the solar during the day and we don't have to fire up the generator to power it. It only puts out 16 liters an hour but you can literally run it all day with the solar and not have to worry about draining the house bank down to do it. Just Cat's in
Fort Lauderdale did the install and I have to say I was really impressed with their work. It's beautifully laid out which makes it so easy to maintain.
Oh, another owner's tip. The lazy bag will leak rain water into the
sails. When you are raising the
sails make damn sure that the forward pop up window in the main
salon is closed. We mistakenly left it open and the massive amount of water ran down onto the coach roof and right on top of the open window. Half the water went inside and the rest went onto the forward
cushions. So make damn sure that that window is closed prior to getting under way.
Oh, spring for a
wheel lock on the helm. You'll want it when
docking as the rudders are in front of the sail drives. So when you kick it in reverse to
dock stern to it will push the helm over to one side or another and then you have to deal with that in addition to working the engines to
dock.
I'll post more things as I think of them. Any questions, just ask.
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