450: Extra water tank vs watermaker

[DavefromNZ]

Hi Steve,

Below is an abbreviated list I made for our local dealer who was going to a Lagoon conference last year to discuss improvements. My bigger list does include a lot of stuff to make our yacht up to Cat 1 for offshore. Anyone reading may think there are a lot of issues with the L450. There are not, most is niff naff stuff that any production yacht could have.

Cheers
Dave

PS, I am always looking for improvements? Rolf had a lot as well.

However some items are very important for a new owner to do:
# Fit hand rails to outer sides of aft steps.
# Fit hand rail to lower front of mast.
# Forward lockers lower deck hatch wooden support is only held by a few small screws. Both of mine have collapsed and fortunately the person did not fall through 5 feet and break ribs! replace screws with bolts.
# The generator impeller starts running dry, and no the NRV and electric pump do not prevent this. It disintegrates within 150 hours and the bits jam the heat exchanger (hire a contortionist to access that!). My current solution is a "run Dry Impeller".

A couple of comfort improvements:
# There is no where near enough hot water for hot showers each day. I fitted a dual coil calorifier that runs of the diesel Eberspacher heater, with a heat exchanger and have continuous hot water.
# pull out fully the shower heads and seal around the hole, clip the hose out of the way. Voila dry bilges!

Things I like about the Lagoon 450:

big wrap around windows making it a lovely environment at anchor.
big volume and space for people and storage
modern internal styling - apartment like look.
Good use of electrical equipment to make the yacht easy to use one person (e.g. winches)

Things I dislike:

The mainsail stack pack make it too hard to use the main often for a short sail.
The reefing works but too easy to tangle and is tot hard to use.
The original main electrical panel did not allow the crew to manage the battery storage
The original water tanks and fuel tanks gauges and level reporting was very poor.
The original hot water tank and electric heating was entirely inadequate.
Very poor saloon entrance door lock and catches.

Things to improve? (I have listed some of the things I changed, fixed and improved)

Stack pack
smoke alarms
gennaker furling line
hot water heating - continuous flow
shock cord on blocks
snap shackle on gennaker halyard
dinghy lifting lines and chafe
dinghy rowlocks and oars
velcro curtains
anchor channel drainage
galvanic isolator
anchor chain markers
chain counter failure - several times
BBQ
handel for water switching cupboard
rain flow redirector out of the cockpit
BEP ammeter
second big table
remove plastic from bow lifelines
secure house batteries
rear handrails on outer boarding steps
longer shore power cord
improve battery charging
saloon heaters fixed as flow did not work
masthead tricolour light
front of mast hand rail
failing generator impeller
handles on cabin movable seats
bathroom door magnet open stops
AIS
Satellite TV aerial
poor through hull fittings
water maker too noisy and poor working
gennaker block and line to remove need to lean over the bow lifelines to attach
very poor bilge pump float switched
bilge pumps connected to hot battery
BEP ultrasonic senders for fuel, water and holding tanks to give accurate levels to within a few litres
active radar reflector
plastic vents for air blowers are brittle and fail
drinking water filter
saloon windows leaks

[eyecapt]

Congrads I had purchased hull 460 then changed to 469 (fit my schedule better) I opted for extra tank and will go w spectra Factory option i feel is overpriced and high power consumption. i plan on installing under floor of port hull and attaching filters to underside of port hatch next to seating area for easy maintenance. Im having dedicated marine install their hardtop in France. Im also picking up at Les Sable and i am interested in your itenary Please email me at eyecapt@gmail.com