(Blog) #20 Commissioning Update: Commissioning a boat...

#20 Commissioning Update

07/11/2010

Commissioning a boat is a process of elimination. Much of the effort is designed to reduce the number of post delivery problems as possible. The first few months of cruising will expose what was present all along, but went undetected. We know flaws exist (in any new boat) and we'll have to deal with them regardless of where we're at or how inconvenient it may be to fix. So the task at hand now is to discover and eliminate as many as possible beforehand. The checklists have grown through the years. Eliana is hull number 17 in this series giving us a history of commissioning and post delivery problems. Building techniques are evolving, so new designs deserve some extra attention. Past the obvious, though, it's plain old detective work. This is where the skill and experience of the commissioning crew is critical.

Here are a few things happening right now...

Unfinished Business
The davit is still incapacitated. Marquipt still hasn't gotten service people here to look at it and we hesitate to use it until we know what the problem is. Therefore, we haven't pulled the propeller which requires the davit to extract it. I'll keep you posted.

Electronics Progress
As you know, one of the most invasive of all the projects ongoing is electronics installation. Alcom Electronics has the contract for this installation. The wire pulling phase is now virtually completed, but man what a process. Practically every overhead, hatch and service cover has to be removed to route wires from A to B. I don't know Carl's last name (with Alcom), but it's very apparent he's good at his work and this isn't his first 76. With each wire run, he seems to know the easiest path and also seems to know what other wires will run simultaneously. That said, I can't wait to get this part of it over with.

Peter with Alcom Electronics working in the overhead.

Flybridge Console
The flybridge is a wonderful place. It offers an unobstructed view and has a hard top cover in case of rain or hot sun. Whenever a high vantage point or clear visibility is important, this is a good place to be. There, we have a console molded in fiberglass with a cover which slides out to cover the components or back to reveal them. This area represents a mini version of what is in the Pilot House below, but with just enough equipment to accommodate full piloting, navigation and communication. The search light can be operated from here and so can the anchor windlasses. Pretty versatile station, but admittedly not too appealing in cold, inclement or windy weather. Still we are take the panel layout seriously.

Proposed panel layout. Cutting begins tomorrow morning.

Problem Spotting
As the onion gets peeled, the crew does their best to spot what look minor, but that could be big problems down the road. For example, one hydraulic hose on the starboard stabilizer was routed in such a way that the cylinder movement caused the hose to chafe on another hose. The evidence was only a few grains of rubber underneath the chafed area. So without question the hoses had to be replaced and different fittings installed that routed the hose in such a way that it could not come in contact with anything else and move freely.

In another instance, there was a minor oil fitting leak near the bow thruster. But any leak is a four letter word on a boat. Fixing the leak wasn't that difficult, but the oil that had leaked caused a significant problem. Those familiar with the Nordhavn trawler design know that lead is placed low in the hull to provide stability and ballast. As it turns out, the leak was in a place that allowed the oil to get down into the lead. Not good. So the only solution was to extract all the lead, clean it and the hold where it was and put it all back. To prevent any future ballast contamination, we are placing a fiberglass cover over the lead designed to drain off any liquid that may come down.

Lead being extracted for cleaning. Don't worry, it's all back now.

Adding hydraulic oil back to the reservoir.

Boarding Ladders
Another on the task list is to install ladder brackets at the foredeck boarding gates. This is primarily for loading and off loading the tender (Sweet Charlotte). The ladder provides a convenient way to get from the foredeck down to the tender on either side. Then when reloading, to get from the tender back up on deck. There is only one ladder which is stored under the portuguese bridge brow. But brackets are installed both port and starboard.

Jeff installing boarding ladder brackets.

Questions and Answers
1. Did you ever consider using a controllable pitch propeller arrangement such as hundested instead of fixed? somewhat surprised no one has installed such an arrangement except for the motor sailor. would eliminate pitching problems with the propeller. i can only assume the benefits are out weighed by the complexity and cost. The controllable pitch propeller is perfect for the motor sailor because it allows the engine to maintain constant torque in variable wind conditions. In our case where speed and load remain the same for hours at a time, the ideal pitch won't change.

2. Are you going to be able to read the displays of the equipment that is mounted flat under the main screens? The contrast might be tough to see especially if you have polarized sunglasses on.   The flat surface just below the main screens is dedicated almost exclusively to control panels since as you point out, they can be hard to read with a horizontal mount. There is one, almost unavoidable because we didn't have a good place close to put it. That is for the primary VHF radio which primarily displays current channel.

3. I don't see dual SSB setups in the pilothouse? We almost didn't do an SSB at all.   I put it in the 'nice to have' category, but not essential. In the end we did add SSB primarily for connecting with the cruise nets.

4.    I see that you have a 2nd VHF up on the fly bridge. We have two VHF radios, one for the Pilothouse and the other for the Flybridge. Should one or the other fail, we have a remote mike that can be plugged in the PH for the FB radio and vice versa.

Thank you for following our blog. If you have questions or would like to have me cover something special, please drop me a comment. Just go to our website, scroll to the bottom and post your comment or question.

Rick

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