There was a thread on here recently in whch newer boats were praised and older boats were scorned. I had to laugh at the thought that new equals high quality and problem free boating. Eventide and I lived for years in the Keys at a marina that seemed to get a LOT of warranty work from new boat manufacturers. The amount of work they did, and the horror stories they told, on new boats of all kinds would make your hair curl.
I just read an email on another site about new boat foibles that reminded me of why I love seasoned Hatteras boats, vessels that were built well to begin with and whose owners have had years to work out all the kinks and upgrade all the systems, as needed.
Take a look at this and see what issues come to mind. Very interesting.
However, this story is about a Selene.
One day a
new (or nearly so) 48 or 49 Selene pulled into the guest dock here in
Bellingham and I engaged the owner in conversation. He had us onboard
for the
tour. After many questions from us and a lot of hearty praise and
lavish
approbations from him about how great the new boat was he finally
started to
share info about a couple of construction errors that he found after
commissioning.
The bow thruster (24 volt) had been wired using the main starting
battery (12
volts) to make up some of the 24 volts needed. Well the first time he
really
needed the bow thruster he over used it and flattened both batteries to
which
it was connected. This caused the thruster to stop AS WELL AS THE MAIN
ENGINE!
The new engines need to see some charge in their batteries to stay
running. No
battery power no main engine. He was adrift in a tight situation and
not
happy.
The other thing was wiring related as well. A tiny wire above the main
salon
headliner had been used to wire one of the electric crane winches up on
deck.
Hot smell and smoke resulted I understand. He commissioned an electric
audit
of the entire boat after that.
So, as I said, every complicated thing has construction problems.
Selene
included. Beautiful boat in many many ways. I understand they have
hired some
new talent recently to assist in quality control.
I just read an email on another site about new boat foibles that reminded me of why I love seasoned Hatteras boats, vessels that were built well to begin with and whose owners have had years to work out all the kinks and upgrade all the systems, as needed.
Take a look at this and see what issues come to mind. Very interesting.
However, this story is about a Selene.
One day a
new (or nearly so) 48 or 49 Selene pulled into the guest dock here in
Bellingham and I engaged the owner in conversation. He had us onboard
for the
tour. After many questions from us and a lot of hearty praise and
lavish
approbations from him about how great the new boat was he finally
started to
share info about a couple of construction errors that he found after
commissioning.
The bow thruster (24 volt) had been wired using the main starting
battery (12
volts) to make up some of the 24 volts needed. Well the first time he
really
needed the bow thruster he over used it and flattened both batteries to
which
it was connected. This caused the thruster to stop AS WELL AS THE MAIN
ENGINE!
The new engines need to see some charge in their batteries to stay
running. No
battery power no main engine. He was adrift in a tight situation and
not
happy.
The other thing was wiring related as well. A tiny wire above the main
salon
headliner had been used to wire one of the electric crane winches up on
deck.
Hot smell and smoke resulted I understand. He commissioned an electric
audit
of the entire boat after that.
So, as I said, every complicated thing has construction problems.
Selene
included. Beautiful boat in many many ways. I understand they have
hired some
new talent recently to assist in quality control.
