2nd Boatyard Visit

Early July we visited the yard for our second boat visit. This time she had been launched and was in the water at the marina. The purpose of our trip was ostensibly to sign off on the build but alas it wasn't to be.

Unfortunately the technical team were still dealing with mechanical issues when we arrived. The biggest problems were with the hydraulic system (wrong PTO pump and not interfacing with the thrusters) and the electronic steering system was not working with the Furuno autopilot system. I was worried about getting this stuff fixed before the surveyor arrived on Monday but thankfully the new parts arrived and the guys worked late into the evenings to get everything working.

So while that was being sorted out we spent the first couple of days inspecting the boat inside and out, and I set up the router and wifi. All in all we were pretty happy and didn't have too many items to note. On the second night we stayed late to admire the lighting which the Granocean crew were justifiably proud of.

More work was being done on the air conditioning system (Frigomar) and the CZone digital switching that had lost it's settings after an update. It was good to see these issues being worked on while we were there so I know where to look in the future but, wow, there is a lot of stuff I'm going to need to learn.

On Friday we got the chance to take her out for a spin. It was almost surreal leaving the dock after 4 ish years of anticipation. My initial observations were about the lack of noise and vibration. From the flybridge I wasn't even sure the engines were running. We then did a few slow speed passes up and down the river before opening her up. The boat felt purposeful and confident, responding nicely to steering and throttle input.

But then a WIF (Water In Fuel) alarm went off on both engines. I was freaking out thinking we were going to be stuck in the middle of a busy commercial river but it turned out to be a simple fix (the Racor fuel filters have a water drain feature). Likely culprit is a suspect load of diesel. My confidence was growing as this is exactly the sort of thing I want to be warned about before any damage is done.

Performance wise we saw ~9 knots at 1400 rpm sipping ~7.5 litres/hour, and flat out we saw 23 knots. This is with half load of fuel and water, against a 1-2 knot current and 10 knot crosswind. The boat sat flat the whole time with no discernible feeling of "getting over the hump", and the wake looked great. Pretty happy with that!

Preliminary calculations indicate a 1630 nautical mile range (10% reserve) running @ 8.8 knots burning 28 litres/hour.

On Monday our surveyor Neil from Seaworthy Surveys based out of Hong Kong arrived. It was nice to finally meet in person and he was a lovely chap. Very salty (in a good way). He mentioned he'd just come from a superyacht that had a gold toilet! We told him he'd be slumming it on our boat in that case. The survey went well and he mentioned several times the quality of the build and installations. We are looking forward to the formal report which should be available at the end of the week.

Overall we feel a bit torn about this trip. Ideally we would have signed off on the build and could focus on getting her shipped to Sydney but it was clearly too early to call the boat finished. I reckon there is at least another month of work to iron out the finer details. But it was good to see the systems being worked on first hand and to be here while the survey was being done. Next step is to wait for the yard to fix the rectifications we noted and then book the delivery slot. Meanwhile we need to sort out insurance and registration. So close now!