Boat in build pics (Squadron 78)

[jfm]

That is absolutely gorgeous - somehow it manages to be bling and a proper ship at the same time. No handhold in the shower though? I'd have thought even something that size might get the occasional unexpected nudge at anchor?

I have specified a handle for your right hand as you step over the edge of the bath to get into the bath/shower, but it's not installed yet so not in that picture. But I have not specced a handle inside the shower just for aesthetic reasons. I figured I can add one later. The bulkhead twixt bathroom and bedroom is 32mm ply so plenty of material to screw into

 

[jfm]

I'm looking forward to seeing how the crew cabin space is different to standard as I thought it looked a bit odd on the craft at SIBS with the bench seat with buggar all head room.

Quite a lot of customers custom spec the crew space, including fitting it out as a dive centre etc. The SIBS 2010 boat had the bog standard layout like in the first pic below, which has a sofa with I think ok headroom. I'm having cupboards where all the appliances are in the pic below, and the appliances along the back of the sofa. (I think it's crazy having a combo washer drier on this sized boat). I'm having the sofa but it has been made 620mm wide so it can be a bed, or you can remove the cushions (the mattress is made of three cushions) and use it as a bench or place to stack laundry or place the ironing press machine.

My crew cabin layout is shown as the bottom pic below. Separate cabin starboard side with two (distantish) twin beds, and conversion to a double by moving the athwartships single bed to sit on rails indicated by the red line, and then the third occasional bed on port side, and a shower room accessed from either side (though not when the cabin is in double bed mode as it then blocks the door)

 

[jfm]

I did wonder about the electric sea-cocks, pleased to see you have manual as well.

Thanks Starfire. Those elec seacocks are beautifully made with 24v motors and worm-drive reduction gearboxes so they take about 20seconds to turn the seacock ball slowly with huge torque. They have microswitches at each end of the travel to tell you reliably they are open/shut. There is nothing cheap/chinese/gimmicky about them, and they're over £500 each. Ultimately if the motor fails the blue box is quickly removed and you can turn the valve with a spanner. I've had them 7 years on previous boats and they've never failed. but yes I usually mount them inboard of a manual seacock, just for (very) good measure!

 

[petem]

All looking extremely nice JFM.

We had some tiles like that in our downstairs bog!

Regarding the bath, do you step down into it (i.e. is it sunken)? If so then you do indeed need a grab handle as these are (IMHO) death traps!

What are the two ski shaped things i nthe crew cabin (which I think is biger than the whole cabin on our T3o)?!

Pete

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Looking great, jfm. Walk-in wardrobe? I seem to remember various disparaging remarks about walk-in wardrobes in the past
IMHO good decision on the flybridge upholstery colour. Lighter colours look grubby so quickly. Never quite worked out why default colour for exterior upholstery is white; you wouldn't have white upholstery in your house. Well I wouldn't anyway

 

[jfm]

Regarding the bath, do you step down into it (i.e. is it sunken)? If so then you do indeed need a grab handle as these are (IMHO) death traps!

What are the two ski shaped things i nthe crew cabin (which I think is biger than the whole cabin on our T3o)?!

Yup, the bath is on boat centreline so is sunken a bit into the keel, so as you step in you can get taken by surprise becuase the floor of the bath is lower than the floor of the bathroom, which is exactly why I asked for a handle at this point!

The ski things are, er, skis. It's a long locker designed to store a step ladder, water skis, centreboard/sails/rudder for Laser, and other big stuff

 

[rwoofer]

Have to say that some of your mods seem so much better than standard. Wouldn't be surprised to see them feature as standard. Your master bedroom bureau is just so much more practical, it makes you wonder if the original designer ever thought of function......

Like others amazed how quickly things seem to come together for something so complex.

 

[DAKA]

Thanks Starfire. Those elec seacocks are beautifully made with 24v motors and worm-drive reduction gearboxes so they take about 20seconds to turn the seacock ball slowly with huge torque. They have microswitches at each end of the travel to tell you reliably they are open/shut. There is nothing cheap/chinese/gimmicky about them, and they're over £500 each. Ultimately if the motor fails the blue box is quickly removed and you can turn the valve with a spanner. I've had them 7 years on previous boats and they've never failed. but yes I usually mount them inboard of a manual seacock, just for (very) good measure!

Do you also have a float switch which turns the seacocks off automatically ?


(Im very impressed with your boat )

 

[jhr]

All looks very fab, jfm.

B&O installation leaves something to be desired

 

[benjenbav]

It looks lovely, jfm, and that bath is just to die for.

 

[MapisM]

Blimey MapisM you have an eye for detail! Yes they are indeed glass mosaics, made by your countrymen Bisazza. I've used them before in my house.

LOL, guess what I've used in mine.
Also for floors btw, in dark blue, shading to light blue along the walls.
Very pleased with the result, though the bill did hurt.

Talking of the last pic you posted, is that door 100% waterproof?
It doesn't seem very tough, with just one handle.

 

[Magnum]

Looking very sharp indeed jfm.

Only reservation I have is the dark flybridge seating material. I think it's gonna be too hot in the med sun.

 

[jfm]

LOL, guess what I've used in mine.
Also for floors btw, in dark blue, shading to light blue along the walls.
Very pleased with the result, though the bill did hurt.

Talking of the last pic you posted, is that door 100% waterproof?
It doesn't seem very tough, with just one handle.

Yup, the tiles are not cheap! They look good on floors too, only not on a boat

Yep the door is kinda ok. On the other side it has one of those multilever lock mechanisms, so it locks at 3 (I think) points when you turn the handle. I can't remember the detail; will get a pic next time

 

[jfm]

Looking very sharp indeed jfm.

Only reservation I have is the dark flybridge seating material. I think it's gonna be too hot in the med sun.

Yup you may well be right. It is a fabric not a vinyl, btw, called sunbrella Natte Hemp (a new one, not on their website last time I looked). I chose it based on aesthetics rather than practicality, and I didn't want to do another boat with the pale sandy beige colours. I'm fully bimini-ed so might get away with it. Otherwise people will have to sit on their towels! Look on the bright side: at least too-hot sun is a good quality problem to have

Just generally on upholstery, I visited MJ Trimmers in Hockley Essex last week to see the sofas and stuff. I gotta say, it's quite an operation now. They make sofas from scratch, and stitch the leather perfectly. They have machinery to apply the PVC backing to any fabric to make it waterproof. They can cover wood sections in really tightly stitched leather with chunky stitching, like a good car steering wheel. All the black trims around the beds in my pics above, and the interior grab handles, are made by MJ. It's a seriously advanced set up, way ahead of the likes of mastertrim who are just sewing machine and staple gun merchants, and yet the prices are still very fair. They're making me an external sofa to go on the aft deck across the transom which i hope will look the business

 

[crazy4557]

Yup you may well be right. It is a fabric not a vinyl, btw, called sunbrella Natte Hemp (a new one, not on their website last time I looked). I chose it based on aesthetics rather than practicality, and I didn't want to do another boat with the pale sandy beige colours. I'm fully bimini-ed so might get away with it. Otherwise people will have to sit on their towels! Look on the bright side: at least too-hot sun is a good quality problem to have

Just generally on upholstery, I visited MJ Trimmers in Hockley Essex last week to see the sofas and stuff. I gotta say, it's quite an operation now. They make sofas from scratch, and stitch the leather perfectly. They have machinery to apply the PVC backing to any fabric to make it waterproof. They can cover wood sections in really tightly stitched leather with chunky stitching, like a good car steering wheel. All the black trims around the beds in my pics above, and the interior grab handles, are made by MJ. It's a seriously advanced set up, way ahead of the likes of mastertrim who are just sewing machine and staple gun merchants, and yet the prices are still very fair. They're making me an external sofa to go on the aft deck across the transom which i hope will look the business

I've also got an endorsement for MJ Trimmers after your recommendation, they really are a fab outfit and great quality/service without the price tag to match.

 

[longjohnsilver]

Looking good jfm. A few questions, no doubt covered elsewhere, how much fuel and water capacity, what do you anticipate your cruising range will be at various speeds and what will the total displacement be.

Wasn't planning to, but might just have to take a trip to LIBS to see her in the flesh so to speak. How long did it take you to decide on all the modifications and did you have them all planned beforehand? A mammoth task, seems you've left no detail unexamined. Have you started plans for the next one yet...........? ;-)

 

[tico]

at the risk of getting into fred drift..... another vote for MJ... very professional setup and great workmanship

 

[wakeup]

Looks fab JFM.

Now I understand why you would want the stairs to be a straight up from the kitchen rather than a sweep or kite turn as they line up with the stairs from down below. I hadn't appreciated that from the sketches etc.

It seems to me that 70ft plus boats turn into ships, fantastic engineering in the engine room, beautifully laid out, looks like it will be a pleasure to maintain.

Good luck with the launch.

Wakeup

 

[jfm]

Looking good jfm. A few questions, no doubt covered elsewhere, how much fuel and water capacity, what do you anticipate your cruising range will be at various speeds and what will the total displacement be.

Wasn't planning to, but might just have to take a trip to LIBS to see her in the flesh so to speak. How long did it take you to decide on all the modifications and did you have them all planned beforehand? A mammoth task, seems you've left no detail unexamined. Have you started plans for the next one yet...........? ;-)

Base spec is 46.5t per brochure but with upgrades over the years that's maybe 48t. Dry. My mods don't add loads of weight: 600kg for the stabs, 500kg for appliances, 300kg for bigger gensets (I have 2x 22.5kva instead of 17.5) and another 500kg for odds and end like bigger anchor and the stairs. My Laser is 300kg lighter than the standard jetski. So I'm 50t dry.

Water = 1300l but there's a biggish watermaker. Fuel = 6000l standard plus 1500l in the extra tank under the bed. That tank could have been 2000l if they made the bed bigger but I didn't go for that as it would spoil the look of the cabin imho. I haven't actually worked out the range from say 6500 litres that you'd use in cruise calculations. 500nm fast and 1000 slow I'd hope/guess, but I need to do the calcs. Displacement loaded = 57t therefore

Yup I was ruminating on the mods for a year or so, on and off. And of course you sort of note things over the years and store them up. Actually if I started another s78 tomorrow there are 3 or 4 things I'd change, knowing what I know now, but that's a pretty short list in the scheme of things so I am very happy with this boat. (I'm cogitating on one tricky mod when the boat is at Essex Boatyards in Feb/March next year: a window in the crew cabin, which the boat sadly doesn't have, so I'll be sawing a hole in the hull probably. I'd also like to fit a trash compactor somewhere, but I don't know where yet)

Hope you make it to the show

 

[longjohnsilver]

That's a decent range. Should get you places without too much concern.

I looked for a window in your crew cabin pics, just assumed it wasn't shown. Is there any reason it's not standard? A trash compactor would be very useful; we all know what a pain it can be dealing with accumulated rubbish. That's got me thinking about one on Eos, they seem to be pretty standard on most larger US boats.