Is this the greatest interior refurb ever?

[Fr J Hackett]

One channel I am quite excited to see finally take to the water is Sail Life. I don't quite know how Mads has managed to hold down a job, complete a 'somewhat extensive refit" on his boat, and film/edit/upload weekly vlogs of it all. I have a theory that he has an identical twin and they are sharing the workload.

I quite liked some of his earlier stuff but when it degenerated into how many electrical gizmos can I cram into my boat I began to lose interest and the wacky impractical sliding solar panel arrangement that he has decided to ditch his self steering gear in favour of.

 

[lustyd]

I did notice their batteries were down to 50% and they were going to run their generator in the Svalbard video

Which video was that? In the last one they explicitely said they've not needed the generator but were glad to have it as a backup. They were, at the time, getting around 350W from regen while sailing up the fjord and also said the 24x7 sun made more difference than they'd expected with solar.

 

[Laminar Flow]

The MS33 came in two layouts, one 'ocean' with more traditional sea berths and a galley in the pilothouse. I have the ..rather more caravan like one. Having never done a multiday offshore passage I am guessing at the requirements a little, but am fairly certain I need more dedicated storage and an area that is better suited to be a workshop / office as well as guest bed. The pilothouse berth is quite wide, converts to nearly a double by 70s sailing standards but I can't see myself using the other half of it for much other than storing stuff.

I would try an offshore jaunt first before taking the ax to your interior. Reality and what one imagines it to be are often some ways apart.

 

[lustyd]

has decided to ditch his self steering gear in favour of.

Seems an odd decision on the surface but if you're not crossing oceans it probably makes some sense as most seem to switch to electric autopilots for "local" stuff.

 

[lustyd]

I would try an offshore jaunt first before taking the ax to your interior. Reality and what one imagines it to be are often some ways apart.

It also needs balancing between 2 weeks of slightly sub optimal offshore vs 50 weeks of sub optimal living in a year.

 

[Graham376]

I don't think anyone is belittling their sailing achievements in any way. Or their undoubted skill at fitting out their boat's interior.

What does amuse me is having read many threads about what people think are suitable blue water boats and the amount of money necessary to spend, is how few would `even contemplate such an old design and age of boat (cost $3k before refit) as suitable for liveaboard long distance sailing. Some out there doing it in smaller boats than theirs.

 

[Laminar Flow]

It also needs balancing between 2 weeks of slightly sub optimal offshore vs 50 weeks of sub optimal living in a year.

Hmm. A couple of years ago, my friend with whom I had sailed across the Pacific and back, introduced me to a fellow down the dock who was about to sail to the South Pacific on his Niagara 35 and was looking for crew to get to Hawaii on the first leg. The boat had a similar layout to Ryanroberts' Fjord.
I looked the boat over and asked him how many crew he were looking for and where everyone would sleep since there was only the pilot berth worth considering. He gave me a long pompous lecture on offshore sailing based on extensive youtube experience and let me know that the off watch would sleep in the fo'c'sle and the only sea berth, which was the pilot berth, would be used for storage.
On the way back my friend asked me what I thought and I told him the guy was an ass and that I wouldn't set foot on a boat with him and, besides, that there was not a single decent berth to sleep in.
I understand that I was right on both accounts: they had a terrible time getting there (it wasn't weather related) and that the entire crew abandoned ship before it was even properly tied up in Honolulu. As far as I know, he's still there looking for crew to carry on.
In the short: I would say interior layout does matter, even if it's only for a short three week trip.

 

[Fr J Hackett]

Which video was that? In the last one they explicitely said they've not needed the generator but were glad to have it as a backup. They were, at the time, getting around 350W from regen while sailing up the fjord and also said the 24x7 sun made more difference than they'd expected with solar.

They had to run it on the way from Tromso to Svalbard and again when they were in the Russian mining town as a bonus they turned on their hot water immersion for a shower.

 

[Fr J Hackett]

Seems an odd decision on the surface but if you're not crossing oceans it probably makes some sense as most seem to switch to electric autopilots for "local" stuff.

Well he has a generator so he can run his autopilot and that's another one of the wacky things his persistence with the itty bitty Perkins

 

[doug748]

I quite liked some of his earlier stuff but when it degenerated into how many electrical gizmos can I cram into my boat I began to lose interest and the wacky impractical sliding solar panel arrangement that he has decided to ditch his self steering gear in favour of.

He lost me when he took the steering gear to bits, the heavy solid steel parts were in good order, most people would have wiped them with Waxoil and put them back, if you were really fussy you might have painted them, if you were hyper fussy you may have had them spray painted, if you were borderline anal retentive you could have had them galvanized.

He had them re-made in stainless steel. ?

.

 

[Fr J Hackett]

He lost me when he took the steering gear to bits, the heavy solid steel parts were in good order, most people would have wiped them with Waxoil and put them back, if you were really fussy you might have painted them, if you were hyper fussy you may have had them spray painted, if you were borderline anal retentive you could have had them galvanized.

He had them re-made in stainless steel. ?

.

More money than sense springs to mind.

 

[dunedin]

I was tempted to look at their last motor instal with its regeneration capacity and it was impressive what I have yet to look at is the overall cost and just how long can they use it, I expect that is going to take a lot of digging and I might lose the will to live before I find out. But in ocean sailing where it doesn't matter it seems like a winner although I did notice their batteries were down to 50% and they were going to run their generator in the Svalbard video so perhaps the jury is still out.

Not really the pace for a full diversion into the Sailing Uma electronic drive topic, but they are doing a great job to popularise and explain electric drives in yachts. If you follow the detail they are very informative. But equally, as always, need to check the detail (and do the maths) before extrapolating into plans for our own boats.
As far as I can tell they are on their fourth complete electrical drive system in perhaps 4-5 years. I assume they must be being funded by OceanVolt to test and promote their (excellent) new technology, as otherwise to bin an entire motor and saildrive after 12 months or so would be heart-breaking (at least for our bank managers).

Precise numbers on range etc are a little difficult to track down. But my best guess are a 15kw motor, 14kWh battery pack (TBC - not seen formally quoted) it would be under an hour at full power - but massively longer pootling at 3-4 knots in flat water. So my guess for range would be 7 - 30 nm, the latter at slow speed.
But with sufficient funds - or sponsors - clearly much bigger battery packs could in theory be fitted. (Or some of us might consider a backup diesel generator to create a serial hybrid)

 

[Fr J Hackett]

Not really the pace for a full diversion into the Sailing Uma electronic drive topic, but they are doing a great job to popularise and explain electric drives in yachts. If you follow the detail they are very informative. But equally, as always, need to check the detail (and do the maths) before extrapolating into plans for our own boats.
As far as I can tell they are on their fourth complete electrical drive system in perhaps 4-5 years. I assume they must be being funded by OceanVolt to test and promote their (excellent) new technology, as otherwise to bin an entire motor and saildrive after 12 months or so would be heart-breaking (at least for our bank managers).

Precise numbers on range etc are a little difficult to track down. But my best guess are a 15kw motor, 14kWh battery pack (TBC - not seen formally quoted) it would be under an hour at full power - but massively longer pootling at 3-4 knots in flat water. So my guess for range would be 7 - 30 nm, the latter at slow speed.
But with sufficient funds - or sponsors - clearly much bigger battery packs could in theory be fitted. (Or some of us might consider a backup diesel generator to create a serial hybrid)

Yes those were my feelings and as such electric drives like cars best left to the pioneers at the moment.

 

[gregcope]

One channel I am quite excited to see finally take to the water is Sail Life. I don't quite know how Mads has managed to hold down a job, complete a 'somewhat extensive refit" on his boat, and film/edit/upload weekly vlogs of it all. I have a theory that he has an identical twin and they are sharing the workload.

Mads / sail life has just passed 100k subs which is nice to see.

“Somewhat extensive refit” along with Spiffy and other colourful use of english is quaint.

 

[lustyd]

I think also they definitely suit people who live aboard and cruise extensively. The place electric falls down is when you have a schedule to hit, but Uma have shown that where that's not the case they work well. As with electric cars I think it will be a rapid evolution and get to where most weekenders will manage just fine within a year or two.

 

[Graham376]

Precise numbers on range etc are a little difficult to track down. But my best guess are a 15kw motor, 14kWh battery pack (TBC - not seen formally quoted) it would be under an hour at full power - but massively longer pootling at 3-4 knots in flat water. So my guess for range would be 7 - 30 nm, the latter at slow speed.

With the old motor, when he installed the 12 lithium batteries, he was quoting 5 hours at 4 - 5kts, drawing 50amps.

 

[Laminar Flow]

Let's back up a little: The best refurb ever? A miracle of what they made of an old boat?

I enjoy watching their videos too, not for what they did with their boat's interior decor, but for the places they visit and what they are trying to do with new propulsion technology.

As far as the boat goes - essentially they stripped and fitted out an old hull & deck. So, what about it? Not that long ago that was rather a common thing, to buy a hull and finish it at home. Quite literally (tens of)thousands were completed that way. Nor did the yachting community organize a ticker tape parade for every boat launched, nor was every odd ball interior/layout heralded as the second coming. It would seem that contemporary expectations have been much reduced.
Now, a couple of newly trained architects design and build a floating version of a "contemporary" urban loft - quelle surprise? Philip Stark designed a rather stylishly useless interior for a French brand as well and I well remember when Dehler introduced a snow-blind, all white interior that likely would not survive first contact with it's human occupants, nor the first servicing of the Volvo diesel.
Trouble is, though I enjoy living in a "modern" environment myself, a lot of contemporary design becomes dated so quickly. What was so cutting edge last spring, is by the coming fall embarrassingly out. The moment you can buy that fancy "mini subway style" tile at the local discounter, and at a fraction of the price you once payed for it, you're essentially done.

Having a sink amidships is hardly revolutionary either; it simply makes sense if you rather not drown while on a port/starboard (tick appropriate) tack. I would have at least expected that much technical sense from not just one architect, but two, though professionally I have come to understand that that is not necessarily a given.

So, I hope you will all forgive me when I say that I couldn't care less, one way or another, about Uma's decor and while I appreciate a couple of my country men & women doing their thing and following their dreams, I'd rather not join the awkward love fest here. For those, most uncritically besotted, perhaps their wives and partners should be looking into staging some form of intervention.

 

[lustyd]

So, I hope you will all forgive me when I say that I couldn't care less

And yet here you are again telling the world your opinion on it. Something is clearly bothering you greatly about people liking this couple and their boat.

 

[Beneteau381]

They had to run it on the way from Tromso to Svalbard and again when they were in the Russian mining town as a bonus they turned on their hot water immersion for a shower.

What I dont understand is how they keep warm. Woodburner, I know, but having first hand knowledge of how quickly a cubic meter bag disappears in to mine, where do they get it from and where do they store it? Been in Portugal on mine for the last month. The 2kw fan heater was on every night!

 

[lustyd]

I've been wondering the same. Bear in mind that what we're seeing in Svalbard is "summer", and I assume they pick up any and all wood they can find on the shore. I can only assume some of it is due to being young and fit, and wearing jumpers. My Eber is on pretty much 24x7 when it's even a little bit cold!