Out She Comes!

[Hurricane]

Hurricane , I can fully understand where you are coming from but the key issue I think is the way you describe ' cruising in the Med' , sure if that is the limit to your cruising then Bob's your Uncle. However, if you intend to do longer passages in Northern Europe, Western France / Bay of Biscay, out to the Azores, Outer reaches of Scottish Isles Scandinavia then you have a different set of criteria. You can not just decide I'll throw the trottles down and be home in time for tea and ahead of the weather, you will be out of fuel within a few hundred miles (assuming you have burnt a lump of fuel already to get to where you are). Half way to the Azores, Maderia, Canaries, Iceland, Faroes even North Sea and the weather turns you have to stick it out and take what comes. Secondly, weather bound because its blowing a 6-7 etc for days on end is a bit of a pain if your Planing hulled cruiser is not really up to 24 hours of pounding to move on to your next destination or even head home. On a heavy SD , just set 10-12 knots, stabs on, auto pilot on and have a cuppa tea and watch some TV.

That was EXACTLY my point - I dont do that kind of cruising any more.
And having a planing boat doesnt exclude you from the bigger cruise either - you just have to be a bit more careful with the weather. IMHO, with a planing boat, you get the best ob both worlds. And having done some big seas in the past, it just aint worth it - just wait for calm weather and enjoy it even more.

 

[jimmy_the_builder]

And having done some big seas in the past, it just aint worth it - just wait for calm weather and enjoy it even more.

Is it time again for that photo from JW1?

MYAG - congrats on the boat, looks fab. On your electronics spec - as a time-served OOW on Hurricane's P67 I'd second his opinion about the wireless keyboards - they are just the easiest thing to use when you're on passage at planing speeds.

Cheers
Jimmy

 

[Nautical]

Ah sorry Hurricane , I thought you meant in general terms. If your cruising only includes the Med then understand your sentiments and thoughts, for everyone else that cruises long distance in open waters and encounters bad weather (can't avoid it unfortunately in many Northern waters) then SD has to be a very viable alternative and too many the preferred choice.

 

[Hurricane]

Is it time again for that photo from JW1?

MYAG - congrats on the boat, looks fab. On your electronics spec - as a time-served OOW on Hurricane's P67 I'd second his opinion about the wireless keyboards - they are just the easiest thing to use when you're on passage at planing speeds.

Cheers
Jimmy

This one Jimmy?

Nautical
I dont think it would be much fun in ANY boat in these conditions thats why my attitude to cruising has mellowed.
It just aint worth it - wait until the weather clears and enjoy the trip later - life is too short to get stressed.
Having said that we have managed to get five and a half thousand miles under JW's belt in just two seasons so you CAN do distance and stay safe in a planing boat - indeed Biscay was one of our legs.

 

[jimmy_the_builder]

This one Jimmy?

That's the one!

Cheers
Jimmy

 

[Nautical]

I would differ on that point , been on many of both in lots of up and downy stuff Irish sea and elsewhere and for me SD is a much more comfortable way to travel. Even stuff such as night passages are better as you have a enclosed pilot house where skipper and mate can do all the skippery stuff on their own and guests/family can stay in the saloon with lights on and enjoy TV ,cook a meal, and generally chill instead of everyone sitting in the dark for hours on end bored rigid.

 

[MRC]

That is a cracking looking boat.

I am thinking I met you in the summer (car event run by Reading) have to say you made us laugh that day. Some were killing us with a load of one liners...

Small talk about boats and you mentioned previous boat being a Man 60, Im sure you mentioned that one or this one was on surface drives !!

You mentioned the forward windows of this one in build so im assuming you are the same person.

Very nice.

 

[MYAG]

That is a cracking looking boat.

I am thinking I met you in the summer (car event run by Reading).........................................You mentioned the forward windows of this one in build so im assuming you are the same person.

Very nice.

Thanks MRC, do you mean March/April? Almost right, it was on the 80, in the end the Arneson's were shelved after being talked out of it. I would definately have them on a Pred though, just for a season or two.

I will get to check out the view from the forward ports for real tomorrow as I'm on board for her maiden voyage from Poole to London.

 

[MYAG]

Thanks Jimmy, yup I have the wireless option already spec'd. Out of interest, do you know what the effective range is?

 

[Hurricane]

Thanks Jimmy, yup I have the wireless option already spec'd. Out of interest, do you know what the effective range is?

I've never really checked the range.
My RX/TX units are behind the dinette seat next to the internal stairs.
The keyboards work well at either helm position but I'm sure they would work out on the foredeck. Maybe you are thinking of using the "dodge" facility to control the autopilot.

Something you may want to ask Sunseeker, though.
Have they made provision to recharge the keyboards?
I have a couple of curley leads that are stored inder a chart tray and are connected to the GSMs. I believe that these curly leads are physically connected so that the keyboards will continue to operate if the wireless bit fails.
I dont actually use the curly leads much - sometimes on a long passage when I havent charged up the keyboards, I've had to use them to recharge whilst under way.
My G Series system puts quite a load on the batteries so I've arranged the power switching so that I can power the ST instruments independantly and I also have separate switches for the monitors.
So, I made up a (double) lead that plugs into a cigarette lighter outlet with two connections to power/charge the wireless keyboards. Raymarine supplied me a couple of their white Seatalk ng leads - I believe these are normally supplied to power Seatalk ng equipment but they work well to charge the wireless keyboards overnight without powering the whole nav system.

Here's a pic
You can just see the curley wires to the right of the right keyboard.

 

[MYAG]

I've never really checked the range.
My RX/TX units are behind the dinette seat next to the internal stairs.
The keyboards work well at either helm position but I'm sure they would work out on the foredeck. Maybe you are thinking of using the "dodge" facility to control the autopilot.

Something you may want to ask Sunseeker, though.
Have they made provision to recharge the keyboards?...........

Thats very useful info Hurricane, I will check what's been put in place for charging, thanks for this. Yup, I have a decent foredeck seating area and can see myself sat there with my feet up, using the portable engine controls and portable keyboard on certain routes. Nice and quiet at the pointy end, bliss..............

 

[MRC]

Thanks MRC, do you mean March/April? Almost right, it was on the 80, in the end the Arneson's were shelved after being talked out of it. I would definately have them on a Pred though, just for a season or two.

I will get to check out the view from the forward ports for real tomorrow as I'm on board for her maiden voyage from Poole to London.

Yep, April time. April / Summer all feels the same this year.

Enjoy the trip round to LIBS, Really like the forward windows, will take a look at the show.

You probally dont care but resale may be better without the arnesons (given you indicated the next one was already on order)

 

[Hurricane]

Thats very useful info Hurricane, I will check what's been put in place for charging, thanks for this. Yup, I have a decent foredeck seating area and can see myself sat there with my feet up, using the portable engine controls and portable keyboard on certain routes. Nice and quiet at the pointy end, bliss..............

Yep - the foredeck is a really nice place to be at the lower speeds- my SWMBO calls displacement speed "pootling" - about 10 knots for us.

Unfortunately for us, we have the olde pilot and the G Series dodge facility only works with the more recent autopilots. I had thought of buying a wireless S100 or Smart controller but in hindsight, I realised that it doesnt have the complete answer to controlling the boat from the foredeck. If we change course from a plotted course (to avoid something or sometimes its just to play with dolphins) I like to reset the cross track error (XTE) and the smart pilot doesnt seem to have this functionality. If you simply set the pilot back to "track" it will try and get back on course too quickly. Most of the time we are in the middle of nowhere so there's no need to get back on the track and resetting the XTE saves a sharp turn and sometimes fuel. The G Series keyboards replicate a standard Raymarine plotter and there is a soft button that you can press to reset the XTE. In my case, I would need to have a wireless smart pilot and the G series keyboard - I just thought it was overkill.

So, I think I WILL do some driving from the foredeck but will keep the side door open and controll any changes from the lower helm. Its not that often that you have to make course changes anyway.

I couldnt resist posting this pic - two members from this forum taking a rest on the bow whilst under way - I think this shot would have been taken about 80 miles from land in about a F4/F5 ish (wind from behind).

We dont have a siiting area as such but its very pleasant to be when you've got a longish passage ahead - and as said earlier we now dont go if the weather isnt like this:-

 

[djefabs]

I couldnt resist posting this pic - two members from this forum taking a rest on the bow whilst under way - I think this shot would have been taken about 80 miles from land in about a F4/F5 ish (wind from behind).

Yes Mike I can confirm that its very comfortable on the foredeck

 

[jimmy_the_builder]

Yes Mike I can confirm that its very comfortable on the foredeck

+1

Cheers
Jimmy

 

[MYAG]

The boat is launched and very nearly finished, I was fortunate to join her for the maiden voyage to London Excel ahead of the show next month. It was an interesting trip, not least because of the weather. Here's some pics of the trip which was from Poole to Excel with an overnight stop in Dover.

.......and here she is!

Mooring in Dover after a refuel, taking on 2250 litres!

Leaving Dover at 6am, we found the harbour frozen over!

After 3.5 hrs we arrived at the QE2 bridge and the snow started......

Passing the bridge, we continued up-river until the airport lock and were soon joined by the remainder of the SS convoy and a few Princess' that had made their way from Plymouth.

84 Predator followed by 88 Yacht

Then the weather turned.........again!

Pressing on after the airport was closed in our honour and the bridges lifted, we all made our way in to the KGV docks to finally park up outside Excel. Lifting starts tomorrow!

It was a fantastic maiden voyage, with quite challenging conditions all the way that allowed me to get properly aquainted with the new boat. Wouldn't have missed it for anything!

 

[SteveE]

Lovely boat and great pics, she looks stunning in the Dover pics.. Looking forward to seeing her at LIBS...

 

[jonnybuoy]

That is one fine collection of hardware floating up the river!

 

[MapisM]

Beauty is in the eye etc., of course.
But if there would be a contest for HT design, it seems to me that at S/skr they could compete for both the best and the worst, with your boat and with the 88 respectively.

 

[MYAG]

Beauty is in the eye etc., of course.
But if there would be a contest for HT design, it seems to me that at S/skr they could compete for both the best and the worst, with your boat and with the 88 respectively.

Yup, the Y88 is an extension of the Y86, which was the first boat in its class from Sunseeker to have a HT as an option. They have learn't.

I am sure more HT options will be available on future models, it is fast becoming an expectation for Med boating, even on smaller boats. Personally, I love them, especially the centre canvas section that folds back electrically to provide a large sunlit area and the fact that it also provides a proper overhead lighting solution for the flybridge,(at last) that does not look like camping lights wired in as an afterthought.

Definately helps to have stabs fitted, quite alot of weight up there.