So what has gone wrong this year ?

Buy a Sealine and a knackered Turbo will be the lest of your problems!

Yeah, tell me about it. In the last few hundred hours, I have had loads of problems with...................errrrrr, the shower sump.
Dam I wish I'd bought a 'better' make and had a list of problems to be proud of ;)
 
Five year old boat.

1) Weep from heads, replaced seal on pump shaft using £20 service kit.
2) Sewage pipe from heads to tank blocked with calcified pee. Had to hammer pipe to loosen it and then treat with de-scaler.
3) Volvo Trim tabs are not working, green flashing leds on both controls which means comms issue. I’ve checked connections and suspect it could be the controller. I’ll probably get Osmotech to investigate and fix.
4) Had crack in Gell coat repaired, must have been stress crack, I’ve not hit anything.
 
Part way through the season found that the Port engine was not cooling enough, not actually overheating though, but preventing full revs. Investigated first by me, then boatyard, and finally by brought in specialist. During investigations sea-cock flushed to remove any possible barnacle/worm growth, heat exchanger removed and flushed (both fresh and sea water sides), gearbox cooler flushed, thermostats checked. Eventually the problem traced to several impeller lobes partially blocking the oil cooler. As I have never wiped out an impeller in the time I have owned the boat, the bits must have been caught in the seawater system for at least 4 years, but in a location where they weren't enough of a blockage to prevent sufficient flow.
The main problem, however, for much of the "summer" has been the weather, either too wet or too windy to have an enjoyable time on board.
 
Well I've hardly used the boat this year due to the weather. Almost every time i got the time to go out it was too windy but i did have a couple of nice weekends.

So this year the following broke or needed work.

1. Oven hob extractor fan thingy
2. 2 x water pump bolts...pain getting off
3. Stbd shaft seals
4. Hundreds of Oysters up inside the outdrives so they had to come off to clean
5. New bow thruster prop..trying to cure why i go through so many shear pins
6. Power steering pump off and serviced and painted
7. Ended it with my long term partner so now have to sell the boat!

So all in all not a bad year i'd say...its ended quite well really.
 
Now that season over for me at least I feel able to comment without jinxing myself I hope. Day 2 generator packs up. Scramble to get someone to look at it and transpires that the starter motor solenoid gone. At same time also notice that the in water alarm valve broken so it wouldn't have shut down if water not coming in to cool!. new starter motor not so easy to come by in August in sardinia anyway managed to get one from somewhere in France but no generator for a while. kids rather sweaty but survived! Toilet blockage - not once but twice! Don't ask but it baffles me that people (girls) chuck things down there after being explicitly told not to! First time got someone to dismantle the loo and pick everything out of the mascerator. second time was able to do most myself but there was also a blockage in the pipe down the line so as to speak so was able to go down there and dig that out too. Williams - am I the only person who hates these machines? Stopped halfway back to boat one day. They are absolute buggers to row without going around in circles! battery dead or at least below proper charge. Charged up overnight, got about 25 starts out of it then same happened again. Tried to get another battery - hopeless. Can't tell if the alternator is simply not charging the battery or whether the battery is knackered so just charged the thing up every other night. Now trying to sort. Few other odds and sods - cleaned out the sump well mid season and the pump duly packed up as i put it back together but somehow managed to get it going again thank God, but no idea how.

On the plus side the weather was absolutely fabulous. Travelled up the West Coast of Corsica and across to Capraia and down to Elba and have to say without a shadow of doubt the most beautiful part of the Med I have been to thus far. Was Blessed by non prevailing winds which helped but not crowded, incredible topography, amazingly cheap local wines, and great anchorages. After 4 years in the Balearics was glad to have made the move although personally I would avoid most of N Sardinia - too flash and my s58 felt like a tender for most of places we either went or passed by! Thanks for all advice received during the cruise.
 
Williams - am I the only person who hates these machines? Stopped halfway back to boat one day. They are absolute buggers to row without going around in circles! battery dead or at least below proper charge. Charged up overnight, got about 25 starts out of it then same happened again. Tried to get another battery - hopeless. Can't tell if the alternator is simply not charging the battery or whether the battery is knackered so just charged the thing up every other night. Now trying to sort. Few other odds and sods - cleaned out the sump well mid season and the pump duly packed up as i put it back together but somehow managed to get it going again thank God, but no idea how.


.

Rowing a Williams? Lord you deserve a meddle.

I got a ski rope in it once ( Sardina also) and got a tow from a jet ski. His water plume was landing right on us / in the boat. Given I had no other way of getting back I could not really complain!
 
On the plus side the weather was absolutely fabulous. Travelled up the West Coast of Corsica and across to Capraia and down to Elba and have to say without a shadow of doubt the most beautiful part of the Med I have been to thus far. .

Sorry to hear about your trials and tribulations but a big +1 for Elba from me. It has some fabulous anchorages and if you can get a berth in Portoferrairo thats a great place to spend a few days. Its also well worthwile renting a car and exploring the island because parts of it are stunning
 
Nothing else than blocked shower sumps by human hair, in fact, I do not recall anything else failing (knock on wood :-) ) during my ownership since 2015 of the Ferretti 480 anno 2001 than the lock of the sliding cabin door. Lot’s of preventive maintenance has been done though including new seawater hoses, new Manecraft deep sea shaft seals and some other bits. This boat has been one of the rear exceptions (so far...) with virtually no problems. Thanks Ferretti for the good quality of installations and the use of high quality equipment and systems used on board! Keep up the good standard also for the new models pls! Still I do have one strange systematic type of issue and this is that I need to apply the parallel switch to start the engines, also when warm, not a big issue but still a bit strange. All is checked and in order and it seems to be a design error where the battery capacity of 1600 CA at 12 volt from two batteries in parallel is simply not enough.
 
Thanks Ferretti for the good quality of installations and the use of high quality equipment and systems used on board! .
Agreed. The foundation of long term reliability is to fit top quality components in the first place and carry out preventative maintenance. Apart from the sternthruster failure I referred to above, the only other major component I've replaced on my Ferretti is the galley fridge and that was done under warranty by the seller (he says crossing fingers and touching wood!)
 
I did a fair amount of preventative maintenance and upgrades but this season I just had to deal with a broken bilge pump in the bathing platform, a small fuel leak on the engine supply (loose connection) and putting a new rope on the passarelle.
 
Sorry to hear about your trials and tribulations but a big +1 for Elba from me. It has some fabulous anchorages and if you can get a berth in Portoferrairo thats a great place to spend a few days. Its also well worthwile renting a car and exploring the island because parts of it are stunning

Totally agree. Spent a couple of nights in Portoferrairo and could have done a lot longer. Had a great anchorage outside Porto Azurro as well. Took MapisM advice and spent a night in Giannutri on way down to Ponza which was also totally the right call, thanks M. BTW Capraia is a total gem and if you make friends with the lady who runs the capitineria who is delightful then easy to get berths in the high season. One of my favourite places.
 
I did a fair amount of preventative maintenance and upgrades but this season I just had to deal with a broken bilge pump in the bathing platform, a small fuel leak on the engine supply (loose connection) and putting a new rope on the passarelle.

Given there was a thread a while ago about the cost of those ropes you have my sympathy!
 
That's why I made my own!

What sort of fix is that and @ J how much are they ?

Mines been scragged up by a loose grub screw ...and I,am reminded every time we sunbath :)





For those unfamiliar it’s some strange elasticated rope that retracts neatly in theory, and extends tight to make a useable ish ? Hand rail .
 
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From memory the new rope, which comes complete with the end fittings and the stanchion caps is about £300. The rope that I removed had a steel core, no idea what it was. I reused the end fittings and stanchion caps. Cost about 10 euros.
 
May - before launching the stern-drive plastic trim sensor broke so no trim indication to starboard, stuck turbo starboard engine at launch renewed, Raymarine GPS goes blank with some lines reminding of the good old signal TV days
July - port side engine temperature not working fixed
August - autopilot goes crazy after 5-10 mins and starts slaloming (I imagine a compass correction still not done), one of the cockpit lights Led stops working fixed

I think that was it.
 
Totally agree. Spent a couple of nights in Portoferrairo and could have done a lot longer. Had a great anchorage outside Porto Azurro as well. Took MapisM advice and spent a night in Giannutri on way down to Ponza which was also totally the right call, thanks M. BTW Capraia is a total gem and if you make friends with the lady who runs the capitineria who is delightful then easy to get berths in the high season. One of my favourite places.

Thanks for the tip on Capraia. We've passed it twice going south to Sardinia in 2014 and going north again in 2016 and it looked a bit forbidding from seaward. Also the pilot book was not exactly gushing about the place so we didnt bother calling in but we'll certainly try to visit next time we are in the area
 
Not tempting fate by posting earlier didn’t go exactly according to plan having just had to replace the calorifier which had leaked and drowned the batteries which then also needed replacing. What fun we had cutting out the bunk room wall to gain access with a boat full of guests and no hot water. (Sealine T46) .Earlier in the season we had to replace some worn hydraulic hoses on the passerelle and an air con control panel but on the upside my Williams managed to not let us down once which is a first and the boat got used constantly which makes the man maths easier
 
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