Expeditionyacht.org

22 Days at sea gave a lot of opportunity to learn about the vessel and think about the issues that will come up during conversion project.  Some things we will look into:

• Stability – will we need stabilizers?  Well, we don’t need them but they will make life more comfortable. OK. We had some heavy swells all along but still, this ship likes to roll.
• AC/DC bowthruster.  We had an issue with our DC-driven bow thruster before we left and fixed it but it got me to think about getting rid of all the DC equipment and change the electric motors on the bow thruster to an AC electric motor.
• Stern thruster: we definitely will add one.  The prop effect is minimal with  this prop and its nozzle around it.  The superstructure catches a nice amount of wind.  We bought a 2nd hand bow thruster and will install it as a bow thruster.
• RIBS instead of aluminium tenders.   Safer boarding when coming along side, less weight = lighter crane  requirements = substantial savings and easier structure.  We already figured out a way to do it by widening the top deck and it will look good.
• Our FloScan fuel flow meter was a total waste of money.  It simply was unfit for our situation (and many others) where we have a return fuel line.  Yes, we had two sensors but they don’t compensate for the temperature difference between the fuel going in and the return fuel.  The readings went from 10% off to totally wrong.  A waste of $$.  But, you get what you pay for.
• No bright white or green control lights on the bridge:  amazing how much light those generator engine control lights give when everything else is dark or dimmable.
• A good tank level control system: we knew the one we had was not quite reliable.  That was an understatement.