[KensBlog] A day of rain has me thinking about the boat

As wonderful as Mahon is, we’re hoping that today will be our last day here. If we have only five more weeks on the boat, I want as many days as possible spent anchored on white sand beaches.

Anyway…

I mentioned yesterday that we would be seeking to “make the boat new again” when it gets to Seattle. This led to a lot of email and questions about, “So, what are you going to do to the boat?” Somehow, this led to me looking back at the original purchase order from when we ordered the boat. It was interesting looking at the purchase order, particularly all the change orders, and contemplating how it might have been different if I were ordering the boat today.

Those of you not interested in boat-geek stuff might want to stop reading now… (hopefully we’ll be back to the normal blog tomorrow…)

What follows is the list of change orders when I ordered by boat, and my thoughts on each item.

That said, I’ll side track for a second to talk about the boat’s name…

The first name Roberta and I came up with for the boat was, Vamanos, which means “Let’s go!” in Spanish. The original contract for Sans Souci was for a boat to be named Vamanos. However, later we decided that the name rhymed with a byproduct of seasickness, and that perhaps it should be changed. Thus, we polled the blog readers for boat name ideas. Some great ideas were submitted, but the winning idea came from Nordhavn’s President, Dan Streech, who suggested we name it the same as our prior boat, a Nordhavn 62, Sans Souci.

And, one other piece of trivia about that first contract…

We originally contracted for a Nordhavn 64! But, during construction we realized that we had loved the look of our prior boat, a Nordhavn 62, and wanted a larger boat with the same look. We almost canceled our contract, but then worked with Nordhavn to create a variation of the Nordhavn 64 that looked more like their 62 model. And, the Nordhavn 68 was born.

Sans Souci (Nordhavn 68) while under construction

Our former boat: Sans Souci (Nordhavn 62.) We crossed the Atlantic on this boat!

Anyway… what follows is a line by line analysis of our change order from the base model, along with my comments (I left out some of the really tiny items.)

White gel coat – Boats are offered in different colors. Generally, Nordhavns are made with light grey hulls. We chose white because our prior boat, the Nordhavn 62 (N62), had been white. And, if we were keeping the name, we wanted to keep the color. We briefly considered going with a color like Navy Blue, but dark colors are tougher to cool. This theory was proven when our N62 was purchased by a rock star who wanted to be “out there” and painted it black. Bad idea. The boat was quickly resold, and I have no information, but I suspect the inability to keep it air conditioned was a major factor.

Twin Engines – The standard Nordhavn comes with a single main engine, plus a smaller engine called “the wing engine.” This is a very efficient setup. The wing engine is used as a backup, plus used to provide extra hydraulic power when coming into port or using the windlasses (anchoring.) I mentioned a few blog entries ago that we lost main engine power in the Golfe de Lyon and had to complete a passage using our wing engine. I was very happy to have the wing engine, even though it would only carry the boat at about half the normal speed. Anyway… the motivating factors for going with twin engines were that: a) Either engine would be strong enough to move the boat at full speed. And, b) Twin engines are more maneuverable. It is actually this latter reason that was the real decision maker for Roberta and I. With powerful thrusters and twin engines we would have the maximum ability to maneuver the boat. The downside of twin engines is that they are less efficient. Originally we thought the difference would be only about a 5% loss in fuel efficiency. I still don’t know the real number but believe it is probably over 10%. This translates to lost cruising range. Would I do the twin engines again if ordering another boat? The answer is: Yes, without a doubt. As to what others should do: It’s a tough decision. I would say that if you are someone who has great boat handling skills you should get the single engine. Or, if you are like me and struggle with wind and currents in marinas, and want the extra ability to maneuver, and don’t mind the extra fuel cost – go with the twins.

Wet exhaust instead of dry exhaust – Most Nordhavns route the exhaust to the top of the boat. On our N62 this meant dumping soot into the air which could rain down on surrounding boats. Sometimes I was able to stop the soot and sometimes I wasn’t. This did not make us very popular with the other boats around us. Newer electronic engines do not put out soot like the earlier boats, so even though it biased me towards wet exhaust (where the exhaust is dumped at water-level rather than routed to the top of the boat and dumped into the air) it is no longer a factor. I wasn’t 100% convinced that it wouldn’t be a problem, after years of living with dirty exhaust. And, the bigger issue for us was the lost space inside the boat, from the pipes that would run up to the roof carrying hot exhaust, and the potential for heat entering the boat as the pipes passed though the main salon and pilot house. There are some very good arguments for dry exhaust, including that it is simpler than wet exhaust, and virtually maintenance free. I did some study of wet exhaust and decided that wet exhaust was not a problem.

Add a second 16kw generator – For world cruising, the generator is a mission critical device. If your generator dies, then your cruising is over, or you are stuck in port. There are Nordhavns that have circumnavigated with a single generator, but I’m not such a great diesel mechanic that I wouldn’t want a backup. For me, and my skillset, I wanted a second generator. It was also important that it be located in the lazarette (a separate room behind the engine room) and that Nordhavn add extra insulation to the lazarette. We wanted to be able to run the generator and not hear it. As it turned out the 16kw wasn’t beefy enough to provide power for air conditioning, battery charging, and all we wanted done with it. Within a year of taking delivery we replaced the 16kw generator with a 20kw generator. We also have a 25kw generator which is located in the engine room. We rarely use the 25kw generator. It puts out a fair amount of heat, and when run in conjunction with the twin engines, in the hot climates we tend to frequent, the engine room temperature rises to an unacceptable level. Recently, I upgraded the fans on the boat, so this is no longer an issue. That said, I still use the 20kw in the lazarette 99% of the time, because it is so quiet that we don’t hear it at all.

Install a 25kw Atlas Shorepower Converter – The Atlas allows us to connect to virtually any shorepower anywhere in the world. The huge benefit has been the ability to connect to three-phase power and higher voltages. The Atlas, when it is working, is incredible and I would do it again. That said, it has been the #1 source of trouble on the boat, and there are days when I would like to toss it overboard. It takes a lot of space, throws out a ton of heat, eats a considerable portion of the electricity it is fed, and is unreliable. We’ve also had problems getting technicians to work on it. Specialists have had to be flown in on multiple occasions. The standard Nordhavn setup does allow for international travel, and for most people the base system would work. However, for a boat our size, with our electrical needs, going the places we go, I do think the incremental benefit of having an international power converter is worthwhile. I would just check competing brands before buying another Atlas.

Upgrade the inverter system to 14kw – The traditional way to run a Nordhavn (electrically) is to run the boat off the batteries, and then run the generator a few hours a day to recharge the batteries. This was our plan with our current boat. We wanted a huge battery bank with lots of inverter capacity (the inverters take the 24 volt dc current and convert it to 120/240 volt ac for use on the boat.) This was how we ran our N62 and we assumed it was how we’d run our N68. However, what we discovered is that the N68 is in a different league electrically. It is not much longer than our N62 but the interior volume is much greater and the air conditioning requirement is much higher. We also loaded it up with electronic toys that need electricity. For instance, the satellite positioning unit for internet, and the satellite positioning unit for tv need to be on always, and consume electricity. We hit issues with constantly overloading the inverters when trying to run air conditioning, and logistical problems with trying to keep the batteries charged (a very long story.) The bottom line: After the first year we decided we were fighting a losing battle. For our lifestyle, and for where we cruise, the right answer for us was to just run the generator 24×7 and stop thinking about electricity. If doing another boat I’d only put in enough batteries and inverter capacity to power the boat for a very brief period.

Chilled water a/c system – Air conditioning comes in two major flavors: Individual compressors, or chilled water. The standard is for individual compressors. There are arguments for both, although typically the larger boats will opt for chilled water. With individual compressors, each area of the boat effectively has its own air conditioning system. This can be very good in that if you only need air conditioning or heat in the Master Stateroom, then you run the unit for just that one room. Whereas a chilled water system works by having a loop of water that flows throughout the boat. In that loop the water is either cold or hot, based on need (some systems use a separate hot and cold water loop, but we use the same pipe for both). In individual rooms around the boat we have fairly simplistic devices called air handlers which are really nothing more than fans that blow air across coils filled with the water. If the room needs cooled (as determined by a thermostat) a valve opens, putting water into the coils and air starts blowing into the room. The water is chilled via compressors (aka chillers) located in our Lazarette. Or, in winter it is heated via a diesel furnace which is also in the lazarette. The chillers were a problem for the first few years we owned the boat. They were unreliable and difficult to get to. They had a nasty tendency to overwhelm the electrical system when they would kick in, and one out of the four never worked. Rightly or wrongly, I become frustrated and literally had them removed from the boat and tossed in the garbage. I replaced the four 36,000 btu Cruisair units with two 60,000 btu units from Northern Lights (makers of the engines on Sans Souci.) This freed up space in the lazarette. I also added “soft start” (aka Variable Frequency Drives) to minimize the impact on the boat’s electrical system when the a/c chillers would power on. The system has been 100% trouble free since making that change. Would I consider a compressor-based system if I had it to do over again? No. But, mostly because I’m comfortable with the chilled water system and understand it. The one remaining issue I do have is that a couple of the air handlers are noisy. They are on the list for replacement when the boat gets to Seattle.

Install a hookah system – We installed an air compressor that allows for diving without air tanks. It was a fun idea and does work, but in actual practice it never gets used. The good diving is never “right next to the boat” and the hoses for the hookah system are cumbersome to deploy. Part of the vision was that guests would enjoy play-diving in the water, but .. we very rarely have guests on the boat. It seemed a good idea, and probably would be a good idea for someone else, but for us the system was a waste of money and space.

Install a central vac system – It does get used and is very handy.

Install a stainless steel workbench in the engine room – One negative of installing twin engines is that it eats a lot of space in the engine room. There wasn’t room for a nice workbench, so we fabricated one on top of the 25kw generator. It does work, but .. not really. There are no free lunches in this world. Lost engine room space is a negative of the twin engine decision.

Install a backup auto pilot – I have a backup auto-pilot system, in case the primary fails. The primary has never failed, but .. it is still worth having the backup. I like redundant systems.

Install Kabola diesel furnace – Our diesel furnace is VERY handy. It provides hot water for the boat, hot water for the hot tub, and also heats the loop on the chilled water system. It puts out so much heat we have never run out of hot water, and it has mostly been reliable.

Add variable speed controls to the fans in the engine rooms – The idea was to have the fans in the engine room kick in as needed to cool, but not over-cool, the engine room. In practice this was probably a waste of money. We do warm water cruising 99% of the time and the engine room always needs maximum cooling.

Install an auto-start feature on the generator – I originally had a vision that the generator could turn itself on intelligently when the voltage in our battery bank fell below a certain level. It was a good idea, and I did get this to work from time to time. But, overall, we made the decision to run the generator 24×7 which made this a waste of money.

Install a backup cooling pump on the hydraulic cooling system – I like redundancy. However, like the autopilot, I’ve never had to use it.

Install new and used oil tanks in the lazarette – These are just large tanks for holding oil. We go through a lot of oil on Sans Souci! The original idea was to have one tank hold clean oil, and to use the other for dirty oil. In actual practice I’ve found it easier to just use five gallon buckets and pump oil in/out of them. If building another boat I wouldn’t put in these tanks.

Install two 800gpd watermakers – I like the idea of two watermakers, so that I have redundancy. Also, with this large of capacity I can fill the hot tub quickly. Our watermakers were reliable for years but then last year started being unreliable. I probably could have gotten a few more years out of them, but instead replaced them last year. Water is critical on a boat and it was a pain last season having to chase down mechanics to keep the watermakers running.

Install backup grey water and black water pumps – Did I mention that I like redundancy? I have never had to use the backup black water pump, but did have the primary grey water pump fail. I have since upgraded the system by adding an electric valve that lets me route grey water directly overboard or into an onboard holding tank.

Upgrade the lighting – I don’t remember what this was. Whatever it was, it has since been replaced. I went through the whole boat and replaced hundreds of lights with LED lighting. At the time LED was new and it was an expensive transition. Today I can’t imagine anyone not using LED lighting. It runs cool, uses less electricity and lasts virtually forever. We even swapped our underwater lights to be LED.

Prewiring – Nordhavn did the pre-wiring for our audio-visual system, navigation system and monitoring system. Some percentage of this money was wasted. Our electronics supplier from Florida went bankrupt half-way through the project taking some of my money with them. A new company got involved and some wiring was reused and some wasn’t. It was a bad situation and my only advice is: Don’t deal with companies that are going to go bankrupt. And, if you find a reliable way to do that, write a book.

Interior – We spent a lot of money on Sans Souci’s interior. We think of Sans Souci as a portable home and wanted it to be comfortable. For us this was money well spent and something we’d do again. We love Sans Souci!

Upgraded ceilings – We changed from the stock ceilings to different panels that would give an “old world” look, plus be affixed differently. As our N62 got older we noticed that the Velcro holding the panels up would give way in rough seas. We wanted roof panels that wouldn’t rain down on us when the going got tough. We have been very happy with our overhead panels, although I’d admit that they can be a challenge to get down when you need to get behind them for some reason.

Upgraded floors – We wanted teak floors throughout. This allowed us to do throw rugs in places rather than wall-to-wall carpeting. It was all part of upgrading the look of the boat (and, helping to send the interior decorator’s children to college.)

Upgraded drawer slides – This is getting into minutiae, but ..we spend some money to get upgraded sliders for the drawers. It was worth it to us.

Two extra windows – I forget where these were. I think in the Master stateroom? I’m not sure, but I know that we wanted to bring light into the boat and Roberta added some windows.

Upgraded water fixtures – See my earlier comment about the interior decorator’s children’s college fund. Actually .. he (Scott Cole) did an excellent job and we would happily use him again. That said, going with a decorator on a boat adds considerably to the cost. To some people it is worth it, and to some it isn’t. Form your own opinion.

Upgraded davit – We spent a fortune on our davit. I wanted one capable of dropping the tender on either side of the boat, and of handling a heavy tender. There have been a lot of times when we had the tender dangling in mid-air when we’ve been surprised by a sudden wake, causing the tender to bounce while dangling. We have a Marquipt 2500 pound davit, and have never regretted the decision. It has needed maintenance from time to time, but has overall been very solid and reliable.

Install 30” barbecue in the cockpit – Other than fuel, water, engines and toilets, the two most important items on Sans Souci are the barbecue and the hot tub. I should note that we didn’t want gas inside the boat and went with an electric stove in the galley. The barbecue sees heavy use when at anchor (and, has been used while underway!)

Install an automated gang plank – Anyone cruising Europe needs a gang plank (passarelle.) Every boat in Europe has one. Smaller boats have manual ones (sometimes literally just a plank.) But, the larger boats all have fancy automated gang planks which hide away when not in use. Press a button and out they pop. We planned this cruise to Europe and installed one from the beginning. No world-cruising boat should be without one.

Teak exterior decks – This was an expensive option, but we like the look, and how the teak feels on our feet. We would probably do it again. One comment on this though: Prior to choosing the teak decks Roberta and I made the decision that we were not going to maintain them. Some people are constantly maintaining their decks. We looked at teak decks that have been left natural and they look fine to us. It has been nearly eight years and we’ve done nothing to our teak decks, except patch them in a few places where accidents happened. They look great to us.

Install a dual anchor setup – Did I mention that I like redundancy? We are fully set for two anchors, although there is really room on the bowsprit for only one. I have another that is tucked away in a closet. If I ever lose my primary anchor or the windlass fails, I have a backup. That said.. I have never needed to resort to the backup, and hopefully never will. I’d have to remember where I put that second anchor!

Underwater stern lights – I am a fan of underwater lighting and have since upgraded the system. We can choose the color based on mood, and could even operate a disco for the fish if we wanted! They actually do serve some serious purposes on Sans Souci, and I am serious that I would do them again, possibly even adding more. At night when at anchor, I like to be visible. We automatically turn on the underwater lights every night, and they do a great job of alerting others to our presence. They also attract fish, who put on a show for us when we dine on the back deck. We have replaced them with LED lights and they are absolutely great.

Upgraded spot light – We have a fancy spot light that allows us to light up the world around us. I’ve never used it other than to experiment. At night, we’ve found it better to rely on our own eyeballs when entering or exiting port. There are probably ways to use it effectively, but I just haven’t sensed the need.

Hot tub – The hot tub is a lot of work with the constant filling and draining, and until recently there were some electrical challenges, all of which have been sorted out. Overall, it is worth it for us, and from time to time when we’ve thought about, “Would we ever get a smaller boat?” The idea has been rejected immediately as we thought about life without the hot tub. (The other issue which would prohibit for us a smaller boat is that we would always want to have satellite internet.)

Doggable doors – We spent a lot of money to swap all the doors on Sans Souci. Our doors can be “dogged” in any position, meaning that if we want them open one inch, we can do it. (Or, six inches, or twelve inches, or whatever.) This was important to us because of our dogs. We didn’t want to worry about a door slamming shut on a dog or being locked into too-much or too-little wind. We also installed invisible screens on all the doors. The screens have been used, but … generally we’ve been spoiled by the use of air conditioning. With the generator running at all times we might as well run the air conditioning.

Add extra capstan in cockpit – I didn’t know if the cockpit capstans would get any use, but they have come in handy for Med Mooring (tightening the stern lines) and in retrieving the flopper stoppers.

Upgraded helm chairs – I don’t know if this was worthwhile or not. It was an expensive option. But, on the positive side, we are eight years and twenty-thousand miles down the road and the chairs seem as good as new. So .. perhaps it was.

Fabricate a custom radar arch – I wanted a lot of electronics on the boat, and we had to custom make a radar arch to hold them.

Custom made aft cockpit table – Nordhavn made an amazing custom table for us, for the aft deck. Their team in Taiwan are real craftsman and the tables are real showpieces on this boat.

Diesel furnace – This is an amazing piece of equipment. It handles our space heating and water heating. Awesome, and cheap to feed.

Pressure wash system around boat – We added outlets around the boat with air and water. Other than the normal hose-bib water we’ve never used the pressure wash system. It probably works but we’ve never used it. I do use the compressed air for filling water toys, fenders and topping off the tenders.

Expresso Machine – We’re from Seattle. Do I need to say more?

Fasten furniture to boat – We have loose furniture. We wanted a “real furniture” feel to the boat. Norhavn worked out a system where the furniture could have hidden tie-downs, so that it doesn’t become airborne when we hit a wave.

Oversized stabilizer fins – We wanted the largest stabilizer fins possible, to provide for a smoother ride in rough seas. Smooth is good.

Custom showers – We wanted tiled showers. It was expensive, but looks amazing.

There were some expensive options bought from other vendors…

Simon Monitoring System – I would not own a boat of this complexity without a monitoring system. The system I have was very expensive, but tells me things like the temperature in the engine room, how much water is flowing through cooling lines, even the temperature in the freezers (and, the more important things like the shaft temperatures.) Before I would buy this particular system again I’d investigate what else is out there. I suspect there are systems that are 10% of the cost, but give 90% of the benefit. I’d probably go that route. But… I’m not sure what is out there.

KVH Satellite tv and KVH Mini Vsat Internet – I have reasonably fast internet virtually everywhere in the world. Roberta and I like our internet. An expensive option, but .. I’m here in Spain sitting at my computer and the tv is on behind me. We are spoiled on Sans Souci.

Temperpedic mattresses – we love them. They are heavy but great for sleeping.

That’s it! The base boat comes with virtually everything we could want.

As to upgrades I’ve made since…

Tenders – We currently have a 15’ AB Inflatables DLX tender. It is getting old and is in need of replacement. We’ll look to see what else is out there, but the odds are heavy we’ll replace it with an identical tender. It has been great and reliable. It’s fast, light, and has a fiberglass shell that gives us a solid place to anchor the bimini top. For our “backup” tender, we have a little 11’ lightweight crappy tender. We never use it, but it will be there if the big tender ever breaks. I bought an electric motor (Torquedo) for the little tender and like it because it needs no maintenance other than battery charging. If I actually used the little tender the electric motor would be underpowered. But, as a backup, it works.

Dive compressor – It is very handy having a dive compressor on the boat. I should have installed one from the beginning.

Anchor – As I’ve mentioned previously, I am on my third anchor. We spend most of our time on the boat at anchor. Our lives depend on the anchor. We have a 350 pound (150kg) Rocna anchor, with an anchor swivel, and if they come out with bigger, I will give it thought.

Anchor Chain – We originally had 400’ of anchor chain, but have found many places where we have to anchor in 75’ or 100’ of water. We bumped up the chain to 600’ and wouldn’t turn back. We prefer anchoring away from other boats (to get lots of space around us) and being able to safely anchor in deeper water works as part of that strategy.

Audio Visual – When the boat was new we installed a fancy system called Kaleidescape. It is essentially a dvd jukebox capable of holding thousands of dvds, and making them available throughout the boat. It cost a fortune but I had problems with it being unreliable. It was cool when it worked, but the units tended to burn out. After a few years I ripped it out, and instead tend to rip dvds to a large hard drive, and just play them via smart tvs using some software named, “Plex.” Simple is good on a boat. The best would be if I could use Netflix, Apple TV or Roku, all of which we have – but, none of which we’ve been able to use for years. We do have fast internet on Sans Souci, but with most places we’ve been the internet has been too limited and too expensive to make it practical to stream movies.

Cameras – There are cameras around the boat which allow me to see the dock, the engine room, the lazarette, the swim step, etc all from the pilothouse. Over the years since Sans Souci was built camera technology has changed. These days you can’t buy an analog camera (video sent using tv technology as opposed to internet technology.) I just swapped all the cameras on the boat to fancy digital cameras. Now I can watch the cameras from my ipad or even our home in Seattle. When ashore having lunch, I often pop up the cameras on the boat, just to see how the waves around the boat look (and, if the scenery is the same.)

So .. with all that, what upgrades will be done in Seattle

I don’t know. We’re very happy with the boat and I don’t see any major changes. Most of what we have planned is cosmetic. This boat has been used hard. The carpeting needs replacement. Nicks need taken out of the woodwork. I’ve banged the fiberglass in a few places. Thus far, the largest project contemplated is that I am thinking about going to four monitors at the helm rather than three.  There is a tiny chance I’ll remove some of the inverter capacity and some of the batteries. That said, I tend to believe in, “Don’t fix it if it isn’t broken.” I don’t use the inverter capacity, or the batteries, but they really haven’t been a problem.

My guess is that over the next few months we’ll add projects, but … I can’t imagine what they’ll be. Sans Souci may not be perfect, but it is darn close.

And, in closing…

Hopefully none of you are taking any of this too seriously. My goal was only to give people considering a boat a sense of the kinds of decisions that are made. The decisions and equipment choices Roberta and I made are based on us and how we use the boat. It would be wrong to assume that our choices are right for everyone. I’d compare it to buying custom made clothing. A dress that looks good on one lady may or may not look right on someone else.

So, with that said… my fingers need a rest from typing, and the sun is coming out. (We just went through an ugly squall). It is time to stop typing and have some fun!

Thank you!
Ken and Roberta Williams (and, Keeley and Toundra)
Nordhavn 68, Sans Souci