Last spring, Bob Lane interviewed us and reviewed Dirona for PassageMaker magazine. Bob has an experienced reporter’s eye for detail. And as a long-time boater who has toured and written up a lot of boats, he notices what works and what doesn’t. After touring the boat and describing the systems and upgrades, we discussed our goals in purchasing the boat and future travel plans. At the time of the interview, our 24×7 trip to Alaska was several months off. It would be a be a proof-of-concept trip for us, as we’d not run overnight before, let alone that far offshore.

We’ll be discussing that trip, including lessons learned and highlights, at PassageMaker’s Anacortes Trawler Fest next month. Our session is Alaska: 24×7 on Saturday May 14th at 10:30am. Dirona also will be open for the Trawler Crawl on Saturday from 4pm to 5pm (and possibly on Friday at the same time if we arrive early enough). 

Bob’s article was packed with details and interesting perspectives. It’s not often you can read an article about your own boat and learn something. We particularly liked his comment that the repeating monitors in the salon and master stateroom “… are the closest thing to art you’ll find aboard Dirona.” We have a four-monitor glass cockpit, and each those monitors can be repeated on a screen in the salon or the master stateroom. At dock, we use the repeaters to monitor weather, and when underway we view engine telemetry, AIS, radar and the chart plotter. The master stateroom repeater was particularly useful on the run to Alaska, as someone off-watch there could easily view most data available in the pilot house with the push of a button.

Bob’s full article is at http://www.mvdirona.com/TechnicalArticles/TheHamiltonNordhavn.pdf. PassageMaker digital subscribers can read it at  http://www.passagemaker-digital.com/passagemaker/201103?pg=72#pg72.