Posts In The “Technical” Category
Excess engine room temperatures are hard on the equipment and tough on the people. Engine room checks end up less detailed and, if you need to do emergency service, it can become a safety problem. We are all sufficiently motivated to want lower engine room temperatures but its actually not that easy. Engine room temperature…
Electronic charts are the future of modern marine navigation in both the commercial and recreational worlds. Some view this as a big step forward and argue that modern electronic systems can do a far better job of presenting all forms of data for the area being traversed. Electronic charts can show AIS targets, RADAR ARPA…
On our previous boat, we were (just barely) able to remember when all mechanical systems needed service as the hours mounted and time passed. But that system broke down when we got the current boat. There are far more systems, many of the intervals vary greatly, and when running offshore, up-to-date service is even more…
A little over a year ago, we worked our way south from Fanning Island, Kiribati towards Nuku Hiva in the Marquesas Islands. We were on a long, fuel-constrained run where we would cover 2,600 nm without fueling. For most of the trip, we were heading up-current and into 30 kts of wind on the bow….
Our next-door neighbors, Mark Mohler and Christine Guo of Nordhavn 62 Gray Matter, recently upgraded their davit to support hydraulic power-rotation. The base came off in two pieces, but is much easier to put back together at the shop. The downside is a heavy assembly: the upgraded base, with the power rotation transmission and motor,…
Dirona has a KVH M7 satellite TV system installed. When we left Hawaii, we cancelled our satellite TV subscription with Dish Network and haven’t used the system since. We knew we had some work to do to get the system running outside the US, and it hadn’t been a priority. It also wasn’t even a…
Earlier this week, Nordhavn 5267 arrive into Brisbane from Xiamen, China on board the freighter AAL Hong Kong. Owners Natalie and Oz Bestel watched from the chase boat and shared these pictures of the delivery. The offloading reminded us of Dirona‘s delivery back in 2009, except of course the temperature was in the 70s in…
After frequent anchoring, the bow roller bolts eventually would begin to jam and not turn easily. The anchor then would not freely deploy when released, and this also was causing wear on the stainless cheek plates on either side of the roller. The solution is to lubricate the bolt, but doing so requires removing the…
We love Whangarei. It’s a beautiful town, we enjoy the restaurants, and we have the primo spot in the Town Basin Marina in front of Reva’s restaurant. Another advantage of Whangarei is you can get great service work done at reasonable prices. A broad selection of trades is available in Whangarei and that is a…
Nordhavn delivers an unusually complete fuel manifold with far more flexibility than most production boats. In fact, the manifold is sufficiently complex that some new owners can find it difficult. More than once, I’ve heard of an owner accidentally closing the return path for the main engine or generator, leading to fuel leaks or, worse,…
One of our eight Lifeline AGM GPL-8DL batteries recently went into thermal runaway, and we’ve had a few questions on the nature of the problem and why we chose to replace the full house battery bank. The lazarette smoke/CO alarm had gone off at 3am, and upon investigating we found a rotten egg smell (hydrogen…
Most autopilots have NAV mode, which essentially asks the pilot to steer to a plotted route rather than just in a specific direction. It’s particularly useful in cross-currents and strong winds, or when travelling longer distances. NAV mode has not worked on our system since day one, and now that we’re doing longer trips it…
Steering is a great area to be picky about in overall mechanical system health. About three months back, we noticed a tiny amount of play at the spherical bearing that forms part of the rod end where the steering cylinder connects to the rudder. The play was minor, but spherical bearings should exhibit close to…
We’ve always maintained our boats with minimal bilge water and kept the bilges clean so the engine room doesn’t smell. We check the bilges as part of our regular engine room checks, so we can spot water leaks right way if the level increases, and mechanical leaks are obvious if an oily sheen forms on…
Dirona carries 1735 gallons of diesel for the main engine: 835 gallons in each side tank and 65 gallons in the day tank. (We also have a 10-gallon supply tank for the auxiliary engine). Although 1735 gallons would have been fine for the roughly 2,000nm trip between San Francisco and Hawaii, we added 532 gallons…
When we were deciding on equipment for the 52, one of the things we considered was replacing the standard Sub-Zero 700TCI refrigerator/freezer with one that is more energy-efficient. Home appliances, with self-defrosting freezers and ice makers, generally are designed for applications where power is plentiful. We’d heard complaints from other Nordhavn owners that the Sub-Zero…
We prefer to eat our meals, read and generally relax outdoors as much as possible. In the cool and sometimes rainy Pacific Northwest, this at times can be a challenge. But we’re motivated to make it work. On our previous boat, the covered aft deck allowed us to be outside even when rain was falling,…
For us, one of the keys to living comfortably in the small space of a boat is to reduce clutter and keep our frequently-used items easily accessible. Reducing clutter isn’t just for appearances–it also means we can leave the dock on a moments notice without having to spend a half-hour stowing loose items. And if…