
Originally Posted by
Powhatan
Hello,
Short feed-back after 3 months sailing non-stop with more than 5,000 NM. The mediterranean in december was sometimes rough with winds up to 40 knots, but the boat did well. Atlantic passage was comfortable with fine winds and weather. Some issues to be considered :
- the sail plan after Nautitech recommendations is different for upwind and downwind, although the reference winds are always apparent wind. Moreover, it is recommended to reduce earlier downwind than upwind, for the same range of apparent wind. If this is not a print mistake, it seems illogical to me. I followed the upwind instructions for any kind of wind (I managed to be mostly downwind) and I found them accurate.
- the pieces holding the actuator arms of pilot and steering wheel on steering sectors are much too fragile, and they broke on both sides in the middle of Atlantic. So my spare pilot was useless. We managed with large bolts I had brought and daily check, and we arrived on the west side without problem. But this should not happen. I had big pieces of stainless built by FKG Rigging in St Maarten, nothing to be compared to the previous pieces, and they guaranteed that it would not break. After 400 M nothing has moved on each side.
- The cabins are more comfortable than I imagined, though the beds are a little short for me (6 ft). The lockers give enough room for a 3-week stay, not for liveaboard (Powhatan is a 4 cabin version). The aft port cabin has become a technical area, with all the batteries and thus all the stuff I added : 1,5 KW inverter, solar panels regulators, hydrogenerator regulator, watermaker. In total this makes weight which is not balanced by equivalent load on the stbd hull (there is only the BIB on stbd). I acknowledge I actually did not find any obvious consequence on navigation behaviour, but all this shoud be in a technical room dedicated to all additional components.
- I installed electric toilets, and I was happy to find electric cables already in the heads, the other end waiting behind the electric panel. There are other pre-installed cables for 12V network and other purposes. Good point to Nautitech.
- I tried to apply to Nautitech to order spare parts, after I had previous contacts with a Mr Colin at Bavaria-Nautitech. This man introduced himself as responsible for after sales and spare parts orders. After more than 12 days I have no response, despite of repeated recalls. Bad point to Nautitech.
- I have a question -I asked also Mr Colin !- : are the water tanks on aluminium or stainless ? When looking at them, I cannot decide !
Thank you.