M/V Copeing

Good friends of ours, Ray and Susan Cope, aboard M/V Copeing, a sister boat to ours have just begun an over night crossing of the Gulf of Mexico. This is some where close to their 35th crossing. Pictured above is a shot we took of Copeing as we were traveling north in 2009

They have recently purchased a Spot Tracker, a newer version to the one we have, so you can watch their progress.

They are headed through the Fla Keys and up the east coast to get out of hurricane season. Somewhere later this year we will join up with them for our 11-12 cruise to the islands.

Pictured is from the left, Ray and Susan Cope, Jeannie Coyle and Rene and Tommy Clauss. This was taken when we anchored in Cuddyhunk MA.

Thruster props..err ..which way to go

I had Seabright on the hard for a bottom job which included cleaning and painting the thruster props both  bow and stern. The final job looked really great!

When we splashed back into the water earlier this week, as per my usual routine, I checked all of the systems. When checking the thrusters, to my surprise, turning the thruster joy stick to the port I got the opposite thrust to the starboard. For both bow and stern the actual thrust was opposite to the joy stick controller. Not good...errr!

What I found was, the yard put the thruster props on wrong, reversing them causing the opposite thrust to occur. Frankly I did not know you could do this. I guess there is a first for everything.

Initially I thought the yard would need to haul me out and reverse the props back to the correct place or get a diver to do it. Certainly not on my dime. As I was working up my righteous indignation for such a yard mistake, I called American Bow Thruster (ABT) and found that that you can easily change the wires on the directional control valves, for both bow and stern, which in effect reverses the direction of the props and solved the problem. Took about 10 min to call and 10 min to fix, done! Here is a schematic of a typical install http://www.thrusters.com/products/hydraulics.shtm

I do not mean to belabor the point but I want to comment on ABT technical support.

When this happened I got on the phone and called the service rep who has been on my boat from our sea trail on, Daryl, a nice guy. He was traveling and I could not reach him (I left a message and he called later, when he landed).  I spoke with a friend who gave me the name of the Service Manager in CA, who answered on the second ring. I told him of the issue, and he gave me a clear and concise solution.

When a company has great customer support (heck, you call, they answer and know their stuff, no mean feat these days) they do not always get a lot of public credit, as those giving crappy service and get a much deserved public drubbing.  Maybe it is human nature that when you are unhappy with something you let others know it.

ABT, in my experience has been excellent from day one and for over two years always helpful  in providing great service. I think they are a good company with a really great product and I have been consistently pleased with the level of follow up help and support....my recent experience just reinforces this notion.

I like to judge companies not always by the problems I might have, it is naive to think that every product will be trouble free especially on today's complicated boats. Rather I like to judge them on how well do they respond when you do have a problem... That in my view separates  the average to mediocre from the really great.

Contrast this with Trace Inverter the problems I have had, google it,  http://www.google.com/search?q=trace+inverter+problems&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a and you find problems with both the product as well as service problem and resolutions.
Being fair, while taking way too long to fix (5 weeks and counting), the jury is out on how well they solve the problems. The internet make it hard for companies to hide problems and unhappy customers.

Yard time

Since returning home Seabright and crew have been having a bit of a down time after our daughter Katie's wedding and son Johnny's college graduation, both within 12 days of each other. Seabright has been living the high life getting  pampered in a boat yard. Kind of like having a hairdo, manicure and a massage for boats. Ahh

A bottom job, new zincs and re-certifying the Givens life raft were on the list of pampering items.

This year for the second time in a row I have opted to paint the running gear, both thrusters props and shafts with Pettit Zinc Coat Barnacle Barrier. It is sprayed on and we have four coats applied. I have had great success so far. When we pulled the boat a few weeks ago, there was minimal to no growth on the metal surfaces except for the edges of the props.  That is either due to the greater cavitation that wore down the paint or we were in skinny waters where sand was kicked up causing some abrasion? Bottom line, it held up well.

In the past, have used just plain old bottom paint which did not work particularly well and Prop Speed. PS is pricey and finicky to get it right; the right temperature, humidity and a skilled application. If not, results are iffy. In the past I have had one prop do well and the other not so well. Anything that breaks the barrier causes it to deteriorate.

There are owners who think PS is the best thing since sliced bread and others who think it is a waste of time and money. I am somewhere in between and look to find good solutions that have a less formidable price tag. http://www.propspeedusa.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5&Itemid=6

We went to the yard with only one problem, our Trace inverter. Said simply, it was having problems switching from a power source to invert mode when we disconnected to from shore power. Trace was acquired by Xantrex, which was acquired recently by a French Company. The bottom line: they do not make this inverter anymore but do provide support. It is still under warranty, but needed a new control board. Of course it was not in stock and had to be made and the parts ordered to make it. With luck the repaired inverter should be back to the yard in a week to ten days, for a total time  at the service center of about 5 weeks. Errr!
In researching this unit I found a host of user complaints about performance and service, try Googling Trace inverter problems http://www.google.com/search?q=trace+inverter+problems&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a . Similar stories in talking with friends. On the positive side it is under warranty so we will see how well this performs and if this is the fix that does it.
We sit at the yard nice and spiffy on the underside waiting for the inverter, then we are back out on the water

One last comment, we think our Givens Life Raft (eight person canister type) http://www.givensliferafts.com/   was a great investment and like other investments it needs to be maintained.
Our closest service center is in Baltimore MD where they remove it from the canister and inflate it, testing for pressure for about three days, then repack it and update the expired items as needed; http://www.givensliferafts.com/liferafts/service/servicemain.html