|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Boat |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||
|
Major additions were the new Yanmar, New North Sails, new Glacier Bay Fridge/Freezer. North Sails has to rate as a best buy. Purchased from North Marina Del Ray (Thanks Bill Herrshaff) They make Naia move out. Great customer service and great product. We will be repeat buyers. Nai'a's Main is 7.7 oz NorDac as is the 90 percent Staysail. The 120% head sail is a spectra laminate that is 6 oz. Profurl on the head sails (new). Dutchman system on the main. Love them both. |
Nearing Cedros Island off Baha coast. |
|||
|
Old Port Marine sold us a Yanmar over the internet two years ago. They offered the lowest price in the U.S. and tremendous customer service. Always available to Q/A and they always have parts available. The Yanmar was finished off with an Aquadrive drive link and (Drivelines Inc, Seattle, WA) and an AutoProp, from AutoProp. The AutoProp was great from the standpoint of performance. Most thrust per horsepower. BUT, the problems it created were amazing and they were'nt much help. Steve Armitage tried to help, but, was of no real help. We ultimatly hired an engineer from West coast prop to figure out what was happening. The problem stem from the prop producing soooo much thrust that the new 1/1/2 inch stainless steel shaft would wobble. We had to considerably shorten the shaft to eliminate most of the wobble. The size of the prop also produces a great deal of noise as the prop is too small for the aperture. The result was a prop that cost us nearly twice the original cost for about a 10% gain in efficiency. Putting a fixed three blade prop eliminates all the problems, sans efficiency and control in reverse. Oh Well. |
||||
|
Other neat things on the boat include the water system. We have a Water Sterilizer (u.v.) three filters, Aqua Pro water producer and a Village marine Tech Reverse Osmosis Water maker. There will be NO jerry juging water on Nai'a. All works well. Only thing different here would be a larger capacity water maker. Ours produces 6 gallons per hour. Would much prefer a 20 gph for efficiency. Next boat. |
|
|||
|
Our absolute, most favorite, trouble free BEST BUY piece of equipment on board Nai'a is OUR VACUFLUSH TOILET! You might think we're anal. Well maybe....But, our toilet never clogs, never smells, uses very little electricity and very little water, it makes the holding tank last a long time and, knock on wood, has not required ANY maintenance for over 5 years of continuing liveaboard use. Say that about any salt water head! I don't think you can. Vacuflush Rules! We will always have one aboard. |
|
|||
 |
Electronics. Three GPS's, Two Sextants, Kenwood TS-50 HF (BESTBUY), HORIZON VHF and remote, furuno radar, Iridium phone, Orbcomm/Magellan email device(worst buy!). We will be switching to a ham email sometime in the future. The orbcomm is great in concept and poor in execution. The Magellan handheld unit is a piece of CRAP and support from Magellan is nonexistant. If it were'nt for LEI (Thanks Carole), a company that Magellan bought and is trying to intergrate, there would be NO customer service. Would NOT recommend Orbcomm service, or Magellan's GSC-100. Ours is for sale...cheap. One more thing about electronics, autopilots. Ours is an Alpha 3000 and has steered Nai'a 95 percent of the time she has been on the boat. One drive link failed when the motor went away. Trying to get it fixed from Alpha was almost enough to make me buy a new Pilot. Alpha customer service seems less than friendly...probably because I was trying to get it fixed during a Pacific Cup race and we are nobody's. The solution was to buy a new drive link and be done with Alpha. The pilot is still working great. But, they lost a customer with us. |
|||
|
CAN AMERICA PRODUCE A GREAT PRODUCT WITH GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE? Let us know if it exists. |
||||
