Tips
About New Boats
Because of the long business boom, it seems
that everybody and his dog is getting into the boat building business.
On the other side of the coin, boat building yards that used to do lots
of commercial fishing boats are finding themselves without work, due to
the decline in the commercial fishing industry. The transition to building
pleasure craft is not without it's difficulties, many yards will not succeed.
Here is a list of some of the problems I have seen.
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Inexperience at installing pleasure craft
machinery.
-
Installations not done according to equipment
manufacturers recommendations.
-
Failure to read the installation instructions.
-
Hidden wiring for electronics installed in
such a way as to be totally unmaintainable. (Rats nest wiring).
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Wiring without any markers.
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Fuel systems engineered and installed that
must fail.
-
Fire Extinguishing systems so dangerous the
system itself, not a fire, is a threat to those aboard.
-
Steering/Handling so unstable as to be a threat
in close quarters as well as in large seas. Not obvious if testing done
in calm water.
-
Equipment installed, later found to contain
no working parts!
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Wiring using untinned wire. Leads to serious
corrosion.
-
Air Conditioning systems that leak freshwater
condensate into sub flooring.
-
Discontinuous welding. Leads to rusting within
days at sea.
-
Pin hole leaks in the covered over exhaust
system.
-
Failure to include manuals for every
piece of equipment on board. Doors, port lights, flooring materials, engines,
gen sets.
-
Dinghy hold down systems totally inadequate
in rough seas.
-
Hydraulic systems with inaccessible hoses.
Impossible to find leaks.
-
Equipment requiring routine inspection installed
such as to be inaccessible or, such that it can't be reinstalled after
inspection.
-
Shutoff valves that can't be turned or accessed.
-
Failure to separate electronic data cables
from interference.
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Multiple grounding locations. Leads to corrosion.
-
Jamming electronic equipment into pilothouse
such that it can't be worked on.
-
Frequently used electric circuits turned on/off
solely by the circuit breaker.
-
In some cases breakers next to each other
that control equipment that will be destroyed if accidentally engaged.
I would not mention these things were it not
for the fact that fixing problems of this nature, after the fact, is even
more expensive than the original installation.
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2000. Michael Maurice. All rights reserved.