Hello Simon & fellow Listiods, here is part #2 of saga Over the winter of 2003/2004 I made frequent trips to the Aquanaut factory while "Legrace" was under construction. You can see construction photos at http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/bob-w@swbell.net/my_photos It was a bit un-real watching the construction, was this really the boat we had been dreaming about? The construction process was roughly; steel shop, paint shop, systems shop, carpentry shop then back to the systems shop. "Legrace" is a US Documented Vessel so I went through the process of applying for the Certificate. After reading about all the delays the USCG was experiencing in 2003 after switching to a new computer system, I was very concerned about getting the Certificate quickly - people were talking about waiting 4 to 6 months. That would have been a show stopper for our cruising plans. I called the National Vessel Documentation Center (very nice & helpful over the phone) and got all the necessary forms. Aquanaut filled out the Builder's Certificate and I mail it along with my form & the check in late December 2003. Now this was a bit of a mistake, a deviation from the normal process because it was filed too early - like 4 months before delivery. But we needed the registration number so it could be mounted inside the hull during construction & I really couldn't wait 4 or 5 months after delivery to get the Registration Certificate. A number of emails & phone calls finally got everything straightened out so that on Friday, 16 April the delivery day, Aquanaut faxed a letter to the NVDC saying the "Legrace" had been delivered and the NVDC FedEx the Certificate to us - it arrived on following Monday! I had previously applied to the FCC for the ship's radio license, so now we had all the required pieces of paper. The other "interesting" task I had during construction was supplying all the 110V/60Hz appliances, 110V electrical outlets and the other US systems I wanted like the Gulf Coast F-1 fuel filter and the X-Change-R oil changer. Aquanaut didn't have a supplier for US electrical outlets, in fact for non-continental customers, like UK customers, Aquanaut asks them to supply the wall outlets. The previous summer, 2003, our son came over to cruise with us on "Caroline" from Paris back to Amsterdam. He brought with him about 15 or so electrical outlets, mounting boxes and face plates - the odd things boaters carry in their luggage, surprised he wasn't questioned! The appliances, specifically the microwave/convection oven, dishwasher and washer/dryer, were a problem because Aquanaut's normal suppliers couldn't provide 110V/60Hz units. So I went Internet shopping while we were living in Scotland. The GE microwave/convection oven was easy to find. The washer/dryer was a bit more difficult. I looked for a German Miele unit but they didn't make a combo unit that operates on 60Hz power, so finally selected the Italian Splendide unit. Talked with the US supplier; no I couldn't get one dropped ship from the factory direct to Aquanaut, had to come from their warehouse in Indiana. The choice of dishwasher was based on a recommendation by Polly Lane. Polly was the editor assigned by Passagemaker magazine to work with us on an article in early 2003. She and her husband installed a Fisher/Paykel Dish Drawer on their GB and she loves it. I looked the specs and then went Internet shopping. (Lynn loves it too, really a neat unit plus water & energy efficient and a great size for a boat). An international shipping company in Chicago was to handle the shipping to the Netherlands. Everything was to be sent to their warehouse, they would consolidate it on pallets and load them into a shipping container leaving the east coast and arriving Rotterdam the first week of December - plenty of time to get to Aquanaut when "Legrace" moved from the paint shop to the systems shop in January. It was the first week of November, everything was ordered including the Gulf Coast F-1 and the X-Change-R (both very nice companies to deal with by the way). First problem, all the shipments to the warehouse in Chicago were to have a code identifying them of consolidation. Wasted a week tracing everything down with emails and phone calls - everything had been delivered to the warehouse but had to use UPS tracking codes to prove to the warehouse that they had actually received the items & signed for them. Eventually they found everything and got the shipment on its way - 1 1/2 weeks late and missed the first ship's sailing date. Shipment arrived in Rotterdam a week before Christmas. An agent in Rotterdam was to handle import forms, etc.; next set of problems, incomplete paper work & the Christmas holidays. During my early January visit to the Aquanaut factory, we got on the phone and sent faxes to the Rotterdam agent. The shipment finally made to Aquanaut in early February. April 16th, delivery day - boy were we excited! Lynn & I couldn't believe she was our boat. After looking at so many new Aquanauts, we both felt like this must be someone else's boat. It actually took about a week to get over the feeling and really believe she was our boat. The delivery day was busy; went on a short familiarizing cruise with Mark Bakker the managing director of Aquanaut, fax & email to the NVDC, writing a big check (the wire transfer reached our Dutch bank account that morning!), plus having a bit of champagne with friends who keep their boats at Aquanaut's harbor too. We spent the next two days moving our "stuff" on board - we had stored several large boxes the previous August with American friends who lived in Sneek. Sunday night was our first night on-board. Over the next two weeks we made multiple trips for groceries and to local boat stores. Aquanaut still had a few more tasks to complete and several parts were delayed by suppliers. So that first week was spent storing all the "stuff" then re-storing whenever we had a "better" idea (then for the next month asking "Honey, do you remember where we put ---?"), having mechanics come & go, sitting down with Rik, the head mechanic, for a long question & answer session about how things work, etc. Some of Aquanaut's unfinished tasks were things that required our input, like positioning of the captain chairs at the outside helm, where did we want the bell mounted, and so on. Our first outings were short, 3 or 4 hour, runs around the lakes & canals near Sneek. I was very concerned about running the engine too slowly. I had called John Deere technical support the previous year with some questions. During the conversation, the John Deere engineer specifically stressed the need to run the engine hard during the break-in period, "don't baby it" were his exact words. This was a problem when running in the immediate vicinity of Sneek because of the low speed limits on the canals. Most Dutch canals have either a 6 km/hr, 10 km/hr or 12.5 km/hr speed limits (3.25, 5.4 and 6.75 knots) to control bank erosion. Some of the near by lakes allow higher speeds and have designated water skiing areas but the only place where we could really run "hard" was out on the IJsselmeer lake. The IJsselmeer is an interesting lake, very big, shallow (mostly 3 to 5 meters) and separated from the sea to the north by a 32 km long dike. It has a reputation for being very rough & dangerous when the winds pick up because of the short steep waves that develop. We have been out on it with Force 4 to 5 winds generating 1.5 to 2 meter waves that were very un-comfortable and at Force 6 or above it is a "no go" for us. But the weather was favorable so it was off to the IJsselmeer. All together we spent a week+ running up & down and back & forth across the IJsselmeer. Fortunately there are some of our favorite towns and villages surrounding the lake, like Medemblik, Enkhuizen, Urk, Stavoren and Lemmer. Our typical day would be running for 5 to 7 hrs. then spending the night in one of the villages. After 5 or 6 days then we would head back to Aquanaut for any corrections and for fresh produce & groceries at market day in Sneek. Since we had extensively cruised this area the past two summers on "Caroline" we didn't do much sightseeing. During these runs up and down the IJsselmeer I would be working with the radar, chart electronic chart plotting and the autopilot. The autopilot is great, with following seas it steers better than I can do by hand. I also did speed checks with the GPS at various rpm's. Interesting thing, our previous boat, "Caroline" a 12.35 meter Linssen 40SE, had a 192 hp Volvo Penta engine and weighed around 12,400 kg., her top speed was right at 9 knots. "Legrace" has a longer waterline, displacement hull, 135 hp engine and weighs 4,000 kg more; her top speed is right at 9 knots too. I didn't expect giving up 57 hp and adding 4,000 kg would result in the same top speeds, within 0.1 knot + or - In early June we took "Legrace" to Amsterdam to meet friends and attend a wedding. Back in Sneek we did the first oil changes on the engine and generator. I know there were a number of items Aquanaut worked on during this period but the only one that required repeated attention was a hydraulic steering fluid drip around the rudder steering cylinder. It always appeared to be around the hose connections. One "interesting" failure during our first run on the IJsselmeer was the bell falling off its mounting arm, it made a heck of clang & dent in the aft cabin stairs - a bit of Lock Tight on the bolt solved the problem. At the end of June we traveled to Harlingen on the north coast to do export paper work with a customs agent. After waiting out a Force 9 storm for 3 days, we took "Legrace" across the Waddenzee to the off shore island of Terschelling - "Legrace" first taste of saltwater. There is a nice harbor at West Terschelling and we spent several days bicycling around the island. From Terschelling we went offshore into the North Sea down to Den Helder. This was a very uncomfortable 6 hr run, we were running with a 1.5 to 2 knot tide against the wind in 1.5 to 2 meter seas - lots of rocking & rolling, the boat was fine but the crew suffered. We crossed the main channel entering Den Helder from the North Sea as a Dutch navy frigate was coming out. Now we were crossing the channel at a right angle, he was approaching from our left so we "had right-of-way" and he was 2+ miles away. But the sight of him barreling toward us sure made Lynn nervous, she is use to big barges passing by only a few meters away on tight canals but the sight of that frigate at over a mile was something new (well ok, it made me a bit nervous too so I "gunned" it a little to make sure we were well out of his way). Made one more stop back at the Aquanaut factory then we headed south looking for some place warmer to spend the winter. What else did we learn? One thing was docking & handling in tight quarters. "Caroline" with the "high speed" Volvo Penta TAMD-41A (3800 rpm WOT) had a much slower idle speed when docking. The John Deere 4045TFM has a bigger displacement, a lower 2500 RPM max and lots of torque. "Legrace's" idle speed is about 2.75 knots which is much faster and especially noticeable in tight quarters. I find that coasting slowly in neutral and using the thrusters for steering works very well. Learning how to use the integrated electronics was another area, especially becoming familiar with the radar and chart plotter controls to easily & quickly switch between displays and functions. I had purchased RayTech charting software a year early to become familiar with. After reading all the various T&T posts about charting software problems and integration difficulties, I was expecting problems getting it to work with all the Raymarine electronics. The initial compatibility problem was quickly solved by adding an impedance adaptor on the HSB2 connection to the laptop. Then the only other issue was to boot up the laptop first before turning on the electronics (otherwise the laptop thinks there is a mouse connected to the serial port). Those have been the only issues. The laptop is not a "dedicated" machine, I use it for many things (including this email) but I have not experienced any lock-ups or failures while cruising. The laptop is a 3 1/2 year old Dell Latitude running Windows 2000. That's enough for this post, a couple more to follow. Bob & Lynn Williamson MV Legrace Aquanaut Drifter 1250 AK

> > >The choice of dishwasher was based on a recommendation by Polly Lane. >Polly was the editor assigned by Passagemaker magazine to work with us >on an article in early 2003. She and her husband installed a >Fisher/Paykel Dish Drawer on their GB and she loves it. I looked the >specs and then went Internet shopping. (Lynn loves it too, really a neat >unit plus water & energy efficient and a great size for a boat). I have one of these and I can't praise it enough. It runs just fine off a 2KW sine wave inverter, gets the dishes astoundingly clean on its short thirty minute cycle and makes absolutely no noise. Best, Steve Steve Dubnoff 1966 Willard Pilothouse www.mvnereid.com sdubnoff@circlesys.com