[PUP] Quality of crafts in general - radar -

[Peter Pisciotta]

> Please quote, everyone, from your experiences and
> craft, what it would take to install a new cable 
> up the masthead and or to the bow winch or 
> bowthruster.

In an emergency, about 45 minutes (assumes adequate
supplies), of course the wire/cable isn't properly
secured, but the function is restored for the time
being. Full installation, it depends. No more than a
day. When the time cost of money is factored in, its
WAY cheaper to wait until it breaks (I'd rather pay
$1000 in 20 years than $300 today). I know of a lot of
battery cable that is over 30 years old and still
going strong. And that assumes the correct back-up
cable/wire was installed during construction. A good
rigger can have masthead cable installed in a couple
hours, add another couple hours to get it to the
instruments.

But Hannu, most electricians I know tell me
switches/solonoids are the primary culprit in
failures, not wire. Should redundant swtiches be
installed?

Sure I've seen equipment failures, and I've seen some
questionable installations. I wish boats were like
cars where they roll off an assembly line with very
few errors. But they boats people buy today are highly
complex, highly integrated, highly custom pieces of
equipment - dozens of pumps, motors, computers, and
other systems. To expect them to operate perfectly on
Day 1 is a recipe for disappointment. 

To read Hannu's posts, full of facts and figures
(which, to Bob A's point, are mostly counter to my
experience and observation), would lead one to believe
boats are a piece of junk and the only way out of the
mess is to cruise without radar, without EPIRB,
without chartplotters, etc. Yes, they require work and
yes things break. If someone is not reasonably handy
or incredibly wealthy, cruising will be a very
frustrating experience. No different now than 50 years
ago.

But Hannu wants examples. Nordhavn did the around the
world trip, and the Atlantic crossing which also
included a couple Krogen's with at least one owner of
the company (Krogen) aboard. Real-world testing of
what works. What breaks. Even SeaRay does a lot of
integration testing and designs their helms around the
requirements of electronics, as does Meridian and
other middle-tier production boat builders.

I just haven't seen the issues that Hannu has - to me,
it's a solution looking for a problem. I'd rather take
my chances trying to fix a broken radar at some time
in the future rather than hope I see a buoy/ship/land
in the fog without it.

Peter
Willard 36 Sedan
San Francisco