Publish Date: Sunday, April 5, 2009
Location: Old Port Cove Marina, North Palm Beach, Florida
We’ve come to see James Knight at Yacht Tech in North Palm Beach, Florida. In the Nordhavn owners community, James is known as the man to see if you want your boat checked out. As a former commissioning manager for Nordhavn, he knows these boats inside and out, and he knows where to look for current and potential problems. James’ reputation for thoroughness, integrity, and quality are unparalleled.
I was a little apprehensive about what he might find aboard Three@Sea. We think she’s a great boat, and we’ve had very few problems during the eight months we’ve owned her. But having said that, I’m also sure I don’t know what I don’t know. Fortunately, I am relieved to report that James found her to be in very good shape. A little leak here, and some hose chafing there, but all in all, a pretty clean bill of health for Three@Sea. Whew!
Now for the fun part of the visit: We’re also having Yacht Tech install a couple upgrades that will be very useful. The first is a battery monitor. The more time we spend at anchor, the more I’ve come to realize the importance of knowing exactly how much power we’ve used from our house battery bank. Our batteries have a certain expected life, and if we treat them properly, they’ll be able to fulfill most of that expectation. Treating them right essentially means not discharging them too deeply, and charging them intelligently. The battery monitor will help me do that better, so it will be a welcome upgrade. By the way, Yacht Tech also tested our entire house battery bank to ascertain the current condition of the batteries, and they’re in good shape.
The second upgrade is a technology that I’ve nicknamed ‘ere I is (to be spoken with a think Irish accent) because that’s what it says to all the large commercial traffic that we encounter. The nickname is a bastardization of the real name: AIS. It is a peer-to-peer communications system that all commercial vessels are required to have, and an increasing number of private cruising vessels are beginning to install. It broadcasts our boat’s name, home port, position, course, and speed to all boats within range, and it receives that same information from all boats in range who have AIS transmitters. Our radar and plotter can overlay all AIS contacts on the screen, thereby enhancing our picture of what’s around us. Even better, in the pilothouse of that huge tanker bearing down on us, Three@Sea will show up clearly on the AIS screen (even if we’re invisible to its radar). Oh, I’m still going to get out of its way, but at least they’ll hear my AIS screaming, “HERE I IS!”