This CHANGES EVERYTHING!
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- čas přidán 27. 07. 2024
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This CHANGES EVERYTHING!
What you’re about to see changes everything for us. Over the past 8 months we’ve hand steered our catamaran almost 5,000 nautical miles. While crossing the Pacific our autopilot ram stopped working near Galapagos and since then our hands have firmly gripped the helm; sailing throughout French Polynesia, battling fatigue to navigate wind and waves, arriving finally in Tahiti, where not one, but two autopilot rams are waiting for us. Settle in to join us for this transformative journey.
#boatlife #sailinglife #autopilot
Have you seen the 5 Pacific Passage videos?
Part 1 • SAILING ACROSS the PAC...
Part 2 • SAILING ACROSS the PAC...
Part 3 • CHASING the TRICKY TRA...
Part 4 • What is LIFE AT SEA Re...
Part 5 • AUTOPILOT FAILURE in t...
What about the Pacific Passage Prep videos?
Part 1 • Preparing Our PERFORMA...
Part 2 • PROVISIONING + PREPARI...
Part 3 • Preparing to SAIL ACRO...
If you're new here, Harbors Unknown is the story of two dreamers, Kristin & Fabio Potenti, & our dog Yoda. We're a small family living aboard our catamaran, SV Wanderlust, sailing to Harbors Unknown. Exploring the world, connecting with people and places through the local cuisine, and showing how great food can be cooked on a boat with limited space and resources. Seeking to balance the desire to explore and travel to beautiful, remote locations while leaving no footprint, minimizing the Hawthorne effect of the observers who change the environment she or he observes.
We hope to inspire people and showcase the possibility of living an alternative lifestyle that provides freedom and fulfillment, all while keeping it real. Sharing the trials and tribulations of living off-grid, acknowledging the discomfort of detoxing from the modern world, finding pleasure in the subtleties of nature and joy in simplicity. Attempting to understand what makes the world tick and tock but also trying to gain a deeper comprehension of ourselves and identify what will satisfy that hunger for further exploration, for purpose. We have set off on our voyage sailing around the world! Subscribe now to join our sailing adventure.
Have you watched our videos in Panama?
BOAT LIFE: The DIRTY SECRET We All Struggle With • BOAT LIFE: The DIRTY S...
Realities of OFF-GRID LIVING and SAILING in San Blas Islands • Realities of OFF-GRID ...
SAILING, DIVING + Cooking in Paradise - BOAT LIFE in San Blas Islands
• SAILING, DIVING + Cook...
BOAT LIFE DREAM Come True - San Blas Islands Panama
• BOAT LIFE DREAM Come T...
Start Watching from the Beginning!
Our Seawind 1600 Catamaran, Wanderlust, is Finally Here • Our Seawind 1600 Catam...
Seawind 1600 Catamaran Wanderlust Boat Tour Part 1
• Seawind 1600 Catamaran...
Seawind 1600 Catamaran Wanderlust - Boat Tour Part 2 + Performance Review
• Seawind 1600 Catamaran...
Making Our Seawind 1600 Catamaran a Home - Spectra Watermaker, Wi-Fi + More
• Making Our Seawind 160...
Seawind 1600 Catamaran - Performance in Light Wind on a Sail to Key West
• Seawind 1600 Catamaran...
TIMECODES
00:00-03:49 Getting Settled in Tahiti
03:50-08:55 A Trip Down Memory Lane
08:56-17:00 Prior to Installation
17:01-22:30 Installation
22:31-25:26 Final Tweaks + Testing
![Sailing with the BEST DOWNWIND SAIL [FIRST TIME] on our Seawind 1600 Catamaran](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/y_Q1IjDarfU/mqdefault.jpg)
What a ton of work......just worth it I'm sure. OMG 😱 WOW ‼️ What an ending with Mo'orea on the horizon. Just beautiful. 😊 See you next time. ✨ 🌊 💨 ⛵️ 🏝️ 👙 🌞
Thank you so much!!😊
I also liked the fabrication part of the video that another commenter mentioned, but man - watching y’all thread the needle getting that 52ft boat into that tight slip in 20kts of wind was impressive. Your boat handling skills and teamwork have grown SO much since y’all started the channel. Thanks for the videos!
Thank you so much!! Some mistakes and bumps on the road here and there will teach you well!! 😊😊
Congrats on the new autopilot. Nice handiwork. Hope this solves your problems and you are able to enjoy miles and miles without hand steering. Enjoy French Polynesia, it is beautiful. Cheers.
Thank you so much! We are looking forward to some “hands off” sailing 😂
Loved the video and history of the auto pilot. I can't imagine sailing from Galapagos to the Marquesas by hand. I hand steered from Miami to Ft Lauderdale for ASA class and I am sure glad auto pilots exists. I felt very distracted trying to keep heading.
😊 you got that right!! Hand steering, especially downwind and in big swells keeps you on your toes, but it’s all good and we had a great crew for most of the trip. With only two people night passages are tough. Thanks for watching and for your comment 😊😊
I was happy to see this episode wahhhhhhwhooooo new autopilot!!! Awesome teamwork on new auto pilot installation and pro docking in that super tight space!! Stay safe out there!!
Thank you Tim!! We finally have help😂😂
FYI you can park a dinghy very close to that marine store and save lots of walking. Look for a bridge next to a fishing boat marina just down the road from there. Park your dinghy almost under the bridge and less than 5 minutes later you're there.
Thank you!! We wanted to do that but our dinghy was jail locked between the boat and the dock with no way to get out 🤨! I guess if we count the number of times we walked to STH Marine we should have moved the boat and take the dinghy out😂.
A functioning autopilot! A well deserved milestone. 🎉🍀🎉🍀🎉
Thank you so much!! It is fantastic and hopefully will last 😊🤞
Fears are nothing more than a state of mind.
😊💪😊😊
Wonderful jobs and well compilated history of the adventures!
You guys are so resilient !
Amazing people!!!!
Thank you Hiro!!
Lots of tests but a beautiful spot to be in.
😊🤩 thank you 🙏
Excellent work Fabio. Pretty soon you'll have an honorary engineering degree! If i might suggest it, look up a lineman's splice for your wiring connections. Use that to join the wire strands and still use shrink wrap, but solder the connections first instead of the butt connector. You'll be less likely to see corrosion or have high resistance bite you later on a soldered splice. The lineman's splice is stronger than twisting wire so the connection won't be pulled apart easily.
Thank you for your suggestion on the lineman splice! 😊😊
So great that you folks got to become pals with Brooke and Gary…what a small world. Hugs, 🤗
🤩🤩 thank you so much!! Gary and Brooke are wonderful people, and so are you 😊😊
Great job on installing the new ram.
😊 thank you so much!!
I like the two autopilots. Redundancy. Hope this works out for you guys. It looks great. I like the stopper box. Good idea. I'd mark those bolts - if they ever move on their own add another nut to lock them down. Fabio's probably already put Loctite on them. I just can't imagine 12 hours a day of steering every day for weeks.
& Watch out with that acetone. That's what started the fire on the Lagoon 50 , owned by Barefoot Doctors Sailing YT channel. If you haven't seen the latest video. An electrician was doing some work at the same time another worker was using acetone. The heavier than air fumes settled into the bilge, a spark set them off.... (I've got a can of acetone on my boat. ) I guess gas locker? So long as it vents out the bottom. No matter how good the seal I think all those tins seem to vent. My sealed but half empty gallon cans of WestSystems Epoxy Resin always end up with a lot of water in them if I leave them for a year or two.
The next back ups are replacement seals for the hydraulic rams. I spent a week on a Fontaine Pajot with bad seals. You could turn the wheel round and round in circles and the rudders would do nothing. You could only steer by quick jerks. Speaking of jerks, the Dream Yacht Charter company knew this but hadn't fixed it (instead they gave the captain who knew about it another boat, and 'upgraded' us.... ) I looked into it. If you have the seals replacing them isn't that difficult. The hard part is getting the seals.
Thank you for all your advice and comments as always. I did put on lock nut on each side of the bolts for the stoppers and added locktite. )not shown in the video. Wow did not realize that acetone was the cause of fire on barefoot doctor, they were in Dania Beach not far from us. We met them at the boat show a couple of years ago and they did a boat review of the Seawind 1600 using Wanderlust.
Thank you as always!
Just starting this episode and you have stimulated my brain with a flood of memories. Lived in Maine and sailed the east coast of North America for 25 years. Hand steered every nautical mile. Sailed to Nantucket and got married on the beach at Brandt Point light house. Now we're are planning to be where you are and living in Florida. 🎉😊
Happy to hear that!! Florida is a great place to be but the beauty of New England and Maine is unsurpassed 😊😊
A day without repairs is a good day. Cheers for another great video.
Thank you so much!! 😊 we yet have to experience that 😂😂😂
Finally. Congratulations 🎉
😊😊😊 thank you!!
Yay🎉
Thank you for watching 😊😊😊
That T2 you sent back better not end up on our NEW BOAT!!! ;) So glad you're happily sipping rum while Otto steers again!
😂😂😂 how do you know that the coffe e mug had rum?😊😊 I scratched a little F (not F for Fabio, F for F$&@) on the side of the RAM prior to returning it, make sure you don’t see it on your autopilot 😂
I would be devastated without my auto pilot. You guys are true warriors.
Thank you for watching!! It did teach us how much we love it 😊
Hope seawind are helpful, you coming to nz ?
@Mrlang74 we are working closely with Seawind and they have been very supportive. We will be coming to NZ November 2024 and are looking forward to it😊😊
I knew Fabio had good eyesight when he spotted the distressed divers, but "do you see air?" - that's showing off. Nice work.
Thank you so much!! We were all lucky to be there to help! 😊
Being a business owner, I cringe watching these autopilot videos for the Seawind 52. If this had been my company, I would have made sure that the autopilot issues were resolved ASAP, because that is such a huge inconvenience and the problem is so public. We own an FP Elba 45 owners version and love the boat, never having had autopilot issues even coming down the East coast of the US last week from Annapolis in 37 knots wind. This needs to stop people from buying Seawind catamarans since they can't seem to be able to figure out what autopilot is required on their boats.
Thank you for your comment!! Our was hull #6 and really the first to sail real oceans. We worked with SW and Gurit, the engineers who designed the steering system and they have addressed the issue in subsequent hulls. We are now retrofitting new systems and we are next in line. FP is a great boat, more production oriented and many more hulls produced and many more opportunities to fix issues that arise in newer models.
FP Elba 45 and Seawind 1600 are 2 different boats with different uses and specs, both wonderful in their unique ways and loved by their owners. 😊😊😊
Thank you for watching our videos!
I think the reason your boat stressed out the T2 ram is that your lifting cassette style rudders are unbalanced - meaning that all of the rudder blade is aft of the pivot point. Different from the rudders on my Atlantic 55 which are a conventional design with some of the rudder blade ahead of the rudder post which greatly reduces the steering effort.
I have a B&G H5000 Pilot with the T2 and it’s held up well. We did have some system issues that B&G wasn’t very helpful in resolving (though we did eventually sort it out) which brings me to my second point - we have a Raymarine autopilot installed on the other rudder. Not integrated to the B&G system in any way, has its own compass. Dead-nuts simple setup. Trouble with the B&G? Breaker off. Turn on Ray breaker, back in action. True redundancy.
Keep it going, we’re a couple years behind you in our Wandering but we’ll get there eventually 😊
Interesting observation about the rudder position, possibly has to do with the fact that the rudders are retractable. I love the Atlantic 55 and I am a big fan of Chris White!
I also applaud the idea of a separate autopilot computer not connecting the B&G system and able to keep course even if everything else bites the dust! Great decision. Thanks for watching our videos
great content and an awesome piece of engineering, hats off to you guys.
🤩🤩thank you for watching and for the very kind comment😊😊
As I’ve said before, you two are amazing!! Fair winds and following seas
Thank you so much Mom! We really appreciate your comments 😍
You are both amazing! Great job, clean installation, perfectly PRO! Well done! Wow, that memory lane reminded me for how long I've been travelling with you! Great times and there's a lot more to come. Fair winds my friends! See you on the next video!
Thank you Jose!! Looking forward to some reprieve from hand steering 😊😊😊
@@HarborsUnknown well deserved! But you run the risk of missing it sometimes ;)
😂😂😂
Congratulations, I'm so happy for you both that this Ram will finally fix the problem. Yay!!! I've been watching you from the start and I couldn't remember all the places you've been. I might have to go back and re-watch some of those sailing legs, LOL. It must be a huge relief knowing that you are back on the water without having to do all the hard work. Bring on the fishing and cooking videos again!
Fair 💨's and following 🌊's!
Thank you so much, it’s been awesome to sail with a working autopilot 😊😊😊
BIG FABIO SEMPRE HOMEM GRANDE
🔥
muito obrigado por assistir nosso vídeo e pelo seu comentário!
MERRY CHRISTMAS ✨ 🎄 ✨
Same to you 😊😊🎄🎄
Whoever sent that first part did an awful job of packing it! If they had added padding it might have made it in one piece.? Hope the newest one works! Safe travels ❤
😊 thank you for watching, thankfully we were able to replace the damaged high pressure hose here in Tahiti. It seems to work well. We also have the second one on board (which will not be installed until we do the refit in May). We have learned a lot about shipping to distant places. If you have a damaged part shipping back is very hard, so we decided to give it ourselves and pay for it🤨
Great job with replacing auto pilots. And wow the problem with the originals and why they kept breaking down was because they were actually the wrong size originally put in by builder. You lucked out there $$$$$$. Enjoy your sailing adventure catch you next video
Thank you so much!! We feel very fortunate, great support from SW who worked with B&G. 😊😊😊
Great going from T2 to T3...that doesn't explain the electronics dying though. In addition lets just hope no more bolts snap before the rest gets replaced! Fabio getting a lot better at repairing things!
Thank you so much!! You are sooooo right, hopefully we will not find the next weak link😂. Practice makes perfect, we are slowly learning how to fix things, an essential skill for cruising. Thanks for watching and for your comment.😊
Great work done by you guys! My only concern would be the attacmentbolt for the ram at the steering arm. That bolt I feel should be matching the ramm ball diameter rather than having a bushing to compensate for the lack of size. Remember the massive power applied by the new ram.
Also when you can, in high speeds lift the rudders, you don't need that surface when the speed increase above two digits.
Good luck with your travels and fingers crossed - no more autopilot issues🤞 Fair winds for all your sailing.
Thank you for your comment! You are 100% correct the stud to the rotating arm is much undersized, unfortunately it is integral part of the assembly and cannot be changed. It is clearly our next weak link. In May Seawind is changing the entire assembly with a properly sized attachment. Hopefully it will lust until then.
As far as sailing with the rudders partially up, we have tried but the rudders are tapered to fit the bushings in the cassette and unless fully inserted they move back and forth in the cassette and damage the leading edges. ( learned the hard way)
I can keep them lifted motoring at low speed in shallow water 🙏😊😊
Been seeing a lot of seawind issues lately kinda makes one wonder if they know what they are doing 🤔 not for me I would pass.
@walterwinn2842 😊😊 there is a boat for everyone! We are very happy with our SW especially when it comes to performance. 😊😊 thanks for watching and for your comment
Good to see you are on top of the issues mentioned👍 Seawind should really change the rudder cassette design to accommodate for fully supported rudders when lifted to 50% of full length. But Seawind is a great company so hopefully they learn from your hard earned experiences🙂@@HarborsUnknown
@larssolem2507 😊😊💪💪 thank you
Whoever packaged the ram should have known that the top pipe is exposed to damage a wrapped cardboard around it.
You would think right?? Interestingly the second T3 shipped by B&G directly was in a much sturdier box. Thanks for watching 😊😊
I really love this channel. You both are a wonderful team. Thank you for the videos!
I am curious about the torque on the extension plate for the T3, as it is outrigged from the original mounting spot. Can you do a brief explanation of the direction of forces on the new mounting plate imparted by the T3 hydrolic ram? Should there be a block under the new mounting spot to prevent flex, or is the plate sufficiently thick to prevent this? Hopefully this new arrangement doesn't pry up the old mounting location.
Thank you for watching!! Great question, I am not an expert but by my calculations the approximate flexural rigidity for the 1 cm thick, 10 cm wide, and 18 cm long stainless steel plate, fixed at one end, is approximately 1608 Newton meter squared, basically you could put almost 900 kg on the unsupported end. I think that the fiberglass support would rip off before bending the plate. I did put holes on the unsupported end planning for a block but later found that was probably unnecessary. With the new refit the plate will be substituted with a new fiberglass support eliminating the lever force of offsetting the AP base.
The AP works in line with the base and there shouldn’t be any vertical forces on it.
I was just a surgeon and I am just guessing 😂
Thanks for the comment 😊😊
Great video. I enjoyed some of the fabrication, especially the stop bracket. I hope that stud on the quadrant holds!!! Seems that may be the weak point. Fingers crossed.
Thank you for watching and for your comment! You are correct, we are waiting for the next weak link to rear its ugly head and that stud on the rotating arm is likely to be it. We are planning a total steering refit in May and we are hoping it will hold until then🤞🤞.
😀👍👍👍❤
😊😊💪💪😀🤩🤩❤️
You both deserve a break on this. Hope it works for a long time 🙏
Thank you so much 😊😊
Watch Barefoot Doctors to see the dangers of having acetone on a boat. Holding thumbs your autopilot woes are behind you.
Thank you for the warning on acetone!! Someone else just told us too!!! It is out! 🤞🤞🤞 on the autopilot!