Time during tight turnarounds during peak season is minimal. There is barely enough time in an afternoon for some routine maintenance between cleaning and new customer’s wanting to board and depart, let alone repair work.
There certainly isn’t time for the base staff to take the boat for a spin and see what ‘might’ be wrong. So it’s up to you, the skipper, to let the manager know what issues you have encountered.
Communicate and take 'ownership' of issues:
If something is broken, it’s simple: Report it. Is it a major part? Maybe report it before you get back to port so the base can organize a plan of action, like organizing parts and staff for when you return.
Maybe it’s an underlying issue that isn’t a problem just yet but could potentially be one in 3 or 6 trips time. Write down what you have experienced, take pictures, videos. Be detailed about it to help with fault finding and hand your notes to the relevant base staff (not the cleaner….)
Just remember, most likely you are on this particular boat for the first time and all boats, even of the same model, are different. So what might appear ‘wrong’ on this yacht may not necessarily be wrong. That shouldn’t stop you from passing on your thoughts.
Be gracious about it. Have spare beer in hand. A good base manager will analyze all information and then make an informed decision- you are probably not the first person to mention something about that rattling ‘felangie’.
Below is a the a video of the main autopilot actuator ram on my Helia. During my charter, I notice a strange, subtle ‘clunking’ noise. Turns out the main block/clamp on the right had the wrong size bush installed ex factory. It would have failed eventually…
Now the season is over, we all go home planning our next trip and the work begins for those left behind. DYC boat maintenance - fleet style.
‘No Shoes’ is based in Pula, Croatia and Davor, the local base manager, shared with me some of what’s going on behind the scenes in winter.
Our yacht isn’t in the performance contract, so he doesn’t have to share any of this with me, but he does so because he knows I worry about the state my hard earned investment. Thank you!
Let’s start with basic maintenance like antifoul, oil changes and corrosion prevention:
‘No Shoes” spends a lot of time motoring. It’s the nature of this type of operation where people have to be back at the place of origin at a specific time. Servicing saildrives, replacing seals and propellers:
Fixing cracks, broken hinges, latches or damaged instruments. This particular one was a delaminating, external Garmin GPS screen.
I found out on various forums that this issue is covered by warranty. I told Davor about it and voila…. a new screen. The power of big business…
They take down the sails and ropes, wash them all and repair as required. The jib had a new UV protection strip attached to it, some repairs were carried out to the helm station’s canvas roof cover and maintenance carried out on all the winches ….
Last year, No Shoes had to have the masthead replaced. The sheets kept getting jammed in the top rollers, causing them to fray and in the final instance for the sail to get stuck whilst hoisted.
It was one of those ‘problems’ you couldn’t see or notice during turnarounds and it took an astute client (and his mast climbing son) to point out the problem.
By way of background info, the Helia, as it comes from the factory, has a history of the mainsail being difficult to lower, so the issue might have been masked by this underlying phenomenon.
Here is one I had no idea about: every year, Davor and his team take out the toilets, service the macerators and replace all the pipes so the shit doesn’t hit the fan halfway through the season. Please be careful what you put into these loos. Facewipes are a definat no-no.
The windlass usually takes a good beating throughout the year with ‘No Shoes’ often anchoring in beautiful, secluded bays, so it sure deserves attention:
All this maintenance is time consuming. There are a lot of parts, on different type of yachts, over an extended period of time. So to ensure everything goes back to where it’s meant to go,
Davor’s team takes pictures of everything more complicated. We all have managed to re-engineer during reassembly, wondering if they really needed all these extra screws that are now left on the dock.
This article is clearly not exhaustive of all the items Davor or the maintenance teams of DYC around the world carry out. Different locations no doubt have different procedures. I just wanted to share my experience because we don’t often have a chance to see what’s going on behind the scenes.
Not all maintenance by the way is technical… and we prefer vodka to redwine for obvious reasons.
Thank you DYC Pula Base for another stellar effort on this winter’s boat maintenance and keeping ‘No Shoes’ the coolest cat in town.
Also thank you to YOU, our customers and readers who have provided such valuable feedback over the past few years.
To finish off the effort all is needed is a good polish to make her look like new, ready for your next charter …
Enjoy Nico, I think you and your family are one of the first to sail her this season.
Very cool and detailed article Sir
Hi Nils,
It already gives us a good/safe feeling to see how Davor&Co take care of No Shoes! We are incredibly looking forward to it!
Awesome. Looking forward to your feed back after. Have fun.
Hi Nils, I’m chartering a yacht from DYC from Pula soon, can you give any tips for sailing routes (and recommended spots to stop overnight), I’m a little concerned by the not huge amount of harbours with electricity/water/provisions in the islands to the South East of Pula…
Hi Nick,
For some reason I didn’t receive any of the replies readers made to a number of my posts. My apologies for that. Of course by now you would have sailed Croatia …. I trust you had a good time and found the resources you were looking for. I never felt that I couldn’t get what I needed, but then, No Shoes is a big boat with a lot of resources!
I’d be keen to hear your story if you have time to share it.