Glad they made it. Hopefully we will get info on the boat condition, etc.
What he said.
Glad they made it. Hopefully we will get info on the boat condition, etc.
All you have to do is read the avetage TF post on zraworthyness or stability to see the diffetence between the experienced and the not so much when commenting on a particular issue/situation.
I’ve read through this entire thread and most of the discussion is from experienced and knowledgable members. Not sure of your point, but it is not accurate to dismiss opinions as “inexperienced” just because they differ from your own.
Interestingly, apparently the owner checked with MAN and they approved the long period at low RPM as a non issue.
Lei Lana has arrived in Honolulu this AM at about 6:30 AM December 24rd with a successful Pacific crossing from Long Beach, California with fuel to spare. The yacht carried 13,000 lbs. of fuel in bladders with fuel tubing, ball valves and an electric pump for efficient fuel transfer with a spare back-up hand pump. Enough fuel to make Honolulu. We had a planned stop in Hilo for safety to top off the main tank, but in working with the State of Hawaii over several days, they indicated that due to run-off from storm water and mud over the past few years, the draft of the water was too shallow to accommodate refueling, so they redirected use to Kona for a refueling stop.
On the first half of the voyage, Raymond caught Ahi and on the second half they caught 17 Mahi Mahi (I this brought home 20 LBS of fresh Mahi Mahi to put in the freezer).
We thought we had lost the refrigerator, but the coil just ice over and everything returned back to normal.
The yacht is equipped with (2) (Fuel Sipping) 800 HP MAN engines. Working with MAN Marine Factory in Germany, they saw no issues in running these engines for the voyage. The hourly fuel consumption was between 4-5 GPM per hour.
The yacht is equipped with two Epirbs, 6-man certified liferaft, a zodiac, and a second liferaft.
Also carried on board are 2 spare sets of belts and impellers.
This with months of preparation proved to be a success.
The only damage was a rivet on the rear of the Bimini top support that popped out. No other failures or damage to the Lei Lani Just dirty on the outside. The Hawaiian Lei on the bow of the yacht survived.
A delivery job executed flawlessly by Ray and his experienced team of two.
By the way I have shipped boats to Hawaii with Pasha(5 years ago a 35 foot Sea Ray), they would not take the yacht, TOO BIG
I spent 2 month looking at any other option.
The other shipper wanted 105K and it would not be delved to next summer.
Hawaii is not a easy place to get a large yacht to, Not like Trans-Atlantic where every month yachts are transferred.
“He also commented that MAN said the engines were fine at 700 rpm for extended periods.”
Would anyone know if those MAN have oil coolers which are coolant-cooled versus raw water cooled?
Never saw which MANs that boat has, but ours are raw water cooled.
-Chris
The engine oil coolers are raw water cooled, or are you talking about a heat exchanger for keeping the engine coolant at temp? I think a raw water cooled oil cooler is quite unusual. I think Yanmar may be the only one.
Cummins too??
Sounds like a happy ending, thankfully. Lot of people were skeptical, myself included. Glad to be proven wrong.
Maybe he’s getting wiser?
The engine oil coolers are raw water cooled, or are you talking about a heat exchanger for keeping the engine coolant at temp? I think a raw water cooled oil cooler is quite unusual. I think Yanmar may be the only one.
I've made the trip twice; once under sail and once in Delfin. As you say, as a cruising destination, Hawaii kind of sucks. If I push off the dock in Anacortes, WA, I'm within 10nm of twice the number of good anchorages than exist in the entire state of Hawaii, so going there to 'cruise' makes little sense. However, if you like the open ocean and the challenge/routine of longish blue water passages, a Hawaiian crossing can be fun. There are few places on earth where you can experience the beauty and grandeur of God's creation like the middle of the ocean, so there is that.I've never been, but have been repeatedly reminded of this. I've heard about the mediocre diving and onerous anchoring fees required. This seems like one of those places which is wonderful to visit via land, but not by sea.
Perhaps this is just something to accept. I've lived in Vietnam, and have taken numerous tours via land and sea. It is certainly one of those countries that isn't worth the effort, or thousands of dollars in fees, to visit by boat. By land, Viet will be one of your life's highlights however.
Anyway, several of our TF members have cruised to Hawaii, and it would be interesting to hear their thoughts on why they went, what they came away from it with, and would they truly recommend the trip to others.
Folks, when it comes to accidents like Boat Bum Gal, I always give it time to shake-out before pointing fingers. Try to find teachable moments. But not this time - frankly, when I read Ray McCormack's account of the accident, I felt his own words sunk him.
Here is the full text of his Nov 6th 2023 Facebook post - I added the RED highlight as this was what really nailed his coffin shut for me:
For those interested, the Owner's account is described on Page 62 of this month's Latitude 38 HERE. I would cut/paste it here but cannot easily do so. If you read her account, she vigorously disputes Ray's characterization of the boat's condition. She claims she had all mechanical and rigging work reviewed by professionals, plus a recent survey of the boat.
Like I said, to my ears, McCormacks own words are what convinced me he was way off-base. Going to 10-meter line across any part of the Pacific Coast is just plain nuts, let alone a poorly charted area at 1am, with (according to heim - disputed by the owner) 22-kts of wind and a wonky autopilot. Let alone showing-up the morning of a 800nm delivery.
Peter
EDIT - To give some idea of the charts for this area - not very detailed, but clearly BBG was in an area it should not have been. Second larger view shows our track into Turtle Bay earlier that day.
View attachment 144265
View attachment 144266
...... As you say, as a cruising destination, Hawaii kind of sucks. If I push off the dock in Anacortes, WA, I'm within 10nm of twice the number of good anchorages than exist in the entire state of Hawaii, so going there to 'cruise' makes little sense......
He’s some good reading on another delivery. It starts at post 88.
Boat Bum Gal sinks on first Baha Ha-ha leg
Proven wrong or the delivery dodged a bullet? One of 5 empty chambers (Russian Roulette)?
I have to wonder about the MAN consultation. Recall, the first delivery attempt was aborted when a raw water coolant hose broke loose due to disintegrated hose clamp. Doesn't seem like a rigorous prep routine.
Peter
The sunseeker delivery started in the spring. Owner contacted me about buying the boat and delivering her to hawaii. They spent all spring and summer working on the engines and there were haul outs. In Beginning of September, right around labor day weekend we did a sea trial to avalon and back from MDR. This estiablished initial conumption numbers for the delivery. I worked on planning the implementation of the fuel bags, fuel transfer system, and stability calculations.
End of september flew down to take the boat out of the MDR slip as the lease was ending. Crew and I moved daily between the MDR boat ramp and the park at MDR for two weeks. During this time we had to fix the auto pilot, the 12 volt system, and do many sea trials. End of these two weeks we provisioned, fueled up the boat, and departed for hawaii only to have a cooling hose clamp break which flooded the engine room just south of san clemente island.
We got quotations to move the fuel out of fuel bag above the engine room, store, fix the hose clamps in engine room, and then put fuel back on board. These quotes where about $22k. Ended up moving the boat to san pedro, cabrillo marina, went home and regrouped.
In October got notified by the owner that the sunseeker needs to be out of california by dec 16 due to a california law and loyds of london insurance.
In mid November we came up with a plan where my wife and I would fly down. We rented a uhaul truck and bought an IBC tote. In the evening moved the boat over to the san pedro boat ramp as well as the truck and tote. Removed all the fuel from the aft fuel bag and fixed the hose clamps in the engine room. Then my wife and I took the boat to catalina, then down to Ensanada. Wife and I made are way back home. Plan was to deliver the boat from ensanada to hawaii in early january.
November 24 I was doing christmas ships on the nova out on the columbia. Get a call from the owner asking me if I could go tet the sunseeker before 2 pm saturday november 25th. Booked a late alaska flight to san diego, stayed in hilton, got up at 4 am and took the trolley to the border where I walked across. Jumped in a cab and got to the sunseeker at 8 am. 30 hrs later was back in the slip in san pedro. Flew home ....
Two days later crew and I flew in, we quickly provisioned and fueled the boat up as well as putting 7 barrels on deck.
3 days after leaving we started having 24 volt voltage issues, pretty sure the regulator bit the dust. So we created a patch cable and tied the starboard start batteries to the house so that it would get a charge from the alternators.
2 days later we discovered the bags starting to leak, the corner seams where breaking down.
2 days later we discovered a low sagging down from the north pacific, this would generate 3 days of west winds with the first day having breaking waves going over the boat.
After the westerlies died down the trades filled back in and gave us a half knot push into kona. We caught 17 mahi on my hand lines, and ate good.
Delivering a power boat like this with all the fuel for sure has its challenges, and makes a sailboat hawaii delivery look simple. Would I do it again, probably not ...... and I learned a ton about fuel bags and fuel transfer systems
"started with 2300 gallons, arrived in kona with 110. Probably lost about 100 or 200 gallons from leaking bags, and we sped up a little coming into kona. "