Building a Nordhavn - again

So sorry to hear that. We were warned about that possibility before we shipped our boat so had everything put away like you would do for a passage. You were in different circumstances with stuff not yet installed. When our last boat was built and then shipped from mainland China to Norfolk VA for initial commissioning had a separate shipping container. A separate long frame to contain the mast and rigging was shipped to the commissioning yard from a US supplier. Electronic spaces and wiring were rough fitted but not shipped to China. Rather instillation occurred stateside by manufacturers certified installers so there were no warranty issues. Of course didn’t sign off and accept the vessel until I had help going through her and making sure everything worked and there was no shipping damage that would bite me in the butt down the road.
Keep your chin up. This too will past. Might want an independent survey after PAE fixes everything before signing off. She’s an amazing vessel. Given you’re positioned to afford her and obviously quite knowledgeable I’m sure you already know how to handle this bump in the road. Has PAE committed to a time frame to get her right? Got to be frustrating for her to be so close but yet far away. As said in My Little Chickadee” She’s so new she hasn’t been unwrapped yet”. You will definitely be luckier than Fields was with Mae West. It’s on them to get her right and make her the perfect boat she is.

Thanks for all the encouragement. It's a real pain, and heartbreaking to look at, but it will get fixed, so I'm not worried about that. And we have a good 2 months worth of commissioning anyway, so I will be pushing to have it all repaired in that time frame so it doesn't impact when we get underway.


For the next few days we will all be in assessment mode surveying the full extend of damage, then coming up with a plan to fix it all. Today I need to open all the boxes to see with certainty what came through OK and what broke. Some is obvious from the outside, but other things need to be checked. And then I need to get a good look behind the caved in walls to check for damage to plumbing, wiring, and the FRP house structure.

My heart goes out to you, Peter! Makes me feel bad for even bringing up the bent horn trumpet years ago!! I hope you make out as well...and then some!

Cheers and Merry Christmas to you and yours!

You have a great attitude about this not so pleasant surprise. Hang in there and here’s to an efficient and smooth resolution. She looks pretty!

Delivery

TT, sorry to hear about the salon damage but as you said it can be repaired. I’m sure PAE will take care of you on this once everything has been evaluated. Possibly PAE can arrange for the carpenters who performed the original wood work to fly over with matching wood to handle the repairs? PAE arranged something similar for us when they flew in a few technicians from the yard to repair about four boats with window frame corrosion. On the positive side you have the new boat and will be starting your next adventure soon. Best of luck and congratulations on a beautiful boat which for many of us is only a dream.

John T.
N4050, N4061, N3522. . Former Owners

I'm so sorry to hear about this! I can't imagine the disappointment of waiting and planning your perfect boat, only to arrive looking like someone let a bull loose inside it.

Do they even have craftsmen and materials that will be able to match the fit and finish of the rest of the vessel? Mechanical damage seems straightforward but this kind of thing seems incredibly difficult to make right. It breaks my heart thinking about the process in front of you to finally get this back to whole. I admire your attitude and acceptance of the situation. My fingers are crossed for a good and speedy resolution.

BD

Thanks everyone.


We got through all the boxes and inventoried the damage, and while doing so got the salon mostly cleared out so now we can really detail the joinery damage.


Dan Streech (Nordhavn president) called me first thing in the AM and we are all on the same page to get this fixed, including Ta Shing who are of course horrified this happened. It will still be several days before there is any clear plan of attack for the repairs, but at least the assessment is done and we can move on to all the other commissioning projects.

Great to hear. Move forward and hopefully not too much delay with getting replacement parts of course correcting all the damage. Fingers crossed for a smooth commissioning.

How disappointing, after all the eager anticipation for over two years, to walk on board, into what should be, for that boat, its pièce de résistance, only to find it trashed by stupidity, in stowing stuff in there that should never have been allowed near it. Surely a separate container, as mentioned by someone else, would be the way to go for this kind of stuff. That, or store it securely stowed in the generous tender garage/lazaret which these boats do have..?

Any updates you care to share with us at this time including "how" the yard was able to ship the boat without taking the proper care to tie everything down? How was the rest of the boat and its systems? As well built as the Nordhavn's are I would think any damage is limited to the wood work and nothing more. On a positive note this may be an opportunity to make any "tweaks" you were thinking about to the salon layout even if they are small. Looking forward to seeing photos up the refinished salon and magnificent boat.


John T.

N4061 said:

Any updates you care to share with us at this time including "how" the yard was able to ship the boat without taking the proper care to tie everything down? How was the rest of the boat and its systems? As well built as the Nordhavn's are I would think any damage is limited to the wood work and nothing more. On a positive note this may be an opportunity to make any "tweaks" you were thinking about to the salon layout even if they are small. Looking forward to seeing photos up the refinished salon and magnificent boat.


John T.

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All is going well. We have a plan to fix the woodwork, and I expect it will have minimal impact on our ultimate delivery of the boat. Everyone is forging ahead.


Right now I have a guy helping me finish up the electronics, and that's proceeding well. We are 4 days into a straight 10 day run which I think will culminate with 90% or more of the electronics operational.
The only "change" is that we moved the boat from the Elliot Bay Marina seawall into Salmon Bay. It's just too rough there when the wind kicks up.

Commiserations amongst the joy of the new boat. I hope the experience is not too spoiled, and goodwill from the mfr and others involved sees everything restored to original if not better condition.

BruceK said:

I hope the experience is not too spoiled, and goodwill from the mfr and others involved sees everything restored to original if not better condition.

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The president of the company made a trip up during their xmas/new years shutdown to personally see the boat, talk to craftsmen about repair approaches, meet with the insurance surveyor, and get the ball rolling on everything. Everyone is pulling together to deal with the problem, which is what matters the most to me.

Smart. Better to bend over backwards and do all they can to make you happy rather than face an expensive and time consuming possible lawsuit.

twistedtree said:

The president of the company made a trip up during their xmas/new years shutdown to personally see the boat, talk to craftsmen about repair approaches, meet with the insurance surveyor, and get the ball rolling on everything. Everyone is pulling together to deal with the problem, which is what matters the most to me.

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Smart people from PAE decided a long time ago that customer support was essential. Nordhavn's sales and reputation have been served well by their integrity.

sunchaser said:

Smart people from PAE decided a long time ago that customer support was essential. Nordhavn's sales and reputation have been served well by their integrity.

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I agree. Years ago when I was delivering, close half my work was with nordhavn. Their attitude at the time was go chalk a lot of stuff up to marketing, even it it was unclear it wasn't the owners fault. They would drop ship stuff all over to owners to get them going again. It didn't solve all problems, but compared go other builders I worked with at the time, PAE definitely bent over backwards.

One builder who shall remain nameless took the attitude that they didn't know what might have been done once the boat left their factory so denied all culpability - sort of like a fledgling sparrow that mom wouldn't recognize 5-mins after it left the nest . Also prevented them from accepting owner feedback thus improving their product and becoming a more market-competitive boat.

Peter

Curious. What did you spec for stabilization? Interesting thread on dreamers site explaining the limitations of gyros. You’re a big open ocean vessel. Did you skip gyros and go with fins that will also work at anchors? Which ones?

sunchaser said:

Smart people from PAE decided a long time ago that customer support was essential. Nordhavn's sales and reputation have been served well by their integrity.

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Yes Tom,
But customer support costs lots of money. Money that comes only from the customers of their product. If the “integrity” was there in the first place the heavy customer service wouldn’t be needed.

I’d rather buy a product not needing expensive customer support at my expense.

The best products probably aren’t in need of high customer support as the support went into the product itself.

And there are those that enjoy others waiting on them.

Hippocampus said:

Curious. What did you spec for stabilization? Interesting thread on dreamers site explaining the limitations of gyros. You’re a big open ocean vessel. Did you skip gyros and go with fins that will also work at anchors? Which ones?

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ABT fins including stabilization at rest. Same as the last boat.

TwistedTree,

Any updates?

Allstar said:

TwistedTree,

Any updates?

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It's Groundhog Day onboard Tanglewood. All day, everyday, 7 days a week.


The way everyone has come together to fix the interior damage has been fantastic, and that work is proceeding along in parallel with regular commissioning, which is exactly what I hoped for.


The guy who is helping me with the electronics (Chris) preferred to start right after xmas, so I spent the first two weeks mostly focused on that which is a bit reversed from what I would normally do. The yard pre-installed/wired the majority of the equipment, but the mast still needed to be installed, radar antennas installed and wired, VHF antennas located and installed, and all the instruments installed on the mast. Plus a variety of loose ends inside the boat. We got it all done, but didn't get any of the N2K stuff done other than installing the backbone connectors, terminators, and getting it powered.


Since then the focus has been on getting other systems running and checked out. Finding, fixing. Finding, fixing.

What a tragic story. So sorry you had to go through all of this, Twistedtree! I wish you the best of luck in the repair effort!!

You've probably mentioned this, but what heating system install?

Ken E. said:

You've probably mentioned this, but what heating system install?

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Diesel heat using an Olympia boiler. I just bled out all the heating loops this afternoon and hope to fire it up in the next day or so. Just waiting on an extension for the boiler thermostat that can reach the control box.

Any updates you care to provide? Thanks

John T.

N4061 said:

Any updates you care to provide? Thanks

John T.

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Sure. Things are going pretty well. The salon repair is progressing on track with the new floor 80-90% laid, and 90% of the other cabinetry work completed off site. I think by the end of this coming week the floor will all be down and the cabinetry going back in. Then it's an exercise in sanding and finishing.


Meanwhile commissioning is well down the road. I think all systems except the propane are on-line and operational, though we still have a list of issues to sort out. But the crew is keeping pace fixing stuff pretty much as fast as I can find problems.


I still need to get some more of the Maretron stuff installed and online so I can calibrate tanks, and have effective monitoring for sea trials. And I think that's the big gap right now - no serious operational time yet. We probably have 4 hrs underway so far, and that's not enough. I just need to get enough stuff working for a good sea trial, then find the time to slot it in without disrupting the momentum on the other work.

Hi, Twisted, I've just realised you're another Peter. I think I prefer that for future reference than calling you Twisted.

Anyway, I have to say I still feel quite dismayed and vicariously enraged (on your behalf), at what happened to that beautiful saloon interior due to that reprehensible damage done by inadequately stowed parts/gear shifting in transit.

I was wondering, after reading the repair progress report above, what changes PAE are going to make regarding future shipping of boats..? Surely there must have been a very thorough post mortem about what happened, and what to do in future..? And some compensation due to time in use lost, I would have thought. Although I realise the detail of that would be commercial in confidence.

Peter B said:

Hi, Twisted, I've just realised you're another Peter. I think I prefer that for future reference than calling you Twisted.

Anyway, I have to say I still feel quite dismayed and vicariously enraged (on your behalf), at what happened to that beautiful saloon interior due to that reprehensible damage done by inadequately stowed parts/gear shifting in transit.

I was wondering, after reading the repair progress report above, what changes PAE are going to make regarding future shipping of boats..? Surely there must have been a very thorough post mortem about what happened, and what to do in future..? And some compensation due to time in use lost, I would have thought. Although I realise the detail of that would be commercial in confidence.

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I too am sure there have been post mortems, but that's really theirs to deal with. For me it's just beating a dead horse. What I want is an as-new boat with no impact to the commissioning work and time table that otherwise happens. And so far that's what's happening, so I have no complaints.

I was helping a buddy get his boat up and down the canal and pretty sure I saw Tanglewood. I am assuming you probably have the only one with boarding steps/ladder up the side of the hull. Looks like your dinghy made it. Did you get a chance to test out the hull boarding steps/ladder. Very nice looking boat by the way.

RedRascal said:

I was helping a buddy get his boat up and down the canal and pretty sure I saw Tanglewood. I am assuming you probably have the only one with boarding steps/ladder up the side of the hull. Looks like your dinghy made it. Did you get a chance to test out the hull boarding steps/ladder. Very nice looking boat by the way.

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We moved over to Canal Boatyard yesterday for floor sanding and finishing. Yes, the tender made it and is on deck with the crane in the air to make sure it doesn't tip off the blocks that are holding it up. I haven't tried the boarding ladder in/out of the tender, but we did test it from dockside and nobody went swimming. So it passed the first test.


Meanwhile we are keeping up with other commissioning projects, including fixing a bunch of stuff that didn't quite get done right. I'm keeping a loose metal list of "Covid projects", which are things I would have caught and had fixed at the yard had I been able to visit the boat over the last year of it's construction.


Today I got the radars configured and running without errors which was a nice milestone. And I just need to get N2KView running, then I can start calibrating tank levels.