In Whole And In Parts
February 4, 2007
It is the dead of winter in the Philadelphia area. Although compared to winters past the weather is relatively nice, it is still cold enough that we are relegated to the treadmill for running. It is also cold enough to ice fish on the parent’s lake in central Pennsylvania.
A half a world away, Makara has now taken her complete form. The work to be done in Xiamen is coming to an end. By now she may even have been in the waters of the South China Sea for hull and systems testing. The latest reports project the shipment of Makara to Baltimore, Maryland starting late February. It seems she has to wait until after Chinese New Year before space is available on a container ship.
There is no doubt we are excited, our boat is coming! We are seeing, in new photos, the realization of all our research and planning. We like what we are seeing, and want to share the images. You will find this log has MANY more pictures than usual.
These two shots of the boat as a whole put lumps in our throat. These are the first pictures we have had that show the vessel with most of the pieces together. Nice line to her and a crisp looking profile indeed. This reinforces our knowledge that she is indeed a big boat.
The interior shots give us our first impressions of how the finished interior will look. We do like what we see. The joinery work, as usual for Passport, is exquisite. The forward cabin, in particular the vanity sink area, is beyond our imaginations of how it would turn out. Note the detail of the curved teak cabinet and the fit of the Corian sink top. Clearly by abandoning the large enclosed head area forward and focusing on an enclosed shower the exposed sink area adds openness and utility, plus a bit a class to the cabin.
The salon, galley and head shots give a good picture of the main living areas of the boat. Note the sconce lamps (Gaia) on the forward bulkhead. Nobody said a seaworthy vessel can’t have class. The white box closest to the door way is the thermostatic control for the heater.
The space between the new lamps will eventually be occupied with a 37" HDTV LCD/Computer screen.
Note again the beautiful grain of the teak in the area of the U shape settee. It is a shame this will be covered up by the Ultraleather cushions. One small regret is the table (that metal post is the support for the table) is not shown installed. This was ordered with a custom inlay "Compass Rose" and Nancy is extremely anxious to see this little feature.
The
real tantalizing shots are in the navigation station area. This is where
a great deal of work went into customizing the design. Notice the
breaker panels. We used Paneltronics panels as opposed to the Newmar
panels normally found on Passports. This had a lot to do with the fact
that this is a DC boat as described in a previous log. This shot shows
the companionway area and the DC generator in place.
The yard did excellent work adapting the panels to the navigation station area. You can also see the various generator, inverter, charger and battery monitor stations to the right of the breaker panel.
The
next shot shows the special area set up for the onboard printer. The
large door under the navigation station provides access to the location
where the onboard ship's computer will be installed. We also have
Computank gauges (fuel and water tank levels) installed and the monitor
panel is on the outboard navigation panel and is just visible in the
upper right of the previous picture.
There is no doubt Makara is in the final stages of production in Xiamen. There will, however, be much work once Makara arrives in the States. In addition to the rig installation, there will be numerous electronics and mechanical projects to keep us occupied as we install the full compliment of equipment and instrumentation planned for the boat.
No surprise, there is quite a bit of stuff that must also be acquired and stored on the vessel. From major items to the required compliment of spare parts for a cruising vessel we will be busy getting her ready.
Speaking
of parts, one major piece of equipment for Makara is now sitting in our
basement workshop, quite literally disassembled into its component
parts, the Monitor wind vane. Not kidding here, every part big or small
that can be has been taken apart (roughly 83 distinct pieces not
counting duplicates). Good thing too. We inherited this Monitor, which
was in reasonable shape. We will depend on this piece of gear quite a
bit during the voyages for steering the boat. While we could have
purchased a brand new one, this was an older model that still had the
bronze gears, which we prefer having had one similar in the past (we did
not dismember the older one this much though). But the biggest
motivation was that we wanted to know the Monitor inside and out. We
would then know how it was built, what spares we would really need over
a long cruising stint and most importantly how to service the beast.
Sure is lots-o-parts! We found most in good order, confirmed some we
already knew were due for periodic replacement and a few surprises (have
no clue how that one got bent!). We will probably electro-polish the
major pieces and replace most smaller bits and things that would
normally be replaced during a major rebuild. I think there is even a
chance that we can get it back together again without piling it all in a
box and shipping back to out friends at Scanmar. The moral to this tale
is simple and illustrates what we believe is an important aspect of our
cruising philosophy. Know your equipment. Don’t just read the manual.
Don’t assume that normal maintenance will be as deep into it as you will
get. Get your hands dirty and know your systems, your rig, your boat. It
pays to have a good relationship with them all!
Can’t wait to get our hands on Makara and start taking her apart.