A while ago Torbjörn (the dealer’s representative) left and now I’m sitting here alone in our boat. I’m drinking some champagne and eating strawberries while writing this. A moment ago I poured a bit of the champagne outside on the bow and said (quite quietly so that only the two of us could hear): “Your name is now Charlotte.”
The Handover
It all went perfectly. As perfectly as I possibly could have expected, anyway.
Yesterday we started going through the handover checklists (it’s surprisingly much work!). We found only one minor defect to be fixed later: a small piece of the B&G chart plotter frame was missing.
Today we went out for our engine trials.
“You are going to do all the driving”, said Torbjörn. “It’s good that you get some practice so that you won’t embarrass yourself too badly when your friends arrive”, he continued with a grin.
The engine trials included filling the tank with diesel (practicing to dock there, for me) and then driving down and up the canal with different RPMs, noting down the speed of the boat each time. It was exciting like crazy, but I did ok and managed not to break the boat 😄
After our engine trial, we noticed a not-so-minor problem: there was a small pool of water behind the engine.
To make a long story short: the exhaust silencer module was a bit faulty and this caused some of the cooling water to enter the boat while we were driving. Torbjörn made some calls to HanseYachts (themselves!) and within a couple of hours, one of their repair persons arrived and exchanged the whole module for a new one.
Oh joy! What could have been a disaster really wasn’t (and because it was noticed, it didn’t become one either).
A Good Dealer
More and more I’ve come to understand that while HanseYachts manufactures the boats, the dealer is absolutely crucial if you want the boat delivered without flaws and ready to sail.
We were sitting outside in the cockpit with Torbjörn, waiting and wondering when the Hanse repair person would show up to fix the exhaust thing.
“Don’t worry, I won’t leave Greifswald before I know that everything on your boat is working as it should”, Torbjörn said to me.
The was quite reassuring. And a bit later the Hanse person showed up.
The Name!
While the Hanse person was working on the exhaust, these other guys arrived!
It’s satisfying to see professional and competent people (not just the name, but everyone involved) do their magic. Having a large volume of similar boats going through similar processes provides good opportunities to develop skills.
The Handover Handshake
After everything was ticked, checked, done and completed, it was time to shake hands and say goodbye.
“I don’t read blogs”, Torbjörn said to me when I tried to advertise that I’m writing about all our experiences. “But I do want to know how everything goes!”, he continued, “and I read my emails and texts!”
We shook hands, thanked each other, said our farewells, and then he walked away.
Thank you and cheers to all of you who have followed our adventures thus far!
Congratulations on s/v Charlotte! Fair winds and following seas for all your future adventures. I look forward to reading more of your experiences.
Many thanks! 🙏
Charlotte is beautiful. Can I follows you via AIS? Enjoy the trip – you will find the place with white sand and turquoise waters.
Thank you! We do have AIS transmission but this is one of the problems we’ve had: for some reason or other the AIS transmission is too weak and no land stations picked it up. Our MMSI is 230139570.
Now we got the AIS working. Click here 🙂