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What Motor Yacht Brand Is The Most Mechanically Reliable?

Discussion in 'General Yachting Discussion' started by KRS, Feb 18, 2022.

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  1. MBevins

    MBevins Senior Member

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    Did you notice the 100kw generator on the equipment list? OB types faster.
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 21, 2022
  2. KRS

    KRS Guest

    Thanks for this Capt, it gets to grips with the very important issue of getting parts and recommends a brand of yacht. This is what I asked for the help of members of this forum with. Would the Med be cool for getting parts for a Hatt? coz it will be operated in the Mediterranean not US.
  3. KRS

    KRS Guest

    I have stated in earlier posts that I was considering going for a fully solar powered yacht. The reason I'm on this forum is to get advise from guys like you, to help me make the right choices to develop a plan that will cut it.
    I very much appreciate you taking the time to reply to my posts and give me warnings and guidance.
    I won't commit to a plan until I'm 100% certain it can be achieved.
    I'm considering every possible option and the advice of everyone on here is invaluable.

    I think you misunderstood my meaning of "a yacht that can be operated by one person" It meant that yachts that would require a crew to operate them are not suitable.
    I can live in it at berth in a marina and not make a voyage at all if need be. Is there any serious drawbacks to doing this that you can think of? (cost will never be a prob thankfully)

    My apologies to all on here who have concluded that my plan is an unrealistic fantasy. I totally understand your thinking and in normal circumstances you'd probably be right. However these circumstances are far from normal. You could never possibly know the true rationale for my plan of action. To understand, you would need to be familiar with quantum mechanics applied to water mass. It would sound like a mix of science fiction and heavy conspiracy fact (not really appropriate on a yachting forum like this) I'll leave it at this:
    Within a decade of me becoming sea-based 24/7, all suffering humanity will have "that Kingsmen moment" (as in Kingsmen The Secret Service) Extremely good news for 99% of us!
    My "unrealistic fantasy" is in fact part of a broader "art of war" battlefront, and it is for these ends that I will become sea-based 24/7 as soon as I am able. Thanks in advance for helping me get there.
    I will not forget it.
  4. KRS

    KRS Guest

    Good points in your post Chris, thanks.
    Do you mean that you literally have to do repair/replacement/upgrade maintenance jobs every single day? Surely parts can't develop faults that rapidly? I imagined only having to do a lot of work on a yacht if it was a project, not a turn key recent model.
  5. olderboater

    olderboater Senior Member

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    Oh I fully understood but apparently you don't. Fully solar powered with air conditioning isn't going to happen.

    I did understand no crew but with you having no experience, any yacht will need a crew as you aren't trained to operate one.

    As to your last paragraph, I'll now just leave this discussion completely and label you in my mind as either a troll or crazy, but maybe others will reach you more effectively.
  6. Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

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    The best yacht for you, would be a sailboat. Can use the wind for propulsion and basically camp on the yacht with no air conditioning, a few alcohol lamps, and enough solar panels to run a small refrigerator.
    hat4349 likes this.
  7. KRS

    KRS Guest

    What it comes down to then, is I'm not going to be able to do it if I need air con and refrigeration. Thanks for making this clear.
  8. KRS

    KRS Guest

    Where did I say I had no experience of any yacht? I said I had not had experience operating a yacht of the size I was asking for advice about.
    That is an entirely different thing to no experience of any yacht. And fully solar powered with air con has already happened. By all means leave the discussion. If you think understanding quantum mechanics in relation to water mass and a shift in planetary consciousness is crazy
    I feel truly sorry for you.
  9. KRS

    KRS Guest

    Sounds good but I may not get away with no air con in Med summer temps. I will be using a laptop based digital audio workstation to compose music and I imagine it may get uncomfortably hot with no air con in high summer in the Med.
  10. German Yachting

    German Yachting Senior Member

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    I mean, he could use a Zero Breeze battery powered air conditioner but that is more like a personal cooler than a whole boat AC. It works and could work under solar and a lithium install but it won’t cool a 50-75’ MY master bedroom but enough to blow on you and keep you cool.
  11. mapism

    mapism Senior Member

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    LOL, I didn't say "some other forumites would agree" for nothing!
    I'll tell you what, why don't you name those that in your opinion don't?
  12. mapism

    mapism Senior Member

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    I defined the E-type design "gorgeous" in my previous post, and I have utmost respect for it.
    But at risk of coming across as a fanboy of anything Italian, when it comes to best design ever, the Miura is hard to beat, imho.
  13. Slimshady

    Slimshady Senior Member

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    I'll entertain you KRS. Myself and other forum members are engineers and well versed in understanding the physical world we live in and some of us have actually changed the world for the better with their work. Explain your thoughts on a highly technical level and don't just try to insult us with bs.
  14. ranger58sb

    ranger58sb Senior member

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    I'm not really able to translate your post, but I think if some of that means you're going into survivalist mode, then maybe a Silent-whatever, perhaps even a sailing version of it, might be about as close as you can come (sort of "off the shelf") to wherever you want to be. And as other have pointed out, even that's with a big genset. Or perhaps a purpose-built conversion starting with an old steel-hulled military transport vessel of some sort. Or perhaps one of the "shadow" vessels some builders will make, meant to provide worldwide support for the owner's "real" yacht.


    I meant to include "clean" (clean/repair/replace/upgrade...) every single day. And yes, I exaggerated for emphasis, but perhaps only a tiny bit. I sometimes go for almost a week without having to clean/repair/replace/upgrade something. That's rare, though.

    In new boats, "turn key" doesn't really mean you can bypass the maintenance. It just means you're starting from a newer point along the service timeline, up front more "cleaning" than "replacing" -- but it's pretty much always the same curve over the life of the project.

    In really large boats, part of the reason for "crew" is about maintenance. Yep, deck rates are often about moving the boat from here to there, but I'd guess they'd be needed to chip on on the cleaning stuff, too... and you'd want engineering rates focused on the repair/replace/upgrade parts, too.

    -Chris
    Last edited: Feb 21, 2022
  15. Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

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    Azimut, San Lorenzo, Bennetti for starters.
  16. mapism

    mapism Senior Member

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    Ok, that's two builders (Azi/Ben is actually the same group) out of about two hundreds.
    Not exactly a statistically significant sample, in my books.

    BTW, also leaving aside all the boats which were never sold in the US (which are a helluva lot!), interestingly there is one which was, and you omitted.
    But when it comes to scary electrical systems, they get the cake hands down, with a cherry on top: Aicon.
    Just saying - it's not like I don't know my chicken.

    I wonder which is the age of the boats that you have in mind, anyhow.
    I've seen in detail a few SLs of the 80/90s which would put even Hatteras to shame, in the electrical dept.
    But I accept that this can be a matter of opinions, to some extent.
    Maybe we are just used to (hence more familiar with) different bit of kits, and it's human to prefer what we understand better.
  17. mapism

    mapism Senior Member

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    KRS, this coming season I will be enjoying my 14th year of becoming sea-based 24/7, so I have a bit of first hand experience on that - with just one caveat: I haven't actually been sea-based all year long, if that's what you have in mind.
    But it's not like I live aboard for just a few weeks each summer, either: on average, I am sea-based for at least 2/3 of each year, if not more.

    So, here's my 2c, FWIW:

    First, if the rest of the humanity had a Kingsmen moment at any time during these years, I must have missed it.
    In other words, becoming sea-based is well and good if that's your thing, but don't expect it to be a panacea - neither for yourself, not for anyone else.

    Second, your fantasy will remain unrealistic only for as long as you will include unrealistic elements in it.
    I never bothered fitting one single solar panel or wind generator on any of my powerboats, and you know what?
    Unless what you are after is going RTW by boat, crunching millions of miles, neither the fuel burnt by the engines nor by the gensets are that relevant, in the big scheme of boat ownership.

    Lastly (and in a sense, consistently with the previous two points), don't expect anyone else to help you get there, just do it.
    You might regret having waited too long, but I've yet to come across anyone regretting to have jumped into that too early.
  18. KRS

    KRS Guest

    Thanks M, v helpful and encouraging advice. Will apply to my decision making paradigm.
    KRS.
  19. KRS

    KRS Guest

    Does "cleaning" mean just washing stuff that gets dirty (as the phrase "scrubbing the decks" suggests) or does it mean stripping mechanical parts down to clean and rebuild?

    Yes you could call my plans "survivalist mode".
    As far as routine mechanical maintenance of a yacht
    goes. How much do you think it would be possible for me to handle myself? Taking into account I've been building cars from before I left high school and I'm a body builder who can bench over 300 pound. Do you think I would have a chance of doing all the mechanical maintenance myself? (obviously after having acquired the appropriate tools and manuals)

    The more independently I can function the better (survivalist mode is about max independence)
    I have always handled all mechanical work on my cars alone, I've even repaired a relatives Caddy when the garage she'd sent it to for repair couldn't do it and gave up and sent it home.
    So I'm in a better position than many yacht owners to personally handle maintenance of a yacht. But I'm also aware independent yacht maintenance may be different ball game to independent car maintenance.
    Yes, a Silent fully solar powered may turn out the best choice for me for max off grid independence.
    The way things are looking from the advise I'm getting here.
    KRS
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 21, 2022
  20. Pascal

    Pascal Senior Member

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    Confused about the silent part of Silent Yachts. There is nothing green or silent about a 100+ kWh generator. What a joke.

    also, I have to question having a single generator instead of two. Loose that single genny and you ll only make it home with whatever juice you have in the batteries. Why not design the thing on with two gens for redundancy? Doesn’t make a lot of sense to me
    hat4349 likes this.