M/Y Iron Lady

We have been meaning to get an update posted, but with Owner’s Trials, training (a lot of systems to get to know), getting familiar with handling and docking, moving aboard, provisioning, getting thru the spares inventory plus storing and cataloging same, the days just seem to slip away.

There have been some small issues to be corrected – nothing dramatic – but things that need to get done before we head off. This process was many orders of magnitude better then our experience with our Nordhavn. The first time it saw the water was when we off loaded it from a ship in Miami – it overheated 400 yards from the dock.

We will try to get something of our own up in the next few days. In the interim, Steve Dashew did a very nice post about Iron lady on his blog. You can access it here

We will leave you with a shot of one of our neighbors who stopped by to play on our bow wave and check out the new kid on the block. A pod of about 100 very large bottle nose dolphin played aorund the boat at 10.5 knots for about half an hour. Very cool and a good omen.

Steve Dashew has recently posted a very comprehensive article addressing the issue of vessel stability (along with some pretty scary footage of what can happen when you end up on the wrong side of the stability curve).  It also has some very compelling graphs and illustrations detailing the design characteristics of the FPB 64.

The same kind of thought that went in to the hull design and its safety at sea is typical of the kind of thought that has gone in to every system aboard the FPB 64 – no exceptions.

I reference it here because it speaks directly to the reasons my wife and I purchased an FPB 64.  After 45 years of boating, we simply don’t know of anything else that comes close.  We will gladly admit that we are biased, but 600 miles from land that is a pretty good feeling to have.

To read Steve’s article, click on http://setsail.com/evaluating-stability-and-capsize-risks-for-yachts/

These shots are from the first runs of Iron lady up and down the harbor in brackish shallow water.  With partial fuel and water, she weighs roughly 75000 pounds.  Note the nice bow wave.

The stern wave breaks away cleanly and the quarter wave is almost non existent.

Initial rough performance numbers are as follows:  1600 RPM – 9.4 knots – 3.49 gallons per hour.  1800 RPM – 9.95 knots – 4.65 gallons per hour.  Top speed 11.6 knots.

Iron Lady was loaded aboard a truck and made the short journey from Circa down the street to the travel lift early in the morning on February 1.

A quick look just before she is completely down as the Crica folks climb aboard.  This angle also gives an excellent view of the swim step extension which was recently added.

The first order of business is to check the various areas where there are hull penetrations to make sure there aren’t any leaks.  The transducer for the depth finder that is part of the Furuno NavNet system is located in the swim step.

Next in the sequence is raising the mast and connecting the foreguy which is also the antenna for the SSB.

Iron Lady now afloat with mast raised sitting nicely on her lines.

Once the stabilizers have been initialized and dockside checks are complete, Iron lady is off for the first time under her own power to a dock not far away.

Initial sea trials at various throttle settings have gone well and the swim step extension appears to both improve efficiency and performance as well as being a great functional addition .

Over the next 4 weeks, Circa will be performing extensive system checks and sea trials on Iron lady including over 50 hours of actual sea time.   Our Captain, Steve Parsons will head up to Whagarei around February 21 to begin to organize the spares and manuals for the boat.

We will be headed for Whangarei around March 1 for training and Owners Trials which will last around seven days. Then the process of moving aboard begins (we have shipped over 40 boxes of stuff from the US).    There will be more posts as things move forward.

The good folks at Circa Marine have been making excellent progress on Iron Lady.

The masts are now in place and much of the stainless work is being installed.

The foremast is in place along with foredeck light, bow floodlight, steaming light, horn and other items.  The insulator on the stay is for the SSB.

Things are coming together in the engine room as well.  In the background is the work bench.  To the left you can see part of the fuel filtration system and the water maker.  The engine room air intake (which is still above the water line even if the boat is inverted) is over the engine along  the fire suppression system.  On the front of the engine are the two big Electrodyne alternators with an output of roughly 7 KW continuous.  The alternators charge the 24 V house bank and  feed the 230 Volt Inverter bank.  Underway this system powers all of the boats systems including the water maker and air conditioning.

Here is a good view of the barbecue area and sink on the back deck.  The grill is part of the engine room air intake system.

Moving to the forepeak, this is a view looking down on the rotomolded black water tank which will be located under the decking.  The heavy walled cylinder to the top right is for the retractable head for the Furuno Searchlight sonar.

Things are progressing inside as well.   The helm station has been laid out and the electronics will soon be installed.  The open hatch leads to the basement and the bulkhead already has elements of the NEMA 2000 network and various black boxes mounted in place.

The main electrical panel adjacent to the helm station is in place and connections from the panel to the terminal strip leading to various boat systems are underway.

This is one of four Klima air conditioning units located in the basement.  All of the condensing coils are cooled using fresh water and hull cooling – no salt water required and the units can even be run to dehumidify the boat on the hard.

In the engine room, the main engine exhaust and the Kabola boiler have been installed.  The Kabola heats the domestic hot water and provides heat thru out the boat in colder climates.

As things progress, we will post more updates.