Well, we had a glorious sunny day with Andrew Custis on the water with our new R25 named LAXEY today in and around the south end of Lake Washington with the Boeing 737 hangers always in view. 😉
We started at 10am and come 5pm we headed back to the Gene Coulan Beach Park in Renton were we pulled the boat out for it's short 15 mile trip back to the Kent Ranger Tugs factory for final adjustments. At around 1pm we docked at Ivar's and had Fish & Chips lunch compliments of Ranger Tugs. 🙂
Most things checked out just fine and here's a list of items both Andrew and I found need additional work before delivery on Friday to our slip at Port of Edmonds Marina.
1. Engine bay bilge pump inside the keel area did not want to auto start when its float contacts were closed by Andrew. Manually starting it was not an issue mind you.
2. Y valve for shore pump out and Macerator pump out was position for Macerator operation. Default should be for Shore pump out. Easy adjustment which I did to gain experience of knowing how to access the valve handle. The valve handle is kinda hidden below the cooler box floor area and one has to stick ones head into this area with the two teak doors wide open and peer down. There's a chrome colored arrow pointing to the Shore pump out which is where the valve should be positioned.
3. The cleat/pulley for securing the mast's flag rope line to upper cabin roof was missing.
4. Andrew decided that the anchor required a swivel connector as when the anchor line was retracted with the powered windlass the anchor would rotate causing the chain and rope line to twist badly. The swivel connector will resolve this. We tested anchoring with lake floor some 50' below us. Andrew did a fine job showing me how to play the anchor out, securing it to lake floor and then retrieving the anchor and how to avoid the anchor bashing into the hull/bow area. 🙂
5. Small dent found in one of the teak shuttered storage door.
6. Wallas stove worked flawless and needed no adjustments.
7. ECM labelled incorrectly as EMC. 😉 This is a label in the area where an onboard generator would be installed. Our boat has the 1800 watt Xantex inverter install there instead. Need a new label with ECM. 🙂
8. The Xantex inverter worked flawlessly and IMO is going to very useful and convenient for us.
9. Auto pilot compass calibration failed, and we tried three times. Andrew found a bad plastic T electrical connector (it was kinda of broken/split). Andrew repaired it but Auto pilot compass calibration still failed. Andrew said either there was a bad electrical connection or it could be that the Autopilot compass was faulty. This will get resolved back at factor and quick spin on the water for maybe an hour. This will be completed before delivery on Friday.
10. Fuel tank was not full. Wallas stove fuel tank was 1/3 full. Purchase contract specifies a full tank on delivery. Andrew will address this before final delivery. 🙂
11. Bottom paint was missing around the engine exhaust area near/at water line. Andrew will have this corrected.
12. WOT gave us just under 4100 RPM. This was with three adults on board.
13. Trim tabs worked as they should.
14. Frig worked. 🙂
15. Cabin water heated up and pressure was good.
16. Head worked without issues.
17. All lights worked.
18. Radio worked and VHF worked.
19. Garmin Navigator worked but really didn't put it thru all of its features. Will do all that with Capt. Mac on the water July 27th. 🙂
20. Dinette table removal was easy.
21. Spare diesel fuel fill cap was present in the Ranger kit bag -- Courtesy of Andrew and a posting in this forum. THANKS to all for that. 🙂
22. The extra 4" of height for the navigator's seat was very welcomed by my wife - Gill. 🙂
23. All the window wipers worked.
24. Andrew showed me how to center the rudder easily. Rotate steering wheel hard over to when it stops and then rotate back two full turns. Useful tip.
25. The horn is loud enough. 😀
26. Hard over to port and then starboard at near WOT did not reveal any instability -- boat stayed relatively level in both maneuvers.
There's more I could list we did during the final sea trial but the above is what was found needing fixing/adjusting/correcting from what I recall. Of course Andrew took notes and nothing we found needing fixing will get missed tomorrow.
I include a link to my MobileMe photo album I've been building up over past month or so while researching our R25 purchase. The photo slide show starts off with a few shots of an MY2008 R25 I found on a trailer in dry storage at the Skyline Marina, Anacortes, WA during my review/selection of local Marinas. Then it goes onto a preliminary sea trial in a used R25 with Jeff Messmer, and finally photos of LAXEY slowly taking shape being built up at the Ranger Tugs Kent factory and closes with our sea trial with Andrew today.
I must add... Andrew did a fantastic job with us. Gill & I felt he was quite likely the most amicable fella we've ever come across wrt customer service. He must have been talking with us with his many explanations of the boat's operation for close to 7 hours non stop, except for me injecting my many questions. 🙂 Ranger Tugs has done extremely well in securing Andrew's employment as he carries out his tasks with much enthusiasm, obviously likes his job, has enormous depths of boating knowledge for his age and his commanding voice was most reassuring to us. He was most complimentary of my limited boating skills which I appreciated. His help and instruction was beyond our expectations in all respects. A job well done. THANKS Andrew... 🙂
Enjoy....
http://gallery.me.com/barrysharp#100350
We started at 10am and come 5pm we headed back to the Gene Coulan Beach Park in Renton were we pulled the boat out for it's short 15 mile trip back to the Kent Ranger Tugs factory for final adjustments. At around 1pm we docked at Ivar's and had Fish & Chips lunch compliments of Ranger Tugs. 🙂
Most things checked out just fine and here's a list of items both Andrew and I found need additional work before delivery on Friday to our slip at Port of Edmonds Marina.
1. Engine bay bilge pump inside the keel area did not want to auto start when its float contacts were closed by Andrew. Manually starting it was not an issue mind you.
2. Y valve for shore pump out and Macerator pump out was position for Macerator operation. Default should be for Shore pump out. Easy adjustment which I did to gain experience of knowing how to access the valve handle. The valve handle is kinda hidden below the cooler box floor area and one has to stick ones head into this area with the two teak doors wide open and peer down. There's a chrome colored arrow pointing to the Shore pump out which is where the valve should be positioned.
3. The cleat/pulley for securing the mast's flag rope line to upper cabin roof was missing.
4. Andrew decided that the anchor required a swivel connector as when the anchor line was retracted with the powered windlass the anchor would rotate causing the chain and rope line to twist badly. The swivel connector will resolve this. We tested anchoring with lake floor some 50' below us. Andrew did a fine job showing me how to play the anchor out, securing it to lake floor and then retrieving the anchor and how to avoid the anchor bashing into the hull/bow area. 🙂
5. Small dent found in one of the teak shuttered storage door.
6. Wallas stove worked flawless and needed no adjustments.
7. ECM labelled incorrectly as EMC. 😉 This is a label in the area where an onboard generator would be installed. Our boat has the 1800 watt Xantex inverter install there instead. Need a new label with ECM. 🙂
8. The Xantex inverter worked flawlessly and IMO is going to very useful and convenient for us.
9. Auto pilot compass calibration failed, and we tried three times. Andrew found a bad plastic T electrical connector (it was kinda of broken/split). Andrew repaired it but Auto pilot compass calibration still failed. Andrew said either there was a bad electrical connection or it could be that the Autopilot compass was faulty. This will get resolved back at factor and quick spin on the water for maybe an hour. This will be completed before delivery on Friday.
10. Fuel tank was not full. Wallas stove fuel tank was 1/3 full. Purchase contract specifies a full tank on delivery. Andrew will address this before final delivery. 🙂
11. Bottom paint was missing around the engine exhaust area near/at water line. Andrew will have this corrected.
12. WOT gave us just under 4100 RPM. This was with three adults on board.
13. Trim tabs worked as they should.
14. Frig worked. 🙂
15. Cabin water heated up and pressure was good.
16. Head worked without issues.
17. All lights worked.
18. Radio worked and VHF worked.
19. Garmin Navigator worked but really didn't put it thru all of its features. Will do all that with Capt. Mac on the water July 27th. 🙂
20. Dinette table removal was easy.
21. Spare diesel fuel fill cap was present in the Ranger kit bag -- Courtesy of Andrew and a posting in this forum. THANKS to all for that. 🙂
22. The extra 4" of height for the navigator's seat was very welcomed by my wife - Gill. 🙂
23. All the window wipers worked.
24. Andrew showed me how to center the rudder easily. Rotate steering wheel hard over to when it stops and then rotate back two full turns. Useful tip.
25. The horn is loud enough. 😀
26. Hard over to port and then starboard at near WOT did not reveal any instability -- boat stayed relatively level in both maneuvers.
There's more I could list we did during the final sea trial but the above is what was found needing fixing/adjusting/correcting from what I recall. Of course Andrew took notes and nothing we found needing fixing will get missed tomorrow.
I include a link to my MobileMe photo album I've been building up over past month or so while researching our R25 purchase. The photo slide show starts off with a few shots of an MY2008 R25 I found on a trailer in dry storage at the Skyline Marina, Anacortes, WA during my review/selection of local Marinas. Then it goes onto a preliminary sea trial in a used R25 with Jeff Messmer, and finally photos of LAXEY slowly taking shape being built up at the Ranger Tugs Kent factory and closes with our sea trial with Andrew today.
I must add... Andrew did a fantastic job with us. Gill & I felt he was quite likely the most amicable fella we've ever come across wrt customer service. He must have been talking with us with his many explanations of the boat's operation for close to 7 hours non stop, except for me injecting my many questions. 🙂 Ranger Tugs has done extremely well in securing Andrew's employment as he carries out his tasks with much enthusiasm, obviously likes his job, has enormous depths of boating knowledge for his age and his commanding voice was most reassuring to us. He was most complimentary of my limited boating skills which I appreciated. His help and instruction was beyond our expectations in all respects. A job well done. THANKS Andrew... 🙂
Enjoy....
http://gallery.me.com/barrysharp#100350
