CCN Panam c4002

GENERAL SITUATION

The summarisation of the works onboard can be simply said as being consistent and of high quality, but progress is slow. The process of systems installation moves ahead, but it appears at no great pace.

The classification society are also moving forward with their system reviews and acceptances, with the combined goal of achieving the yacht’s technical delivery.

The shipyard is still firm in their anticipation of achieving the owners, or delivery sea trials at some time between the middle to end of this month November.  Honestly, I can see this moving right, possibly even significantly right.  I would anticipate another internal sea trial to take place before the official sea trial, I do not think we will be invited to attend the internal sea trial, even as observers, but something we should push for in any case.

It remains unclear if the yards intension is to have the yacht remain in the water over the months of December/January etc.

EXTERIOR

There remain not so many contractors work on the exterior of the vessel.  The main focus of works is concentrated on and around the installation of the swimming pool on the upper deck aft.  The unit in its entirety is now onboard.  The pool is mounted on its supports and is in the process of being outfitted with the various pipes, supports and pumping equipment.  It’s anticipated that the sides of the pool will begin to be fitted towards the end of the first week in November, but this is also likely to be behind based on the number of contractors actually working onboard. We would expect the process of final outfitting to happen until the second week of November.  The unit will then need to have fairing added, the final job cured and then sanded even before they can begin to think about the final finishing coats.

The side heard rails have been completed and the synthetic ropes installed in the upper, intermediate and lower stanchions.

The aft port side boarding door remains working progress.  It is now installed, but needs to be faired and painted.  The actual mechanism will need fully re-testing once it has returned from the paint shop.

The overhead panels for the main deck aft and main deck sides are still not installed.  The panels are off site and awaiting return and final installation onboard.

INTERIOR

Progress is slower than anticipated.  For the most part the flooring is nearing completion. The weighted sections of main saloon flooring are down, with the port side pantry and entrance down to the crew mess remaining.  This area is still quite a high traffic area as a lot of work still remains to be done in the wheelhouse. Carpenter and electricians are making good progress.  The covered material panels are being installed, although the modifications discussed with the location and positioning of the mina touch screen monitors has not yet been done.  This has been discussed several times with the yard, Captain and designer.  We are expecting to see this work done soon and the Captain is closely following their progress towards this.

We are aware that a list of requests has been sent to you for review and possible alterations to the interior and some other areas. We have followed up on this with the Captain and the yard, we understand we are still awaiting details from the yard’s side in order together understand how to move forward in this respect.

The galley is looking good, we would say that this is one of the only areas that is almost at full completion, with the exception of actually test operating all of the installed equipment, testing ventilation fans, fire dampers etc.

Lots of the more minor guest areas such as storage cupboards, internal shelving, wardrobes are making good progress. The finer details are being addressed which is good.

Breaching the boundary between technical areas and interior areas, there is still no progress with the internal outfitting of the port side stairwell that leads down to the beach club and engine room/tender garage area. There is still a lot of work going on in these areas, and we expect this be one of the last remaining areas to be completed. Right now, it remains in exposed aluminium and insulation material.

Regarding the outfitting of the beach club, we can start to see some progress here with second stage carpentry taking form.  The same can be said in the tender garage area, with the bulkheads painted and the final installation of the winch and connecting parts approaching the end of their installation process. More details below.

ENGINEERING

Following on from the tender garage comments; minor adjustments are being made to the tender trolley system and also the garage door hydraulics installation, following inspections and discussions with the yard.  They have re-run some of the hoses and pipes as discussed which has led to a much better final outfitting.  The electrical components are being installed I write this, with IP54 (and higher) rated electrical junction boxes and waterproof cable gland transitions being finished.  The deck sole will likely be the last part to complete, and currently there are no overhead panels installed. Once the hydraulics and principal systems tests have been done, the overheads will go up. We need to ensure that these overheads can be easily removed and replaced as there are a lot of blocks, valves and other connected hydraulic components in the the overheads.

The engine room has seen detailed outfitting in the form of engine room diBond installation around the outer perimeter and some of the overheads.  The focus appears to have been the application of exhaust lagging material and the stain steal outer casings around all exhaust sections. We would approximate that the installation is around 80% completed so far, and within the next week to ten days it will be finished.  The yard has addressed the points highlighted to them regarding the piping materials and some galvanic bonding issues which is good.  The brass/bronze and copper fittings have been removed and the new similar metallic piping installed and bonded.

Framing is being installed in the workbench, we must ensure it allows accessibility to the equipment underneath it, but it’s a solid platform none the less.

There remains a lot of minor electrical cable run points to be addressed.  We have written separately to the yard requiring these items. In short, it is an undertaking to alter some of the way in which electrical cables and wires have been installed and the process of then continuing to build over those systems.  In some cases, the timing sequence is out - now the yacht is coming to its end in terms of equipment installation, it is becoming apparent that some the cables and transitions could have been installed in a better way than they are. We will continue to work with the yard in order to better run these.

The wheelhouse works remain ongoing.  Although verified by all parties as operational, there will be a lot of works to do in technical terms with the command and control portions of the navigation and bridge equipment not to mention the main propulsion lines and alarm and monitoring systems.  This work is continuing and being followed again closely by the Captain.

We have highlighted an area that we will need to address concerning a potential source of heating/cooling and ventilation in the under wheelhouse technical area that houses all the majority of the navigation and audio-visual equipment.  Air conditioning supply as well as hot air extraction is currently installed, but we are collectively working together to increase the levels of both supply air and ducted solution to generally improve the way in which the air is exhaust from the area. More details to follow.