Three Months Out

An important part of any new boat purchase is the quality of the warranty.  Jeanneau is famous for its 2-year all-inclusive warranty, and we fully intend to take advantage of it.  This year’s cruise is all about shaking lose anything that is likely to fail while we’re still relatively close to home.  

A recap of "firsts": our first drying out (Batz Island).

We’re convinced that Jeanneau’s actuaries have done their homework and have estimated that most boat owners sail 1 month per year, meaning a 2-year warranty covers anything that falls apart after roughly 2 months of actual sailing. At 3 months of sailing, we’ve got quite a nice list of repairs for them.  Most of these were listed in our “One Month Out” report, and include:  

Genoa difficult to furl “by hand” without a winch

Genoa sheet rail / traveller developed a thumb-sized pit in the metal rail

Mainsail ripped along battens in 2 spots

Mainsheet downhaul rubbed a hole in the dodger

Swim platform latch broke

Spinnaker pole end fittings are broken / stuck

Wifi antenna brackets rusted

Starboard steering wheel pinion misaligned (makes “clunk” noises in two places)  

We’re happy to announce that ALL of the above have been covered by Jeanneau and almost everything has been repaired in 4 days.  The Genoa problem hasn’t really gone away although we’ve re-configured the path of the furler line, which takes care of the problem in all but the strongest wind conditions.  The wheel pinion is on order, however, and we’re not sure when it will arrive.  We will float around our local waters until early next week when they will be able to tell us if it’s a question of days or weeks.  Overall, we’re extremely impressed with the warranty and the service at our local dealer (Chantier Naval Le Pennec, Vannes, France).

So now the proverbial bar has been raised and we’re ready to head back out for another 2 months to try even harder to shake more things lose !  Woo Hoo !

Our first time using the Gennaker.

The first 3 months, by the numbers:

954 : nautical miles traveled

92 : days living on the boat

90 : hours motoring

75: (this one at the request of Patrick): approximate value in Euros of things lost overboard by Maria (instrument cover, electrical adapter, Leatherman)

41 : days sailing

34 : different ports and anchorages visited (35% anchorages)

12 : ports or anchorages new to us

10 : psychological meltdowns over crappy weather

8 : repairs needed (see above)

7 : hours flying the Gennaker

6 : friends crewing

5 : mackerel caught and consumed

5 : books read

3 :  kilos (6.5 pounds) lost by Maria  (see mackerel references)

2  : countries visited

1 : medical emergency  (Patrick developed an ugly and rapidly-growing mole on the back of his calf that needed surgery a.s.a.p.  The pathologists still aren’t sure if it was a carcinoma or not.  I stayed with the boat for 2-3 days on 2 separate occasions while he traveled back home to have this taken care of.)

1 : family emergency  (My mom had cardiac complications after knee-replacement surgery.  We rerouted to a port with transportation options in case I needed to fly out rapidly.  We sat and waited and worried for a week, but everything was happily resolved.)

Our first time visiting Sark in the Channel Islands