hello Shawn,

Thank U for the invitation. Malta is in our plans, but not for this summer as the boat will be new and we prefer to sail near home waters first. Certainly I will e-mail you before planning a crossing to Malta. I hear from friends that visited, it is beautiful.

Hi Panos

I have a 108% Jib and can fully recommend it.  I was interested in getting also a larger jib about 135% for light airs but my sail maker said that I would not be able to lift it and it would be a problem to change to it. 

I also have heavy weather self taking jib about 87% (no vertical battens) for the times when the wind gets up.  I have used this jib in 35 knots and it was great.  To me a 105% and a 95% are a bit close but of course my use is very different to yours. 

I also have a storm jib (on its own removable furler) and am about to order a cruising Gennaker also on a furler that will go on a retractable bowsprit. 

This gives me the following headsail option
23m2 (storm Jib)
47m2 (heavy self taker)
72m2 (108% jib)
150m2 (Gennaker)

Which seemed like a good range of sails to me. 

I looked at Doyle, North and Quantum laminate sails and choose Quantum sails as it appeared the quality of sail was similar to 3DL sails at much lower cost.  The Quantum sails I got had both Carbon and a fibre they call Technora which seemed to be a better mix than what Norths could offer me.

About the Bow Thruster.  I will respond about the sails separately.

Here are some pictures of the bow Thruster. 

From what I hear the Max Power ones are the best. 

It has worked well for me, except no electrical equipment is going to like moisture or salt water like I had in my sail locker.  I had water coming in from my anchor locker through the holes drilled for the electrical connection to my windlass.  I have therefore chosen to move as much of the electrical parts of the bow thruster into a waterproof see through box to protect the electronic parts as much as possible.

Also there appears to be a problem of sheets or people standing on the control toggle in the cockpit and breaking it, so be careful where you put it and it may need to be protected.

Hi Panos

About the Sails. 

I have a sail locker in the front of my 540 and there is heaps of room for sail storage.  I am unsure if you have chosen this configuration in your 630, but to me it makes lots of sense.

The storm jib fits on its furler in a relative small bag and is no problem to store.  Having the storm jib on a furler I think makes things much easier when the wind gets up.  I can have the storm jib up well before needed and just unfurl it from the cockpit when needed or put it away if needed.  Having to hank on a sail in strong winds in a confused sea when I could be unfurling my storm jib from the cockpit seems to be not as good an option.

My storm jib attaches to a 2 to 1 halyard / forestay in Dyneema or something like that (i.e. not a wire forestay).  I can use the Halyard as a forestay when I do not have my storm jib up and it is easy to store and apparently as strong as or stronger than a wire inner forestay.


I do not understand why you would need to kept the furling storm jib or Gennaker hoisted while sailing.  Often I will but I do not see the need to.

I have not got my Gennaker yet so I can not comment on storage size.  I see having a gennaker on a furler as a big advantage.  During a days sailing I could use it many times and furl it in between very simply from the cockpit.  Having it in a snuffer that requires more work means it is less likely to be used as often.

Hi,

What you mean? Of course a dishwasher . I am the one that does the dishes.

Dear Panos

I only have too comments for you.

Like you I chose two Tecma electric toilets in the guest cabins. I connected the toilets to the fresh water tank because sea water in the toilets often makes an unpleasant smell in the summer time.

The problem is that the electric toilets use a lot of fresh water (and electricity).

Today I would install a sea cock, so I could choose between fresh and salt water for my toilets.

In the cabins Hanse Yard has installed Halogen spots 28V (2007). These spots are almost impossible to get. I have found a German web shop that can get them in 3 weeks. If Hanse still uses 28 V Halogen, make them change to 24V or 12 V.

Congratulations with your new boat.

Torben Bjerrehuus

Diva,

Hanse 540

Copenhagen

Hi Panos

A few comments
1.  Check the size of your holding tanks for the toilets.  In the 540 they are small and soon fill up.  I have added another holding tank and had he other tanks run into this larger one if needed.  It is easy to fill up one of the holding tanks and have the other ones still mostly empty.

2.   It worried me that the electrical deck wash pump in anchor locker could be left on and fill the boat with water.  The on switch for the deck wash in the 540 is in the saloon and you do not necessarily hear the pump running or worse still you might be leaving the boat.  I have added a timer cur out switch so the pump funs for a limited amount of time until I push the button again in the anchor locker.  It is also easy to run the pump accidently with the tap closed and end up burning out the pump.

3.    I have only cursed my electric winches as they give my crew no feel for the tension that is on the line.  It is easy to over tension and start to break things.  Next time I will be having all manual (large) winches.

4.   If it was me, I would prefer all my winches to be larger the 54's if I as getting a 630, otherwise some of the crew at least will struggle with the winches if manually used.

5.   You probably need more power outlets.  I added an extra one to the saloon so that I had one on each side of the saloon and one more in the main cabin.

6.   Ericsson makes what they call a wireless voice and data gateway (W25) that allows use of a G3 phone and internet connection.  This gateway allows using your G3 phone and data connection at the same time and also allows you to use a wireless internet connection with one or more laptops.  Works well for me.
http://www.ericssonw25.com/index.html - http://www.ericssonw25.com/index.html

7.  The booster for the mast head aerial for my G3 phone and data connection was the CYFREC-819.  This booster gives me a connection when I would otherwise not had one.

http://www.quantel.co.nz/new.html - http://www.quantel.co.nz/new.html

8.  From what I could figure the interphase SE 200 is the best forward facing sonar (fish finder).  Have not used it much yet
http://www.interphase-tech.com/SE-200.htm - http://www.interphase-tech.com/SE-200.htm

Hello Panos

On the factory fitted extra deck wash on the 540 we only had a on off switch at the electrical board at the Nav table.

Be careful which sim card provider you use in your Ericson W25.   Some can providers sim cards will work only on data and not on voice.  In Australia we only have currently one sim card provider than has data and voice on the same card.

I have a thing about what I think are small winches on the Hanse yachts.  To me they all seem too small.  The sails on the 630 are a lot bigger than a 540 and the Amel.   With the boat the size of the 630 I personally would want to be able to handle the sails comfortably using manual winches in all conditions.  If it was my 630 I would be getting something like 72's for my 105% jib winches. 

For both the main and the 105% jib used manually 65 winches would mean that my daughter (19 years old) and partner would be able to use them manually without hurting themselves in most conditions.  If I had a choice I would have had 65 winches for both my main and secondary winches on my 540.  My partner hurt herself using the 54 winches on my main manually while racing in light air (less than 10 knots)

I have 65 winches for my 105% jib (69 m²) and you will have 54 electric winches for a 105% jib (96 m²).  I do not understand the logic in having undersized winches that are electric.

Listed below is a simple comparison of sail sizes I did as I was interested and I thought it might help you.