Hello.  I bought a new Hanse 311 in April of 2002.  I sail this boat in the San Francisco Bay and Pacific Ocean in the USA.  I have had many issues with this boat and I would like to know what other Hanse owners are going through with their boats.  

I am going to list some of the problems I have had and I would like to know if anyone else has had the same issues with their Hanse.

1. Where the mast meets the deck is a mast plate.  This had stress fractures in it and had to be replaced.  The mast had to be taken off in order to do this.  Hanse did cover the bill.

2. The boom-vang broke away from the boom twice.

3.  All the sicoflex on the entire boat has cracked and had to be redone.  And I mean All sicoflex, this is both inside and outside the boat including under the deck chain plates and the wheel.  I was getting major leaks due to this that leaked into the quarter birth. 

4.  The boat leaks through the aft cockpit lockers.  If it rains or I hose the boat down water ends up in the bilge.  This is a pain in the neck and if I don’t clean the boat with Lysol it will smell so I have to take all the cushions out of the quarter birth and clean the hull to prevent any mold from forming. 

5.  The cockpit was turning yellow.  Hanse sent a guy to by boat to re-gelcoat my cockpit, or all of the smooth fiberglass around it.

6.  I have a 16 inch crack in the fiberglass at the base of my engine.  If you remove the companionway and look at the engine right in front of it is a very large crack in the glass.

7. The jib traveler end-caps broke and had to be replaced.

8. The roller furling drum at the top of the mast broke and I had to put on a new one and a new head-stay.

9. The bow pulpit had to be taken off and put back on since it was coming loose from the boat.

Now I have had a lot more problems too but they are more minor like the hose for the fresh water tank was not attached right and was leaking etc.....

But you get the picture.  Am I the only one who is going through this turmoil with his Hanse?

Any feedback would be great.

Thank you.

Matt

Hi Matt,

it's sad that you had these problems with you 311. I just bought a 312 and she is finished already, waiting outside for delivery. Your points let me check the boat twice as good as I would have done before.

Maybe we can share some experiances here about sails, equipment etc.

My boat is going to be based close to Greifswald in Germany.

Kind regards,

Thomas Schmidt, Berlin.

Hi Matt,

I am very sorry that you have had so much trouble with your boat, which is sad given that the 311 is a very enjoyable boat to sail. I have bought mine (311) in March 2002 and she is based in the UK (East Coast). I have had some trouble, but not more than you would expect from a new boat at this stage of production (mine is number 53).

We have 3 more 311s at our place and I am in contact with all of them and again it's the same story: They have all had problems but nothing close to what you went through. I have also noticed that newer models are much higher quality and finishing, so the improvement process thoughout thier production time seams to work. (of course this is no conselation to you).

I am interested in Hanse's response to your problems. How did they deal with it? Sympathetic and efficient? or did they offer excuses? I wonder if there is an explanation for the exceptaionally bad state of your 311?

We have 3 more 311s at our place and I am in contact with all of them and again it's the same story: They have all had problems but nothing close to what you went through. I have also noticed that newer models are much higher quality and finishing, so the improvement process throughout thier production time seams to work. (of course this is no consolation to you).

I am interested in Hanse's response to your problems. How did they deal with it? Sympathetic and efficient? or did they offer excuses? I wonder if there is an explanation for the exceptaionally bad state of your 311?

If you are still able to enjoy sailing with your boat, maybe we can exchange some experiences.

Good luck,

Heiko

So far Hanse has been doing all they can to fix my issues.  But it is really hard since I have no local dealer anymore, so I have to deal with Germany and I live in San Francisco, CA,  USA.   They are shipping me out a new rudder which is nice of them but it will not be here for 3-4 weeks so I will have to haul my boat (again) to have it put on.  So everything takes a really long time. And they have yet to say if they will pay for all of the labor.  I have asked them several times and they have not answered this question. 

If I had only 3 or 4 problems it would not be a big deal.  And 90% of my problems are not that big but when you put it all together it is very hard to deal with. 

I would like to know exactly what problems others are having.  You both said you had some issues but what where they? 

I will update this board in a few weeks and let everyone know what is going on.

Thanks.

Matt,

my problems were different to yours:

1. Backstay came undone, but this has been repaired and changed at newer models.

2. I did not have any epoxy layer on mine. Again, this has been rectified.

3. The varnish of my interiour had become cracked. This was due to a production process problem which effected app. 40 boats before they identified it as a problem. It only occures after a curing period of app. 1 to 1.5 years. Hanse have replaced my entire interiour to rectify the problem.

4. Some gear was not installed when the first delivered her: Fridge, Spinnaker gear etc. Not a major issue, I got it all within 4 weeks.

I think that was about it. So compared to your problems not to bad.

Heiko

Hallo Heiko,

so findet man sich auch im Forum wieder :-)

Grüsse aus Berlin

Thomas.

Heiko, I to had the varnish issues on my boat too.  And I found out that the interior of my boat was replaced as well.  I was never told this and only found out one week ago.  But, I still had more varnish issues and Hanse sent me out a few new doors.  

And for my backstay I had it upgraded to a 16-1 ratio since the factory 8-1 is not enough.

Matt

hello my name is Rune Andersen , I hit the rocks last year vith my 311 and we discovered a lot of bad things. there was no support from the keel and up to the mast , the pipe supposed to support the mast was just hanging from the roof.  I belive that is what you are eksperiencing. is your mast pumping a lot?

compression only.

Were you able to fix your boat?

I don't suppose hitting rocks will do much good to any modern boat! 

Regarding the backstay - be careful if you change to a 16:1 ratio.  This is too much - if you tighten it too much the foot of the mast could slip.  The results could be catastrophic.  If you do go for a 16:1 ratio make sure the rest of your rigging is tuned properly.

The stock mast and rigging can take a 16:1,  8:1 was not enough.  I had a respected rigger/racer look at my boat and he put on the 16:1 ratio backstay and said it is fine.  He said the rest of the rig is fine and I can amp on my backstay all I want.  Which is good since I sail in high winds a lot. 

Thanks. 

I am using a 16:1 as well and am not to concerned about amping it on. As I mentioned before, the Hanse lot here in the UK still race their Yachts (341 at the moment) without backstay tension at all! I suppose it depends on how your sails are cut. Just check you backstay support plates if you do use a lot of tension. I pulled mine out once, but this was with a single fitting only, and there was no backing plate. This has now been rectified.

Heiko