Richard

 

Welcome to the forum. Congratulations on placing your order for a 345. Looks like a good size and good performing vessel. I gather we would all like to know what options you ordered, the layout selected, why did you select a Hanse and where you intend to sail her. Do you have a name for the boat yet? 

It's the standard layout and I've included performance, electronic, cruising and comfort pack, plus few other options.

I am thinking of including also a longer anchor chain as the one offered with the pack (30mt) seems too short. thinking of 50 mt instead. what do you think?

 

in the med a longer anchor chain makes definitely sense. I would go for 50 m but in stainless steel for easy free fall stowing in the chain locker. You might in fact get better prices  for stainless chains in Italy.

 

Did you check, that the authorities agree with hull length < 10.0 m in order to avoid the luxury tax?

 

Did you go for the comfort matresses and the side entries ?

 

Frank

 

Here is what I ordered, after a lengthy decision making process:

 

a) Full Simrad electronics package with WiFi ( this is really great )

b) VHF ( comes with AIS splitter ) fitted , you get an extra wireless handset with it

c) biggest engine available with folding prop ( doing 6+ knots at quiet 2000 rpm )

d) side entries

e) bow thruster ( fitted by a subssupplier ), you might not need it in the med

e) electric winches ( can you get your companion on board again with your manual winch ? )

f) Elvström FCL sails ( they are absolutely fantastic close hauled )

g) Teak in Cockpit, but not on decks it simply gets too hot in the Med

h) Cockpit cushions

i) I heard that next season they will offer an additional fridge again in the cockpit (take it, the standard 2 door fridge is not powerful enough for the med climate ! ) Not sure if this applies also to the H 345.

j) we took the gennaker package ex works.

k) the Fusion 600 entertainment package ( make sure that you have an old ipod with the 30 pin connector, so that it fits into the slot )

l) take the big inverter ( can operate a Nespresso machine )

m) the comfort mattresses

n) Eberspächer diesel heating system 

 

My mistake was that I ordered all canvas ex Yard, the quality of the tissue is lousy , it simply does not fit. The design is plain stupid, you can not operate the additional genoa winches with the sprayhood  up. The a bimini does not let you sit comfortably behind the wheel, and it does not uffer UV protection to the helmsman.

Do all canvas work locally, then they can fix any snags quickly. You can also specify the best material for UV resistance ( Sunbrella ). Specify also side shades which you can attach to the bimini. Italy is a good place for this.

 

In Mast Furling or Lazy jacks is a matter of personal preference. We went for FCL with batten cars and it works great.

 

I think that you can live without a radar in the med when you have ordered an active AIS ?  

I would also think about an aircon in lieu of the diesel heater which you can switch to heating if necessary.

 

Remember that Hanse are great boats offering excellent value for money. Their disadvantage is that adding gear afterwards is an arduous task.

 

 

Re your anchor chain - it depends on how much you anchor rather than pick up mooring and if you anchor do you anchor overnight and obviously what depth you are anchoring in. The other consideration is what is the seabed composition. The normal acceptable ratio of water depth to anchor chain scope is 3 to 1 in good conditions. So with 30 meters of chain you could anchor in good conditions (wind and wave) in around 9 meters of water as you would have about 27 meters of chain in the water (there is still chain connected to the bitter end, on deck and above the water). If I were anchoring overnight I would look at using 5 to 1 ratio. In bad conditions you may opt for up to a ratio of 10 to 1.

 

If you are concerned about weight - 8mm anchor chain weights about 1.4kg per meter you could use the appropriate rope rode to lengthen you anchor rode as long as your anchor winch will successful winch rope and chain combination. If you are keen on racing I guess you have the minimum of chain and make up the difference with rope. If you are cruising and not too worried about the extra weight and will be anchoring regularly the safest option is to go for all chain and the more the better. On our vessel (on order as well) we are pushing to fit in 140 meters which we will occasionally use all of it as we do now.

 

The other consideration when talking about anchoring is the weight and design of the anchor. In various areas some anchor designs work better than others due to the seabed type. Ask local owners what works best in your chosen area. Regarding the anchor again more weight is generally better. We went from a 27 kg to a 40 kg anchor which is now the "standard" on offer for the 2014 model. 

 

Frank's list of options looks good and his suggestions for the MED make sense. Good luck with this new boat.

No comfort mattresses (mainly daily cruising) and no side entrances (not really needed in Adriatic Sea). my option list is much shorter than yours (includes teak on decks, though).

I have followed your advise (spotted in other posts) and did not order the canvas from the yard.

 

 

Mark

 

PS sorry everyone its not a hanse, its just modelling a binini! 

 

 

 

I have two parts folding against the backstay, each are packed individually in a protective cover:

This version allows comfortable seating in the "corners". The sliding mounting on the deck sides allows that you raise the bimini, when folded away, so that you can comtortably stand under it. The boom is only 1.8 meter above the cockpit floor ( and I am 1.9 m long ). I can move the whole folded back to 2 m, can stand when sailing and have free view for harbour maneuvres. Price was about the same as ex factory.

 Sorry for the distorted picture, in reality it is much nicer looking !  Can anybody tell me how to avoid this?

BTW Frank, yours looks very nice; is it something customised for your boat or is it a standard product?

 

You can switch the website to English in the lower right corner. It is now in their standard offering.

I especially like the strong hardware ( 30 and 25 mm tubes ) and the perfect fit. You an also order side shades, which might be useful in the med in summer.

 

I you have more questions don't hesitate to PN me.

I could not resist! I have been in Hamble today and thanks to the local Hanse dealer I had the chance to visit a brand new Hanse 345 (waiting for next week's Boat Show, I guess).

You have to really push the sail in and the zipper is then under high tension. Elvström has made me aware that this is the way to destroy theFCL  mainsail.

 

I would also order the lazy bag locally with a good fitting cover around the mast. It will be cheaper than a new Elvström main sail.