[Rhodes22-list] Commissioning

[Bill Effros]

Thanks, Dave,

Most boat companies aren't as patient as Elton.  Time is money, blah, 
blah.  Here's your boat, gotta go.

Yes, the batteries are a pain, but most of us have far more battery than 
we need.  Once you get it straight, it stays straight.

A lot of what you saw will stick with you the next time you need to do it.

I make up extensive lists for myself, for every operation, so that when 
I come back to it, whether that's a half a year later or the next day, I 
simply run down a checklist--every time--and improve the checklist every 
time I see a  better way to do something.

I have routines for leaving my house; opening the boat; setting sail; 
closing the boat; raising the mast; lowering the mast; waxing; flushing 
the toilet; -- everything I can think of.  You can't imagine how many 
times I haven't forgotten to put on suntan lotion, or to insert my 
contact lenses BEFORE putting on the suntan lotion.

They are all little steps, and I can remember most of them most of the 
time.  But as my pappy used to say "a short list beats a long memory."

The trick for very fast commissioning is starting at the back end of the 
boat, loading everything on board that's coming on board, and then 
working toward the front of the boat, completing step after step.  You 
would be amazed at how much time is saved if you know in advance what 
all the steps are, and can complete them all without going from bow to 
stern to cabin, back off the boat to get something, over to West Marine 
for something forgotten...

Start with Peter's checklist, and see how much you can fill in from your 
day with Elton.  Save it for next year.  You'll be very happy to see it 
then, and it will save you hours.

Bill Effros

DCLewis1 at aol.com wrote:
> Bill,
>  
> I don’t think much went wrong.  The boat was in good shape.  We  did have a 
> dead batt, but there were 2 batts aboard so we could use the other  one to get 
> started.  We lost a little time changing out one batt later in  the day and it 
> took a little while initially for Elton to figure out that it was  just the 
> one batt and not something in the wiring.  Actually, there is more  to it: 
> turns out that the lid on the batt compartment was routered to  accommodate the 
> specific batt that was provided by GBI.  After Elton  figured out it was just 
> the batt, and not the wiring, and after we changed the  batt, we found out that 
> the posts of the new batt had a different configuration  than the posts for 
> the old batt; so he took the lid off  the batt  compartment to take back to 
> Edenton, they’ll router or drill new holes, mail it  back to me, and I’ll 
> install.   It was the classic daisy chain, you  find a problem, diagnose it, fix it, 
> which leads to another problem, etc.   It all took a fair while to get it all 
> sorted out - perhaps a couple of  hours.  But there’s a lesson here for the 
> board, all batts are not the same  because the posts are different, you guys 
> probably knew that.  
>  
> There also may be a problem with the toilet water inlet valve on the boat,  
> right now it’s stuck open, Elton is going to do some checking at GBI to see  if 
> there’s a fix.  We spent a little while on that , not a lot, it’s  
> unresolved.  I'm a little antzy about leaving that valve open, but Elton  said it 
> wouldn't be a problem.  Certainly, no water was coming in.
>  
> Beyond that, I thought it just took a long time to get an R22 up from it’s  
> trailer.  I’m new at this, I have no baseline.  I see PT posted he  does it in 
> 30 minutes, I’m amazed.  Maybe it’ll go faster next time (a lot  faster, 
> easily x20 faster).
>  
> We lost more than an hour in West Marine.  Shopping took a bit of  time, of 
> course, but far and away the biggest problem was they couldn’t get  their 
> checkout system to work right and some products weren’t marked so no one  knew what 
> they cost.  It took a while.  Time in West Marine  shouldn’t count against 
> launch time, but it’s time.
>  
> After we initially splashed we probably spent an hour, certainly less than  2 
> hrs,  in the harbor while Elton talked us through a few loops.  That  shouldn’
> t count against launch time, but it made for a longer day.
>  
> Also, there were some unique “first time out” things, like getting the  
> numbers affixed, getting the docking lines right, etc.  You guys probably  have 
> all your docking and mooring lines sized, spliced, taped, from year to  year.  
> We fumbled around a lot, it's still not the way we want it.
>  
> But it just took a lot of time.  Elton’s methodology, for the most  part,  
> was to tell me what to do and I’d do it (or try to do it).   That was a slow 
> process, because I wasn’t at all familiar with the components,  what came next, 
> where it attached, etc.  It took a while (hrs).
>  
> I’m really amazed at the launch times you guys report.  At the end of  our 
> commissioning I said to myself “I never want to do this again”.    Elton told 
> me he thought people on the board commonly did the sort of thing  we did 2 to 3 
> times a year as they trailered their boats, I was skeptical.   Given the 
> launch time reports on the board, he’s likely correct.
>
> Again, the delivered boat was in good shape and at the end of the day  we 
> were glad to have it in the water. 
>  
> Dave
>
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