The sea trial process is designed to insure everything works as planned, and to ferret out problems that may be hidden. Most of this will have been done in the shop, before launching. But with custom builds, or the first in a series, the schedule often slips and this work ends up happening afloat (and there are some things which have to be done in the water).

The photo above says something about this process in the 21st century. Count the computers, all of which are in use for commissioning. Todd and Deon are fine tuning the inverter chargers, and have two computers connected to the inverters while Ruben from Furuno is using his PC to initialize the Nav Net 3D system.

Lighting off electronics for the first time is a big part of commissioning. Brian is working on the Icom SSB transceiver and making an antenna connection in the wet locker.

Without fail the last trade off the boat are the electricians. Rolph is checking the DC meters, one of which is supposed to report alternator amps and at present is not working.

This is not a good time to be around as an owner. The boat is often crowded with workers changing or fixing items which have been found wanting. Between the visual mess, the problems being sorted out, and the tension between workers and management, as an owner it is better wait until sea trials are complete.

If you do go through the process it is best to have a calm disposition. It also helps to have somewhere aboard to escape to.

Considering the systems aboard the FPB 64 the commissioning process has gone very smoothly. The problem list dealt with so far which come to mind include:

• Hydraulic system issue with the NAIAD supplied valve block. After two weeks of checking, changing out items, and frustration, Circa find a pressure relief valve in the controlling valve block has not been set at the factory. Circa sets this to spec and the system, including the hull cooling tank, now works properly.
• Hot water during showers is uneven in flow. Small change to plumbing circuit corrects the problem.
• One of two autopilot motor controllers is faulty. Now replaced and both pilots working properly.
• Fresh water cooling system for air conditioners not cooling as intended. Solution is to plumb two of the units with salt water in a manner which allows changing back when we figure out how to solve the lack of capacity.
• Sonar, which was not working, found to have a loose plug.
• Washing machine bangs and rattles during spin cycle. Circa find shipping blocks have not been removed.

Here is an example of what we want to find out before the yacht is turned over to her owners. The chain wheel on the Maxwell V4000 does not fit the Acco chain. Note how the links do not sit evenly around the gypsy.

If you have been through this before you will appreciate how short this list is, and with the next FPB 64 launch the list will be even shorter.

There is also a regime of testing and adjusting in process. Some of these items include:

• Verifying operation of alarms.
• Adjusting float switches.
• Initializing and tuning electronics.
• Testing charging system.
• Checking inverter output (combined 8000 watts) and looking at RMS ripple effect.
• Testing engine operation and verifying propeller calculations.

This process is not easy, and it is often stressful. But there are rewards, like seeing a new boat do what you dreamed about years before when the design process started.

Yesterday there were left over waves from a dieing breeze, and with stabilizers now working correctly we had a chance to test the boat in three to five foot (.9 to 1.7m) waves. We shall report on what we found shortly, hopefully with some video.

For now, a few random photos follow from yesterday.