ONBOARD Magazine Spring 2018

Q & A
ASK THE EXPERTS
Advice and knowledge from the leading experts in their field
PAUL HICKINBOTHAM
Product Manager
Marine EMEA, Dometic
JOUNI HUUSKO
Technical Sales Manager
Axopar Boats
DAVE SIROCKIN
Company Director
Flow Marine Ltd
JAMES WARD
Managing Director
Electric String Ltd
HOW DOES A SOURCE OF
PURE WATER SAVE TIME
AND COST FOR BOAT
OWNERS?
WHAT DIFFERENTIATES
THE BRABUS SHADOW 800
COMPARED TO THE OTHER
AXOPAR MODELS?
HOW WILL REMOTE
MONITORING AND CLOUD
DATA BENEFIT THE DAILY
OPERATION OF A YACHT?
WHAT ARE THE IMPORTANT
ISSUES TO CONSIDER
WHEN PLANNING AN AV
REFIT ON BOARD?
The countless hours
spent by crew cleaning,
washing and buffing their
yacht are significantly
increased when there are
impurities in the washing
water as streaks and
spots are left behind.
Dissolved solids can be
destructive to marine
paints, coatings, hardware
and other yacht finishes
and detrimental for interior
surfaces such as sinks and
shower screens. A simple
solution is to get rid of the
compounds responsible for
spotting using a doublepass
reverse-osmosis
watermaker system. Using
pure, softened water saves
time as crew can simply
spray the boat down with
no damage from unknown
chemicals or contaminants.
Dometic’s XZ series
combines an on-board Sea
Xchange watermaker and
a Spot Zero freshwater
reverse-osmosis
purification system,
creating a double-pass
process which removes
95-99% of dissolved solids
for ultra-purified water
sent straight to the
vessel’s storage tank.
Although the hull lines of
the new BRABUS Shadow
800 by Axopar are based
upon the existing Axopar
37 Sun-Top, that’s where
any direct comparison
ends. Launched in January
this year, the BRABUS
version is supplied
complete with a long list
of quality, standard extras,
that justify the additional
cost. Firstly; the vessel is
powered by dual Mercury
Marine 400R supercharged
racing engines. The
front accommodation has
BRABUS Fine Leather
and Alcantara, with
an infotainment centre
and LG 42” flatscreen
TV. The hull is painted
BRABUS signature black
using Alexseal and deck
fittings have a cool looking
‘Black Ti’ real Titanium
finish. Carbon-fibre has
been used in the stern
and for parts of the trim
detail. The Sun-Top has an
electric Webasto canvas
roof and fingertip steering
control via Mercury’s 360°
Joystick Piloting. Plus,
boat & engine information
is handled via Mercury’s
latest VesselView 903
management system.
Remote monitoring and
cloud data are a hot topics
in the Superyacht industry.
There are numerous
benefits including remote
technical support - you
don’t have to fly an
engineer half way round
the world to fix a problem,
so you massively reduce
your support costs, and
vessel down time. The
combination of realtime and
historic data allows vessels
to implement intelligent
maintenance strategies.
They can predict and
prevent potential failures
in machinery, reduce
maintenance costs,
and improve equipment
manufacturer customer
service. Historical data
will show trends in
equipment usage allowing
vessels to make efficiency
improvements such as
generator downsizing,
giving cost savings and
environmental benefits.
Captains and Engineers,
equipment manufacturers,
shipyards and yacht
management companies,
can see that cloud data
improves operational
efficiency and cost savings.
When embarking on an
AV refit it is important
to remember the
boundaries within which
you are working and the
expectations of a client.
Whereas a new build
project is essentially a
blank canvas, refits are
generally restricted in
one way or another which
must be incorporated into
the design of the system.
The level to which a design
must be adapted depends
on the scope of project
itself – for example the
works may be AV only and
must contend with an
existing infrastructure,
or alternatively the AV
may be just one part of
a major, whole vessel,
refit and allow for more
flexibility. The ideal scenario
is to replace outdated
technology for the latest
available, but this may
not be feasible in reality
and limitations must be
understood, addressed
and communicated at the
earliest stage. However
deep the scope for change
is, or not, the system
designer must always
bear this in mind and make
changes as necessary.
ONBOARD | SPRING 2018 | 151