Category: Commissioning

Today is the day we are finally able to move onboard – a major milestone as this means that we will be able to leave the marina very soon.  The trailer is almost empty now – which means that nearly everything is fitted and there’s not TOO much more to do.  It’s time to take the custom made mattress out and make up the bed. The mattress for the forward cabin was specified and supplied by Clipper Marine, through a partner supplier – and we had also had custom bed linen made by Nauteriors to fit both the aft and forward cabins based on the mattress specifications.  The mattress comes in two halves – to make it easier to manoeuvre …….

There are many boat lovers out there who adore the look of real teak – the greyer and older it looks the better!  We’re not among that crowd ….. teak is lovely when it’s new but after a very short time of exposure to the air it turns grey, and looks (in our opinion) disgusting!  For this reason, we specified DuraDeck from the standard list of Bavaria options – this is artificial teak which has been laid on the swim platform, cockpit floor and seating, side decks and forward deck.  This came already fitted on the boat from the factory.  However, the cockpit table, foot retaining blocks at the helm, swim ladder, helm seats, pulpit step, shower tray grid and …….

Normally, when a yacht comes into a marina one of the first things you do is to spray it off – sailing covers EVERYTHING in salt and rails, decks, windows and even canvas are disgusting to touch.  Even just sitting gently on the water without spray eventually gives a salt cover to everything from the sea air.  The usual issues of properly cleaning the boat are shortage of water and shortage of power – with many marinas understandably frowning on excessive use of scarce fresh water for boat cleaning and sometimes water pressure being so low that it’s hard to do a good job. We have always had the luxury of a Karcher jet-wash on our boats – normally a …….

We have some beautiful davits on the boat now …. but we need a dinghy to hang in them and that is not a simple job!  Back in April when we did our flying visit to Umag, we went into the Novomar factory in Slovenia where we had looked a few years before for a dinghy for our last motor boat.  Novomar is a local Slovenian brand which is great value for money – the factory seems a bit odd at first as you think you are going into a deserted old warehouse, but the owner has stock of all types and sizes of boats – some beautiful luxury ranges which were not feasible for us, and some basic models …….

Keto returned to Croatia on 2nd June to finish off the outstanding works – mainly for the installation of the davits but also to repair replace the custom floor panel which had been delivered in the wrong colour and to deliver a few odd replacement bits.  Daniel came out again with his assistant James – and what a horrible job they had to do! By way of introduction, here is the end result of the davits … just so you know what we are aiming for!  The davits are very unusual – and we have never seen them installed on any other boat, although they are a standard “off the shelf” product.  They are produced by Simpson Davits, made by Cooney …….

After months of anticipation Liberation was delivered to Isola in Slovenia in the middle of March 2013 and commissioning by Bavaria takes place as well as the addition of the factory fitted options and the dealer options we have requested including the canvas, auto-pilot, additional winches etc.  Ed had already decided he wanted to be present to supervise the commissioning and drove from the Alps to Isola with our camper for the duration of the project and to take official handover and sail her to Croatia when she was ready. Commissioning consists of fitting all the bits and pieces which come separately packed the most complex of which is the standing rigging.  The mast was stepped and all the standing …….