Fresh off the boat! Should I take the new hallberg rassy 44 or the x yacht 40?

Posted by d3adfr3d@reddit | sailing | View on Reddit | 7 comments

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axiomoixa@reddit

What was your decision in the end? I am curious.

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Hallberg Rassy 44. It's a fantastic boat. But in the end, it was the wrong decision. The boat had been HIT BY LIGHTNING on the way across the Atlantic, and the electronics were fried! The boat ended up getting sent back to Sweden to be rebuilt. It was a miracle the common rail engine started.

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vanalden@reddit

'It was a miracle the common rail engine started.'

Rather, it was a good design choice by Hallberg-Rassy. The Volvo Penta D2-75F engine in an HR 44 is not a common rail engine. It doesn't have a single, high pressure fuel pump and electronically controlled fuel delivery solenoids. It's simpler and more robust than common rail engines, though not as quiet and a bit less efficient. Yes, it has an electronic interface in the form of a black box mounted on the exhaust side, called a Mechanical Diesel Interface (MDI). This enables the engine to communicate with the electronic control panel out at the helm position. It's lucky this wasn't fried by the lightning strike. However, the engine can be started and will run perfectly even if this black box is dead. Ask me how I know this!

I like the Volvo D2 series engines for the simple reason that they are simple and there's a very good prospect that I'll be able to repair or replace anything on them that fails. I hear lots of good things about Yanmar motors from happy owners, but their common rail variants are not as easy to repair as Volvo's mechanical injection motors.

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d3adfr3d@reddit (OP)

TIL

I'll be the first to admit I'm not a diesel guy.

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axiomoixa@reddit

What a story. How did you find out and not have found out?
I hear that the electronics and wiring were done last during the build process. I'd have thought replacing the electronics aren't that difficult, but obviously I am wrong.

Would you mind sharing some thoughts on your decision process. What were your for and against in terms of HR vs X-Yachts? Did you get to sea-test them? How were they at (rought) sea?

Thanks for sharing.

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d3adfr3d@reddit (OP)

Yeah, I felt bad for the owner who just paid a million+usd and waited for over a year to get it. We didn't know right away it was a lightning strike; that was determined later by electronics specialists. All we knew was that nothing was working correctly. Most systems simply didn't come online, but some others were just functioning abnormally.

These boats are loaded with electrical kit, so when they decided it needed to be gutted, it was easier to have the manufacturer redo it rather than have someone else reverse engineer it all.

These were both great yachts. Very capable class A all ocean designs. The X yacht is much more performance oriented, and the HR is more luxury long distance sailing oriented. If I had to live aboard, I would take the HR. If I was doing long weekends coastal cruising, it would be the x yacht.

For this it really didn't matter which i took as it was only a one day trip under motor to the commissioning yard. If there were sails onboard, I may have taken the x yacht. The hr has bow and stern thrusters, so I figured it would be easier to dock, and as the delivery skipper, that was appealing. As it turned out, neither were working due to the electronics failure, so now I was stuck parking a twin rudder single screw boat without thrusters, so MORE challenging at slow speeds.

I have sailed both brands in ocean conditions. I was a watch captain on an xp44 in 2016 annapolis to bermuda ocean race. And have sailed various HRs up and down the east coast of the United States in all sorts of conditions. Both are great at what they do. But they are definitely designed for different owners.

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axiomoixa@reddit

Thanks for the valuable input.