The team from Amel was here from Monday afternoon to Thursday morning and addressed a number of items on the "punch list", most importantly the issues we had with the furlers for the main and mizzen on the trip from La Rochelle to Almerimar. It turns out that Kincsem was the first or second boat in the production that had a new set of fuses for the furling and outhaul motors (under the nav seat) which were required by a change in French law. These were the fuses that went off a number of times on the trip and required quite a bit of work to replace every time. They have now been replaced with the same type of breaker that has been used on Amel 55s for years for the genoa winches and which require only a flip of a switch to reset. They also have a slower response time, so should only blow after the first set of breakers. This has been tested on at least 4 boats since August and the experience has been good: no further problems.

I now also have a bunch of new expensive spare parts for the "current limiter" and the outhaul winch - all of which likely ensures that I will never again have a problem!

I also learned a lot of additional things about the boat - from setting up and tensioning the outhaul to setting up the jib and staysail, and what happens if you loose a halyard in the mast! I experienced the "mast stepper" which permits me to ascend the mast by myself, step by step so to speak! After getting to the first spreaders in 3 minutes, I however accepted the offer from the Amel team to get me up using the electric winch ....

With the Amel team departing, Friederike and Benno arrived yesterday evening and the plan is to do some sightseeing today and over the weekend.

Additional pictures at

https://joergesdorn.smugmug.com/Kincsem/2017/Almerimar-Almeria/n-BCcnHr/

Unfortunately, these links to pictures on this blog are not permitted to be clickable with your mouse - so you have to select the link, right click and select the "Go to" option. Sorry!