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My Seanna

Discussion in 'General Yachting Discussion' started by captainwjm, Dec 1, 2018.

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  1. captainwjm

    captainwjm Senior member

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    Question: Is the motor yacht My Seanna in the tv show Below Deck the same My Seanna recently named as the vessel commanded by Frasier Yacht’s Captain of the Year, who is also coincidently named Lee?
  2. Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

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    Not Sure. Seanna was origionally the Galant Lady when new and came in at 160' with a 6' draft and built by Delta. It was launched 2002, but registered as a 2001 as it could win an award for best interior, as hull 808, to coincide with his birthday August 8th. ***** never liked the Delta and ordered the Feadship that replaced it, shortly after it was delivered and took delivery a few years later. It was then sold and became Newvida where it sat less than 2 miles from *****'s house on A1A in Hillsboro Beach for many years until a few years ago. Around 2014 it was extended and that created the Beach area/tender garage and extended all of the aft decks by many feet (which was the main reason I believe ***** never liked it, it didn't have nearly the private aft deck length his old Feadship had which they owned and is still in the company now). He loved that 172' Feadship launched in 1987 I think, everything except it's 11.5' draft. The new Feadship (176') launched around 2005 or so has a 6.x' draft believe and looks very very similar to the original Feadship. From what I can tell, the entire boat from the aft deck doors forward is exactly the same including the entire interior (wood walls, marble floors, marble counter tops), with just very few soft goods changed like the seating on the bridge. Only thing I can tell that has changed forward of the aft deck doors is the tender storage on the bow, which the boat never had origionally and a galley oven in place of a reach in refrigerator/freezer all of the way on the left on the row of freezers in the galley . The interior looks to be almost all original from what I've seen on the show.
  3. olderboater

    olderboater Senior Member

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    Same boat. Not same Captain. You're referring to Todd Lee. The captain on Below Deck is Lee Rosbach.
  4. captainwjm

    captainwjm Senior member

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    Yes, knew the cap’ns were different. Since the boat is the same, that implies that the Below Deck show is a bare boat charter. Is that correct?
  5. Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

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    Usually all of the Below Decks are bare boat charters. The yacht owners full time engineer and first officer stay on the yacht but are generally not seen on the show.
  6. olderboater

    olderboater Senior Member

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    Must be a challenge filming to keep the invisible members of the crew unseen. What we see is the Captain, 4 Deckhands (until 1 was fired), 3 stews (until 1 quit) and 1 chef for a total of 9. That boat normally has a crew of 12 for charters. That would mean there's at least 1 other captain/officer and an engineer. I'm guessing a 1st officer, 2nd officer/oow, engineer although it could be 1st officer and 2 engineers. Often on a boat that size you'd have a second chef or crew cook or something too. Versus what I would expect they also have more deckhands and fewer stews than would be normal for a boat in that range.

    I used a model and it showed normal staffing of 13 as follows:

    Captain
    1st Officer
    2nd Officer/OOW
    Bosun/Mate
    Deckhand
    Chief Engineer
    2nd Engineer
    Chief Stew
    3 Stews
    Chef
    Sous Chef

    Now, obviously everyone does it differently, but there are common patterns on Charters. That boat is normally run with a crew of 12.
  7. captainwjm

    captainwjm Senior member

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    Thanks for the information; very interesting.
  8. Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

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    I worked on that boat for a few weeks, we ran 14 crew, but we were crew heavy I guess. We had a captain, first officer, chef, galley assistant, 1 engineer, 4 on interior(chief stew, stews) (mate, deckhands) and 4 on exterior. But often 2 crew members would leave with guests on a tender. Also we had back to back guests for weeks or month and 1-2 hours of turnover between guests.
  9. olderboater

    olderboater Senior Member

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    And that was when the boat was shorter.
  10. pripankaj

    pripankaj Guest

    very nice...........
  11. Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

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    Yes, nearly new and 160'. The length has not added much in regards to additional work except for toys and probably need for 1 more deckhand. It's a stern extension, from the back of the house forward (all interior accomodations) exactly the same. The aft decks became 25' longer on every level (more teak decking to clean, a touch more washdown, stainless) and it made room for the toy garage in the stern which the boat initially never had resulting in more work for exterior only. The s/s on that boat was a M.F., all welded stainless, intricate with all of the hoops in it, and as a result needed to be polished every 2 weeks. If I'm not mistaken it slept 14 crew. 1 in the Captains quarters aft of the FB (could be a couple if there was a couple), engineer had a stateroom by itself forward of the engine room, 4 bunk rooms forward and at the lower level as well as a crew mess, then all of the way forward on the lower level but then had to climb a tall flight of stairs was where the chef slept (but could sleep 2). The extra person at the time slept on one of the 60' tenders that was assigned to that yacht.

    But like I said, we had 8 guests all of the time, 2 hours max of guest turnover, and the guests rotated out every 4 days, sometimes 3 days for 6 weeks sometimes 8 weeks. The crew rotated out too every 14 or more days.
  12. Cruz

    Cruz Member

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    I just love that you're also watching that closely. It's hard to look away, although I'm guessing you, like me, filter out as much of the reality drama as possible to watch the stuff we really care about. FWIW, Capt Sandy tells me next season in the Med will be much more interesting to Yacht owners and less about the drama. We shall see.
  13. Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

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    That is my fault with it. They could easily make the shows longer or more of them and show more of the beautiful scenery. Yes the crew drama is a little interesting. But they're really missing out on not showing more of the scenery. It's shocking to me how original all of the interior still is on that yacht 17 years later. Crew galley seating is the same, all wall paper the same, marble work all the same, counter tops the same...….virtually everything on the interior is the same. It did sink at the dock when it was 4 months old as the 4" a/c discharge pipe broke off, it was very shallow water so only a few feet under the waterline. NO crew slept on the boat when it was at it's home dock under the first owner.
  14. olderboater

    olderboater Senior Member

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    Now they've had their first major incident with a man overboard. Deck hand slipped while underway and got his foot caught in the tow line of the tender. They haven't shown the resolution yet, but my understanding is he nearly drowned and was actually saved by one of the camera crew. He was immediately taken to the hospital and is ankle was badly injured. In fact, they thought they might have to amputate. A reminder of what can happen.

    We watch it strictly for laughs. However, even in so doing there are bits of truth here and there that filter through. While we say we'd never hire such crew, those who have served extensive time on such charter yachts will tell you that they've seen ones like nearly all those on the show, just not all at the same time. TV does have to cram it in. Also, they've all dealt with worse charter guests and even guests who didn't tip or tipped very little.

    As to more interesting to yacht owners, not betting on it. A lot more fans of drama out there than yacht owners.
  15. captholli

    captholli Senior Member

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    J,
    Sounds like you worked for JM in your younger years.
    Small world as the owner of MY Seanna has one of his "investments properties" up for sale that's one or two lots south of the Gallant Lady docks on the Hillsboro Mile. Concierge Auctions had the 60,000 + sq. ft. "Playa Vista Isle" listed for auction last month, asking price was a mere $159 million making it one if not the most expensive houses for sale in the U.S. The owners personal assistant was the project lead on the refit of MY Seanna @ Rybovich while simultaneously leading the house project so hats off to him for his multi tasking abilities. BTW, J. rarely do I come across an older vessel that's been through a major refit that's extended to the crews mess or quarters with the exception of new mattresses regardless of the vessels pedigree. Seems like its a low priority on the list for designers and owners most times . The crews mess and cabins on the old "Charade" ex "BG" or "Valor" are the same as they were when aboard in '91 The White washed oak veneers in the crews cabins looked to be worn completely through in most places but the Mstr. S/R has a $10,000 articulated commode that malfunctions on a regular basis. The nasty sweat stained pillows on the crew bunks were a nice bit of reality TV though for a charter boat. Interesting fact for the 1990 De Vries Feadship Charade. She was the first Feadship class approved to have electric steering only in the bridge. No hydraulic/ mechanical, nor a proper wheel on the bridge but just electric with redundant circuits. The only "wheel" on the boat was located in the emergency steering station aft in the steering flat in the lazarette.
  16. Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

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    I ran a Lloydship that had no steering wheels period, just a joystick. I hated it, because going through bridges and such you had to keep looking down at the rudder indicator to see if you went back to center or where you were. At least with a steering wheel you can do half a turn in one direction and then half a turn back and you're pretty much centered (even with electric).

    Yeah, I did work for JM briefly back then and decided their situation and the megayacht crew thing wasn't my deal. I worked on their Feadship for a few weeks also. What I meant was the ENTIRE of interior is the same throughout the ENTIRE boat, all of the wallpaper on the guests staterooms, all of the marble flooring throughout the boat (guest staterooms, salons, etc.), the granite or marble counter tops throughout the boat, including that really ugly colored one at the bar. They did nothing at all to the interior.

    Yes the owner after JM kept the boat a few blocks, maybe a mile South of JM's at the house you're speaking of and the vessel was named Newvida at that time.
  17. Pascal

    Pascal Senior Member

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    I watched a couple of episodes for the first time in years and it s actually a pretty good comedy show... like a sitcom without the canned laugh. Some of the plots are pretty silly like guests being dropped off and left on their own without towels or drinks, or landing on a beach with surge...i hope the "charterers" got a good discount for putting up with such inexcusable charter mistakes.

    As to the MOB...i cant help believe this was staged... we dont tow a center console but i have never seen the tender being dropped from alongside with the boat still moving. I always see a crew driving it till it s hooked and the crew transfer.
  18. olderboater

    olderboater Senior Member

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    The MOB was most definitely not staged. It apparently shook everyone up tremendously and the aftermath for the crew member was horrific. I don't know his condition now. All it takes is one lapse in safety practices. One seemly innocuous retying of a tender. One slip. The crew member was seriously hurt and his life was saved not by another crew member but by a member of the camera crew.

    I've heard the charterers pay about half price for the charters but are asked to still base their tips off the full charter price.

    One thing that has been consistent is bosuns lacking experience. On this one the bosun was terminated prior to this charter. Typically at least one deck hand and one stew has no experience on a boat this size or type. Kate and Hannah are both lightening rods and I wouldn't have either working for me, but Captain Lee and Kate have worked together a long time and there are a lot of chief stews out there as bad as Hannah.
  19. Ken Bracewell

    Ken Bracewell Senior Member

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    When I was running RENA, I often dropped the tender off the hip.
  20. Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

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    I've done it as well, I've come out some inlets with the tender on the hip and then slowly released it once we cleared the inlet (on calm days). Granted I was towing a tender and only had a mate, so it was trickier, but could keep the bridle connected and have it tied on the hip then slowly let it go as the big boat is drifting 1 knot forward.