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New 125 Westport hits dock.

Discussion in 'Westport Yacht' started by Capt Ralph, Oct 9, 2019.

  1. Capt Ralph

    Capt Ralph Senior Member

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    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 14, 2019
  2. Pascal

    Pascal Senior Member

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    Article said it was tied to the fuel dock. Ripped the cleats off the dock?

    First reaction is why didn’t someone killed the engines but if it was tied up maybe nobody was at the helm? And even if someone is at the helm, do they hope to quickly regain control... at point do you shut down and loose hope to stop

    Tricky. But way too frequent
  3. gsholz

    gsholz New Member

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    Electronic controls? Wireless controls? By the way, the fuel dock in Port Angeles is on the west side of the marina, the boat ended up on the east side ramp.
  4. captainwjm

    captainwjm Senior member

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    There was a episode of Below Deck [yes, I know] where that same thing happened. On the show, Capt. Lee diagnosed the problem as involving the switch of controls from the ER to the bridge. As I remember it, the engines were started from the ER and were run to warm up, then control was switched to the bridge when the gears engaged.
  5. amgscrap

    amgscrap Member

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    Wonder what the prospective Florida owner does now. Let’s Westport repair the boat and pays them full price? Asks for a new boat to be built? Or cancels order. I know I would not pay full price for a new boat that was involved in an accident
  6. olderboater

    olderboater Senior Member

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    And what do you know about the damage to the 125? I couldn't see it from the photo.
  7. johnnry

    johnnry Member

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    Would be great if someone can find out what happened..I suspect a neighbor opened there garage door ..Wireless is great for to music and reading yachtforum..Not controlling 4000 plus hp. So scary
  8. Irish Wake

    Irish Wake Member

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    The damage is cosmetic, nothing structural.
  9. cleanslate

    cleanslate Senior Member

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    Yet another example of '' modern technology going haywire '' , sometimes it's just better not to try and reinvent the ''wheel''. Good old simple stupid, rarely fail, cable controls probably could have prevented this . All this electronic / sensor controlled stuff sounds great on paper, and when very newly installed, but it will fail. I think it's way over used on boats/yachts. Yes I know cable runs on mega yachts are long, but I'm sure a good old CC33 or xtremCC33 for example could work. Yup,. Period.
  10. cleanslate

    cleanslate Senior Member

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    Agree
  11. Pascal

    Pascal Senior Member

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    It s not just the cable length it s also the number of stations. PH, FB and two wing stations and likely one or two aft deck stations. Cables can’t handle that

    I wonder what kind of engines and control systems they used?
  12. olderboater

    olderboater Senior Member

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    A lot of speculation but none of us know what happened. As to engines, 2600 hp MTU. Engine controls are probably Marine Technologies RCS, 4 stations.
  13. cleanslate

    cleanslate Senior Member

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    I got ya, it's probably not practical with all of the different number of stations. But it's something that should be looked at more carefully. Main engines should be able to be controlled with out the use, nor have to rely on AC/DC electric , air, or hydraulics. It should be through mechanical means only. Or there will just be more run away yachts and cruise ships...remember that one that hit the dock last year? not sure if it was an engine control issue though.
  14. Pascal

    Pascal Senior Member

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    Of all the options hydraulic is probably the most reliable since there is no way it can get in gear on its own.

    But in this case we don’t know what happened. If indeed the boat was already tied to the fuel dock, for all we know somebody could have tripped and accidentally pushed the controls

    I ve always been surprised that you can’t turn off some electronic controls like Cat. If I have to leave the helm with the engines running I make sure no kids are around. I wish the “Station Active” button would allow the controls to be deactivated when leaving a station for another
  15. Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

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    Put the cat controls in throttle only/gear lock out. You can do that, so at least if someone hits them, they only get throttle.
  16. Pascal

    Pascal Senior Member

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    I tried that once and couldn’t get it out of neutral mode on the new station. I had to go back up, get out or neutral mode and then go back down. Will try again.
  17. Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

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    On the new station hit station active (original station controls have to be in neutral) then hit the N button.
  18. ychtcptn

    ychtcptn Senior Member

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    Plenty of cable controls have busted over the years, I've had both cable and electronic fail on me.

    One of my favorite instructors once told me " Only come into the dock as fast as you want to hit it!"
  19. Pascal

    Pascal Senior Member

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    Cables usually give you warning before they fail. A little more friction, or feeling looses.

    Sure...!don’t approach faster than you want to hit but when E-controls get their electrons out of whack and increase power or engage a gear... that won’t help
  20. Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

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    I agree cable usually gets very stiff before (breaking) failing. However, I have had 2 of the cables falls off over the years. 1 was on an engine and it went to idle speed when the cable fell off, but we were at 25 knots and it made a very nice sharp turn all of a sudden. The other one fell off of a gear and it stayed in forward.

    Hynautic seems to be the most reliable in this size yacht. There's always air controls also for this size. I've had my failures with electronic controls over the years...…..after running around a 1000 new boats over the years, I sure have had my share.....probably 12 control failures......mostly from things not done correctly from the factory.....a harness plug, not fully plugged in, etc.