Lovely stuff and well presented Roger!

@balancecatamarans

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks, Johan!

Great walkthrough Roger, thanks for sharing. Great name as well, Wahoo, love it!

Just beautiful. Congratulations to the new owners they must be absolutely over the moon.

@balancecatamarans

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks, Simon!

Absolutely stunning, congrats Dave & Alison! Fantastic job Balance/Nexus team!

What a beautiful performance cat, love the helm concept and cabine design which gives you pretty spacious room. All i need now are my lotto millions **fingers crossed**

@balancecatamarans

Жыл бұрын

Our fingers are crossed for you too!

Amazing Phil!! Looking good Roger!

Wow, these are such great improvements. Bravo Balance.

Good job chaps. Keep your eye on sailing performance and technical standards.

Beautiful boat!

Looks awesome! Definitely on my list for when I’m ready.

Ive been following Balance boats for a while. I think Balance boats are fantastic and this Mark II is a big step forward in little details that makes a huge difference , I hope Balance will come up with a fluch deck soon 👌

@andrewhodgdon2786

2 жыл бұрын

Flush hatches must be designed into the tooling of the deck mould. Therefore, you are stuck with those sizes and locations once the deck has been tooled. As referenced in this video, we prefer to have flexibility in size and location of hatches. Flush deck hatches are also prone to water pooling and leakage.

Beautiful! The next customisation I would ask for would be a carbon frame around the front windows to be able to open them completely, at least the two in the middle. 🙂

@LoanwordEggcorn

2 жыл бұрын

The frame around the windows is Carbon. That's the only way it can have such large openings and relatively thin struts with this style of construction. Fully opening front lights (the nautical term for windows) is a bad idea in terms of safety due to the swamping (sinking) risk underway.

@balancecatamarans

Жыл бұрын

The issue with large front opening windows in any boat, cat or monohull, is the danger of water incursion into the boat, and in this area in particular history shows that far too many people do not close the hatches properly and water comes into the salon, then drips down onto the electronics, etc. Then you have a real mess on your hands. In my years of selling used cats the number of those with damaged veneers behind the salon windows is significant and ample proof to me that water incursion takes place far too often. For us, as builders, the biggest fear of course would be someone leaving a big opening salon port open by accident (i.e. forgetfullness!) and taking on a wave - that could lead to catastrophic consequences. We prefer the smaller vertical ports we install at the top of the salon windows that, when left open, are under the brow of the roof so rain cannot get in when left open. They are also high enough to mitigate wave ingress risk as well.

@LoanwordEggcorn

Жыл бұрын

@@balancecatamarans (Sounds like Andrew (or Phil?); Hi!) I think you mean horizontal ports. Big forward "windows" opened when at anchor in a tropical climate is great for ventilation, but risks sinking at worst when under way. You're right that far too many sailors leave ports open when under way. Or don't dog them down enough. As with most things on the Balance boats, the forward opening ports seem thoughtfully designed and informed by practical experience. I'm still amazed how great the boats look despite being practical and fast. It proves you can have style along with performance, comfort and safety. Lots of other boats have practicality, style, performance, safety, but most not all at in the same boat. It's kind of amazing how many other boats can't successfully solve all those variables simultaneously. Honestly a lot of it boils down to Phil's intelligence, persistence, experience and taste (or at least his choice of designers). That's reflected in the results. Still wish we could get you guys to look into electric drive with Diesel backup (parallel or serial hybrid) more seriously, but understand your conservatism, which is common in marine construction. But electric drive is rapidly becoming more common in production boats, so eventually Balance will get pulled along and do it. Also understand the support and maintenance risks/costs, but those are improving as electric drive becomes more common. Electric drivetrains, when properly protected, are far more reliable than heat engines. They're mechanically much simpler and have almost no maintenance. (Along with many other advantages, especially being able to recharge by sailing.) So at some point the light bulb will go on for more and more builders, and they'll go electric.

@kirkb3473

Жыл бұрын

@@LoanwordEggcorn Could you explain a little bit more what the "business case" would be for a parallel hybrid set up? We just spend $110 in diesel in an entire month mostly motoring a terrible sailing catamaran the BVI's. This was sort of a worst case scenario because the close proximity of islands and inevitably the wind blows straight down the Sir Francis Drake Channel so if you don't have a boat that can sail to windward you motor a lot. The cost to upgrade to a parallel hybrid system is roughly $80k, so even if you say you save $2,000/year in fuel costs, it takes 40 years to pay for this feature. I'm asking because I'm truly interested in such a system even more so a fully electric boat, but I just can't make it make sense, but maybe you could help me understand better?

@LoanwordEggcorn

Жыл бұрын

@@kirkb3473 For island hopping, pure electric probably could work if we can sail at least part of the time, by using electric drive to leave the mooring, and recharging during sailing by hydrogeneration (using the electric motors as generators), then electric motoring onto the next mooring. It's indeed unfortunate that some production cats sail so poorly to wind, but in a synoptic sense, the East-West trade winds should make North-South travel between the Caribbean islands overall a breeze. A parallel hybrid allows the Diesel to directly propel the boat and/or for electric motors to directly propel the boat and therefore have 4 way redundancy assuming two similar hulls. Parallel hybrids can be more efficient due to the directness of those drives. And the Diesels can usually be used to charge the battery bank at least through their alternators. (Obviously many mechanical and electrical combinations are possible for charging from the Diesels, including a clutch between the Diesel and the electric drive motor to use it as a generator.) Serial hybrids generally use a Diesel to turn a generator to charge batteries, then move the boat using only electric motors powered from the batteries or Diesel. Solar and hydrogeneration can also charge the batteries so in that sense there are multiple sources of power and great redundancy there. In principle if any part of the serial hybrid drivetrain fails, long distance motoring under Diesel may not work, and this is somewhat of a safety risk. On the other hand the electric portion of such a hybrid is very reliable and has far fewer moving parts than the Diesel itself. For a performance cat like the Balances, the Diesel (either parallel or serial) would get almost no use, since they move so efficiently by wind, and the limited motoring needed probably could be done with electric drive a large majority of the time. For business case, if electric can be used for most motoring, then that reduces Diesel use, cost, maintenance, etc. It's certainly better for the environment and offers much better synergy with sailing, since the electric motoring is basically wind (and some solar) powered. And people are increasingly interested in this option as you note, so it has some marketing value too. For maximum safety via redundancy, a parallel hybrid is better, but possibly more costly since it has more components. A serial hybrid may work better and be more efficient overall if it can fit the use cases, and I think it could, with the Diesel used as an only rarely used range extender for very long becalmed passages. Essentially it provides the same function as a diesel drive, but with stronger electrification for cooking, watermaking, air conditioning, etc. Regarding costs, if more manufacturers take this up in bulk, and it becomes more popular, then economies of scale could bring down costs somewhat. An aftermarket retrofit is certainly possible and many individual boat owners have done electric drives themselves, even decades ago using Lead Acid. Lithium is much better now, and Lithium Iron Phosphate has many benefits. Does that answer some questions? Raise others? Miss some?

Absolutely superb design. The changes are relatively small, but improvements. Feedback: please use a lapel microphone with wind sock. The voice is a bit hard to hear in places, and inconsistent in volume.

Great video Roger!

Looks good.

Well done to the entire team. She looks fantastic. How much weight is saved by going to full carbon?

@andrewhodgdon2786

2 жыл бұрын

If you choose the full Carbon XP option it results in a weight saving of approximately 1.6 tons from the standard 526 Mark II. The Carbon XP has a lightship displacement of 11 tons.

“526 XP Full Carbon Cat” what does it weigh? How much lighter than the epoxy version? What lead time? Cost?

@andrewhodgdon2786

2 жыл бұрын

If you choose the full Carbon XP option it results in a weight saving of approximately 1.6 tons from the standard 526 Mark II. The Carbon XP has a lightship displacement of 11 tons. Please reach out directly for current pricing and availability.

@MrWmcintyre

2 жыл бұрын

@@andrewhodgdon2786 Amazing.

@ejw4300

2 жыл бұрын

@@andrewhodgdon2786 does this mean you have like for like 1.6T in stowage potential? or is stowage the same but other changes made?

@andrewhodgdon2786

2 жыл бұрын

@@ejw4300 Generally buyers go for the XP in order to keep the boat lighter and therefore faster. The said, the inherent buoyancy of the 526 doesn't change on the XP so you could certainly approach it as gaining 1.6t in payload capacity.

@pioneer_1148

Жыл бұрын

@@ejw4300 Buying a boat as fast as this and then loading it down with a tonne of stuff seems to be missing the point IMO. Not too sure how you'd add 1.6T anyway, apart from the fuel, water and food (which you'll need with either model) what are you're going to want or need that weighs 1.6T?

Draft. Boards up? Do the rudders retract?

@balancecatamarans

6 ай бұрын

The draft for the 526 Mark II is listed on our website,balancecatamarans.com/balance-526/, with full specs for the yacht. The draft with the boards up in base boat displacement is 3.68 feet. Draft will increase a bit when she is fully laden in "passagemaking" mode. We do not offer retractable rudders. Many efforts have been made over the years by designers to offer these and nearly all of them have proven to be unreliable or force the designer into shaping rudders that are not nearly as effective as underhung rudders. We know of a few performance cats that had retractable rudders which had to be removed and replaced with underhung rudders at a cost of $50,000.

Why no flush mounted hatches?

@andrewhodgdon2786

2 жыл бұрын

Flush hatches must be designed into the tooling of the deck mould. Therefore, you are stuck with those sizes and locations once the deck has been tooled. As referenced in this video, we prefer to have flexibility in size and location of hatches. Flush deck hatches are also prone to water pooling and leakage.

@mai17288

2 жыл бұрын

Ahhh. I thought it might have been a safety feature, when running around on deck it’s best to avoid jumping in hatches? Just hadn’t seen any on any of your beautiful boats. In my dream designed boat flush mounted hatches was just one feature

@balancecatamarans

Жыл бұрын

The other reason, frankly, is that flush hatches tend to get their drains clogged with debris when you store or leave a boat and then the hatch seals leak and you have a real mess. But as Andrew says, the ability to install hatches in different places is also a big plus for our brand of sailors - which have different needs and wishes based on their experiences as sailors.

Switch to shaft drive and U leaped light years ahead !!

@balancecatamarans

Жыл бұрын

Totally disagree. Saildrives are quieter give you more power, enable you to place the engine outside of the living space, etc. Why nobody really does shafts on cats until the engines are over 75HP and larger lengths where you can install the engine outside of living quarters. The new SD 60 Yanmar saildrive is leaps and bounds better than the older ones too.

U need muscles in ur .....to open the cockpit door, they have not increased the seat size. But I'd be happy to have it, sell it and get a better boat🤣😂