Special blog post covering our initial test run on 19.08.2016. As you can see in the photo we picked the day with the worst weather in the whole summer.
Final preparations the day before
Installation of fuel supply, return and fuel filter.
180 litres of fuel - syphoned into the boat from empty to full. Calibrating the fuel gauge.
Fitting the sea water cooling outlet for hybrid system.
Testing fly-by-wire trim operation.
Dashboard now completed with switches for horn, navigation lights, interior light, bilge pump, trailer override and some blanks for future upgrades.
Initial sea trials last Friday
The propeller was not delivered on time. However our supplier was very helpful and managed to organise an interim replacement just in time. The replacement propeller has a pitch of 24'' instead of 23''.
Another last-minute challenge: Fitting the quick release connection for the hybrid cooling system and routing the hoses in the tight space.
Launching the boat at Southampton Dry Stack.
Checking: low voltage electrical system, engine, transmission and hybrid module.
First run on the water accompanied by a safety boat. Fortunately this wasn’t needed.
Thank you to the press and our key supporters for coming along to the first unofficial test runs - despite the pouring rain.
The first test run was successful. We have identified some minor improvements:
The secondary bilge pump hose slightly leaking.
The secondary bilge water sensor is stuck in the “on” position.
Minor adjustments to the hybrid module required in order to achieve long term reliability.
We noticed a long delay before disengaging the gear from forward run to neutral, probably due to a problem with the fly-by-wire calibration.
We hope you enjoyed this update. In the meantime, we have received our correct 23'' propeller. In the next blog post we can report on further test runs, results from data logging installation and progress with the hybrid module.