Extend the life of your boat by programming and contracting a good REFIT.
Every vessel throughout its time in action and with use (and abuse) over time, must be subjected to a refit.
Refits are therefore necessary to guarantee the safe operation of the boats, updating security elements or simply repairing and/or maintaining, in-depth, all the machinery and auxiliary equipment that ensures the safe enjoyment of your ship.
Among the reasons to schedule a refit we have:
- Updating the boats electronics, electrical equipment and navigation equipment.
- Repowering the boat by replacing the main engines, either due to spare parts logistics problems or consumption reduction (more efficient engines).
- Modify and/or update the auxiliary systems of the vessel.
- Make changes to the accommodation and/or interior and/or exterior aesthetics of the vessel.
- Make major repairs that have been pushed back over time.
Undoubtedly, a well-planned and executed refit means an improvement to the boat, increasing its market value, but also increasing safety levels, confidence and comfort, all of which allow us to enjoy our boat more.
Every boat is unique, even if it is mass-produced, because over time we incorporate equipment and accessories that personalize it, that adapt it to our tastes and needs.
The first step in planning a refit is to carry out a technical inspection of the vessel to assess the status and condition of each of the systems, machines, elements and instruments that integrate and interact with our vessel and thus technically determine its functionality and performance. Some of the elements that must be subject to this technical inspection are:
- HULL: is the essential part of the boat and its good state and condition is the obvious place to begin to assess the convenience or lack thereof in subjecting the boat to a refit, the action of corrosion on steel and aluminium hulls, as well as distortions due to blows, can leave the hull in such a state that its repair can mean a great investment when it comes to a refit. On the other hand, wooden hulls are somewhat more delicate and must be maintained very conscientiously throughout the life of the boat to avoid deterioration, while fiberglass hulls, although more resistant to the effects of the marine environment , have their Achilles heel in the sometimes terminal osmosis of the hull, when, due to the effects of the continuous immersion in active work, seawater seeps into the “sandwich” of fiberglass and resin lamination, creating blisters of humidity and water that reduce the structural resistance of the hull. An extremely deteriorated hull, due to careless maintenance or ignoring it, can mean a high repair cost during a refit. This coast can be so high that it could condemn the boat to be scrapped.
- ELECTRIC SYSTEM: the electrical installations of the boat, in its power, controls and telecommunications parts. The boat’s cables, almost all of them made of copper, as well as their connectors and terminals, are very susceptible to corroding or more specifically “leaking”. Damage or deterioration that, apart from impairing the performance of the installations, creates resistance and / or insulation, which can be points of overheating and / or short circuits and therefore can be a fire risk. Components such as batteries, alternators, protections (portfuses) and switches must be checked and rechecked, replaced if their state so recommends. Engine control systems and level indicators must be reviewed and their functionality verified at 100%, replacing any equipment or part that does not work correctly. The telecommunications equipment must be 100% operational in compliance with all current legal and statutory regulations (flags), and the equipment that requires it must be updated and replaced. Navigational aid equipment such as radars, electronic nautical charts (chartmaps), GPS and AIS (Automatic Identification System) equipment must be reviewed and updated as necessary.
- ENGINES AND PROPULSION SYSTEM: The engine and the propulsion system, whether inboard shaft, inboard-outboard, outboard engines or POD’s addressable propulsion devices (Volvo Ips, Mercruiser Zeus or Saildrive Yanmar) or waterjet turbines, must be subjected to an overhaul or major revision to ensure and guarantee its safe and reliable operation. All the main components of the engine, including reducers and/or propellers, must be disassembled, taken apart, checked, cleaned and rebuilt and/or renewed as appropriate and/or necessary, turbochargers, salt and fresh water pumps, alternators, oil coolers, water and fuel, are some of the engine components that need to be checked, and even the compression of the cylinders must be measured to assess the advisability or not of further engine work. Shaft lines, stuffing box propellers and other propulsion elements must be thoroughly checked, especially because we can take advantage of the fact that when the refit of the ship is being carried out it will be dry (grounded) for a long time. Old engines and propellers, discontinued and in very poor condition, can be replaced in a refit by new units, more efficient (lower consumption), less polluting (environmentally) and more compact and lightweight, but above all more reliable.
- AUXILIARY SYSTEMS: the auxiliaries of the boat, such as the fuel, fire, fresh water, air conditioning systems, among many others that can be found on board, must also be reviewed, verified, tested, and renewed.
- DECK: Deck equipment and accessories such as anchor windlasses, mooring bollards, awning struts and biminis can also be subject to an overhaul and refurbishment to “modify” the boat. The upholstery and command posts can also be renewed along the same lines to further personalize your ship. The revision and updating of means of rescue, hatches and watertight closures must also be subject to revision and renewal.
- ACCOMMODATION: last on the list (because of its relative importance) is the renovation of furniture, upholstery, covers and interior linings, lighting and everything that has to do with the interior fittings of the ship where passengers and crew carry out daily life while they are on board.
Depending on its impact and cost, the refit of a vessel can be scheduled and distributed among several docks or ship stops, because depending on the extent of the work, it may be impossible to keep the vessel in a single dry dock for a long period of time, and in order to complete the entire list of desired jobs. Likewise, the cost and availability of the necessary equipment and materials can also cause inconvenient delays or stoppages depending on the type of vessel.
Schedule and plan a REFIT:
The vast and complex nature of repairing and improving a boat, especially when it is done to improve it and bring it “up to date” regarding its safety, comfort and efficiency, can mean a high cost or a sudden unaffordable investment in the short term. Therefore, the many tasks are usually divided into execution periods over time, taking advantage of each annual maintenance dock that the vessels are usually subjected to throughout their service.
To do this, it is important to schedule and plan each of the tasks, systems and the equipment to be dealt with in each annual grounding, in addition to carrying out regular maintenance of the vessel and dealing with the inevitable unforeseen repairs. In such cases, it is essential to assign a project manager to the vessel who assumes responsibility for control, monitoring of work and contracting, failure to do so will most likely result in increased costs, repetition of work and long stoppage times for the vessel, greater than initially anticipated.
Below, we mention some of the most common failures that can occur during the poorly managed refit process:
- BUDGET PROBLEMS: not planning or scheduling the refit of a vessel can result in the initially planned budget being insufficient to undertake both the budgeted works and those additionally necessary that arise from poor forecasting and programming. This includes the unscheduled expenses, or on the contrary, there may be an excessive budget whose execution will not result in an adequate and profitable cost-benefit ratio (cost overrun).
- DELAYS IN THE EXECUTION: a lack of programming and monitoring of the execution of a refit will result in a missed deadline and with it delays in the re-incorporation of the vessel into active service, or perhaps, even worse, receiving an unfinished vessel, with “pending issues” to be dealt with. Undoubtedly, a delay inevitably translates into a loss of money, but also a loss of value for the vessel affected.
- QUALITY PROBLEMS: the work that goes into executing an annual dock for a vessel varies and faces very tight execution times with a large amount of work needed to be carried out on components that may not be in good condition (for example, corrosion), whatever the quality problem that inevitably arises when having to do the contracted work well and within the agreed time and costs. This can only be controlled in two ways, hiring true refit professionals, accustomed to complicated work and respecting deadlines and/or hiring a project manager who professionally monitors the progress of the contracted work, verifying not only the deadlines but also the way in which the work has been carried out, to ensure that, apart from its execution, it has been the correct and most appropriate way to guarantee safe use of the building.
- DESIGN ERRORS: in those cases when a refit involves important modifications to the hulls structure, power source (repowering, for example) or extensive renovation of the auxiliary systems of the boat, problems and failures associated with a bad design may arise, or even worse, with the non-existence of a study or engineering calculation that ratifies and confirms that the basic parameters of the vessel will be maintained, particularly those related to the Safety of Human Life at Sea (SOLAS). An engineering study prior to carrying out an important refit job helps, apart from preventing execution errors and extra costs associated with their resolution, avoiding delays, rework and material expenses.
