Delivery of New 479

[Evening Star]

Our new 479 is a week away from arriving at the commissioning yard.  We are of course excited that she is finally here but know there is much work to be done before handover.  We are looking for any advice from 469/479 owners on things to look for as we go through commissioning.  We have been reading recent threads but would appreciate any lessons learned, info on common problems encountered during commissioning, or any general tips about the boat. We are looking forward to getting out on the water and excited to be joining the Jeanneau family.   

[moonshadow]

I found doors mounted poorly on my 469. Some 12 volt devices wired backwards. ( Chain counter counted backwards)

[rdubs]

Congrats on buying a great boat.
Here is something you may want to peruse, I have a 469 and spent some time documenting some things I've done with the boat.


jeanneau.proboards.com/thread/6636/2013-469

[Evening Star]

dubs,

Thanks for the very informative link.  There is a great deal of info there and will be a great help as we get onto the boat and start going through systems.  I have also been tracking moonshadow's power issues.  It is great to be able to benefit from those who have experience with 469/479's.  Thank you.

[moonshadow]

Keep us posted on your progress and commissioning. I decided to add a battery monitor ( I picked a Balmar SG200) to my boat before finalizing my solar needs. But I am also changing my alternator’s regulator to an external, programmable one.

[Evening Star]

Moonshadow,

Thanks for posting so much detail of your journey of discovery through your power usage.  It has been very helpful.  I opted for an additional house battery (total of 6) as a result of your posts and my own experience on smaller Jeanneaus.  Also opted for a Balmar battery Monitor.  We had a chance to get on the boat late last week and she is beautiful.  Jeanneau did a great job in getting her to us in perfect condition, the fine fit and finish detail is right where we wanted it to be.  We are having a good deal of work done on her in the commissioning process and the commissioning team is on the ball with all of it.  Will keep you posted.  

[Bora]

How's the progress?  I'm assuming she is now out on the water, any issues?

[Evening Star]

Findhorn,
Handover was a little over a month ago and we have been quite busy moving aboard and getting settled with the boat.  The 479 is a beautiful boat in all respects and we are very happy with her.  She sails well, although in the Chesapeake Bay in summer the winds are light.  The systems and rigging are all gauged appropriately for the size of the boat and we are happy with the quality of construction.   We are living on the boat so we had a good deal of work done by the commissioning team to include installation of a diesel heater, additional batteries, some custom cabinetry, davits and a full cockpit enclosure to name some of the local work.  We will add additional systems when we get ready to cruise in a couple of years. We are working through some issues, but that is to be expected in any boat.  The one thing which surprised us was that Jeanneau made some substitutions at the factory.  The expected cockpit table was replaced with one of far lesser quality, the Bose speaker system was replaced by two built in round speakers and the house batteries supplied are 85 Ah where we were expecting 115 Ah.  Jeanneau quickly supplied the expected cockpit table and Bose system which we appreciated.  

Other issues, if anyone has had similar experiences I would appreciate any lessons learned.

1.  Batteries.  As I mentioned, we were expecting 5 115 Ah Gel house batteries and the boat was delivered with 85 Ah batteries.  This surprised me as the 479 is generally short on depth in the house bank in a cruising environment. This was also a surprise to the commissioning team.  Jeanneau responded with a sub optimal explanation which did not make sense.  Essentially it was we got what we got.  As a result, instead of adding one house battery we are adding two to partially make up the difference.  

2. Rudder.  The boat is pulling to STBD rather aggressively with the helm midships.  The quadrant is aligned to the wheels.  The commissioning team is checking the alignment of the rudder.  

3. The aft head door frame is out of alignment by about an inch from top to bottom.  

4.  Sail Drive/Transmission.  There is a small oil leak from the transmission.  It looks like the Sail Drive oil was overfilled at the factory. Our local Yanmar service center is addressing.  

5. Auto Pilot.  The auto pilot intermittently goes into a jerking mode which forces us to shift to hand steering.  Trouble shooting continues. 

I'll keep you updated as we work through these issues and get more time underway!  

[moonshadow]

I am in the southern Chesapeake Bay at little creek inlet. I have learned quite a bit since I bought my 469. If you are ever in the area send me a message and perhaps we can compare notes. After my 4 month Bahamas trip I decided to do a few electrical upgrades. Definitely needed for cruising. My boat had 5 100amphr open lead acid batteries which I have replaced with firefly batteries. Along with that I changed regulator and added battery monitor system.

[Evening Star]

Moonshadow,

Thanks.  Are you using the stock Cristec battery chargers with the firefly batteries?  If so, what are your settings?  Thanks

[moonshadow]

I am using the cristec chargers for now. But I turn them off when charged. I’m still not sure what settings are best but I see others that are more programmable. I forgot which setting I’m using but it boosts at 14.4 and absorbs at 13.6 but float is too High so I just turn charger on every few days. I am going to look into better choice next. Any suggestions from anyone?

[rc sail]

Ahoy Evening Star. Congratulations on your new Jeanneau. The J Yachts are certainly big, beautiful and comfortable.
We had our J Rendevous the last weekend in July and the Jeanneau America's Rep was touting big sales numbers for new J boats. As such expect the factories have been working overtime to get the new boats out the doors and perhaps with a decrease in quality control (your ill fitting head door) and depleted parts inventory (your inferior table, batteries and speakers). After sale customer follow up by Jeanneau is close to non-existent so you will need to rely on your Dealer and service team to resolve your build and parts issues with Jeanneau.


Are your factory installed batteries Tudors? If so and at 85ah I would question if they are indeed deep cycle.
The Auto Pilot system and computer needs a full clean 12 volt power supply. Ensure you have 12 volts at the AP computer.
Next ensure the area around you AP compass is clear of any metal. If your AP is still erratic perhaps a recalibration is in order.
Do you have sail drive? My 44 with sail drive pushes to port under power (7-8 kts) and requires a fair amount of rudder to stay on course. I think you said you go to starboard and I have been wondering if alignment issue with the saildrive. I have been trying to determine if the sail drive alignment can be adjusted so perhaps a question for your service team or Yanmar engine Rep.

For Moonshadow: I deep-sixed my cristec charger last year after it stayed in boost mode killing my batteries. I replaced with a Pronautic that handles 3 battery banks. The Pronautic has numerous settings, excellent LED and digital display and the boost and float voltage can be adjusted to want you may want. There are probably similar and better batt. chargers available but I remain pleased with the Pronautic and its price point. Some owners have suggested turning off the cristec boost mode. Perhaps a better choice to turn off the boost when leaving the boat for extended period.

[zaphod]

Aug 16, 2019 13:36:27 GMT rc sail said:

Ahoy Evening Star. Congratulations on your new Jeanneau. The J Yachts are certainly big, beautiful and comfortable.
We had our J Rendevous the last weekend in July and the Jeanneau America's Rep was touting big sales numbers for new J boats. As such expect the factories have been working overtime to get the new boats out the doors and perhaps with a decrease in quality control (your ill fitting head door) and depleted parts inventory (your inferior table, batteries and speakers). After sale customer follow up by Jeanneau is close to non-existent so you will need to rely on your Dealer and service team to resolve your build and parts issues with Jeanneau.


Are your factory installed batteries Tudors? If so and at 85ah I would question if they are indeed deep cycle.
The Auto Pilot system and computer needs a full clean 12 volt power supply. Ensure you have 12 volts at the AP computer.
Next ensure the area around you AP compass is clear of any metal. If your AP is still erratic perhaps a recalibration is in order.
Do you have sail drive? My 44 with sail drive pushes to port under power (7-8 kts) and requires a fair amount of rudder to stay on course. I think you said you go to starboard and I have been wondering if alignment issue with the saildrive. I have been trying to determine if the sail drive alignment can be adjusted so perhaps a question for your service team or Yanmar engine Rep.

For Moonshadow: I deep-sixed my cristec charger last year after it stayed in boost mode killing my batteries. I replaced with a Pronautic that handles 3 battery banks. The Pronautic has numerous settings, excellent LED and digital display and the boost and float voltage can be adjusted to want you may want. There are probably similar and better batt. chargers available but I remain pleased with the Pronautic and its price point. Some owners have suggested turning off the cristec boost mode. Perhaps a better choice to turn off the boost when leaving the boat for extended period.

Just so you know, there is another yacht builder called J-Boat, so maybe it's best not to refer to Jeanneaus as "J boats"?

Just sayin...😉

[neworca1]

Hi Evening Star, and welcome to the forum!
We've owned our 2015 SO 469 for just a year now, and we're still in commissioning mode :-)
One of the first things we did was to reverse the forward head door so that it swings into the shower the same as the aft head, instead of banging into the toilet. Then we reversed the shower screen in the aft head so that it folded securely behind the head door like it does in the forward head. Both were pretty easy and made a big difference (at least to us). Maybe you could get the this done by the Jeanneau commissioning folks if you like the idea.

The overhead lighting in the galley cast the shadow of one's head right on the countertop/cooktop...very annoying. We added a couple of 12V LED strip lights that made a world of difference.

We mounted a flat-panel TV on the port forward bulkhead of the saloon, but good seating to watch a movie was limited because of the lack of a backrest for the aft dining table seat. With the help of some custom SS brackets (Garhauer Marine) I am adding that backrest. With a stronger gas strut below, the seat locker can still be opened easily with one hand.

At only 3 years of age most of the turnbuckles in our rigging are frozen...I'll need the services of a rigger with long wrenches and hot torch to free these up. Make sure yours are properly lubed, and move them once in a while. 

We had to find and deal with multiple fresh water leaks at hose clamps that were not sufficiently tight. The last one was back behind the water heater where the cockpit shower hose was attached. This was exacerbated by Jabsco fresh water pumps that sometimes would not shut off, driving the pressure above the 40 psi relief valve pressure at the water heater. At least we got a random test of our bilge pump, which worked. We're on our 3rd Jabsco water pump. It's the pressure switch that is flaky. We now never leave the boat without turning off the pump at the switch panel. You'll want to keep an eye out for any water in the bilge.

When we took delivery (from the short-term previous owner) the linkage bolt between the autopilot ram and the steering quadrant was very loose and wobbly. Our surveyor didn't catch that. Or really anything at all--he just figured it was an almost new boat, so what could be wrong?!



With the door reversed it is much easier to get into the head! I installed another magnetic door keeper to hold the door all the way open, just like the aft head.


The next few pics show our new seat back. It turns out that the forward nav station seat back fits perfectly, and even has wrap-around leatherette to hide the brackets.

[j24sailor]

Aug 14, 2019 20:03:58 GMT moonshadow said:

I am using the cristec chargers for now. But I turn them off when charged. I’m still not sure what settings are best but I see others that are more programmable. I forgot which setting I’m using but it boosts at 14.4 and absorbs at 13.6 but float is too High so I just turn charger on every few days. I am going to look into better choice next. Any suggestions from anyone?

Hello, we installed Firefly batteries but changed our charger from Cristec to Pronautic, which can ba customized, as the Cristec charger didn't have the right settings and for the price of the batteries wanted them to last as long as possible. Recommend the change. James

[Caravelle]

In February I bought a 2015 469 that had been shipped to Australia from the UK. It had 300 hours on the engine but in my view still needed some serious commissioning work. This forum has been a great inspiration so I will cover the changes that I have made:

Swinging Doors.

Neworca’s earlier post was very useful. The forward head door is swung the wrong way and can’t have a magnetic catch fitted. So I followed neworca’s advice and swung to the left and added a magnetic catch.

What has not been mentioned is the the forward cabin door on the 469 is incorrectly swung to the right. This strange fault was standard fitment on all 469’s but corrected on the 479. I had my local and excellent shipwright swing this door to the left as well and added a locking door catch. See below:

Door Catches.

Attachment Deleted

This is my 3rd Sun Odyssey. And all have the same fault. The cabin doors are held open with weak magnetic catches. As soon as the boat hits a few waves, all open doors will break free and start banging. The answer is simple: locking catches. Pictured here. Please Jeanneau, these should be a standard fitting.

EC100

Attachment Deleted
The later model 469’s (mine is a 2015 model) have Yanmar common rail fuel injection engines and therefore support the EC100 interface. Now we can display engine data on the Raymarine plotter as well as the i70 display. What I particularly appreciate is the instantaneous fuel consumption figure.

Batteries.

They needed replacing and from experience not seeing the value in AGM batteries I have used 110 Ah SLA (sealed lead acid) batteries from a reputable supplier. Way cheaper! Time will tell if this was right. Am keeping the 2 40W CPS-3 Cristec chargers as they appear to correctly charge the SLA batteries.

Inverter.

The factory inverter option was not fitted so I chose to install a Xantrex 1.8KW inverter with remote panel.

Battery monitor installed.

IMO the Victron battery monitor (BMV-712) is essential to keep an eye on battery condition and power use. The included bluetooth and iPhone App work well.

Zink Saver.

Installed a Sterling Pro Save 32A ZSW32. This is OK for 240 volt systems like Australia and 32 amp rating is fine here. Legislation may require a higher specified unit in USA.

VHF

The standard equipment Ray50 VHF is mounted at the chart table in a very difficult spot to operate. One has to duck low and strain to see the display. Replaced this with a Ray90 which allows control from the microphone and a second remote mic in the cockpit.


Glass Splashback

I was missing the glass splash back as fitted to my former SO 409. These unfortunately have a habit of shattering for no reason (toughened glass does this sometimes). So rather than order a Jeanneau part for the 469 I am in the process of fabricating one as done by Mark Clement for his Jeanneau 51. Follow this link to his excellent description of this in the closed Jeanneau 51 thread:
jeanneau.proboards.com/thread/5989/jeanneau-yacht-subject-specific-threads?page=2

Main Sheet.

All modern Sun Odysseys are fitted with with a continuous main sheet (German Sheeting) that means that Jib sheets and Main sheets share the single primary winch on each side. I find this arrangement particularly clumsy. I rerouted the port side main sheet to the powered cabin top port winch. This works very well especially when club racing with a dedicated crew member on “strings”. If i need to adjust the main while single handed this can be done from the starboard side. This change can easily be done on any SO 409, 439 and 440 as well, but not the 379.

Under consideration is the Sterling Alternator to battery charger.

This device Link: sterling-power.com/products/alternator-to-battery-chargers-up-to-130a
is a simple to install charger that extracts all the power from the standard 125A alternator. If on my travels the battery discharges even with 2 hours motor sailing each day then installing this should solve the problem.

Convertible Nav table.

Attachment Deleted
The Nav table on the 469/479 is attached to a flimsy track and the table will collapse if knocked hard or sat on (as did mine). I chose simply to add a leg to the table and to ignore the convertible capability.

Anchor

Regulations here dictate that any twilight races must be done without the anchor on the bow. So every week in summer on and off it goes. Getting too old for this so replaced the 22Kg Delta with a 12Kg Sarca #5 Aluminium Excel anchor. Excellent performance so far …

[MalcolmP]

Good update Caravelle, thanks for sharing.

[moonshadow]

Thanks for all the photos and tips. Very useful and appreciated.
I ended up deciding to delay upgrading my battery charger. I added more solar with programmable Victron controllers and now I don’t bother with shore power unless I need air conditioning while at a marina. When I do want to use my Cristec charger I found that the “winter storage mode” settings are basically a 13.4 v float which doesn’t harm the firefly batteries.

[Bora]

How's everyone finding the Firefly's?  I really want some on my 469, so much so i'm looking to import a couple of pallets as you can't buy them in the UK or EU.  I'm sold on the price but i think its taking some convincing for others.