HAUL OUT DAY - THE RACE TO REPAIR MY AQUILA 54 AND GET TO THE BAHAMAS

[@Resort_Fans]

You are the very definition of perseverance! I don't think I could be as calm as you!

[@thewanderinghillbilly]

Lots of wine helps! Lol. Thanks for watching

[@HopeOfJoe]

Light at the end of the tunnel. Kudos for maintaining a great attitude throughout. ✨🌊💨🛥🏝👙🌞✨

[@thewanderinghillbilly]

Thanks

[@Quintessence.]

Alan: warmest wishes to you and your lovely family, sir. What a Blessed Life. You are truly Living the Dream. I am happy to be one of your loyal subscribers, but I'm sure there are many more viewers (myself included) enjoying your beautiful "Wandering Hillybilly" musings. Living vicariously through your KZbin channel. In the words of Depeche Mode, "Just can't get enough" of your marvelous videos. Please keep them coming. The more the merrier!

[@thewanderinghillbilly]

Wow, thank you and thanks so much for watching

[@searay1958]

Always enjoying the videos hillbilly so far so good at the end of the day all of Stuff will be worked out and you will be happy with the boat...

[@thewanderinghillbilly]

Thanks

[@richardniz]

Glad to see the Hillbilly repaired and ready to sail soon so you can get back to life not sucking. Really enjoyed the shorts from Ft Pierce too

[@thewanderinghillbilly]

Thanks for watching!!

[@tricyricky]

That Sucks. But you didn't need me to help you say that. Super glad you have stand up Reps to take care of the issues. A suggestion. Cut one of those noodles up in 4" to 6" pieces. Slit it and slide them on your dinghy propeller and it wont chip up the hatch. Beautiful boat. Enjoy.

[@thewanderinghillbilly]

Great suggestion! Thanks. And thanks for watching

[@kencummins3048]

Thanks for letting us look over your shoulder during repairs. Makes me not mind replacing a fitting on my trim tabs or putting in a new impeller! I always tell people I bought a boat to teach me patience.

[@thewanderinghillbilly]

Right? Mucho patience.

[@crescentcitycolor8305]

use petit super paint with slime additive. its so easy to do just slap mud on the wall. you dont even need to sand it right now just refresh it. then they can repaint later...just a suggestion

[@matthewmelton2361]

Also you can add bromine tablets to your strainer- you should clean the strainers 1x week if you didnt know- I personally have 2 of them I put the dirty one in some bleach water and throw the clean one in. Then clean the dirty one after it has soaked for a while - I use the all plastic ones instead of stainless - I keep the bromine tabs in a little bucket right by the strainers

[@thewanderinghillbilly]

Thanks so much for this idea. appreciate it. and thanks for watching.

[@helmsman3838]

Wow that was an unusually fast service repair! Good for you. Looking forward to seeing your voyage. Thank you for sharing.

[@thewanderinghillbilly]

Thanks for watching!

[@JohnSmith-zo6ir]

Geez, I wouldn't know where to start or what to do in that engine room, but I can help you out on how to watch the sunset on one of those beach chairs. On a positive note, at least you are a step closer to calling yourself a seasoned boatie, albeit in a shorter time frame than anticipated. 🙂

[@thewanderinghillbilly]

Yes! Learning every single day on this boat. It’s fun. Thanks for watching

[@jeg5287]

You have a much better attitude then I would have. I would have been demanding Aquila to take the boat back. Does't say much for Aquila and Volvo quality.

[@thewanderinghillbilly]

Thanks for watching!’

[@GrahamSwan-yi5gw]

As an Aquila 54 owner all I can say is that we’re VERY happy with both the build quality and the reliability of the Volvo engines.

[@maximac222]

In spite of the deep disappointments, I'm glad you're getting what appears to be the proper treatment! It's good you have a peaceful resolve about the situation (now). It seems to have preserved some sanity. And the cuddles will help!

[@thewanderinghillbilly]

Yes they will! Thanks for watching!

[@davidafarber1]

the paint is the same in the BVI's as in the US. They get all of their supplies from Florida. I am in the Marine industry and just got back from the BVI's. The chandlery had all the same products we sell in Seattle.

[@thewanderinghillbilly]

Thanks for watching

[@markfutch2562]

Congrats on the transmissions back in hope all is running good an then all that is left is to have fun an great memories and oh ya the videos 🎉🍾

[@thewanderinghillbilly]

That's the plan! Thanks for watching

[@theveteran765]

I was going to buy an aquila 70 but seeing all of the problems you've had I've changed my mind!

[@GrahamSwan-yi5gw]

All boats have problems and as an Aquila 54 owner I can testify that they are a very good build

[@theveteran765]

@@GrahamSwan-yi5gw To bad there are so many problems. It's not worth my time or money.

[@Lighthouse6b]

I’ve seen a collar zinc put on the shaft to keep it from escaping. The other problem I can tell from experience is that when the shaft is disconnect it will drop down and misalign at the lastdrop and allow lots of water to com in. I Happened to us 700 miles from anywhere. I was able to lift the shaft with a Spanish windlass which stoped the link and we didn’t sink!

[@thewanderinghillbilly]

Wow. Harrowing story! Glad your safe. Thanks so much for watching

[@GrahamSwan-yi5gw]

Great video Alan as usual - be great to see some more detailed video of the running gear if you have time before she goes back in - hope you enjoyed your weekend - some very informative comments from some of your followers…….

[@helimx]

Glad to see this happening so fast. I know it's a downer that it had to happen at all, but it seems to be going well. And thanks for the explanation about the bottom being done down in the BVI. :)

[@thewanderinghillbilly]

No worries! Thank you so much for watching

[@mikevoss3]

Love your videos! I had a transmission failure on a new Volvo IPS drive last year. What happened was the reverse gear clutch didn’t completely disengage after going in reverse and then after the boat was driven forward for a while the partially engaged reverse clutch heated up to a damaging temperature. My transmission was replaced under warranty. I learned that the way to detect this in the future is to check the engine loads after getting underway going forward, and if the port and stbd loads are different at the same rpm, to then cycle the transmission to reverse and back to forward unstick the reverse clutch. Hope this never happens to you but I thought I’d just share this easy check you can do if your issue was of similar cause.

[@thewanderinghillbilly]

This is great info. I’ll share it with my Volvo tech tomorrow on our sea trial. Thanks for watching

[@LaszloBagi]

Good to see it repaired, need to remember its an Aquila, not a Fleming or Nordhavn

[@thewanderinghillbilly]

Ouch

[@ctbjr1309]

Kim says that if we had known our garage would be featured on KZbin we'd have cleaned it. I say, it looks fine!

[@thewanderinghillbilly]

Thanks!!!!!!!!

[@johngaynor9383]

Got to give you 10/10 for patience! (Although I bet a lot of your comments are through clenched teeth!) Hopefully all is good and you'll soon be on your way. Good luck 👍

[@thewanderinghillbilly]

I hope so too! Thanks for watching

[@crescentcitycolor8305]

i hope you will add a fresh coat of bottom paint while it is out of the water

[@MOTORVESSELFREEDOM]

How did the fin “keel” come off/break….you are sooooo dam lucky the exposure you have/bring or……….you know what….lol…I hope they extended the engine warranty

[@thewanderinghillbilly]

I scraped bottom in a very muddy area around Savannah. Took the keel right off but didn’t damage the prop. Thanks for watching

[@Vladimir_SHCHERBAKOV]

I'm glad that everything is getting better for you. I'm watching you and I like this boat. Is this A class boat? so many small problems, how will it behave on long transitions?

[@thewanderinghillbilly]

Yes A Class. Thanks for watching

[@burrows10011]

You've inspired me to get back out on the water and the BVIs. I live in Colorado so being landlocked has been tough. Thanks for the videos and I hope you get to The Bahamas safely and quickly!

[@thewanderinghillbilly]

Thanks so much!

[@anthonyrinaldo4469]

Hi Allen, been following you and your channels over the years and really enjoy your humor and candor. Just thought I would throw my two and a half cents in and recommend you make sure the techs check and clean any external transmission oil coolers that maybe contaminated due to the failure or could be the root cause of failure, just speaking from past experiences. Being a marine tech for Caterpillar in the past, I have seen this way too many times. Best wishes. Hope to see you in the BVI! Tony

[@thewanderinghillbilly]

Thanks for the tips! And thanks for watching

[@aquatictn]

Congrats on the attention from Volvo and others, I can only wonder if other customers would get the same. I sure hope so. I am glad it all seems to be working out, though I'm sure it's still disappointing to cancel you and your friend's and family's fantastic plans. I am looking forward to seeing those adventures!

[@thewanderinghillbilly]

I’m sure I am getting special attention….however I’m also bearing my heart and soul for everyone to see, so it’s a push. But…my main goal is elevate the customer experience so that everyone gets this kind of service. We deserve it! Thanks for watching

[@FlaGolfer]

The end to your troubles appears to be in sight. Good luck to you for the sea trials. Keep us informed of the next “Wandering Hillbilly Production”.

[@thewanderinghillbilly]

Will do! Thanks for watching

[@1320fastback]

Do you know if Volvo was going to keep you in the loop on what the failure was? Be interesting to know what caused it and seeing as how there are others that have had the same issue how many causes could there be? Also I would imagine before firing up the motors the oil levels are checked daily?

[@thewanderinghillbilly]

Oil levels are always checked. And yes, I will be in the loop if and when we get a result. Thanks for watching

[@lanceballew2304]

yeah it sucks for you on this but we that watch your trails on this journey helps us/me to really understand what the real world is in yacht ownership because most of what you see is the good times great channel great guy GOD speed to move on to why you got into this in the first place

[@thewanderinghillbilly]

Great comments. Thank you so much and thanks for watching

[@Slonge92]

Granted this is a Volvo problem. But, do you think that boat manufacturers should do more actual stress testing of their products in real world applications? I’m getting the impression that you might be beta testing the Yacht for Aquila and their suppliers. Aside from the non-weather inconveniences, I love the layout of your yacht. After shopping trawlers for awhile, your content prompted me to look into power cats. Thanks

[@duncanjames914]

Your patience is admirable. Either that or you have a hidden IV pump filled with blood pressure meds. I feel your pain. Just a few more days until you are back in your happy place. Hang in there!

[@thewanderinghillbilly]

Hah. Gotta take it one day at a time! Appreciate you!

[@duncanjames914]

@@thewanderinghillbilly Thanks!

[@mikejernigan3215]

$1.67m headache, and that dose not count the upgrades you did on it. The good thing about this, you are still working and not living on it full time. Alan, I wish you and your family better months to come. The BVI is always there waiting on you.....take care be safe. You just need a bottle of Woodford Reserve to make it.... take care buddy....

[@thewanderinghillbilly]

Thanks!

[@micheandmikey]

Looks like fun work, I'd enjoy that.....perhaps Volvo needs another tech. LOL Kidding, I'm 5 years away from retirement . Hopefully these transmissions hold together. I'm curious what their reasons for the overheating was/is, improper oil level for the design? Here's to putting back in on Monday and having safe travels!!!! Cheers! 🍸

[@thewanderinghillbilly]

No word yet on the reason…will hopefully know soon. Thanks for watching

[@rebelgurl7948]

Looks like you are on your way! I have watched a lot of your BVI videos. I’m going in may as we have rented a 50 ft Cat. I have a question. Do you recommend a snorkel vest and should I go with short fins or long? You are the pro!

[@thewanderinghillbilly]

A vest always helps. Depends on how comfortable you are as a snorkeler. Long fins are better! Both Moorings abd MarineMax provide snorkel gear with your charter. At least they did before Covid. Not sure now. Thanks for watching

[@rebelgurl7948]

@@thewanderinghillbilly thanks for your prompt response! We are with Moorings so I will ask about that. I just ordered a set but short fins. I figured it would be easier for traveling but longer is better because it propels you more. I love your Channel and your authenticity.

[@markrefosco9236]

Yup, you’re patient. Getting hold of the Aquila CEO is impressive. But speaking with the CEO of Volvo is a whole different level. I’m betting the every day Joe would not receive the same attention without your very capable video/editing abilities! But good for you! Love your videos! Still under refundable deposit with FP and hoping you’ll tell me why you wouldn’t buy one. Best

[@thewanderinghillbilly]

Hey yeah the KZbin thing has definitely helped. But then again, I’m having to share my misery with everyone. Lol. I just prefer Aquila and Horizon over FP. There are a lot of factors

[@markrefosco9236]

@@thewanderinghillbilly best of luck today and happy cruising to the Bahamas!

[@davidmeyers838]

I was convinced Aquila 54 to be my retirement plan, but I have to say, you have opened my eyes to the quality (or lack of) in the build of this vessel. That bottom should never look that bad this fast, and replacing transmissions with such low hours? I would expect a series of little annoying fixes/touch ups, but this is a whole nother level. I am disappointed. I really wanted this to be a great purchase for you and ultimately solidify my purchase in 2 years. Having to rethink a little. Good luck to you, I will certainly keep watching your channel. PS...Did they put her back in the water today?

[@thewanderinghillbilly]

Back in the water and the sea trial was stellar. This is a magnificent boat. Remember, if your order now, you will have about 80 hulls of experience in front of you. You won’t have these issues. You’re welcome for going through the door first!!! Lol. Thanks for watching

[@davidmeyers838]

@@thewanderinghillbilly Thank you for your response and valuable time Alan. Keep up the honest reporting. Too little of that these days.

[@JBE158]

Just curious are all of these repairs and services covered under a warranty since the boat is so new?

[@thewanderinghillbilly]

Yes sir.

[@agingacademy]

Curious, why was A/C filter so muddy? Is that normal?

[@thewanderinghillbilly]

It happens. Especially if you’re sitting at a marina awhile in shallow water…like I was. A storm or heavy current can stir mud up and it gets sucked up there. Same thing with the generator strainer. Thanks for watching

[@dustydawson2384]

Are those transmissions strictly for boats or do they work in other applications? Just lucky there were two in stock.

[@thewanderinghillbilly]

Boats. Thanks for watching

[@pastorraudel1261]

Are those the exact same transmissions you had before or do those new ones have any updates?

[@thewanderinghillbilly]

Same transmission. However, every replaced tranny has performed well. Thanks for watching

[@pastorraudel1261]

@@thewanderinghillbilly that’s great to hear and a relief for sure, hopefully the same parts don’t produce the same problem 🙏🏽

[@shanemcgonnell2689]

When are you planning to get the boat down to Tortola?

[@thewanderinghillbilly]

Hopefully she’ll arrive the first of May!

[@nolya.1889]

💪💪💪

[@mariohio1]

Alan, Quick question... Did you get a model Aquila with your purchase of your boat? PS I'm buying one lol

[@thewanderinghillbilly]

Hah. Yes I did but that’s not cause I bought one. I’ve done a lot of video favors for MM so that was a present. Thanks for watching

[@mariohio1]

@@thewanderinghillbilly would love to buddy up on a trip sometime in the future! I’m thinking a book/web guide on how to navigate the Bahamas and BVI would be of value for people! What are your thoughts?

[@billpawley2849]

So sorry your plans got tanked by the breakdown. Following your exploits on the Aquila, I have to wonder about the plant's Quality Assurance operation. All the little (minor) stuff that you have had to get repaired seems excessive to me. In the end, though, I think you will have a boat that will be worth way more than some of the other boats I have been following on KZbin. I have been on a couple of Cat's and I would love to see you do a comparison between your boat and a similar sized monohull in the same sea conditions. I am sure the Cat will be much more comfortable, but, would like to see it demonstrated as compared to a monohull (performance, cost of operation, etc.). Have a blast in the BVI and hope you have no more breakdowns. Oh, one more thing, are you by any chance an Amateur Radio Operator? Do you have HF radio onboard? I know most have Sat-Phones and usually are not far away from shore-based VHF stations. I was just wondering if you have "other" communications equipment just in case.

[@thewanderinghillbilly]

I am not an amateur radio guy. I think Covid had a lot to do with quality control. My vessel was built during this time and checking work was not normal. Thanks for watching!!

[@GrahamSwan-yi5gw]

We have an Aquila 54 in Phuket and I can tell you that they are very very stable compared to the same size mono (our previous boat) to the extent we don’t even “rig for sea” - a real test has been when the long tail and bullet boats go charging past only 20 feet away - we don’t move.

[@GrahamSwan-yi5gw]

Just noticed you have bananas on board - I’d be ditching ‘em - old seafarers superstition….

[@thewanderinghillbilly]

Hah

[@andrewtestin9080]

I ask is it new model of trans or same doesn’t make sence😊

[@genevanek8044]

Maybe with all of these problems somebody will start making the s*** right? So million dollar boats don't break in the matter of weeks. I thank you for your video. I am going to buy me a boat soon and maybe these problems won't arise for me. Thank Jesus and thank you.

[@thewanderinghillbilly]

Thanks for your comments and thanks for watching!

[@burrows10011]

Go "get some cuddles!"

[@thewanderinghillbilly]

I did! Thanks for watching

[@andrewtestin9080]

But you have Balls of Steel to own

[@roberthorvath9897]

Dear god, let me be so relaxed in such shitty situations like "The Wandering Hillbilly" - THX

[@thewanderinghillbilly]

Hah. Take a deep breath and live!!! Thanks for watching

[@FREEDOM195844]

No to anything volvo on a boat! No to electronic engines. No to v drives. Yes to cummins mechanical engines! A lot less headaches!

[@davepicard4476]

Enjoy time with your wife u need it

[@thewanderinghillbilly]

Thank you!

[@andrewtestin9080]

Please clarify

[@jimmydaniel1127]

Poor placment of sea strainer its sucking in water riggt by the props so whatever the props sturr up its sucking in

[@thewanderinghillbilly]

Thank you

[@benchoad-h1d]

Aquila is a pile of junk. Going to go with the Pearl 62

[@thewanderinghillbilly]

Thanks for watching!

[@forseenst0rm691]

Must be nice being rich..

[@thewanderinghillbilly]

It was hard damn work! I came from nothing. Thanks for watching.

[@forseenst0rm691]

@@thewanderinghillbilly Nah I'm playing. Good for you man. You have a beautiful boat.