TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands "Palilu" Helia 44

Anybody familiar with this boat out of Dream?

EE,
Glad you asked about Palilu. We have it chartered at the end of next month and are also trying to find out as much information as we can. Hope someone that has been on her can give details?

I have Palilu reserved for May 2019. How was the boat when you had it?

I had that boat in June and it sailed well and was very comfortable. The only complaints that we had were minor. It was either a light boat or had a high freeboard as it would swing on the mooring much more than other cats in the harbor. Sometimes we would get too close to the other boats. One of the ladies had a hair dryer that would occasionally trip a breaker. The breaker panel is in the hull located at the aft starboard step and was difficult to get at to reset. The sheets don’t lead directly to the helm and if you want to tweak a sheet, you have to leave the helm or call someone over to do it for you. NOTE: Make sure that you have the phone number for the base manager. On two occasions, I called the maintenance number and left messages after no answer. I only got a response when I called the manager directly. The maintenance crew then was very responsive.

Now there's a first world problem!

My wife brought a hair dryer on one of our recent trips. The generator wasn't running so she flips on the inverter and turns on the dryer. I was peacefully sitting in the cockpit when the low voltage alarm went off. It sure didn't make me very happy to find out she was killing my batteries with a d&$^ hair dryer! Since then she only brings the dryer for the trip home and only after we're docked with shore power.

Thanks for the info! Fortunately, I don’t anticipate any of the girls in our group wanting to use a hair dryer. Generator and air conditioner at night, now that’s another story...

Have you asked to have electronic manuals sent to you for the boat? The chart plotter? Watermaker?

When I charter Sea Tiger, i try to send electronic copies of user's manual of all pertinent devices so that the captain can have something useful to do on the flight down (or before) as well as have information readily available if questions arise, either in operating features or trouble shooting.

Even the best support is not available onsite 24/7.

We really liked Palilu, however on the third day we lost the port engine. Had really bad oil leak that the mechanics could not repair on site. Dream Yacht sent a Bali 4.3 to meet us at Leverik and helped move our gear to the new boat. I initially thought this would be an ordeal, but the switch was made without altering our plans at all. It was nice to sail different boats on the same trip, each had it's advantages. In the end I think I will go with the Helia 44 next time.

Any comments on how easy it was to track the portside stern when docking? Chartering our first Helia 44 in 2019 and it seems pretty blind on that side. Love the pop-up behind the helm on the Lagoon 450 that opens your view to that side.