Freedom 45's

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freedomtogo
Posts: 6
Joined: Sun Jan 10, 2010 12:36 pm

Re: Freedom 45's

Post by freedomtogo »

Geoff, if you want the sun in Europe in the summer and in the Caribbean in the winter you either have a very expensive boat and spend months on passage or you have two less expensive boats and fly! Actually my 40:40 has been very trouble free and has needed only routine maintenance up to now although this year we have to replace the aft holding tank-designed to be impossible to get at without cutting out a bulkhead! The 45 ac had been neglected and has needed a lot of work to get it up and together. The guys have done a good job and they are still working on her more minor issues but when you are 3,500 miles away then your work is a lower priority than that of an owner who lives up the road......! Members should be aware they can get good advice on issues from Mark Edwards, or Paul Dennis and I can post contact details if needed. Paul is near Rhode Island and is in the business maintaining and modifying Freedoms so may be your best bet for parts etc.

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Hans
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Joined: Fri Mar 27, 2009 7:28 am
Location: Deventer, The Netherlands
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Re: Freedom 45's

Post by Hans »

Hi Freedomtogo,

I think we did meet dec '08 while visiting Virgin Gorda. I am sorry to have forgotten your name.
But I still remember the main boom furling and jibfurler and I admired your different interior lay out.
I am curious about your experience with this kind of rig compared to the original one on your 40/40.
Will you keep the boat over at the BVI? Maybe w'll meet over there, it's lovely. I will certainly go over there, before
leaving the Caribean.
Hans Hansen, Makkum,The Netherlands.
Freedom 45AC #47 "Scherezade".

freedomtogo
Posts: 6
Joined: Sun Jan 10, 2010 12:36 pm

Re: Freedom 45's

Post by freedomtogo »

Hi Hans -yes we did meet up in Virgin Gorda where we are still sorting some fixes. Our first sail after that meeting was to Antigua and we had a lot of minor problems, though leaks through every window did not seem so minor at the time and neither did a fresh water leak that left us without any water for three days! As if that was not enough we hit a Tropical depression with winds over 30 Knots , zero visibility and 12 ft seas. My wife was not impressed ( we had no issue with our 40:40 in UK or with the 33 and 27 that came before) so she said she would rather we kept the Beneteau 411 which we were selling. However the sales market has collapsed, so we had the faults on the 45 cured and enjoyed a two week gentle sail which demonstrated the BIG advantage of the in-boom (and the easier roller headsail though it is less efficient than the camber spar). The easier sailing has won the day as we are not getting younger, so we plan to sell the 411 when the market picks up and are doing some upgrades on the 45- throwing gold bricks overboard might have been cheaper! What tipped the balance apart from the age thing was a windward race from Marina Key to North Sound Virgin Gorda in about 12 kn of wind against an 18 month old Jenneau 44 where we pointed as high and went as fast and could tack quite quickly on wind shifts and got there well ahead. I was quite surprised as she might otherwise be described a "stately" and is not as fast as our 40:40.I like the standard rig as on Scherazade and my 40:40 but there is no denying that although more efficient it is harder work although I might stick to it for crossing oceans-the reality is that we will not do that but limit ourselves to BVI to Trinidad and points between. We saw Scherazade in RBM and you were there on both occasions (but not on the boat) and the next day the boat had gone out, both times!! We checked she was ok before we flew home i just after Easter. Are you still planning to bring her to Europe or will you spend a few seasons in St. Lucia? regards David

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Hans
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Location: Deventer, The Netherlands
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Re: Freedom 45's

Post by Hans »

Hi David,

Saw only today your reply, sorry for not answering earlier. You had quite a ride to Antigua! Fresh water leak sounds very familiar by now. I started accusing my crewmembers for using too much fresh water. Found out later that the aluminum forward tank was drip leaking. Repairing meant to take out the salon interior. Asked Paul Dennis for advice, he told me mine was the third 45 aft cockpit with this problem. Must be a design/ building flaw. Only the aft cockpit 45's seems to have this problem, center cockpits are OK I am told.
Three 45ft AC's are at his yard right now.
I decided to bring the boat to Paul Dennis, underway the aft tank started leaking as well. Luckily the watermaker just kept up with the leak.
Boat is in Warren right now, tanks are renewed, interior needs to be reinstalled yet, and there are some more items I want done.

I pick her up coming may. I have not decided what I''ll do. Return to Bahama's/ Caribbean or cross to Europe. But the Eurocrisis is taking too much of a toll. So it probably will be Europe.
Your 45ft still in BVI?

Regards, Hans
Hans Hansen, Makkum,The Netherlands.
Freedom 45AC #47 "Scherezade".

freedomtogo
Posts: 6
Joined: Sun Jan 10, 2010 12:36 pm

Re: Freedom 45's

Post by freedomtogo »

Hans, so far we still have fresh water but I will be checking and checking and......! We have nearly everything working on our 45 although we had a small problem with our Lewmar ocean hatches where the rivets broke when someone tried to open the hatches after 8 months in the heat without first releasing the hinges with an allen key! Turns out that: a) there is insufficient room behind the hinges in the bigger hatches as there is an aluminium piece screwed to the frame right behind each hinge-how stupid is that? We had to get our mechanic to drill out extra space so we could push the rivets in far enough and, b) the Lewmar rivets are flat ended so that when fixed they do not project-ordinary rivets of the same size stick out. What should have been simple was a pain but not a special feature of the 45. The smaller hatches have handles and rivets that do not coincide with the aluminium so what were Lewmar thinking with the larger ones? As you know we have a roller in-boom system and we suffered a gooseneck casting failure in big seas and no wind. The vang was not enough with the mainsheet tightened to stop the boom lashing about-hence the failure. The manufactureres are helpful and working to provide the part but it has to come to St. Lucia from California... The problem is that on your standard rig the weight of boom and furled sail is taken on the lazy jacks and you can tighten the mainsheet to stop movement- its the same on my 40:40. But as Freedoms do not therefore usually need a topping lift on mine the whole weight was on the vang and the spring is too weak-hence the problem. Actually there was a second line that was able to be used but as it was labelled "spinnaker halyard " I did not realise that there was an extra rear facing block at the masthead and I could have (and will now) use it as a topping lift where the interraction with the mainsheet will prevent/control boom movement without relying on the vang. All this was caused by odd weather where we had 3 weeks with less that 5 km/hr winds but residual big swells from Northern Storms- I do not expect it will happen again but if so we will be ready!

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Hans
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Location: Deventer, The Netherlands
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Re: Freedom 45's

Post by Hans »

David,
We had about the same problem wwith the rivets on the Lewmar hatches. In the end renewed them all. First with ordinary ones which are hollow, resulting in drip leaking with green water on deck. Replaced them later with the ' Lewmar' ones.
Hope you have the gooseneck piece soon. Not pretty to be in St. Lucia when not able to sail. Experiencing about the same here, spending Xmas with family here in Rodney Bay while our boat is in Warren. Can't wait to pick her up coming spring.
Happy new year and good sailing for you,
Hans
Hans Hansen, Makkum,The Netherlands.
Freedom 45AC #47 "Scherezade".

Vamoose
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Sep 12, 2011 6:57 am
Location: Laconner wa

Re: Freedom 45's

Post by Vamoose »

Hi we have a 45 cc named vamoose. We got her in california spring of 2011 and were told she is hull number 21. I think its the only one that came with a 80hp perkins anyway we love her and she now lives in Laconner Wa Chuck and Deirdre

lewharve
Posts: 107
Joined: Sun May 12, 2013 7:59 pm

Re: Freedom 45's

Post by lewharve »

I was working on the presure pump and I noticed the fule bowl was 1/2 full of water(the boat was sitting for 6 months) I cleaned it out and started the boat it started right up. the next day we started it to move the boat it ran for 15 minutes than stoped and it has not started since.
any ideas to get it going. I think it is the electric fule pump.

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