Hatteras 58 - "Jaha"

Jaha, a 56-foot Hatteras, is a corporate yacht belonging to a large marine insurance company. Its original owner made sure this boat saw its fair share of ocean miles—including a trip to the Galapagos Islands on a National Geographic contract—but after many years, the once state-of-the-art onboard navigation system was dated. It needed a significant retrofit, and the company approached  PYS to do the job.

The project involved designing a whole new navigation system. PYS worked collaboratively with the corporation’s technical team to create the right solution. Safety and simplicity were the main drivers for this project. The process was iterative and eventually resulted in a design that worked for everyone. According to PYS, Jaha’s new navigation system doesn’t get much better than this.

"PYS did a good job in putting everything together," says Troy, who represents the Jaha’s corporate owners. "The quality of work, the timeliness and the follow-up were all excellent."

During the entire process, all of the boat’s interior surfaces were covered with protective barriers. “PYS took the time to get the boat prepped for this project,” says Troy, the executive representative of the corporate owners. “They made sure to protect the boat’s beautiful finish.” With a project of this size, removing so much equipment left many empty spaces throughout the boat. “PYS was creative in their use of various finishes to make the relics of past equipment disappear,” Troy adds.

The hybrid E-wide screens (e120W and e140w) from Raymarine are a favorite of the client; they allow the crew to use the intuitive touch screens without removing the familiarity of buttons. “The Raymarine hybrid touch is just plain simple to use,” says Troy. The navigation system is truly integrated, yet the PYS-designed redundancy allows for the navigation to operate in stand-alone situations, the best of both worlds.

According to Troy, a few finishing touches really improved the solution. For instance, the forward-looking sonar from Interphase makes navigation in unknown waters much easier. Another favorite is the Raymarine SmartController, enabling the crew to steer the boat from anywhere on the boat. Lastly, the Raymarine LifeTag system is a must-have on a large boat of this size, especially when children are aboard.