Piers and Lin du Pré bought their new Fleming 55 / 129, Play d'eau, in 2003.
Play d’eau
Braye Harbour, Channel Islands, 2006
click to enlarge
In 2003, our new Play d’eau was delivered after she had been displayed at the Dusseldorf 2003 Boat Show.
Hull No 129, built by Tony Fleming of Fleming Motor Yachts and certified ‘A Ocean’, was a significant change from our previous planing hull boats. The Fleming 55 is shaft driven, semi-displacement, displacing some 32 tonnes when loaded and cruising.
With a separate pilothouse, she is a beautiful motoryacht designed for serious cruising. Her hull gives her great flexibility in performance with a range of over 2,000 nautical miles at eight knots yet, with her standard twin Cummins 450 HP engines, she can attain speeds nearing seventeen.
We find a sensible and sustainable semi-displacement cruising speed to be twelve to fourteen knots, although we far prefer displacement cruising at 8 knots which rewards us with a comfy and enjoyable passage and excellent economy averaging over 1.7 nm to the UK gallon.
The Fleming’s deep keel provides protection for the running gear and gives good stability in following seas. To reduce noise and vibration, Play d’eau is maximised for quietness and smooth running thanks to the use of Aquadrive anti-vibration drive systems.
Play d’eau is registered in Guernsey on the British Registry, 910930.
Specifications
 |
LOA (incl pulpit & transom) |
60′ 9″ (18.52m) |
| LOA (ex pulpit & Transom) |
55′ 9″ (16.99m) | |
| Water Line | 50′ 10″ (15.49m) | |
| Beam | 16′ 0″ (4.88m) | |
| Draft | 5′ 0″ (1.53m) | |
| Registered Net Tonnage | 29.94 tonnes | |
| Fuel | 3,800 litres Diesel 4 GRP tanks with site gauges Fuel Management control |
|
| Water | 1,150 litres. Two polyethelyne tanks, with site gauges, strained and carbon filtered |
Mechanical
The Fleming is built for self sufficiency and comfort at sea. In addition, Play’d’eau is fitted out for long distance cruising. Hence the long list.
 |
Engines | Twin Cummins 450C Diamond Glendinning synchroniser Aquadrive mounts and couplings |
| Stabilisers | ABT TRAC, electronic / hydraulic | |
| Bow Thruster | Sidepower 10.7hp, 24v – SP155TC | |
| Stern Thruster | Sidepower 150kg, 24v – SP150 | |
| Anchor & Windlass | 35kg CQR plough with 90m 3/8ths calibrated chain; Lofrans Falkon 24v 1500 watt c/w remote | |
| Air Conditioning | Cruisair, reverse cycle | |
| Heating | Webasto hydronic, 9kW | |
| Throttles & gears | Hynautic hydraulic | |
| Trim tabs | Bennet Electro-hydraulic | |
| Davit | Electric crane davit, 363 kgs max lift | |
| Dinghy | Avon 315 Torqeedo Travel 1003S |
Electrics & Appliances
| Generators | 1 x Onan 13kw and 1 x Onan 7.5kw, each with a sealed AGM 12v battery |
| Main inverter | Victron Phoenix Multi 2.5kw |
| AC Electrics | 2 x AC Bus, selectable from Fwd or Aft Shore power, Gen 1 or 2, or Inverter |
| DC Electrics | 1 x 24v Bus & 1 x 12v Bus, selectable from No 1 or No 2 bank, or Both |
| 24v – 12v droppers for the 12v Bus | 2 x Mastervolt, switchable. These also charge the back-up 12v bus battery |
| 24v – 24v smoothers | 4 x Alfatronix, to provide precise 24v DC supplies |
| Batteries (24v) | No 1 bank: 4 x 8D selaed AGM for domestics No 2 bank: 2 x 8D sealed AGM for engine starting |
| Battery Charger (24v & 12v) | Mastervolt Chargemaster 24/100-3 for No 1 & No 2 battery banks |
| Battery (12v) | 1 x GPL-31T sealed AGM as back up for the 12v bus |
| Battery Charger (12v) | Mastervolt 24/12 – 20A for the generator 12v batteries |
| 12v battery display | Displays the voltage of all three 12v batteries, located in the Pilot House |
| Fresh water pump | Headhunter XRS-124 |
| Salt water pump | Headhunter XRS-124 |
| Hot Water | 20 gallon Torrid calorifier with 240v Immersion Heater |
| Washing Machine | Asko |
| Tumble Dryer | Asko |
| Fridge / Freezer | Armana 20 cu ft, complete with ice and cold water dispensers |
| Cooker | De Detrich 740v, 4 burner induction hob |
| Oven | Neff B46C74N3GB, Single Electric Oven, Stainless Steel |
| Other galley equipment | Garbage disposer, Trash compactor, Convection microwave |
| Entertainment – saloon | Intellian i3 satellite TV, Humax 500Gb decoder, Panasonic TX-24FS500B LED TV Bose Lifestyle surround sound |
| Entertainment – main & guest cabins | Bose Wave – Radio/CD players |
| Telephone System | Panasonic KX-TEA308 PABX with 8 telephone extensions PSTN land-line connection capability |
| ADSL wi-fi | PSTN splitter to a Cisco wi-fi router for boat-wide Internet access |
| Local wi-fi Booster | Digital Yacht iNAVConnect & WL510 for boat-wide Internet access |
Play d’eau
off the Belgian coast in 2006
Navigation
For a description of the 2012/2013 electronics refresh program, refer to the post Play d’eau is featured in MBY
| Magnetic Compasses | Richie – Fly Bridge and Pilot House |
| Chart Plotter | Furuno NavNet 3D black box |
| Back-up GPS | Furuno GPS33 |
| Satellite compass | Furuno SC50 (3 aerial array) |
| Back-up steering compass | Furuno PG500 fluxgate |
| Autopilot | Simrad AP70 |
| Other instruments | B&G Triton T41. 1 for Wind, 1 for Depth & Speed, replicated on the flybridge |
| Wind | B&G wind transducer |
| Radar | Furuno 2117 black box with 6′ open scanner |
| Thermal Imaging & Daylight imaging camera | FLIR M-618CS |
| Display Screens | Pilot House – 2 x Hatteland 19″ optically bonded; 2 x Hatteland 12″ optically bonded Fly Bridge – 1 x 12″ Hatteland High Bright, optically bonded |
| AIS | Easy TRX2-IS Class B |
| Radar Transponder | Echomax Dual Band active transponder (X & S bands) |
| VHF | 1 x ICOM M610 with DSC, with two remote Command Mics (FB and Main cabin) 1 x ICOM M503 |
| Aerials | 2 x Shakespeare Galaxy 5309-R 23′ (7m) 9dB gain (Marine VHF1 & 2) 1 x Shakespeare 2.4m (AM/FM) 1 x Shakespeare 2.4m (AIS) 1 x Shakespeare 5248 (Wi-Fi) 1 x ICS stub aerial (Navtex) 1 x Shakespeare Omni-directional MAR14 (Terrestial TV) |
| Ship’s whistle (horn) | Kahlenberg D1. Spun brass trumpets, cast bronze horn body & base, chrome finish (IMO approved) |
| Ship’s whistle controller | Kahlenberg M511C |
| Ship’s bell | Kahlenberg 8″ bell. Cast in bell bronze with Play d’eau, chrome finished (IMO approved) |
| NavTex | ICS Nav6 plus |
You can get in touch with us any time by using our Contact Form.