The Dbottino Weblog

Do you yearn for Digital Versatile Disc excellence; though miss your old video recorders (VCR’s) means to tape your favourite children’s TV shows? If so, you are capable to acquire the best of both with a Digital Versatile Disc (more frequently known as a DVD) recorder, thanks to its clever recording capabilities together with its DVD advanced sound & picture.

There are today many brands of DVD recorders available, each with unique qualifications & features. Hence, this means that whatever your requests, there is a precise make of Digital Versatile Disc recorders available in stores that will suit you.

DVD Recorders have never been so easy on the wallet. In reality, costs are falling so quick that ditching that old Video Cassette Recorder (more commonly refereed to as a VCR) and changing over to DVD or Hard Disk Drive (HDD) recording makes obvious sense. But, it is a marketplace driven by technology & innovation & as a result means DVD features are changing monthly.

If you’re mystified by the difference between DVD-R, DVD-RAM and DVD+RW, we also supply you with a simple breakdown of the configurations available to buy – which companies are following them and what the up-to-the-minute developments are.

Pioneer makes a number of Digital Versatile Disc recorders, a few of which have HDD capability; allowing you to tape countless hours of TV prior to transferring them on to Digital Versatile Disc when desired. Pioneer also creates a series of excellent DVD players & DVD home cinema systems including HDMI compatible makes. Find amazing prices on DVD recorders at Digital Direct!

Pioneer is a well-liked TV and hi-fi brand which caters for the home, car, multimedia and DJ consumer markets. Pioneer was setup as Fukuin Shokai Denki in Tokyo in 1938. The company firstly began life creating speakers then later altered its name to Pioneer in 1961. It has since launched a selection of firsts onto the consumer market, which includes the world’s first GPS car navigation system in nineteen ninety & the first ever DVD recorder in nineteen ninety-nine.

When you decide on Bahamas Yacht Charters you have over 500 miles of tropical waters to explore. The Bahamas is an archipelago that contains over 700 islands, so unless you have loads of cash you won’t get to see them all in one charter vacation. Choose from crewed yacht charters or a bareboat charter, but whichever one you choose, you can decide where you want to go. Bahamas Yacht Charters can help you plan your vacation so that it fulfills your every need.

The difference in crewed yacht charters and bareboat charters is in the amenities that the yacht offers. You don’t have to know how to sail the yacht if you want the cheaper bareboat, but you do have to supply your own food and supplies. In addition, you have to bring along your own lounge chairs and watersports equipment or choose to rent them from Bahamas Yacht Charters. With crewed yacht charters, you don’t have to do any work aboard the yacht and everything is supplied for you. If you have lots of money to spend, you can choose one of the luxury yacht charters. Bahamas lends itself to dreaming of luxury, so for that once in a lifetime vacation, why not splurge?

As a rule, Bahamas Yacht Charters begin with a chart briefing at 9 A.M. Then you can sail at 10 and you have to have the yacht back by 10 at the end of the charter period. If you would prefer to have an afternoon sailing time, you have to request this when you book your yacht charters. The Bahamas is suitable for any time sailing and with the short distance from Florida to the Bahamas, it doesn’t make any difference what time you leave. You do have to be careful of the weather if you book the yacht charter during hurricane season.

You can also begin and end the charter in the Bahamas. Fly into Abaco and take the yacht from there. For yacht charters, Bahamas tax rates are 4% of the total cost of the charter and you have to pay a daily insurance rate for the yacht. This depends on the size of yacht you charter. For example, the premium for yachts 41 feet and under is $33 per day and for those over 41 feet, the premium is $38 per day. The deductible with the yacht charter insurance is $400, which you must pay yourself if you cause any damage. Bahamas Yacht Charters supplies you with a full tank of fuel when you have a bareboat charter, but you must return the yacht with the tank full.

Sailing yachts from Bahamas Yacht Charters are much more expensive. A typical yacht charter will cost about $13,000, which does not include meals, docking, drinks and fees. During the summer, the yacht charters are based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and during the winter they are based in the Bahamas. If a group of people decide to get together and book a charter from Bahamas Yacht Charters, they can split the cost between them, which will significantly reduce the price per couple.

To find out more about Sailing Vacations visit Peter’s Website Your Sailing Vacation and find out about Luxury Yacht Charters and more, including Caribbean Yacht Charters, Crewed Yacht Charters, Bareboat Charters and Florida Charters.

The Catamaran Group learned on its recent French tour to the Yapluka Boat Building Yard that the design team led by Martin Myers is gearing its yard to the future production of luxury custom mega catamarans over 140 in length.

Each new build allows us to become more efficient and effective in improving the quality of our catamarans. We are constantly evolving to improve the design and engineering process. This will give us opportunities in years to come to create catamarans over 140 feet in length,” said Mr. Myers.

The Group had the opportunity to view various stages in the construction process from 60 feet up to 72 feet hulls. This rare opportunity allowed The Group to assess just how far Yapluka has mastered the customization process with regards large, luxury catamarans.

The Group toured precisely laid out Yapluka facilities with Mr. Myers describing in detail various procedures relating to hull plating, woodworking and hull finishing including key input on how the yard structures itself for the general process of building mega catamarans exceeding 100 feet in length.

Many of the techniques – including using non-inflammable aluminum to increase stability – were borrowed from the aeronautics industry. In fact, the sheer size of the hull superstructures along with the various specialized construction areas reminds one of airplane design/construction facility.

The yard itself is spotless and carefully organised. Attention to detail combined with well organized and trained work crews ensures a efficient production line with the ability for the owner/project manager to add in further customization requests at key points in the process.

Hull Preparation

Mr. Myers first provided a breakdown of the hull plating process with regards a Yapluka 60 hull. This includes using the biggest sheets of aluminum possible to reduce the amount of welding on the hull. This leads to minimal deformation or unevenness in the hull and a high quality finish.
The entire sheeting process is verified by a third party certification organization called VERITAS. This further emphasizes the care and research put into the construction process that generally takes at least one year from start to end.

There are virtually no restrictions to the interior from the closed bulkheads when it comes to customizing the aluminum frames. Mr. Myers pointed out the similarity to an airplane hull in the length & breadth of space available to the owner and the options to shape the cabins in his or her vision. The same applies for the salon area with a multitude of other avenues available in determining the various connection points between the cockpit, salon and cabins.

“This particular hull demonstrates the advantages of customized hulls when it comes to maximizing space and connection points between the salon area, for example, and the interior,” said

Woodshop

We asked Mr. Myers how owners react to the impressive walk through bulkheads which allow the client to actually visualize his future boat and provide further input on customization.”They are always impressed by the amount of space…we also pre-install the interior in the woodshop mock-up which allows them to physically walk through it, confirm bulkhead positioning and make additional changes,” said Mr. Myers.

The entire Yapluka ‘interior’ building process is transparent and allows the client to provide further input for improvement. Once they validate the changes in the woodshop, the interior is varnished, stocked and primed for inclusion in the hull inside the ‘finishing’ area.
“The ability to customize and visualize their future boat in our facilities is what draws customer to Yapluka,” said Mr. Myers.

Finishing

The Group had the opportunity to first walk underneath a massive Yapluka 72 before venturing above the mezzanine into the upper areas of the mega catamaran where specialized crews were working on completing various interior and exterior sections.

Even though the hull was only 80% complete, it was clear that was going to be a beautifully finished luxury boat. At this stage, it was only four weeks away from receiving its final coat of paint with roughly 30 days before the salon area was complete.

When the times comes for launch the boat will slip gently out of giant factory doors and gently splash down into the canal – virtually on the doorstep of the Yapluka headquarters.

If one word comes to mind when visiting the Yapluka Yard, it is ‘Unbelievable’. One can imagine a time when luxury mega catamarans over 150 feet become a regular sight in the pristine sailing waters of The Caribbean and Mediterranean.

For part 1 please visit http://www.catamarans.com