Evening Light 2

[Stranger]

getting a bit long in the tooth i think ,excellent engine and fuel consumption tho wear and tear setting in bed mattress   too soft and can feel base through them, split roof difficult to move, storage poor set up and knife and fork tray in bottom of cupboard not ideal  lighting on or off not much individual control of lights and stupid set up for front night curtains having to be clipped on from the outside easy rear access rear door large step into cabin the boat was  released with shower head holder broken in two and canopy bolt not secure apart from that ..... ok i guess   

[Broads01]

I would guess the Evening Light class is around 20 years old and as such not especially elderly by hire boat standards. I'd be a little disappointed to have some of the issues you found because I wouldn't expect them even if the boat were older. 

[NorfolkNog]

Hmmm, we had Evening Light 3 in February and couldn't fault it. There are 4 in class. 3 Evening Light and 1 Freedom of Light. All consecutive numbers. I think for boats around 20 years old they stand up well. Certainly hoping to book again in February. Until this year they were in the Elite classification. We've hired Freedom several times. 

[SwanR]

I think it partly comes down to expectations as we found when taking Sonnet 1 out a couple of weeks ago. And I really will get around to writing that up over the next week. But I also think that busy boatyards do rely on hirers to tell them things when handing the boat back. Whether they act on those things I don't know. 

[NorfolkNog]

I think they do Jean, I've always found HW very helpful and co-operative. Problem is having hired from Swancraft for many years they set the standard for others to follow! Having said that I've hired from HW many times and been very happy. That does tend to be in February admittedly when they have come off winter maintenance so faults will inevitably crop up during the season and the yards will rely on hirer's to let them know when things go wrong, I suppose in fairness they can't check everything in the short turnaround time. 

[Captain]

I hired Evening Light 1 back in 2011 and believe they were built in 2001 so not a particularly old boat as boats go. Herbert Woods were top class and we managed to get under Potter, the boat was well kept and had no faults however in some respects we found her poorly designed. I think this is exaggerated because I have a bad back so I have to agree about the cutlery being near the floor, the pots were under the cooker ( although several boats do this) the mattress were thin, the settee was a faff to make up and the fridge a little small all be it the same size as Bolero at Brooms. Not a bad boat just not as good as Swan Reflection which I hired in 2012 and 2014 which didn't have any of the issue s mentioned.

Neil