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Cal

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Posts posted by Cal

  1. 6 minutes ago, Broads01 said:

    I've often wondered, why do hire operators in France charge for engine hours instead of fuel? It doesn't seem a fair way of doing things to me because it takes no account of how you've used the throttle.

    It just encourages you to put the throttle down and get where you are going quicker!!

     

    We always thought it was a mad system. Not just in France though. Le Boat use that system as standard. We are supposed to be hiring on the Thames at Easter (can't see it happening) and that is charged by engine hours as well.

    • Like 2
  2. 21 minutes ago, Mouldy said:

    I’ve had several Nissans since the late eighties, a Silvia Turbo, two Bluebirds and three Primeras plus the other half had a Sunny and an Almera Tino.  They were all good cars, well finished and reliable, but I have to agree that of late and since becoming allied to Renault, their reliability has suffered.  I currently have a Skoda, something that I swore that I would never own back in 1979, when a garage gave me one to use as a ‘courtesy car.’  It’s a good motor, well finished and equipped - what a friend of mine who is a big fan of German vehicles describes as ‘a thinking man’s Volkswagen’, but I think our next car may be a Kia.  The wife has had one for 6 years and it’s been reliable and servicing has been quite reasonable.  The only issue we’ve had was with the front led daylight running lights, which went dim, but they were replaced under warranty when the car was five years old without a quibble.  That seven year warranty is well worth having.

    I had a 1990 Nissan Sunny before I bought the Almera. That was a brilliant car. We bought it for £50 from the car sales pitch next door that had taken it as part exchange. It had 12 months tax and a full tank of fuel. We ran it for 7 years between us and it was never any bother. Eventually sold it for £500 when we bought the Almera.

    We currently have a Hyundai I30 as well as the Almera (and the Sierra in the garage). Have had it for a little over two years now and it is a fab car. It isn't an exciting car by any means but we bought it to do a job knowing that it would rack up a lot of miles in doing so. It has been super reliable so far.

    • Like 1
  3. 19 minutes ago, oldgregg said:

    And that sums it up, sadly.... The old models developed before the Renault marriage are pretty good.

    But then along came the Renault-Nissan alliance and the accountants set to work on cost-cutting to reduce the losses Nissan were making. Unfortunately, cost cutting only ever means a reduction in quality as cost accountants look at what they can immediately make cheaper rather than how to do what they're doing better in order to drive sales.

    It's the same thing that happened at Mercedes in the late 90's and at VW in the mid-noughties. Neither of those groups have really got their reputation for quality and reliability back either.

    Nowadays Nissan are (mostly) little more than a brand name, predominantly selling re-skinned Renault models such as the Clio-based Juke and Micra. The latter barely looks any different from a Clio. Same goes for Dacia, and sadly Mitsubishi have recently joined the fold.

    I've no need to worry about that now. I will be driving a Fiat Ducato for the foreseeable :default_blink:

  4. 8 hours ago, Woodie said:

    Things haven’t changed with Datsun!

    Has been Europe wide chassis issues with the Navara-poor quality steel and inadequate protection. But in fairness Nissan offered a goodwill campaign of buyback, repair or treatment.

    Thread drift again......

    The garage when my other half works did quite well out of this. They had one of these as a works vehicle but it was done up quite nicely and looked really well. It went for an MOT and the tester called them into have a look at it. It had a very badly cracked chassis.

     

    Nissan sent an engineer to have a look and agreed to buy it back. They paid about £5k more than the garage had bought it for in the first instance!

     

    They have a Land Rover 90 now instead.

     

    My 2005 Nissan Almera is still plodding on. Flew straight through it's MOT last month. We have had it for 16 years now and done £152k miles in it and it has never been any trouble. Had to have a clutch and a timing chain at £130k miles but couldn't really complain at that. It will be a shame to see that car go later this year when we get the motorhome. It's almost become a family member:default_sad:

  5. 53 minutes ago, annv said:

    When they say it's a right off it means it is not worth the cost to repair at market prices, it is cheaper for insurance company to just pay the insured value, there may well be some one that will purchase one and spend their free time repairing it, just the same as with cars a write of doesn't mean it is not repairable.  John

    The other half is a panel beater, his job is car body repair and restoration.

     

    When a car is written off by an insurer it is generally because it is beyond economical repair. Yes you can buy them and repair them, but the costs of those repairs usually then exceeds the value of the car that has been repaired but is on the write off list. They are very rarely a good buy.

     

    Same with boats. They are written off for a reason.

  6. Our holiday to the Thames with Le Boat at Easter is going to be cancelled. We just need to wait 4 weeks prior to the arrival date before we can get a full refund for the holiday. This will be the third time this holiday has been cancelled and rebooked now so we are taking the money this time. We are going to spend the money on a new shed and a new TV instead. Things we will definitely get some use out of this year.

     

    With our boat also being sold (hopefully) it will be an odd year for us as we won't have the usual option of just nipping to the boat for the weekend (when restrictions allowed). We will be spending an awful lot more time at home this year than normal.

     

    We are looking to get a motorhome this year but we certainly won't rush into the purchase and will wait for the right one to crop up. As with boats the sales yards are pretty bare at the moment.

     

    We don't want to book any holidays just yet because we don't know when or if we will get the motorhome!

     

    A bit of a catch 22 for us this year.

    • Like 3
  7. We should have been going to Belgium on a hire boat last Easter which was cancelled. We swapped it to this Easter and changed the destination from Belgium to the Thames. Looks like we won't be going there either this year.

     

    We are going to take a full refund this time and put the money to some use at home!

    • Like 1
  8. For Sale 2003 Sealine S23 with Volvo Penta KAD32 engine (170hp) and Volvo Penta DPE Sterndrive.

    • Engine serviced July 2020. 
    • Drive serviced July 2020.
    • Hull and superstructure polished and waxed May 2020.
    • Antifouled May 2020.
    • Last owners since October 2007.
    • Boat Safety Test valid until July 2024
    • Minimum air draft 6’6” allowing increased inland waterways cruising.

    Usual standard Sealine specification with too many extras and upgrades to list but to include:
    • Raymarine A74 plotter (with radar module) installed July 2019
    • New 12v fridge December 2018.
    • Teak cockpit table and shelf.
    • Recent cockpit upholstery in Charcoal Silvertex with Sealine embroidery and matching cushions.
    • Webasto Airtop 2000ST diesel heating (Unit serviced October 2020)
    • Snap davits.
    • Holding tank.
    • LED cockpit mood lighting.
    • Turbo boost pressure gauge.
    • LED lighting and bulbs throughout.
    • USB charging sockets to cockpit and cabin. (2 in cockpit. 1 in cabin.)
    • Electric anchor winch with chain to suit.
    • Uprated alternator.

    All batteries (2 domestic and 1 starter battery) replaced September 2020 with very light use since.
    Windows replaced in canopy September 2020.
    Macerator pump to be replaced once Covid lock down restrictions allow access to the boat.

    Naughty-Cal has been a much loved boat and has benefited from a programme of ongoing maintenance and upgrades during our ownership. She is only for sale as we have sadly found that we currently do not have the time to use her as often as we would like and it is a shame to leave her sat idle on the mooring when someone could be using and enjoying her as much as we have.

    Will be going on brokerage with Farndon Marina at the beginning of April (lock down restrictions allowing) for circa £32k. 
    Currently open to offers of circa £27k.

    Additional photographs available on request. 

    Naughty-Cal is currently lying on her berth at Burton Waters, Lincoln being prepared for sale. 

    [url=https://ibb.co/ZV5XZJy][img]https://i.ibb.co/Tk62CTz/20180720-070301.jpg[/img][/url]

    [url=https://ibb.co/yYg1cdt][img]https://i.ibb.co/KLVkpbd/20180519-130528.jpg[/img][/url]

    [url=https://ibb.co/Z26NQg6][img]https://i.ibb.co/3RykxFy/20170828-084156.jpg[/img][/url]

    [url=https://ibb.co/4p43zs7][img]https://i.ibb.co/m4hgkvG/20170527-112001.jpg[/img][/url]

    [url=https://ibb.co/x1RLjhk][img]https://i.ibb.co/485tTWq/20170718-113459.jpg[/img][/url]

    [url=https://ibb.co/QQ3xQMG][img]https://i.ibb.co/tKT1KD5/20171104-150402.jpg[/img][/url]

  9. On 13/12/2020 at 16:13, MauriceMynah said:

    Vaughan, When I had a landrover and was thinking of trailing my Elysian, I too was told 2.5 tons, but that a suitable trailer would take it over the 3 ton limit for towing. ( I did ask if he meant braked or unbraked and he was just starting to explain in detail why I would be unwise towing something that heavy unbraked when he realised I was grinning ).

     

    Our little Sealine is 2.4 ton dry weight. With gear on board and an allowance for a bit of liquids in the tank and on a suitable trailer it is close to or over the limit.

     

    We did consider getting a trailer and decent tow car but in the end decided that it was simpler just to pay someone to tow it for us when we want it taking somewhere!!

     

     

    20170721_141351.jpg

    • Like 1
  10. Might want to pick your brains at some point as to how you are getting on with your Broom 29 if you don't mind?

     

    We are still undecided whether we are keeping our boat, getting another boat or selling up and getting a motorhome. But if we do keep a boat then the Broom 29 HT is one boat that is of interest too us. Something a bit less maintenance then we have at the moment but still a very manageable size.

  11. 8 hours ago, NorfolkNog said:

    Depends a lot on the quality (and quantity) of the batteries and charging systems. I've said it many times on here that Swancraft really paid great attention to this aspect in their design and builds. As Jean says running the engine is very important and their systems certainly worked extremely well. I can never recall having to start the engine to get the heating going. Things like toasters and microwaves are usually run for relatively short periods. Nor sure of the advantage of an electric kettle though - probably as quick to stick the gas on! Barnes Brinkcraft seem keen on the all electric/generator approach but that's another story! 

    We use the electric kettle because our gas locker can only hold the 2.7kg Camping Gaz bottles and they are silly expensive, £32 for 2.7kg of gas the last time we exchanged a bottle. Boiling the kettle on the gas hob was our main consumption of gas. Since we switched to the electric kettle we only use about 1 bottle of gas a year rather than 3 or 4 and our batteries still last four years or so.

  12. 10 hours ago, marshman said:

    My kettle at home is 3kw and my toaster 2.5KW - look at the kit that Sephora has and not only does she boast an electric kettle but a toaster as well.

    And an electric immersion! None of those run on gas! She either has to be hooked up or will have to run her engine with that amount of electrical equipment.

    No wonder I enjoy the peace and solitude of mudweighting!!!

    We have an electric kettle and immersion heater on our little Sealine. Both can run from the batteries without the engine running and we don't have a huge battery bank.

     

    The kettle is not as high powered as a kettle you would have at home but can boil enough water for two big mugs of coffee in 5 minutes.

    • Like 1
  13. 3 hours ago, Vaughan said:

    I can't help noticing that there are no windows in the aft cabin.

    I also wonder how long it will be before that canopy arch gets pinged off under St Olaves bridge?

    I would not fancy trying to helm that boat single handed when I can only get off on the bank from aft, owing to the very high freeboard and the almost full length pulpit handrail!  That would be completely impractical, when working in the locks on the Thames.

    I am not sure what "market" this design is aimed at.

     

    It is no different a design to many other cruisers on the waters. It is obviously bigger but similar in design to our Sealine S23 with the full length bow rails and higher cockpit sides.

     

    There will be a hatch under the moulding for the helm seat for emergency access from the aft cabin and ventilation. It works quite well on ours.

     

    I can manage perfectly well to single hand the boat and locks are really not a problem having single handed those as well. 

     

    You get used to what you have.

     

    I actually quite like the look of that boat but I'm not sure it is something that we would hire on the Broads given the similarities to our own boat. We usually hire something completely different to our own boat to try something different.

  14. On 14/11/2020 at 15:50, Vaughan said:

    The 5 cyl Nanni will easily use 7 litres per hour if you don't govern the speed.  Diesel consumption goes up enormously as soon as you want to go fast.

    By the way, a Webasto heating system will use 2.5 litres per hour on its own!  I have researched that as well, on winter delivery jobs.  Use of a Webasto on cold winter days can easily double your normal fuel consumption.

    The average Broads hire boat "in my day" was built with a 70 gallon tank, as this was about the same capacity as a truck, and would allow the boat to do 2 weeks on hire without filling up.

    What sized diesel heaters did you have fitted?

     

    Our Webasto uses between 0.12 and 0.25 litres per hour!!

     

    2.5 hours would last us well over 10 hours of heating as the unit isn't running at full chat all the time.

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