[Independence - Updates | Maintenance & Care]

Yes, I have looked into a domestic fridge freezer, I can go to a max height of 160cm. Most fridge freezers are not this height but ether 140cm odd or 153cm. But this is not so much of a big deal, as I then thought I would use a louvered grill the correct width and height at the top of the fridge freezer to cover the gap - and it would look for all the world it was intended to be there as a vent.

However the other size issue is getting the old one out and new one in - it would need to come out of the port side access door and while the fridge freezer is 55cm wide, the door is 58cm this would therefore be a close call, not to mention the fact the boat has a stainless steel rail around the decks, and from the top of this to the quay is about over 5 feet. So you' need people below and above to get the fridge freezer up and in the boat. Big task. I wish I could use the stern door and then use the crane to get the appliances up to the sundeck, but it is too narrow.

However yes it is so so sooo much cheaper to get something from the likes of Appliances Online and if the Rectifier is not the issue (I am cool spending £58.00 on a replacement) then I would have to go for the 'big task' and go for a  domestic rather than spend huge sums on a 12v 'marine' version. I might even go down this route if I cannot rid the existing one of the smell - I am going to attack it again with the mild bleach solution as I am sure there are some mold still tucked between the door seals but need a cotton bud to get in there and kill it all off and scrap it out.

The good news is I have a second Waeco fridge - (you know the sort most hire boasts have) this naturally is filled with 6 bottles of white wine. I have also found two 1 litre bottles of Gin so I think we can presume the previous owner was more about quay side parties and drinks than cruising.

The list of items is massive and there is one me - small things to change like the NAV light bulbs to LED or do I get new LED NAV lights? This is because some LED bulbs don't replicate the required degree of beam pattern and intensity of an incandescent bulb so you need to be careful what you put in NAV lights. 

The boat has no Inverter (amazing eh?) but get this she only has two 200Ah domestic batteries and both main engines share a single 200Ah battery to start. Considering so much of the craft is massively over engineered the electric side so far as batteries seems very much on the thin side - again though, battery upgrades not on my list to do down in Plymouth but all the more important I changed over the ships lighting to LED when you safely can only assume you've got 100Ah of usable power (if you stick to taking the batteries down to no less than 50% DoD).

Anyway, I've emailed the Director of the engineering firm today to estimate for supplying all new navigation gear - he is a happy man because this is going to be an enormous bill for me and a lucrative contract for him since it is everything from the hydraulic drive units to rudders, to the auto-pilot computers, controllers, Radar, Sonar (3d structure scan stuff), two new fixed VHF radios, a Class B AIS transponder, a  16" and a 12" multi function  displays (MFD's) and four further 4" HD displays that can show anything from depth info to speed to AIS. Everything I am doing here big - I do not need a separate Auto Pilot controller since the MFD screens can do this but I would prefer they do things like chart and radar only.

Here is the shopping list:

Radar: https://www.simrad-yachting.com/en-GB/Products/Radars/Simrad-HALO-4-Pulse-Compression-Radar-en-gb.aspx

Auto Pilot Computer: https://www.simrad-yachting.com/en-GB/Products/Autopilots/NAC-3-Autopilot-Computer-en-gb.aspx

Auto Pilot Drive Unit: https://www.simrad-yachting.com/en-GB/Products/Autopilots/Drive-Units/RPU300-Drive-Unit-en-gb.aspx

Auto Pilot Control : https://www.simrad-yachting.com/en-GB/Products/Autopilots/AP48-Autopilot-Controller-en-gb.aspx

NSS Evo 3 MFD (16"): https://www.simrad-yachting.com/en-GB/Products/NSS-evo3-Multifunction-Displays/NSS16-evo3-with-world-basemap_en-gb.aspx

3D Structure Scan Sonar: https://www.simrad-yachting.com/en-GB/Products/Echosounders/Simrad-StructureScan-3D-en-gb.aspx

AIS: https://www.simrad-yachting.com/en-GB/Products/AIS-and-Audio/NAIS-500-AIS-en-gb.aspx

Colour Instrument Display (x4): https://www.simrad-yachting.com/en-GB/Products/Instruments/IS42-Colour-Instrument-Display-en-gb.aspx

GPS Receiver & Combined Solid State Compass: https://www.simrad-yachting.com/en-GB/Products/Compasses/HS60-GPS-Compass-en-gb.aspx

 

 

 

[Big Changes Ahead]

For future updates to Independence please see this thread:

 

[Independence - Updates | Maintenance & Care]

I have begun this new thread that will be the long term ‘update’ thread as to all the works and modifications etc that take place on Independence rather than to continually update the ‘Big Changes Ahead’ thread which is more generally about the changes I plan to make and the boats purchase etc.

Friday 17^th to Sunday 19^th November 2017:

I arrived just before Midnight on Thursday (due to assorted issues with GWR from Paddington) and something that is not associated at all about the boat but I should share as no doubt I will mention in passing in a video at some point, I was almost subject to a mugging by Moped. I had ordered an Uber (Cab) and while standing at the end of my road tracking its progress to me on my phone, a Moped with two men mounted the pavement, scattering pedestrians, rode between a shop and a stall that was selling bags right at me. Knowing in a split second what was about to happen, I gripped my phone and a moment later the Pillion passenger reached out and grabbed the top. No doubt usually this works but I held firm too. The Moped stopped and driver began shouting (take this as aggressive swearing) to give up the phone. I then realised my stance so far may not have been best: what if they had a knife, a bottle of acid or just got off and came at me, yet for me I was fortunate and a few seconds later they had sped away. 

I reported the incident the next day to the Police – this alas is a daily occurrence across London (and no doubt is spreading outside the capital) the Moped’s are stolen often from take-away delivery drivers and then used in crimes from robbing Jewellers to people, while I may be another statistic at least I was ok if shaken by it all. 

Right, now on to the boat: I was up early on the Friday and set about what is feeling like the never ending task of just cleaning the boat internally. Most surfaces – especially in heads – are covered with a film of mildew and mould which only becomes apparent when you wipe a surface and look at the cloth.  The issue is there are just so many surfaces to go over but I am now at the stage (save the twin cabin) where everywhere is cleaned and more detailed care can be taken such as polishing the wood and adding things to make her more mine than that of the previous owners. 

I then went to the local Chandlers – these are Force 4 – and have an enormous shop about 15 minutes walk from the boat. I get lost in these places, so much to look at, wonder about and want and to be honest when I went in there they looked at me as if I was not ‘one of them’. 

Now this term ‘one of them’ refers to the fact boaters down in the South West tend to have a certain look about them. Sailors tend to be older gentlemen who have a more rugged appearance, usually sporting a rich beard (grey) and wear a hat but also will have something on their person that gives the game away they are indeed a Sailor – some rubber all weather boots, or striding along toward you clutching a new stainless fastener in one hand and a wrench in the other. Moterboaters on the other hand can be spotted wearing ‘deck shoes’ a MUSTO jacket (usually cream or navy but not red) and a ‘smart casual’ shirt tucked into their Chino’s or smart Jeans. Then there is me sporting a T-Shirt, jacket, jeans and trainers, you can see therefore I don’t quite look the serious boating type.

Having spent about half an hour in the shop, you can imagine their initial surprise when I arrive at the counter with a bucket, Teak cleaner, Boat Wash & Wax and a cleaning brush with extending handle. “Oh” says the chap, and then proceeds to tell me that I will no doubt be cleaning my boat this weekend and asks “so you have..what..a small runabout?” and when I reply no, I’ve just bought a Trader 535 Sunliner his jaw dropped so much I wondered if I should have helped prop it up with my brush pole. 

It is funny how once that is over with you are accepted, for not only are you a owner of a large boat, it is considered to be a ‘proper boat’ for proper cruising types. We talked a lot and I got two catalogues and a free bag and the door held open for me “see you soon I hope” he said cheerily as I left. 

Back on the boat with the gear then I had a notification, my Amazon orders were awaiting my collection at the local Click and Collect. Back out and off I go, much to the annoyance of the lad behind the counter. I had lots of parcels, some large and heavy some small and all needed scanning and entering in the system – this would be 54 LED bulbs, a 32 piece spanner set, two (accidentally ordered a duplicate) screw driver sets, Alan wrenches, a multi-meter and current meter. Off I set once more to the boat.

I then set about undoing, cleaning and changing 51 G4 bulbs. The issue was some of the fitments were cross-thread and would not budge, others the bulb holders internally were broken so as you took off the housing the insides fell down – this literally took me hours and my neck and arms were killing me constantly looking up and twisting fitments – all but two were changed – one fitment is plastic and as I turned it it broke and the internal glass shattered, the other a metal fitting simply would not budge. These both were located outside the boat on the ‘sun deck’.

The following day (Saturday) I went into town and while buying some bits in Wilko happened to see some large clamps – I got one and suffice to say this provided me with the extra leverage and the offending fitment spun off and I could change the bulb, but more amazing news was to be found later when I found 3 new plastic replacement fittings – so the broken one was replaced and while at it I changed another sine the chrome effect had weathered off it too – bonus stuff this was as no cost to me and an easy fix.

My lights now consume 4w each (as opposed to 20w previously) and when you are talking about 6 lights in the saloon alone you can imagine the resultant savings in current draw from the batteries and their charger. 

Other items that I attended to was using Puri-Clean to deal with the fresh water tank and pipe system, and a complete de-toxification of the forward and aft heads to rid them of mould and present them in a fresh sparkly clean manner they are now in. Down in the engine room I shut the air intake baffles – this has resulted in the space being closed to the constant thru breeze cold air and will mean with the tube heaters going the engine room is positively warm. However, before you worry that so doing could result in vapours building up from the batteries – there are still the outlets for the twin forced air blowers so the space is vented and not sealed but none the less a lot less open to the elements.

I successfully exercised all the sea cocks in the engine room and have now left all closed – with a note on the dash to remind me of this being the case. I then set about cleaning the decks and boat top sides, which to be fair have come up more than 50% cleaner than was, but this is a cosmetic thing that will be left until she is in Norfolk and in the spring I can think about the boat being brought up to a overall shiny and nice example externally without the risk of Gulls doing their business all over it! 

Shiela then came down on the Sunday so all work then was stopped as she had only agreed to come all this way if she and I could spend time enjoying the area and using the boat as a base, that said in the evening I could not help myself and I have got the Satellite tracking receiver system up and running (it links to an old school Pace Sky Recvier) and from there on uses old AV cables to link to everything else – resulting in appalling picture. Down the line a new Freesat box, TV, Blu-ray player and HDMI cables will bring this up to date, and I am seriously considering how long for this world the ‘entertainment’ centre has. It is an enormous lump of wood which does look lovely, but has zero use and very little storage it’ main purpose is to be a statement to hid the television in as it rises or lowers into it. But this also limits me to the type and size of television and if the remote packs up or gets lost or the mechanism breaks you could well end up with your television stuck in the hidden away lowered position! 

Finally I began to tackle the fridge freezer – a Biochemist would have loved to have taken samples from within but my it stank and needed dealing with – thing is despite having washed and washed and used some mild bleach, that smell persists almost having ‘absorbed’ into the lining of the fridge. But worse was to come; now clean at least I turned it back on. Nothing, not a thing. Now dear reader, you surly know marine fridges cost hundreds of pounds – can you imagine therefore how much a fridge freezer some 160cm tall would cost? Let us not imagine. 

However I am blessed with a calm attitude even in light of such discoveries, and I have narrowed down what seems to be at fault. Firstly, the fridge works – it is 12v but it only works when I isolate the 240v supply to the Galley. Before you have a mind crash what happens is the fridge runs of 12v all the time, but where it gets its 12v power from depends – if you are on shore power a Rectifier box takes the 240v and knocks it down to 12v to power the fridge that way, if not on shore power the fridge just runs off the 12v DC line off the ships batteries. Therefore when I energise the 240v system in the galley, the fridge transfers from 12v battery feed to the rectified 12v feed – but since this box seems to have gone wonky, it then stops working. The box is about £58.00 should it need replacement, but it may have a fuse or something that can be attended to but I need to get the fridge freezer out to test this and that means taking off the louvered door that hides the fridge then two retaining battens top and bottom to stop the fridge falling forward and two further battens left and right to stop the fridge moving in that axis. Then I can pull out the fridge and get to the rectifier box and hopefully move on to fix the issue. I’ll keep you posted.

 

[Big Changes Ahead]

Lots to say, short time to say it in - Charlie as ever comes up trumps will talk to you about all this in due course. I will get the serial number of gen set and from this get busy with ordering items for it. Once thing I have found is there is a lot of local companies if you do need something, Force 4 Chandler for example is a pleasant walk the other side of the Marina, there also are engineering firms and everything the boater could want. I will hold fire on the water pump side of things. I have spent time in the engine room cleaning up some things and am more confident now about what things do what - also very nice to have checked the oil and it is golden in colour still.

My list of items for All Boat Services to carry out has reduced. In answer to the fuel yes being stored for longer periods yes this is an issue with modern diesel but you can get products that stablise the fuel and mean you can store it for longer periods, also the engines are (and in my mind better for it) not overly modern and complicated electronic controlled  etc etc they are just big 6 cylinder lumps but have some odd things, like having more filters for oil and fuel than some but that seems a Yanmar thing. They also make the likes of Volvo Penta seem economical in service item costs.

Boroscope camera - this is something I already have but could not bring down on this visit. Grunt boat cleaner will look into this, though I have to be careful how much time I devote to the boat and to Shiela so I think the next couple of days will be more a break from working and boat tasks and enjoying the local areas and using the boat as a base.

[Big Changes Ahead]

I will have a look to see if I can spy anywhere around the tank bottom where there may be a drain, the problem is the tank is behind a large bulkhead to which is attach a much of equipment. In front of that is the engine so it seems it matters not a jot what size boat you have, as everything gets bigger the larger the boat, you still have little room to get to where you want. Mind you Shiela will be here tomorrow, so I can send her slender frame in with a torch (on second thoughts I know how that will end for me).

I went and got spume pens and post-its notes today and have duly put a notice on helm reference to the sea cocks.

Siddy I have thrown the glass away - but I have another idea, the down lights over the beds, these I want to replace and I have a funny feeling the frosted glass in the front of these will fit the down light so will have a look and see, to be honest the down lighter is horrible, plastic and spray painted 'fake chrome' which has all worn off and looks shoddy. Thanks for the offer though and you can ask what you like, not sure if I know much because I am learning as I go. The Marina does have WiFi yes.

 

[Blast From The Past!!]

Good to see you back and you could say I now have the one foot in the salty while keeping the other in the fresh water.

[Big Changes Ahead]

Well having had a Curry and watched  film I duly nodded off on the sofa and now ind myself listening to Classical music looking out over a still Marina, but notice some fishing boats are getting set to go for their flood lights are blazing and around the query in the distance a great deal of activity is going on - or maybe they have returned and are unloading,

Today seemed to go so quickly but I managed to get some more things done and discover some other things too. Firstly was a walk to  Force 4 Chandlers I walked in and found myself to be the only customer, but my god it is easy to get carried away in these shops with so much to see and inspire you to find more ways to part with money.  But what I ended up with was far from glamorous. A bucket, deck wash brush, boat wash, Teak wash, and water tank purifying solution and £64 worse off it was back to the boat.

Lovely bright day, but here I ran into my first issue, draining a thousand liters of water through a tap takes a long, a very long time but while doing this I was alarmed that the bilge pumps became active. All was stopped to investigate. All showers and sinks apart from the galley, drain into two 'sea chests'. These are large containers to which the pips lead to, and a large bilge pump then pumps out the contains. However, i can only presume there had got some air lock in the system somehow for the bilge pump was running but not emptying the chest, it then overfilled into the bilge and about 100 liters of water mixed with crud and produced the most awful mix of dirty water and what a whiff. I had the floor up in the after cabin and reached down to force the sea chest pumps float switch down and cut it out - a sudden glug of bubbles, i let go and it pumped the water out just fine and has continued to work fine all day since.

Once the water gauge had reached empty there was still so much water left in the tank and pups and hot water tank I gave up in the end and put the sanitizing liquid in and ran it through the system then left it in the pipes to do its thing. I then went back out to the local Post Office to collect my Amazon orders.  Back on the boat and time to begin changing the Halogen bulbs for LEDs. Sadly two fitments in the sun deck will not release. I think I need some kind of large tool to grip the fitment to unscrew but the rest of the lighting is now so much better - same light output, same colour temperature but just 4w not 20w per light and no heat.

Then it was time to investigate the engine room and sort the sea cocks out - two of them had screws put in that prevented the sea cock from closing can you believe, this sorted I held my breath would the sea cocks move or be seized? Well they all moved and smoothly too. So now both engines, the generator and air conditioning sea cocks are all closed. I feel a little safer now leaving the boat. Next up, I don't want to go through a complete drain down winterise - anti-freeze etc when the boat will be moved for works and in February next year likely be making her move to Norfolk. I therefore closed the engine room air baffles with the handles located in the saloon, these are used in the event of a fire to stop oxygen feeding flames. But in so doing the engine room is now much less cold with no thru draft. I have no gas on the boat, and am not running any engines and indeed have no diesel heating either and while I have a battery charger in the engine room the sheer volume of air there is not liley to cause an issue should a battery gas - in short I am not worried about closing the air baffles.

This has meant the large tube heater will be very effectively at keeping the engines, hot water tank and so on frost free - i will drain the domestic water pipes upon departure - what I want to order is a socket that accepts a SIM card and will text me if there has been a power outage in the Marina, or I can text it to get reports like temperature in engine room, turn it on or off remotely etc so I will be confident as I can be that this set up will keep the boat safe when I am not on board her.

But I did find some issues - the fuel tanks, there fine but there also painted mild steel - not stainless nor GRP or Aluminum.  If they ever begin to leak, I will be the first too run screaming for the cost and work to sort that would be horrendous. It seems the centre tank is isolated from the system, this alone is 90 gallons and I am not sure if it has fuel in it or not, but the point of all this is the fuel filter bowls which were lovely and clear, since running up her engines last weekend, I see now have sediment on the turbine blades and the port one especially seems pretty murky with stuff. Not all clear and red for sure - so I do need to get a firm in to sort this out, pump down the tanks, filter the fuel, clean the tanks and fuel system, put the fuel back in and treat with a bio-side to kill off any diesel bug . This is essential as the risks of a break down caused by clogged fuel filters is great and one i am not willing to take.

I am not happy about the domestic eater system, it is highly complicated with two accumulator tanks at differing psi settings - one for the cold water inlet, the other for the hot water side. I have been looking at, and may get a new system - a variable speed pump and do away with the need for the other complexities of the system. These pumps bascially give you a smooth flow of water if tap is on just a bit, but ramp up the more you open the tap and while they do indeed run all the time you demand water, there is no pulsing,

Generator, Kubota based engine last serviced in 2009 and not run much since, Needs a coolant flush, oil change, filters and impeller - possible too new belts - engine belts not frayed or too slack, but not pristine so am considering having these changed this way things like this become known's - not unknowns. I know it has been done and when it has been done and can then keep an eye on things and not have as much to worry about down the road waiting for something to happen or break and then me react to it.

Well, that is today's update..

 

[Big Changes Ahead]

Well another trip planned this weekend, but I come prepared - I have ordered some of my Amazon list and being a clever so and so have such being sent to a click & collect location 3 minutes from the Marina. Somehow though I have ended up duplicating the order for the screwdriver set - that said the LED bulbs (all 54 of them) are on their way, a clamp on current meter, multi-meter and a 32 piece spanner set and 1.5mm to 10mm Alan key set so building up inventory of tools bit by bit.

I've also got the service manual for the main engines, and generator which turns out to use a Kubota based engine which is handy as that is well known up in Norfolk with Peachments being the local go to place for service items.

 

[Solo Cruising]

Hey and welcome here - you can hire through Barnes Brinkcraft who let out to solo helms, it will be a no no from Herbert Woods and Faircraft Loynes but not sure about Horning Ferry Marina, or even the new Broads Boating Co. at Acle.

[Big Changes Ahead]

5 minutes ago, grendel said:

does that mean what goes around - comes around?

I think that will be my fine knowledge of the English language going a bit wonky.

[Big Changes Ahead]

Charlie, you know how your good wife shouts our your name when you are in the dog house? Well imagine that coming from me haha...Bloody blue fenders!

Some people think you’re a madman if you own a wooden boat, they prefer the ‘un-rotatable’ GRP that about the worse can occur if left is go chalky or green. 

However, I have now discovered that there is a special place (mental health ward) for people like me, who have a woody to help take care of and a large sea boat. 

Today I have been exchanging messages with a very helpful chap as to items I should attend to, think about and plan for. In addition to this are the points I already have to deal with and know about that are looming. I tell you, the excitement can soon turn to one of worry if you ponder over things for too long but I am keeping things positive and moving along. 

I have a list of items - as you know that I am building up to have dealt with prior to her move to Norfolk – one of the issues (or unknowns) is her fuel. She might have up to 3,000 litres on board right now, but how old this is, and what steps have been taken over time to deal with things like ‘Diesel Bug’ and water in her tanks I know not. The engineering firm who has looked after her has just said ‘her fuel is ok as far as they know’ which is a rather ‘we are sitting on the fence here’ reply and not wanting to commit any liability, which since I have never been their client and not handed them a penny over so far I can understand. 

I have today contacted a firm in the area of the Marina she is in to have the tanks looked at and using their onsite fuel cleaning and polishing service. This more than just taking the fuel out of the tank, running through a filter and putting it back in it again, for they will go through the entire system, filters, and tanks the lot. My fear increasingly is the tanks she has onboard are galvanised mild steel and not stainless or GRP. I am not at that point of ‘omg what if they begin to leak’ but more ‘Christ what must the insides be like’. This is not something I can let rest or take a risk on, because the worst thing would be to leave Port come next year, get into a rolling sea and before we know it the filters are getting clogged up with crud that has been stirred up in her tanks having settled their nicely for goodness knows how long. 

I now know too my fuel system is to put it simply ‘bloody complicated’ with three thanks and a complex valve assembly and balancing system. This already caused the last owner some issues,  when the boat developed a bad list and nobody could figure out what was going on.  It turned out that the boat had been buffeted by a strong beam on wind and the rocking motion had begun to transfer via gravity fuel from the starboard tank to the centre tank and centre to port tank as they each began to fill into each other – the list grew, the siphon effect became ever more and effectively one tank drained into the other over a period of days. 

Once the problem was found it was time to balance the fuel back and a valve now labelled ‘leave normally closed’ put in which, so far as I can fathom prevents the fuel from moving between tanks. It might have just isolated the midships 90 gallon tank leaving fuiel to be had from the port and starboard tank only. This, just naother one of those things to work out.  

It is especially  important on Independence to have her tanks balanced because of her ‘light’ engines.  Usually Traders have far larger and much heavier CAT engines keeping the weight and centre of gravity down, the lighter and smaller Yanmars therefore effectively require the additional weight of the centre fuel tank to bring the weight up – and with my 300+ KG RIB up top and a massive crane and support column this weight balance becomes all the more crucial.  I have been told time and again to consider getting stabilisers fitted since Traders roll heavily in beam or aft quartering seas, but you can forget that for they cost upwards of £70,000 to have put in! I will just hold on for free. 

Even being careful not to go silly, and choose some unbranded items like the hoover and more basic Draper tools has soon caused my Amazon shopping list to top £1,300 but having had another cull, what is left really is needed for currently she has not even got a single screwdriver onboard!  

By the way, here is a longer tour and video I took - showing some of the items I have now got, like new bedding in the aft cabin and a clear and clean galley :)

 

 

[Hello To All - Newbie To Nbn - And Wooden Ownership...]

Welcome from me too :)

Hope you have many happy times cruising in your lovely new boat and may see you around the wetshed in time.

[Big Changes Ahead]

Quote

Are you sure you really know what you want on your boat Robin? It's strikes me that throughout  this thread that you are going to spend more than you paid for the boat. Why do you need to spend a fortune upgrading your nav gear to cruise  the Yare and the North sea.?

Ahh you've done it now haha - you've begun to try and work out things in a civilized, logical and sensible manner. I'm afraid to say my mind often operates outside of these confines.

In all seriousness, no I surly do not need half of these things but it is what gives me a kick I guess, an would be happy sat chugging over Breydon looking at my fancy screens thinking 'yep Radar is working I can see the channel markers on the screen' as I look up out the window and see them pass by too. I found a fellow Londoner recently, who has a model very similar to the boat I have bought and has shared online his cruising logs. He cruises from the likes of Falmouth to Portugal and now keeps the boat in Croatia. His boat has minimal fancy gear and manages just fine.

But, I genuinely can't imagine me ever doing such things, or cruising to such far away places - too hot for me for once thing which is why I avoid flying to those places in the summer let along going there in a boa. However,  it is nice to think the boat is capable of it and with the updates I seek would make all of that type of thing very much easier.

I have ideas on the cost of the kit, the real deal is how much is the company down in Plymouth are going to charge in Labour to fit it. I might therefore have second thoughts and go for something a little less fancy.

 

[Big Changes Ahead]

Sorry I am having one of those days, you know saying too much!

But, the thing is Navico have three main brands: Lowrence, B&G and Simrad. From my experience just seeing what other boaters have fitted, and seeing what used boats for sale have fitted, a lot of people stick with whatever the boat has in the main. They might get a new VHF set, but I for one have never seen in all the times I have looked at used boats any for sale with navigation gear installed in the last 5 years.

This never really was an issue because if you go back a few years, the changes in marine electronics have not been particularly 'ground breaking' and believe it or not a lot of the gear out there runs on Windows XP. In short the likes of Raymarine would sell you a very expensive big grey box but the processing power, screen resolution and main operating system would not impress you if you compared the specs to a high end laptop. But consumers would still pay out for it, new build boats would come with this fitted but increasingly consumers were getting used to an ever faster changing electronic market, and the products in their hands - iPads especially.

Electronic chart producers leap on the bandwagon - after all they don't mind what product features their chart data, so began producing very powerful Apps and then trying to whisper to people 'don't rely on these as your primary means of navigation' after the event. The screen resolution on an iPad was amazing, the speed and the easy to use touch screen was too - third market vendors then came with water proof housings and strong suction mounted arms and the likes of Raymarine were left trying to 'bolt on' additions to their new models that allows you to screen share from your Plotter to your Apple device. Thing was the Plotter that cost many thousands of pounds was slower and more cumbersome to use than the iPad which cost just a few hundred pounds.

Garmin, Raymarine and Navico to name but three, had to come up with some seriously sexy looking, fast and powerful gear to stop people just using an App with their iPad and not updating their primary electronic navigation suite. Out of the main players we saw first hybrid touch and then full touch operable Plotters with  mutli-core processing, far faster memory reducing the lag, which in turn reduced the chart draw times.

I like Simrad because they got there first, but there not as well known or accepted here in the UK - mainly as their marketing push is for the big fishing 'gun hoe' crowd in the States, but also Australia and New Zealand. But whenever you see a multi-million dollar super yacht check out whose gear is on the helm - it will  be Simrad. Volvo Penta also took a lot of design elements from the Simrad gear to bring to their own glass bridge products, and by adjusting the base software Navico can appeal to different market segments:  B&G  to sailing boats, Lowrance especially so with Anglers.

Raymarine was once part of the consumer electronics branch of the Raytheon corporation which was a major US defense contractor, but in 2010 Raymarine  became part of FLIR  and  their product line has suffered I think as they do have the good gear, but it always seems a little bit behind, not leading.  Also, items they like transom mounted transducers they produce, when you pick them up feel  very 'cheap and plasticy' compared to other brands.

Now this all sounds great - but the point that is always brought up is what happens when your electronic navigation gear fails and how the digital charts are based upon their paper cousins, but may not feature the level  of detail of the paper chart. The issue is how often do leisure boaters buy new charts? Look at how many amendments are made each year by the Admiralty to their paper charts and the many obvious errors that persist.

But what always strikes me is when someone raises this point they very rarely take into account that generally they will have 1 paper chart on their boat. That one crucial document keeps them safe so let me ponder this:

I used to think I may just be a fool in thinking things, but now I begin reading up on this, I see actually lots of people are reaching the same conclusions. For every reason navigating with paper may be safer, you can counter this as to why electronics are better.  There are no moving parts, high end handsets from any leading manufacture are now all water, dust and shock proof. This mass produced stuff made  with such high manufacturing quality just to keep us from destroying them if we drop them in the bath yet this same technology makes having such ready to go in a ditch bag possible. You need no mobile signal to get a GPS fix, you've got a build in Barometer, compass and with the right App you have charts too. You just need power - and since that can be made so easily from Solar, wind, or hand cranking devices it makes sense. But because other items are so much cheaper like a hand held stand alone GPS unit, you can even get for a couple hundred pounds a basic 'sat phone' that can send your location and a short message via text to any mobile number globally.

So perhaps the future is multiple layers of electronic devices, each separate and self contained, which would cover each other should one fail for whatever reason. But here is an interesting article that really made me think:

https://www.powerandmotoryacht.com/electronics/state-paper-charts

 

 

[Big Changes Ahead]

The Radar question - I had previously written about this but having found such others may find this interesting reading here, for a great deal has changed in the last few years as far as Radar goes.

Some may see me as a being foolish for I have not spoken of paper charts – that is not to say I don’t plan on obtaining such to cover the usual cruising area, but we are reaching the point where paper charts are just not going to be needed.  Indeed over in America, The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (the federal agency charged with surveying the nation's navigable waters) ceased printing paper charts after from mid-April 2013. That is a big move to have taken place, and while third parties will take up the slack, the information will be presented to them in digital from NOAA.  It would be like Ordnance Survey stopping paper maps, but letting a third party company print them based on digital data provided. 

The real issue is that not everyone (in fact relatively few) will have electronic navigation equipment up that is up to date and able to take over where the dividers and paper left off. It has been a case of electronics complimenting centuries old skills but for how long this may go on I know not and indeed there are increasingly strong (and respected) voices in the sailing community saying they no longer have paper on their vessels. 

But it is not just about navigation, so I will be focusing here on Radar and how if you can it really is a case of bigger is better and open array being far superior to dome based antenna’s .

To me it is about redundancy, redundancy redundancy. This includes not having the main power supplying the navigation gear from the house bank of batteries and why I plan on having a separate (though by same manufacture) multifunction display just in case. Combine that, with the iPad, Phone and stand alone hand held GPS, short of the US turning off GPS I should have a way to know where I am, where I am going and where I have been to.

With Pulse Compression 'solid state' Radar, things really have moved on considerable in the last few years. Not only do these new units emit far less 'dangerous' RF but they consume a great deal less power and are up and running in a few seconds with no warm up time required. These are good things.

But for me, what really has been a game changer is the way that hardware and software have become far more advanced to deal with clutter, aid target definition and separation. It is now possible to have something like a mooring ball show up clearly from half a mile out to 20ft to the boat where more traditional radars with a Magnetron would struggle to see something so low to the water and of a spherical shape. Indeed, I have seen an RYA power boat course video shot on the Solent in a RIB . One of the Fort's in this area is clearly visible in the distance to the naked eye, but is resolutely not showing up on the old school Radar fitted to the RIB, being low down and not returning off the towers smoother rounded edges. North Sturbridge buoy however was showing with its Radar reflector doing its thing and was visible to the east.

It is cases like this which made me see how more modern Radar and the clarity it can provide could be the difference to whacking into to something or not.

Bigger antenna's are better too so it is no good going for a dome type if your boat can accommodate an open array type - and a larger the open array the better. That is because of Horizontal Beam Width. With a 6 foot open array antenna, you can focus your beam width to about 1 degree, but a smaller dome style antenna just physically cannot produce such a focused beam so you're at best (with an 18" a dome antenna) going to get a 5 degree beam width.

Now since the main benefit of Radar is to see what we cannot, target separation and a narrow degree of beam width makes all the difference. If you were headed for a Harbour entrance or maybe following a narrow channel looking for returns off of two fixed objects at night or in misty conditions to pass between, then a smaller dome based Radar will rotate, 'see' the channel marker to port and to starboard but because of the wide beam width of 5 degrees, the two returns would be seen in the same pulse - so on the display you would only see one return (or object).

With a larger open array, because of its 1 degree narrow beam width, it would see the first marker to port, rotate a little more and see the second marker to starboard and to you looking on the display you'd see the two separate returns. Just the same can be said for a boat headed toward you and one away from you at the same time (perhaps leaving and entering a harbour that is not very wide like you might find at Portsmouth) the larger open array would see the two separate returns (or boats) whereas the a smaller dome based Radar would just show you one return and may lull you into thinking there was only one boat, furthermore with older radars you could not use the Doppler effect to see which return was moving away from you and thus which was moving towards you. Simrad call their system 'Velocity Track' which will determine if a target is closing on you, diverging or stationary relative to your position all in real time.

Now sure, all you really want to know is if something is there, after all that is better than nothing at all right? But if you can upgrade to have more 'resolution' of what is going on then that is all for the better.

Newer models can sample more data in real time, can process and de-clutter and offer more modes and run them at the same time - 20ft to 5 miles out for example on two screens. Mind you claims of Radar range is like the old school 'mega pixel' wars. You might have a claim of 'up to 72 nautical mile range' really? Radar has an horizon too (it varies on how high it is from sea level) but you can work out what yours might be by measuring the height your Radar is from the water surface then take the square root of that number and times it by 1.22. You then have your maximum range. Let's say you had a small boat with a Radar 9 foot above the water, well the square root of 9 is 3, so 3x1.22=3.66 - so in that boat your max Radar range is only 3.6 nautical miles. But you also need to consider the height of the target too, so in my example let jus presume the target is also 9ft tall then you can add another 3.6 nautical miles and thus..you actual maximum range to an object of the same or greater height is 7 nautical miles. Your Radar may have a sticker that says different but it is mainly marketing nonsense to the average boater.

In conclusion, my wish for updating the navigation and safety equipment is for that - safety but also because why not? I mean if you update your TV to keep up with pace to 4K resolution, and you get the latest generation of phone and tablet every couple of years, why I wonder, do so many just accept that the equipment on a boat might be 15 odd years old and that be ok when it is pretty critical stuff and if nothing more makes boating that bit more easy. For me, I like new tech - I might have the roughest looking fenders, canopy and mooring lines going but I'll have the swish flush mount screens.

On a serious note take a look at this training video from Compass Sea School.

I have set the video to begin at the crucial point. You will see she is talking the large ship heading off their port bow, and what a good target this is. The equipment she has can also pick up AIS and details are provided of this too.

But pause the video: You see the large ship showing on the chart as an AIS target (overlayed), you see the target showing on the Radar overlay too - but you do not see a sailing Yacht at any time which you will soon find out has been traveling to the boats port side all along.

She raises the camera to show us the large ship out of the window and then talks about Radar shadow - this is correct. The ship will shadow the Yacht, but the point is that prior to the ship being in a position to shadow the yacht, we never knew on Radar alone that the Yacht was there at all! She then talks about how 'we will only see one target until the Yacht pops out' but as the boat passes the stern of the larger ship, we see the Yacht once more then the camera shows the Radar screen once more but still it only shows one target despite the Yacht now being in open water once again and free of Radar shadowing.

This shows how poor the old school analogue radar can be, especially on a small boat with a small dome antenna.Now imagine if this was in poor weather where you need your Radar most. This alone demonstrates to me the importance if nothing else of updating to newer digital based Radar with a far superior target definition and separation to give you the best fighting chance of seeing what is there before it may be too late.

I will be installing a 4ft Open Array from Simrad using their Halo Radar, here is an example of what it is able to do:

 

[Big Changes Ahead]

Hmm not even been officially launched and the tender names are coming in lol What have I begun here, mind you I like the maturity of the crowd here, no Boaty McBoaters here...

[Big Changes Ahead]

Calm down calm down (think scouse accent) I am back..

So to re-cap I have done some video, but as you will appreciate I only had a short time down in Plymouth and of this not that much time to do too much filming and begin sorting through the boat. I find myself feeling I have accomplished something just when I find what the 4 'light switches' do in the heads - two lights, an extractor fan and towel rail to be precise.

Masses of cleaning has been done - you have no idea how much Pledge is needed when you are dealing with the amount of woodwork onboard one of these boats, but I thought rather than bore you with that, I would give you all here an exclusive video -unlike the one shared to the NBN Facebook Group (if you;re not a member there you really should be) this follows the period of time in the hotel the night before I took formal ownership, the minutes after everyone had left ans she was mine to the initial tour before I knew what was what..So this is a bit deeper and more from the heart so to speak. More to follow especially when I next visit her.

 

[Free Teak Care Kit]

Just seen this fear not, I have seen some of this stuff on the boat from previous owner. Before I go treating the Teak decks, I need to do a simple wash down and figure a way to persuade the Gulls this boat is not a perch for them, so will hook up something short term to try and keep the damn things away.

[Big Changes Ahead]

I have had such a long day but time to just post an update before I go to bed, and sorry to you guys currently because I have posted some content to Facebook but fear not you will be treated to some proper video and a tour that I will post here.

So this morning I duly went along to the Marina, met the Broker and did the final signing of papers and after taking the keys she was all mine - GULP - I did not have long and Nick from All Boat Services arrived, really friendly, down to earth chap and we got on very well.  He explained how much had been done to her cosmetically, from a refit of the interior in part to the wet bar/BBQ and all new upholstery, carpets, the list goes on and on. Now he is the owner of company and could be keen for my business, he could have said to me how such and such should be looked at, or the previous owner never got around to fixing that slight fault but I recommend that we take care of this for you. Not a big of it.

He explained how the previous owner was a very honest and straight man and really was a case of if it needed dealing with it was and the money was paid up - not a cost cut bodge being done. He then proceeded to talk to me for over 2 hours about the boat from bow to stern and the systems as we went, think of it like a super comprehensive hire boat hand over.

The thing was as we went along I thought MY GOD this is a HUGE boat with such a complex management system, from the fire suppression, fly by wire throttle system to the sheer size of everything - masses of kit is overbuilt to live up to that 'little ship' feel. But lets take the engines, I knew they were stone cold so it was going to be interesting how they would fire up after so long being left - well right away as it turned out, and smooth as you like idle but they have no form of muffling - there is not room either, so you get this most incredible deep exhaust note, a little smoke but being cold this is to be expected. He talked me through the thrusters - each one is 20HP! Let em say this, 23 tonnes of boat at a push of a button has moved 4 feet sideways in a second and straining on her lines - bloody impressive.

We went through lots but I was shocked the boat has no Inverter - either shore power or run the 13.5 KW generator. This has to be changed. Also I am surprised she has 12v for domestics, I had planned on being 24v and may consider changing things to be 24v and thus halving the amps of everything that is connected. But that is no simple task, every pump, light, and 12v gauge and service would need to be changed or have a voltage dropper which adds to a more complex circuit and chance of failure.

She has twin Yanmar 500HP engines and these are to some to light and high speed for this sort of boat, preferring a more rugged larger CAT which runs to a slower max RPM and thus will last longer in the long term, but since she has done a little over 600Hrs since 2003 I don't see her engines to be stressed in any way. Her first owner who had her built to custom order only had her from 2003 to 2005 - and a lot of that time it was spent in Spain and Gibraltar. The next owner bought her in 2005, but seems in 2008 -2010 went bonkers with the upgrades and spending. And now it is my turn to take care of her.

What I found odd was everything and I mean everything including tooth brushes, personalized life jackets for him and her, kids and dogs, shoes all left behind. Even the booze. It just strikes me as odd especially as the last owner lives in the same county the boat is in but each to their own I guess.

The only issue I have found with with the Air-Con and Heating. Both run off a central duel compressor system. This takes close on 25Amps to run, and fortunately the Marina here has a 32Amp hook up - but leave aside more Marina's only have 16Amp, this consumes an enormous amount of electricity. Also it does not get that, well hot. It is luke warm and the forward system shut down with an error code which I forget, but think was something like LPF I have the manual on board, but I am wondering if it is low on pressure/refrigerant so will have this looked into, but the long term outlook is putting in a nice diesel fired system but for the time being I bought with me a Ceramic fan heater with even on max is 1,700w but on low got the saloon toasty in a short time.

What is annoying is everything from lams to ornaments is stuck down - and I mean like they have used some kind of super adhesive and removing this is going to either ruin the teak or leave some mark but I can't really just have a silver horse and three green ducks there forever more lol.

Seriously, I have only gone through the smallest twin cabin so far and found a chair, a hoover, 7 adult life jackets, two cushions, three duvets - one Goose Down brand new from John Lewis - pillows and a bunch of old navigation gear. What awaits me as I go through the rest of the boat I know not. I might find a jet washer, as I have found half a lance and two 1 litre containers of spray foam.

 

[Big Changes Ahead]

Shiela is fine, she is working and so not able to be here to be part of this but to be honest, she is not too happy I went ahead with this and not got something more sensible, like a house. Talking of which she has bought some land back in the Philippines and has plans for a house to be built - something like a 4 bed home with garden could be constructed for about £16,000 but while that may seem good value here, this is an enormous sum to the average Filipino. Anyway so we have to decide a number of things not least does she come to live with me in Norwich, stay in London or leave the UK and head back home and begin a new life as a pig breeder. This is why all of these changes are so big and I might make light of them, but this has been a lot to deal with in a short space of time and much of it on my own but I am proud of how things are going.

[Big Changes Ahead]

Yes she is 'trawler' style but well, to be honest she is not the most pretty of lines especially beam on. I can live with that and Trader owners tend to be of a certain age having had the smaller faster stuff and now want the slower passage maker - I seem to have skipped that phase.

She has a full teak interor, solid stuff - and all the wood grain match's from doors to drawers. this was a expensive option at buid and known as 'the superyacht finish' the blinds are teak and the windows bonded without frames and tinted. She has real Granite sink surrounds in the heads and Corian worktops in the Galley with a double sink, built in fidge freezer, a dishwaser and washer dryer.  She has a master cabin aft, a VIP double up forward and a twin guest cabin. Every cabin has individual air-conditioning.

She has an RCD A 'Ocean' rating so up to force 8 and 4 metre seas should mean she would cope - not sure I would. She has autmoatie fire supression system which along with a manual activated closing of  the air intakes to seal off the engine room and prevent oxygen getting in to fuel a fire - this sort of thing you don't get on the average production boat from the likes of Princess or Fairline. Lots more besides but I am off to bed now.

[Big Changes Ahead]

Oh and pics:

[Big Changes Ahead]

Well here I am ready for the big day to collect her tomorrow morning and in the Hotel here tonight, and guess what - I have a stinker of a cold come on! Of all the times eh.

Anyway, so plan is to take over the boat at 11am, then spend sometime with the engineer going over and learning things and asking - got a list from what oil she takes to how you turn the heating on. Then they wiil depart and gulp she is all mine. My mum is arriving in the afternoon not wanting to miss on her only son making such a leap, but as she said, better to do it now and regret something you did one day than get old and regret not doing something.

Yes she will be sailed back to Norfolk, but that will not happen until I have a host of things done and an out of water inspection to how her rudder bearings are because a previous Survey drew attention to this. She is big and 3,000 litres of fuel wont be cheap to put in so I was thankful to hear from the previous owner the tanks are almsot full. Of course he may think 1/4 full is 'almost' so all this is part of the checking and discovery and I think with this sort of capcity might be prudent I get a fuel filler with a lock to stop anyone thinking they can just help themselves to a few hundred litres.

What I had not thought of but has dawned on me today, is all the non-boaty stuff to get. Bedding, duvets, towels, a hoover - will they have taken the cutlery away etc it like biying a new home but not having anything to move in with.

I will be filming but forgive in advance for the look of me and stuffy sounding voice.

 

 

 

[Big Changes Ahead]

I’ve not update this thread for a period, but thought now might be a good time to for tomorrow I am off to formally take delivery of my boat. 

To be honest, it is only now that I have begun to actually feel any sense of real anticipation and excitement for everything so far as just been a case of emails, documents, and enormous transfers of money which I have pretended to contain less digits than they really have to make me feel somehow better.

Now, as some will know I am proceeding in somewhat of a new way with this purchase – and it is not for the feint hearted and I am not going to say to people ‘go and follow me’ for you may very well come very unstuck and cost yourself dearly. But I want to be open and over time will be sharing more in forthcoming videos and posts here – for this is all new for me! 

As to how I bought the boat, If you are able to glean details as to the history of the boat you are buying all the better. This might be just to Google the name of the boat and finding it turns up being talked about on a Forum, or sometimes people have their own websites charting their journeys on their boat and this all helps give a great deal of information not only about the boat, but an assessment of how they used the boat and what they may have done to it over time. It also provides a character assessment of the person who owns her.  So a chap who spends a lot of time on the boat, listing the various upgrades he has proudly carried out and the works done on his boat in a Forum, and who happens to own a large scale company whereby money is of little object to running costs, might be a better bet than someone who has pulled out his last hair in despair at the bills he has had to fork out for on his boat and whose wife would very much enjoy a lifestyle minus things like:

“Sorry darling, I can’t go to the Christening because I have those new fenders arriving Saturday”.

Having a good idea of what I was dealing with therefore allowed me to approach matters in unorthodox manner. Hours of research and ‘home work’ followed up with making contact with the Broker and arranging a viewing. But, be aware anything you may say to the Broker, your attitude and character, line of work you might be in and so on will form an assumption in his head about you – so it might be wise not to give too much away, or dare I say stretch the truth a little for this will likely filter down to the seller.  I therefore wanted to present the Broker upon my meeting as a very matter of fact person not asking too much and having a look about almost as if I was not being very serious or just a an amateur and after 20 minutes thanked him for his time and headed off. 

But even that first meeting had not been what the Broker had thought it was, for I said I had come from London that day – in truth I arrived the evening before and early the following morning arrived at the Marina.  I looked at some boats at the Brokers based close by (but not the Broker I was using) and pretended to be interested in one of the boats they had for sale, this resulted in some conversation and being invited to where I wanted to get to – past the secure gate and down to the Pontoons.  I looked on the boat, had another talk and once the broker had locked up the boat left me to have a think alone and meet him back in the office.  Of course, I went along the next Pontoon to look at the boat I had come to see (only from the outside mind you) but this let me see up close and personal her usual condition – no pre-prepping, cleaning or hiding away things. 

I then popped into the office thanked them for their time and said ‘I’ll be in touch’.  Of course it mattered not if later that day I was seen once more in the Marina with another Broker, it would perhaps only show this chap who was in town was a keen potential buyer eying up several boats.  I had asked my Broker if I may take some photos on this meeting, but actually I was recording video – this meant I could watch it back over and over, pause it and so on and I’d have a record too of things that have been said between each other should you need to refer to it later. Once that was done, it was back to the hotel. 

I took my time over the video, used a previous Survey report of the boat to assess the items that were required to be attended to at the time  that Survey was done and ‘cross check’ that things had been done since (or at least which had been verbally confirmed to me as having been done).  I also used tools to extract the EXIF data from photographs sent to me of the boat to provide details of the date and time the photos had actually been taken. In my experience, some which were said to have been ‘recent’ dated from late 2011. So you can see you are all the time extrapolating data and information to use to reach to the point of either making an offer (and what that should be) or not. 

Now in my case I had made my choice and it then came down to working out how bad things would need to get to make me back away and opt for another boat, either the same type or a completely different brand or type of boat. Once I had set this in my mind to be an amount of money, I then set about working out how best to achieve the lowest price I felt reasonable to pay, avoiding lengthy negotiations in the process. 

My big weapon would be the element of surprise.

Having viewed the boat the Broker was keen to point out why this boat was a good deal, its younger age, its extra features and the like – I ignored all of this, and as ever if you ‘treat them mean you keep them keen’ kept him wondering was I serious, was I not, should he go quiet or keep up the emails to me.  I was not rude, I did respond, but all very open ended with things like:

 “I don’t like to let people down and having agreed to view another boat this weekend, I really feel it best to be polite and keep my appointment. I will revert in due course” 

Of course, there never were another other viewings. I also was posting things here and on another Forum and was being warned not to be too open and show my cards to readily – what if the owner was reading my very posts, what if this gave the game away and he would be ‘tipped off’ to my tactics of a sudden, low cash offer and not accept.  But I was not quite so innocent, for I was publically referring to two boats both of which were not the boat I was actually looking at, it was the same model sure, but nobody would quite be knowing which boat on the market I was after and if you were the owner you would be wonder if the person your Broker had been talking to was me or not. 

Come the settled time and day my process for the final offer changed – and to add to even more randomness I put three percentages into a hat to pull out and whatever I chose would be the one I went with, out came 13% and so the process was underway: Email to the Broker late Friday boom! No survey, no sea trial, and an offer £32,500 less than the asking price payment can be made in 24hrs.

I can only imagine the conversation that took place between Broker and seller – that chap, the odd fellow came down a couple of weeks back and spent a short time having a look about and went away. I never thought he was that serious, well he has only now offered you this amount!  End of season, build up to Christmas, a pile of cash waiting – does he go for it or lose out? For as I said, if the offer was not accepted, then any counter offer would include a Survey and sea trial and may drag on the time the transaction takes and could affect the offer further. 

I get replies saying it has been put to the seller, but then I get emails, draft contracts, talk of hand over procedures, moorings, insurance – this is all work the Broker is doing, why? Why do it all if you are not sure the offer I made would be accepted. I was confident it would be, and the Tuesday of the following week it was. 

Well this caused something of a stir when I shared the fact it has been accepted ‘no mention of a sea trial’ some exclaimed. And no, here I was spending all this on something a great distance away having spend 20 minutes walking about one Saturday afternoon. Most would have taken more time buying and trying out a new mattress let alone a boat! 

But it was all calculated risks – the seller and me, if there were faults and issues with the boat that might come out in a Survey and Sea Trial the seller may face harder negotiations on price or need to spend out to have them fixed, equally, if it later transpired my gamble had not paid off I would be into thousands to get things right – my gamble though the saving on the listed price would cover the cost of rectifying these issues. 

Today, I received an email forwarded from the current owner. Was it to bring bleak news about those ‘issues’ that I should be aware of? No it was to tell me about how the MD of the engineering firm tasked to her upkeep would be joining me on Friday, at the seller’s expense to go through all systems and educate me on their use. It went on to say how the engines had been serviced recently, even the Turbo’s coolers being removed, and flushed and engines run to full throttle with all temperatures being normal.  Numerous other items being serviced and changed as required, down to a new carbon hoist line for the crane which had been load tested, to a new battery charger and monitoring system recently installed. It is fair to say that this does not appear to have been a boat that has been left without care.  Even the fuel tanks are almost full (they hold 3,000 litres of diesel) 

So..Of course there is plenty to go wrong, plenty of scope for me to have to fork out for things to be put right and indeed my plan is to have her lifted and inspected under the water prior to her being brought to Norfolk, along with a massive update to her navionics systems. But as I sit here on the eve of my travel to take delivery of ‘Independence’ I am quietly confident my way of buying, on my terms has paid off and I might not have bought a lemon after all.

 

[Electronic Speed Signs]

My advice to those who think day boats are speeding is hire one and see. Most now have GPS speedos, and are limited to not exceed 5MPH. This is the speed limit outside the built up area of Wroxham, and indeed the same goes of the Thurne leading away from Potter Heigham. But you see the wash a day boat makes with its short waterline and hull design at 5 MPH - looks a lot worse than the speed.

I say the Broads Authority should move to making people check their wash especially when passing moor boats than just this obsession with speed.