mbird

Oh nuts, tactical error .... We have just finished watching "The Perfect Storm". After all my hard work convincing her the sea was a great idea ...

We have already spoken to the owners on that score and have a better understanding of where they need to be.

At least spiders are happy to live in your home!

Right, back from Essex (haven't been to Walton for years!). The Sealine 305 was tatty to say the least! The canopy needs replacing, as does all the upholstery, all the anodes. Inside the fridge were 2 pints of milk and a tub of butter that had probably been there 2-3 months judging by the mould growth inside the fridge . The whole boat stank of fags, as there were still full ash trays everywhere. How anyone expects to sell a boat in that state is beyond me .The engines didn't look too bad, but one of them had a couple of puddles of coolant sitting ontop of the head, and the other had hardly any water in the header tank. The people have only owned it since March this year, and apparently the wife's hatred of boats is forcing the sale. I think this one would need a lot of work. Do-able as a project at the right price, but the engine side of things worries me a bit. Now, on the other hand, I've just had an interesting conversation with a chap about this boat http://motorboats.apolloduck.co.uk/feature.phtml?id=105179. Any comments peeps?? It's down in Plymouth so a bloody long drive to go look at it . Him and his wife have used it all through France and the south coast, but it originated from Beccles. Looks quite interesting methinks, if some deal can be done on the price

Thanks Jonathon, but yes, I have already clocked that one on Burton Waters website. It's under offer at the moment. We are off to Essex tomorrow to view a Sealine 305 Statesman though .....

You diamond! Thanks Pete, worked a treat

Or Lou's poor housework! (I hope she doesn't see this ..... or do I ) Sorry Lou

Right, a strange request.... My missus needs a recording of the St Winifreds School Choir singing "There's no one quite like grandma" for something they are arranging at school. Apparently there are no recordings left available to buy as the warehouse where the master was kept burned down (there is justice in the world!). We have found the video on You Tube, but i have no idea if it is possible to download it or put it on a Cd? Can a techno-wizz-geek-guru help out please?

No, the P33 has bigger130hp's I believe... I guess they could be the AQD40's you mentioned?

Sold mate, for the full asking price The problem is we're still quite a long way short of £40k, so I'm banking a bit on someone being a bit desparate and taking a dropto my level.

Here's the link http://www.nya.co.uk/boat-detail.php?bid=NYB12506, though I've just noticed it's gone under offer today. Surely they would be the AQAD31's wouldn't they, which were made from 1986-1989? edit: Lakesailored by Ian!

Ok, so what about a Fairline Phantom 32. Anyone have any experience of those. Bit of a hybrid design ....

That looks really good. You have a totally different water pump to me, and I also have two engine mounts at the front!

You wanna watch that rubber thing on the back Perry, that must be slowing you down In all seriousness (if we must) I do appreciate the different opinions. Just out of interest, the 310 we are semi-interested in also has twin 130's, SImon, though obviously on outdrives. On the plus side, I do like the space in the saloon of the P33, but down side is the lack of 2 cabins where beds can be permanently made up, and the fact the engines are in the saloon which will make it a lot noisier, with possible some engine smells. We are going to look at the 310 at the weekend, and then it all comes down to preference, and whether any sellers will actually drop to our budget level

Hi Simon We're basically stuck between P33 or Sealine 310 Statesman with regard to the sort of accomodation we need/want. The P33 really baffles me though, going back to the hull type, as everyone calls them planing hulls. They do have planing type dimensions (shallow V at stern, hard chines, etc) but then also a keel the same depth at my bath-tub! I get the impression its probably more akin to a SD hull, but with planing attributes. The Sealine is much easier to pigeon-hole of course, and has the benfir of two separate cabins that can be left made up as beds, but probably at the expense of a slightly rougher ride. Then again there is a Fairline Targa 33 we might just look at Oh god, make it stop

No problem Simon. The remote flash and trigger are Col's own though, but you are more than welcome to have a play with the mini soft box and reflectors. The reflector, in particular, works really well when using natural light, like your shot of Susan next to a window. It just helps bounce a bit of the ambient light back into the deep shadows to add a bit of detail to them. Overdo the reflector, though, and you loose all sense of contour and relief and end up with a very flat image. Very much trial and error.

I think you may be surprised. Working at height is nowadays considered to be anything over 2 feet! Most flat bed trailers the deliver steel to site now need to have fall arrest systems fitted when unloading. I'm thinking trampolines may be better though. If anyone falls, at least they can bounce straight back up to the job to minimise down-time

Those shots are a completely different league Col, well done. They are both excellent, but the one of the crystal is stunning

I hope no-one from HSE reads that Clive . Where are the fall arrest systems/crash mats/parachutes?

That's pretty Trevor. I would have thought that would be a planing hull though! If they knock 40k off the price I'll have it

Thanks Trevor. I've seen that one advertised already, but from memory it was quite old I think. Still might be worth a look though! The problem I have found with Brooms is they tend to be very pricey for their age and condition.

Next question ..... Give me some examples of semi displacement hulls then (I know about Birchwoods thanks to Jonathon and Barry ). By the way, we got an offer on ours today, so it looks like a sale could be imminent!

Hi Perry, Yes we had a look at those details a couple of weeks back. When we sell, we will start to look a little further afield than Brundall . At the moment it is more a case of weighing up the pros and cons of various designs etc so when we do get the reddies... er... ready, we will know what we are after. It's odd, as when we were looking for our river cruiser, we know exactly what we were after and found it within about 3 weeks. When it comes to sea boats, though, we are a bit at a loss to know what we want.

Thanka for the simple explaination Trevor. Never having experienced it, I really don't know what to expect The little quanrdy I have is that we quite like the P33 MkII at NYA with the 130's. It's on shafts, reasonably small engines for river work etc. However, in my naive way, I would have thought buying a boat with a planing hull that can only ever be used in displacement mode would be a bit daft. Top speed is not my issue, but if the P33 cannot acheive the plane with 130's in it, then surely it is going to be more efficient and sensible to simply look for a SD hull or a P33 with bigger engines isn't it?

Thanks for the info guys. I guess there's only one way to find out, and that's to take the P33 for a spin By the way...erm, dunno how to ask this without looking a dickhead ..... ok .... here goes..... When at the helm, how do you know when a boat gets up on the plane? (I've never been in one, see ). If I take the P33 for a spin and it does 14kts on the Bure, that's gonne feel really fast, but how will I be able to tell if it's planing?