Sandersons In Reedham

[Seagypsy]

3 hours ago, SPEEDTRIPLE said:

But that is plus fuel and pumpouts though.

Mines all in but if we meet up in September we can have a discussion on hiring and syndicate

[SPEEDTRIPLE]

7 hours ago, Seagypsy said:

Mines all in but if we meet up in September we can have a discussion on hiring and syndicate

If we do meet up, you`re more than welcome to come aboard Lightning and have a look to see if it`s for you, should you consider buying in to a syndicate of course?.

[SPEEDTRIPLE]

On 01/04/2019 at 06:52, Maxwellian said:

I am with Wonderwall on this. We used Maffetts for many years, not because they were the best bling boats but because they were well presented with excellent customer service..... and very good value for money. Sara and I could get three to four weeks on Swallow for the price of one-week bling. Last year we tried Pacific Cruisers for the same reason. This year we are trying Maycaft and I hope they are the same. I have never hired from Sandersons so have no view on them. It is difficult out there and if we have bad experiences we should raise it with the yard and give them a chance to rectify. 

Us too. We hired her several times, and thoroughly enjoyed holidaying on a traditional wooden boat. When Dave and April (NBN forumite Stranger and his good lady) came aboard one evening, they remarked how warm she was and said the heating on their boat (GRP Calypso 28) was`nt very good. They were pleasantly surprised when we told them we DID`NT have the heating on in Swallow. The joys of wooden boating i suppose?.

[trambo]

1 hour ago, SPEEDTRIPLE said:

Us too. We hired her several times, and thoroughly enjoyed holidaying on a traditional wooden boat. When Dave and April (NBN forumite Stranger and his good lady) came aboard one evening, they remarked how warm she was and said the heating on their boat (GRP Calypso 28) was`nt very good. They were pleasantly surprised when we told them we DID`NT have the heating on in Swallow. The joys of wooden boating i suppose?.

Swallow and her sister Flamingo which I both hired had so much character and very well presented. Miss seeing the Maffett boats. Always an interesting fleet. 

Fred

[SPEEDTRIPLE]

1 hour ago, trambo said:

Swallow and her sister Flamingo which I both hired had so much character and very well presented. Miss seeing the Maffett boats. Always an interesting fleet. 

Fred

Hi Fred,

Yes, they were lovely boats, but Flamingo was sold into private hands in the 80s, and the guy who bought her obviously did`nt know about the continual investment required in keeping timber boats in good condition. He whinged on th John Cressy (owner of Maffetts) that over 5 years he spent more than £2,000 in maintainance, possibly insinuating John sold hom a dog. Johns reply was that he spent more than that each year on them. Sadly, Flamingo got so bad, she was eventually broken up and burnt.  A VERY sad end to a once beautiful boat.  I only hope the now owner of Swallow looks after her and invests properly into her future?.

[grendel]

having watched the facebook posts from Martham boatyard, most of their boats seem to have had one or more new planks over this last winter, I suppose it keeps their labour force occupied during the winter months, which would be an overhead they would have whether they did any work on their boats or not. but it must be a considerable investment, especially when we saw they were preparing some of the older hulls for re introduction into the hire fleet, and one hull was supposedly being prepped as a mould for more.

[SPEEDTRIPLE]

1 hour ago, grendel said:

having watched the facebook posts from Martham boatyard, most of their boats seem to have had one or more new planks over this last winter, I suppose it keeps their labour force occupied during the winter months, which would be an overhead they would have whether they did any work on their boats or not. but it must be a considerable investment, especially when we saw they were preparing some of the older hulls for re introduction into the hire fleet, and one hull was supposedly being prepped as a mould for more.

Hi Grendel, 

I`m sure Griff will agree, but you can have a timber boat and have to replace a plank or two every year. I`ve known several people that have owned timber boats that have had at least one plank renewed every year. The problem is which timber they`re built from, as you can`t mix and match different types of timber in a boats planking, and some are a lot more resilient to continued immersion than others. 

Yes, you can have different planks and frames / stringers, but i`m sure you can`t have a mixture of planks?.

[Meantime]

Don't know why, but this springs to mind

This clip also stars one of our esteemed members

[KaptinKev]

On ‎31‎/‎03‎/‎2019 at 12:23, SPEEDTRIPLE said:

 I have to say, they are one of the yards i`d NEVER hire from, Herbert Woods being another.

When I hired from HW and when it came to advice about the boat, I did wonder if the chaps that were assigned to give me advice about the boat, were actually brought out of retirement.

He didn't seem to know the air draft of my boat and when I commented back on issues with my boat, I got nothing!

Unless you have praise for them, you are nothing.

Barnes on the other hand were good, even when the cleaner came out with a weird look on her face because my niece had blocked the toilet up 2 days before hand!

[SwanR]

6 minutes ago, KaptinKev said:

He didn't seem to know the air draft of my boat and when I commented back on issues with my boat, I got nothing!

Have to say that our recent experience with Richardson's was very good. I noticed that in their skipper's manual they have a sheet with the air draft of all their boats listed. And when we returned to the yard, the young lad who refuelled our boat also asked if there were any issues. He had pen and paper ready to write down any problems so as to pass them on. That's good customer service in my book.

[Meantime]

I see from their Facebook page that Sandersons are doing 15% discount at the moment.  

[Broads01]

9 hours ago, EastCoastIPA said:

I see from their Facebook page that Sandersons are doing 15% discount at the moment.  

I spotted that also. I take back what I said about them charging too much. 

[DAVIDH]

Just now, Broads01 said:

I see from their Facebook page that Sandersons are doing 15% discount at the moment.  

Actually Sandersons boats were always discounted on the Hoseasons site - no matter what time of year. I think they used to inflate the headline price so it could be discounted. ..... I have also just noticed that they have nicked one of my drone images for their Facebook profile!

[Wonderwall]

On 03/04/2019 at 19:40, KaptinKev said:

When I hired from HW and when it came to advice about the boat, I did wonder if the chaps that were assigned to give me advice about the boat, were actually brought out of retirement.

He didn't seem to know the air draft of my boat and when I commented back on issues with my boat, I got nothing!

Unless you have praise for them, you are nothing.

Barnes on the other hand were good, even when the cleaner came out with a weird look on her face because my niece had blocked the toilet up 2 days before hand!

Just to balance things up I have hired from HW about5 times in the last ten. Customer service has been excellent. Boats were all you would expect and any issues were sorted promptly and with a smile. . I hope to hire from then again, I'm sure I will.

For example we wanted to hire a rowing from then but they had none left. They gave us a day launch FOC to go under the bridge and pick one up from the yard up the river. On our return on handback day, they told me just to leave it and they would take it up later in the day. I was very impressed and grateful.

I also tend to be set off early on pick up day , which is a massive bonus.

[NorfolkNog]

I agree, nothing but praise for HW from me. They were very helpful and understanding when Mrs N broke her ankle a while back. We've hired from them every February for quite a few years now. Office staff always friendly and helpful (bar the fish barrier fiasco) and the yard staff are excellent, really helpful and nothing too much trouble. OK, we've been many times so don't need much in the way of information and instruction but it's there if needed. We only ever had to call them out once for a slight leak on the calorifier (hangover from winter maintenance) and they even once delivered a microwave to us in Yarmouth as they had forgotten to put it on board and we hadn't noticed at first.

I'm very pleased with them and coincidentally  we've been rattling the piggy bank today with a view to booking again next February.

[KaptinKev]

For me aftersales service goes along way. as It seems that when these boating firms have got your money and your holiday is over, your comments or problems with your boat mean nothing to them.

A simple email to say they have noted your problems with your boat, they have been addressed and hopefully they would be true to their word and have correct any issues.

Hopefully!!!!

[KaptinKev]

23 hours ago, NorfolkNog said:

 nothing but praise for HW from me. They were very helpful and understanding when Mrs N broke her ankle a while back. 

And why did they?

[AJR]

It seems that I might be a rare contributor who has actually rented from Sandersons post-Hoseasons. We rented directly from Sandersons after Hoseasons cancelled our holiday with 7 days notice (and they didn't care).

I am afraid that the "economy" title is somewhat of optimistic. Sandpiper was very, very tired and had had virtually no work done to her during the winter. Basically clean and ran well but poor batteries meant that the hot air heating didn't work without the engine running. Equipment (other than a new cooker) was generally poor, deck equipment minimal.

Nice enough people. They came out to replace the batteries but didn't have enough so the heater still didn't work. 

[JennyMorgan]

I can only wonder why Hoseasons dropped Sandersons so early in the season, that is if they have as the gos going along the rhond suggests. Must have been a substantial blow to Sandersons who must have subsequently lost thousands of pounds worth of bookings. 

[NorfolkNog]

It is a shame. I guess it's a bit of a vicious circle, a yard needs bookings for income to invest in the fleet, lack of investment - lack of bookings and so on. I think they've been around for many years, a very old established yard. I am a big fan of the smaller family yards, you do get that extra mile in my opinion. I've never been with them but the boats do look tired. I guess that Hoseasons pulled out possibly after an inspection? Whether a small yard can carry on as an independent I don't know.

[twowrights]

 We had a pump out at Sandersons but had to wait a while as they were doing their own boats first, not a problem for us. I had a walk around the area whilst waiting, and on a pole was a planning application from Sandersons. It involved demolishing the boat shed, and building a new one, and erection of (I think it was four) four houses. I asked the chap if he thought they'd get permission and he was hopeful. The boats they had in looked fairly clean, and they were cleaning the exterior as well as interior of them.

Edited June 26, 2019 by twowrights
fat fingers!

[SPEEDTRIPLE]

6 minutes ago, NorfolkNog said:

It is a shame. I guess it's a bit of a vicious circle, a yard needs bookings for income to invest in the fleet, lack of investment - lack of bookings and so on. I think they've been around for many years, a very old established yard. I am a big fan of the smaller family yards, you do get that extra mile in my opinion. I've never been with them but the boats do look tired. I guess that Hoseasons pulled out possibly after an inspection? Whether a small yard can carry on as an independent I don't know.

Hi Howard,

Yes, small yards can definitely carry on, look at Pacifics and Freedom. The reason why they carry on is because of the complete package they provide. If a yard has fantastic, up to date, and well presented reliable boats, they may lose a lot of bookings through poor customer service and attitude etc.  There again, it could be the other way round,  A really friendly and welcoming attitude, yet the boats are not in very good condition, and have higher than average number of breakdowns, again losing customers as a result. That seems to be the scenario that AJR above alluded to.  When you look at Freedom and Pacifics, their boats are always well presented, with a very friendly and welcoming attitude, result, they get lots of bookings which they well deserve. Andy from Freedom always posts up plenty of film clips on facebook of the continual upgrades and refits etc, which inspires confidence in people who wish to hire. 

[TrevorAndDeirdre]

I noticed the other week on one of the boat sales pages at Topsail that the Sadersons fleet is up for sale. Wonder what is going to happen then.

[SPEEDTRIPLE]

28 minutes ago, TrevorAndDeirdre said:

I noticed the other week on one of the boat sales pages at Topsail that the Sadersons fleet is up for sale. Wonder what is going to happen then.

I`ve just checked, and yes, totally correct, obviously Sandersons will be selling up and building yet more riverside houses.  I think the prices being asked are a bit optomistic, when you consider the condition reported above by AJR. Will the like of Richo`s be interested in buying them up, i doubt it. However, when you see what Freedom are doing to the Aquafibre 33 that was there (scruffy looking liveaboard), maybe Andy would be interested in another couple of them. The 32ft aft cockpit Aquafibres would be a good bet?.  If you read this Andy, any thoughts?.

[MauriceMynah]

5 minutes ago, SPEEDTRIPLE said:

The 32ft aft cockpit Aquafibres

I can't call that craft to mind. What does it look like?