Swanning Around

[NorfolkNog]

1 hour ago, Mouldy said:

I wonder if they meant that the cost of like for like batteries would be the issue?

The thought did occur to me! Hopefully yards would replace batteries towards the end of their useful life rather than waiting until they fail completely. I've an idea batteries can be tested - a drop test?? 

[Cal]

2 hours ago, Mouldy said:

I wonder if they meant that the cost of like for like batteries would be the issue?  I get that dragging batteries to Salhouse Broad from the car park would be difficult, but yet another engineers visit during a one week hire is too much.  

I trust that an offer of some financial compensation will be made and not in the form of a voucher to be used against the future hire of another boat.

To be fair to the engineers it has not put us out at all. We have not been sat around waiting for them, they have visited when we have moored up for the evening first at the pub and then here at Salhouse. Today they are meeting us at Pedro's. 

We dont expect any compensation, it is just one of those things that happens and it has not stopped us enjoying our time onboard.

With regards the batteries Swancraft had fitted he said it was the physical size and weight that was the problem. They were big heavy duty batteries not the rebadged starter batteries you get now.

[Vaughan]

23 minutes ago, Cal said:

To be fair to the engineers it has not put us out at all. We have not been sat around waiting for them, they have visited when we have moored up for the evening first at the pub and then here at Salhouse. Today they are meeting us at Pedro's. 

We dont expect any compensation, it is just one of those things that happens and it has not stopped us enjoying our time onboard.

A most reasonable approach.

[BryanW]

12 hours ago, Mouldy said:

In eight years hiring from Summercraft, we didn’t ever need to call the yard to resolve any issues.  Perhaps that is the benefit of hiring from a small yard, where there is time to be proactive with regard to maintenance on changeover days. 

Got my doubts there.  Had to call them out a few times for heating and badly dripping Stern Gland but the worst was a fan belt failure about 2 hours after picking the boat up, a simple visual check by an engineer and that would not have happened.

Don't get me wrong, I liked Summercraft and would still recommend them, we only changed in order to get a walk round bed and a bow thruster.

[Cal]

Yesterday was an altogether better day. We even had some sunshine. 

We stopped for breakfast at Cockshot Dyke before heading to Ranworth for a dinnertime pint at The Maltsters and then onto Acle for our evening meal at Pedro's. 

Sydney loved watching the world go by from the fly bridge and barking at the yachts!

We rang the yard yesterday and told them that we are happy to continue our holiday with this second set of batteries as they are much better than the first set were. No point changing these ones.

[hazelgirl]

What did you think of Pedros? we found the food amazing if the running of the place a little chaotic, to be fair to them they were super busy when we went in.

[Cal]

The food was delicious as always. Not had a bad meal in there yet.

We did order far too much again though.

[hazelgirl]

We made this mistake too, food coma was suffered once back on board, you think, right it's like tapas so order say 3 dishes each with a side one of garlic flat bread, oh no no no, a portion of the dirty chips is enough of a dish to feed one person lol 

[Cal]

Exactly that. 

Still not hungry this morning!

[Seagypsy]

2 hours ago, Cal said:

The food was delicious as always. Not had a bad meal in there yet.

We did order far too much again though.

Thats easily done

[Cal]

This morning we had a steady run down to Great Yarmouth so that Sydney could let off some steam on the beach.

After a long walk around town we headed back to the boat. Our intention had been to head back upstream to Stokesby for another evening in the Ferry but a last minute change of plan saw us heading across Breydon and to the Reedham Ferry instead. We will have a meal in here tonight and then head to Stokesby tomorrow instead.

[KaptinKev]

On 08/10/2019 at 05:08, grendel said:

I will say again that the most important link in the maintenance chain is the previous customer reporting any issues, when i was the first hirer on Jayne 2 from marthams i left a snagging list as i handed back the paperwork at reception, they were all small things, the weed filter had stuck in place, and there was a fuel injector that always looked wet, plus the alternator bolt had dropped its nut into the engine oil tray (temporarily fixed by putting a cable tie on the thread to stop the bolt dropping out), bu the time i had walked from the office back to the boat to give it one last look they already had a team of people on board fixing the problems.

if every hirer reported all the little niggles like this when they got back, the yards would know what to check / fix, changeover time is  quite rushed for most yards so spotting a problem that hasnt been reported must be tricky.

Sorry Grendel but I have to disagree with you here. I would presume most hirers don't have an engineering background to report on faults and lets face it, when their holiday has finished, I doubt very much they are going to worry about the next hirer.

The boatyard knows how long these batteries can last and when it comes towards the end of their lifetime, more checks and tests need to be made. I can appreciate that boatyards do like to get as much out of these batteries as they can because of costs, but sticking them on charge as much as they can and hoping that a customers river cruise will keep them topped up aswell as hoping for the best, really in my view isn't very professional.

Also after every hirer when the boat comes back, the filters, engine, boat fittings etc is the responsibility of the boatyard which should be checked and not rely on the customer. 

 

[grendel]

most boatyards worth their salt will actually ask if there were any problems, and have a space on the return paperwork. 

i agree most hirers wont know one end of an engine from the other, but if the engine is wet from oil then its obvious something is wrong, yes the yard should also check when the boat returns.

replacing good batteries because they are a certain age is pointless, i guess you would expect to pay more to hire a boat if they kept changing things because they might fail next month - next year - never.

so if hirers dont report things like lets say the shower pump doesnt work, but it does drain eventually, how does the yard know, do they have time to check every little thing. 

I hired a boat fresh in the water, there was nothing that stopped me enjoying my holiday, but maybe the little snags i reported had been missed in the two hours between getting the boat back into the water, cleaning it  and handing it over, the engine had been test run, but a slight leak on the injector probably didnt become apparent until after a few hours cruising. the alternator nut may have been missed when they tightened it. 

i do know some yards advise no maintenance is needed on the engines, but marthams still advise checking the oil, water level and weed filter daily, and the water level was dropping on a flat out run across Breydon (it was fine the rest of the time).

Sharing these little things has given me a closer relationship with the boatyard, and i think they trust me as a hirer more too, i do like the attention these small family yards give to their hirers.

[NorfolkNog]

43 minutes ago, grendel said:

i do like the attention these small family yards give to their hirers.

Couldn't agree more

[KaptinKev]

37 minutes ago, grendel said:

most boatyards worth their salt will actually ask if there were any problems, and have a space on the return paperwork. 

i agree most hirers wont know one end of an engine from the other, but if the engine is wet from oil then its obvious something is wrong, yes the yard should also check when the boat returns.

replacing good batteries because they are a certain age is pointless, i guess you would expect to pay more to hire a boat if they kept changing things because they might fail next month - next year - never.

so if hirers dont report things like lets say the shower pump doesnt work, but it does drain eventually, how does the yard know, do they have time to check every little thing. 

I hired a boat fresh in the water, there was nothing that stopped me enjoying my holiday, but maybe the little snags i reported had been missed in the two hours between getting the boat back into the water, cleaning it  and handing it over, the engine had been test run, but a slight leak on the injector probably didnt become apparent until after a few hours cruising. the alternator nut may have been missed when they tightened it. 

i do know some yards advise no maintenance is needed on the engines, but marthams still advise checking the oil, water level and weed filter daily, and the water level was dropping on a flat out run across Breydon (it was fine the rest of the time).

Sharing these little things has given me a closer relationship with the boatyard, and i think they trust me as a hirer more too, i do like the attention these small family yards give to their hirers.

The boats I have been on the yards have never asked if I had any problems, only HB gave me a sheet to report on anything and the queries I had and at the end of the day, I got nothing back from them.

As for your reply concerning replacing good batteries I totally disagree with. Batteries have a certain life span and how many of us have put off replacing a battery because it's been in our car or van for a few years now, still turns that motor but a bit slower and the glow plug light stays on that little bit longer. Then comes winter...…….oh crap, nothing!

You Grendel might feel that closer relationship to the boatyards because that is your engineering thing, but other people will not take any notice on checking items concerning a boats operation because THEY ARE ON HOLIDAY, they have paid for a boat and maintenance is not on their agenda.

Only on my first 2 visits on the broads were we asked to check the filters, after that the boats we hired were regarded as fully operational and maintenance was not needed.

[grendel]

Well it certainly seems that we have had different experiences from different yards, maybe because marthams are more old school they still do things the old way, their engines are certainly old enough to still need to be checked daily.

[KaptinKev]

24 minutes ago, NorfolkNog said:

Couldn't agree more

Surely not someone else who has shares in Marthams! 

[grendel]

1 minute ago, KaptinKev said:

Surely not someone else who has shares in Marthams! 

i  certainly dont have shares, but i do believe in praising good service. and i like their boats.

[SwanR]

1 hour ago, KaptinKev said:

when their holiday has finished, I doubt very much they are going to worry about the next hirer.

Wrong! We always report things in the hope the yard will sort them out. After all we would also hope that the previous hirers would have done the same for our benefit. 

[SwanR]

Great photos Cal, especially those clouds on the last one in your post. 

Apologies that your thread has been hijacked a bit on the topic of maintenance!

Are the rivers very busy this week?

[KaptinKev]

2 minutes ago, grendel said:

i  certainly dont have shares, but i do believe in praising good service. and i like their boats.

Now I do agree that on a forum like this, if you do get good service with a boatyard it's nice to promote, but I believe in the past that people who have had niggles and want to give a bad review with certain boat yards their comments have been edited or removed. Can you please tell me what the give and takes there are on here?

[grendel]

that would take over this thread and would be way off topic, its all in the terms and conditions anyway.

[KaptinKev]

4 minutes ago, SwanR said:

Wrong! We always report things in the hope the yard will sort them out. After all we would also hope that the previous hirers would have done the same for our benefit. 

I'm not wrong SwanR and I'm sure you would complain about certain things on your boat, but can you speak for the hirers before you?

[NorfolkNog]

Yes, we shouldn't hi-jack Cal's thread. This Forum has been known to do that from time to time

Perhaps we should start another thread about repairs/handovers.

Looking forward to hearing how Cal got on at the Ferry.

[Mouldy]

7 hours ago, NorfolkNog said:

 . . . . . . . . . . Looking forward to hearing how Cal got on at the Ferry.

Me, too.  Haven’t been there for years and was, for us, a regular overnight stop.  It used to be very good, with all of the moorings full every night, but usually seems so quiet now even with the available moorings greatly reduced.