Having A Bad Day? (boats swept away on the Lot in France)

[ExSurveyor]

The beach is nearly empty

[BroadAmbition]

I reckon the last photo must be the deck Totty off Broad Ambition in Griffs dreams 😂😂😂

Oooohhhh, just wait and see what plans I have in mind for a 'Special'  Broad Ambition one-off calendar.

It should have happened last year, then this year but covid is holding things up once again

Griff

[addicted]

We hired a connoisseur boat on the canal du Midi  in  late September 2006 and while crossing Etang de Thau heading for Marseillan it got a little choppy (for which read we were being tossed all over the place!) About a 3rd of the way over we noticed that one of the fridges in the galley which was in a housing and standing on top of another fridge was starting to come away and for the rest of the journey my friend and I had to stand with our backs braced against it to keep it in place. Our main concern was that it was a gas fridge. When we returned the boat to the depot in  Narbonne a few days later we reported this dangerous situation and as compensation for our inconvenience the manager waived our engine hours expenses. We were quite pleased with this outcome.

 

Carole

[Hylander]

15 hours ago, BroadAmbition said:

I reckon the last photo must be the deck Totty off Broad Ambition in Griffs dreams 😂😂😂

Oooohhhh, just wait and see what plans I have in mind for a 'Special'  Broad Ambition one-off calendar.

It should have happened last year, then this year but covid is holding things up once again

Griff

Supposed to be 'bikini' weather on Saturday, you may be able to start your calendar sooner than you think.   For us ladies is it going to be lots of months showing big hunky fellas or is it going to be like the Pirelli Calendars of old?    Thinking about it that last sentence is wrong for the entire woke brigade.

 

 

[Broads01]

1 hour ago, addicted said:

and as compensation for our inconvenience the manager waived our engine hours expenses

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

[Cal]

6 minutes ago, Broads01 said:

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

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

 

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

[Broads01]

1 hour ago, Cal said:

We are supposed to be hiring on the Thames at Easter (can't see it happening) and that is charged by engine hours as well.

It wasn't when I hired from Le Boat on the Thames in 2016. Have they changed the system since? That year, I remembered being stung for a hideous diesel price on my previous visit, so I topped up in Reading to save some money.

[Cal]

5 minutes ago, Broads01 said:

It wasn't when I hired from Le Boat on the Thames in 2016. Have they changed the system since? That year, I remembered being stung for a hideous diesel price on my previous visit, so I topped up in Reading to save some money.

Must have. It is a price per hour now which is ridiculously expensive. About £5 per hour from memory!

[Smoggy]

35 minutes ago, Cal said:

About £5 per hour from memory!

Worth taking your own outboard....

[Vaughan]

37 minutes ago, Cal said:

It is a price per hour now which is ridiculously expensive. About £5 per hour from memory!

Which I calculate at about £1.40 per litre. 

[NeilB]

Le Boat also seem quite expensive compared to another well known and very well regarded boatyard on the Thames.  Just had a quick look and over £400 cheaper for a nicer boat for a week in September.

They did go downhill slightly in April 2000 but looks like they are doing OK without me.... 

[webntweb]

5 hours ago, Broads01 said:

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

From Le Boat: "This cost covers the fuel you use to power the boats engine and onboard systems (such as heating), engine oil, as well as gas and general engine wear & tear.

The per hour rate is £5 to £12 depending on boat and location.

[Cal]

34 minutes ago, webntweb said:

From Le Boat: "This cost covers the fuel you use to power the boats engine and onboard systems (such as heating), engine oil, as well as gas and general engine wear & tear.

The per hour rate is £5 to £12 depending on boat and location.

Yes. It could actually be more for the boat we have on the Thames. I think the £5 might have been for the smaller boat we initially hired in Belgium.

 

Either way it works out much more expensive than any other boat we have hired. The most we have paid for a fuel deposit previously has been £150 and we got £60 of that back after a week. That was on Swan Ranger from Richardsons and we did a fair amount of engine hours running that week especially as the batteries were none so clever! 

 

I really don't like Le Boats fuel pricing in the slightest.

[Vaughan]

8 hours ago, Cal said:

Yes. It could actually be more for the boat we have on the Thames. I think the £5 might have been for the smaller boat we initially hired in Belgium.

I would think £1.40 per litre is reasonable, as it may also involve the consumption of the diesel heating system.

I am basing this on 3 litres per hour for a Nanni engine, having to push against the current on the Thames. In fact they do less than 2,5 litres per hour when driven a bit more slowly. I know this, because to charge by the hour you have to have an hour metre fitted and this gives you a lot of other useful information, such as the interval for oil changes.

If they are charging £12 per hour however, then I think they are just biting the hand that feeds them.

[Cal]

Checked the paperwork this morning it is £6.83 per hour for Consul which we have booked on the Thames. 

 

Personally I think that is way too much. It costs nothing like that per hour to run our KAD32 on the river so I can't see how a smaller Nanni will get near that even accounting for diesel heating.

 

It isn't as though the cost of the boat is cheap either! 

[BroadAmbition]

 For us ladies is it going to be lots of months showing big hunky fellas or is it going to be like the Pirelli Calendars of old? 

Don't want to give too much away.  Besides nowt planned as of yet, tis just an idea that I've been mooching around with for a couple for years now that is gonna be somewhat expensive but other than the cost of the exercise it should be achievable 

Griff

[Smoggy]

5 hours ago, Cal said:

Checked the paperwork this morning it is £6.83 per hour for Consul which we have booked on the Thames. 

 

Personally I think that is way too much. It costs nothing like that per hour to run our KAD32 on the river so I can't see how a smaller Nanni will get near that even accounting for diesel heating.

 

It isn't as though the cost of the boat is cheap either! 

Assuming the hour counter is in the tacho do you have a spare you can take with you....

[Cal]

4 hours ago, Smoggy said:

Assuming the hour counter is in the tacho do you have a spare you can take with you....

No but I'm pretty certain we can disconnect it after a few hours running 😲

[Vaughan]

21 minutes ago, Cal said:

No but I'm pretty certain we can disconnect it after a few hours running 😲

Do you think you are the first one to have thought of that? Or do you not think the boatyard might notice, at the end of the week?

 

[RS2021]

And we thought boats being swept away was having a bad day...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-56473115

[YnysMon]

I saw that too, and to make things worse it should have been their wedding day.