End Of Season Retirements

[Dan]

Looks like the following are leaving Richardsons at the end of the year

Antigua

Astral Gem

Broadland Mercury

Broadland Saturn

Clarion

Highland Gem

Majestic Gem

San Bernardo

San Diego

San Elena

Tobago

Western Horizon

The Jolly Richie

At Faircraft Loynes Fair Ambassador looks to be going

At Horning Pleasurecraft Fairway looks to be going

Anyone know any others

Dan

[Gracie]

Wow, this saddens me, there's a lot of boats on that list I've hired and fallen in love with. I hope they go to good people.

There won't be many of the older style boats left for hire at this rate

[SwanR]

I’m still waiting for Swan Reflection to appear on the list. 🤭

[Turnoar]

The writing was on the wall for Tobago, once Trinidad had left.

[Broads01]

Ouch, Richardson's are having a big clearout for the second year running. I have happy memories of hiring San Elena and Tobago 3. San Elena was way back in 2005 but it's been around since the mid 1980s of course.

What I find interesting is, in common with last year assuming this is the full list, they're keeping all the Bounty 30s and 37s, the DC30s and the Ocean 30s, all of which are the oldest boats in the fleet. I guess it comes down to what let's, what doesn't and what their sale values are.

Thanks for the update, Dan, I can always rely on you to know what's going on.

[JanetAnne]

Sad to see Jolly Richie go. It always seems full of happy excited kids

[JanetAnne]

I may hire it myself right quick...

[andyg]

Pretty much in line with what we were told 2 weeks ago. Apparently that's pretty much it for the foreseeable future. Allegedly some of these boats are proving unreliable now and are not worth further investment. They intend to keep what's left of the classic fleet and update some of them. New galleys etc. There are more new boats in the pipeline line more RC45 etc. But they are having the same problems as all yards with recruiting skilled boat builders. Wouldn't be surprised to see silverline build 1 or 2 more in the near future for richardsons. 

[unclemike]

3 minutes ago, JanetAnne said:

I may hire it myself right quick...

have you got a wooden leg and a parrot?

[Broads01]

2 minutes ago, andyg said:

They intend to keep what's left of the classic fleet and update some of them.

I do hope so. In the past Richardson's have been very good at updating older boats but I think they took their eye off the ball during their phase of building so many new boats.

[JanetAnne]

5 minutes ago, unclemike said:

have you got a wooden leg and a parrot?

Half way there old boy!

[unclemike]

I have a saw and a length of 4 x 2  it it helps for the other half

[andyg]

Surprised Horning pleasure craft are selling fairway, she's a lovely boat.

[Chelsea14Ian]

How many pennies will she cost?

[Graham47]

Barnes Brinkcraft have 10 boats from their current hire fleet up for sale with Norfolk Boat Sales.

 

[andyg]

8 hours ago, Graham47 said:

Barnes Brinkcraft have 10 boats from their current hire fleet up for sale with Norfolk Boat Sales.

 

They normally have a few, I really like the look of Braemore ( i hired her when she was new)But not at that price. I may make a cheeky offer and see where that goes. They can only say no....

[Captain]

Very interesting Dan, thanks for that. Another 20 boats out of the fleet brings it down to 190 boats if you include the new Broadway 7. The smallest the fleet has been for perhaps 35 years and should free up atleast one of the marinas with around 100 boats going in 3/4 years within a yard capable of operating 330 plus. I see most/all of the Aquafibre Entrepreneurs are going after one went last year. Atleast they are keeping some of the classics including San Luis/Pedro the oldest Grp craft on hire on the Broads. 

Andy I too had a soft spot for Braemore, I had here in 2008 from Barnes had originally booked Opal Star the last boat built by Moores however Barnes took over and she wasn't part of the deal so was offered Braemore 2 instead. No 2 is on the Thames at Chertsey/ Staines the last  time I saw here. I wasn't so keen on the steering in the corner bit of greenhouse without an opening  window although the roof opened behind you Vision was restricted as you couldn't pop your head out. I see no 1 only has a small 2 burner hob and oven, no 2 had a full size cooker and fan assisted oven back then so some things have taken a step back particularly on a boat designed for upto 6

Neil

[andyg]

Always been a fan of the alpha bath tubs. Suncharm being my favourite one of this design. I've got Chelsea Bridge booked for next season as we really like the layout. By the way and a bit of a thread drift ( no shock there lol ) where did alpha craft do all there mould lay ups. Was it at Brundall or St olaves. I wouldn't of thought there was enough space at Brundall to do both...

[DAVIDH]

14 hours ago, Dan said:

Looks like the following are leaving Richardsons at the end of the year

Thanks for this Dan. Makes my database update a little easier. I've been through them on Hoseasons and all but San Diego and San Elena have been removed from sale (still available on Richardsons too). Perhaps these two boats are only "partial class" sales? 

Interesting time to remove these cheaper end of the market boats from your fleet at a time of an economic squeeze. It looks as though they are saying go big or don't go for 2023. 

[TFrench89]

Seems like a bit of a gamble given the fact many families are struggling. It appears that they only want to offer so called premium boats, think they're going to alienate a large percentage of their clientele if that's their strategy. 

[andyg]

9 minutes ago, TFrench89 said:

Seems like a bit of a gamble given the fact many families are struggling. It appears that they only want to offer so called premium boats, think they're going to alienate a large percentage of their clientele if that's their strategy. 

We use there Hemsby site and same thing being said there as well. Unacceptable price increases. Deffo something has changed. 

[Mouldy]

Maybe the cost of keeping so many old boats in a condition that keeps them fit for hire, against the returns is just not cost effective.

New engines, upgrades to the interiors etc. all cost, combined with  material supply issues within the industry, coupled with labour costs for refurbishment, turnaround cleaning and service costs not to mention tolls, make keeping them in a fleet, just too expensive.

Lets be fair, they’ll still have the biggest fleet on The Broads even when all these have been taken out of service.

[PaulN]

3 hours ago, andyg said:

They normally have a few, I really like the look of Braemore ( i hired her when she was new)But not at that price. I may make a cheeky offer and see where that goes. They can only say no....

I believe she has been sold. I would have thought that's a good price, compared to what other boats are being sold for.

[Graham47]

1 hour ago, andyg said:

Always been a fan of the alpha bath tubs. Suncharm being my favourite one of this design. I've got Chelsea Bridge booked for next season as we really like the layout. By the way and a bit of a thread drift ( no shock there lol ) where did alpha craft do all there mould lay ups. Was it at Brundall or St olaves. I wouldn't of thought there was enough space at Brundall to do both...

The mould lay ups were done a Brundall (A lot of the time out in the open air.) I seem to remember Langford Snr telling me that he couldn’t get planning permission to lay up the moulds at the St Olaves yard. St Olaves was where Alpha Craft was originally started by his father. At that time the fleet were all wooden boats which were built within the boat shed there. When his father died Langford Snr took over and expanded the business, selling off the wooden boats and introducing his now famous GRP boats. He had a boat builder that used to fit the boats out at St Olaves. 
 

[TFrench89]

41 minutes ago, andyg said:

We use there Hemsby site and same thing being said there as well. Unacceptable price increases. Deffo something has changed. 

It's cheaper to do a 2 week holiday in Spain than to stay in a van for a week in high season. People will vote with their feet.