Recent content by foxgoose

Worrying failure on my five year old, 400hrs, just serviced, KAD 43 coming back from Torbay to Dartmouth last night. Compressor idler pulley seized, disintegrated and threw the belt. It's a cheap plastic pulley with a "sealed for life" (hollow laugh) bearing with no way of lubricating or...

I keep a cheapy Garmin handheld and a Yeoman plotter hooked up to it as backup. The auto plotting on the Yeoman means you can do a quick switch to paper and get a plot without fumbling around with parallels etc.

Seen stationary 5 miles off Start Pt on Sunday en route to Eddystone, a big bargy thing with huge towers surrounded by naval looking vessels and some kind of military transport vessel approaching it. Didn't get too close in case it was target practice for something! Anybody know what it is...

I've been puzzled for a while by the completely different power response of Volvo KAD 43's and KAD 32's - both turbo & supercharged. My Botnia Targa has a single KAD 43 and delivers fairly seamless, relatively quiet power right across the rev and boat speed range, so if sea conditions get a bit...

Oh Sh*t Having just spent a couple of hours in the engine room in 36deg and no shade fitting two bloody dry powder auto jobs (the only type I could find in Gozo) - I've now read the above and spent another half hour stripping them out and chucking them away! As a matter of interest- how many...

If anybody's looking for a 10" colour radar/plotter, an outfit called JTG electronics are selling off the old model Raymarine RL80CRC for £1,179 including GPS aerial(last list price £4234 I think). I've had good experiences with this model for three years on my Targa and I got another delivered...

I took some local blokes out around Malta for tuna im May. They used long lines with different lengths from each quarter and about 3 - 4 inch artificial squid type lures. We trolled at 5 or 6 knots and caught sweet FA all day so I guess this input may be of limited validity. Somebody...

\"Porpoising\" Ombrine Just relaunched our Beneteau Ombrine 960 in Gozo and took it round the island today for its "new season trial". Sea was like a mirror - fairly rare in Maltese waters. Anyway it was the first time I've ever opened her up in a flat calm and I was surprised how she...

This seems to be perhaps better regulated in France than here. In our case proof of ownership was by the original VAT (TVA) invoice which you must have to prove VAT status throughout Europe - and in our case this also named the finance company. We signed a normal sale contract with the owners...

Bought a Beneteau Ombrine 960 in Brittany in June and shipped it to Malta. The boat and price were excellent, and transport as far as Marseilles no problem. The stevedores at Marseilles were a different matter however - they appear to be a mafia operation and held us to ransom for transferring...

Yes - still got the Targa for the UK. The Ombrine's going out to our holiday home in Malta (assuming shipping agents and French/Maltese customs play ball over the next few days - it's being picked up tomorrow.) Due to total naivety I completely underestimated the complexity of buying a boat...

Went to France last week and bought a boat to ship out to med. Beneteau Ombrine 960 - KAD 32's with only 45 hours. The boat seemed a good buy since it was first launched in June 2002 and the owner lost interest in it in August 2003 and went back to raggie boats, since when it had sat in a...

Mercman I guess from the name you're a bit biased but I'm thinking of buying a boat with KAD 32's this weekend and I would appreciate a more detailed explanation of any probs. with these engines. In another thread people seeemed pretty happy with them. Thanks for any guidance you can give...

Re: The Ombrine rather than the KAD 32\'s Thanks to all for the reassurance on KAD 32's. The Ombrine which began to crack up on the MBY test was the previous 900 model and the fault was apparently due to bonding problems between the galley moulding and hull which were improved in mid 2000...

KAD 32\'s Going to France at the w/e to look at a Beneteau Ombrine with these engines. I seem to remember seeing cryptic references in various threads over the last couple o'years to unspecified probs with them. Can anyone enlighten me about known weaknesses and what to look out for? They've...