Recent content by richardwatson

I fitted a Katadyn Powersurvor 160E five years ago. Its been excellent and is still on its original membrane. Produces the rated 30 litre output, and draws 7-8A. Very little maintenance, no electronics to go wrong and modular, so was easy to fit. Shipped it to Europe from West Marine...

Antigua. Consistently 26-27 degrees C and gentle breezes. The trades are barely blowing this year, little rain too, plus there are far fewer boats than for many years.

Another vote for The Grenadines.

Check out the east-med rally and med-red rally websites, there's quite a bit of information about the paperwork, and they are a helpful bunch. The organisers used to be based in Marmaris Yacht Marine, not sure if they are still there.

The Tohatsu 9.8 two stroke I have had for five years and which has been 100% reliable is now looking a bit tired, and I want to replace it with something a bit pokier. A Yam 15hp two stroke is the obvious solution, however I am tempted by another Tohatsu, 18hp two stroke, but have heard stories...

As there is already lots of good Bora advice here all I wish to add is that we cruised Croatia, Slovenia and up to Trieste, late in 2005. Sept to December. Once the charter boats had left, late September, it was fabulous, but the Bora become a regular visitor from early November onwards. Since...

Google GYMSIM. No roaming charges and cheap long distance calls. Have had one two years and it works pretty well for voice calls and texts, no data though. You get a UK number.

Why would Garmin want to take over the debt when they could pick it up for peanuts from the receiver. If Garmin do take it over I hope they sort the reliability out. Raymarine never invested enough in ironing out the software bugs. My own experience:- plotter returned twice under warranty...

med antifoul I tried International and Seajet in the Med, but found the best for me was Ameron ABC+. Its an ablative and they use it on big ships.

Google 'Alfa 500' 500mW, size of a fag packet, and gets its power from the usb socket. Brilliant. About £40 on ebay

Just paid EC$9.50 a gallon in Antigua. The cheapest its been for more than a year.

Mark, This years marina rates in Antigua are US$ 0.60-0.80 per foot per day, either in the water or out, and $10.00 per foot for haul and launch. Or you could leave her at anchor in English or Falmouth Harbour, which many people do, and have one of the local liveaboards keep an eye on her...

The RTTY broadcasts from Hamburg are your best bet. The Croatian marine forecasts really do hedge their bets. The Bora can indeed occasionally spring up without warning, but thats mainly in the Velebilt Canal where the locals say if you see a whisp of white cloud coming over the top of the...

Anteak is right. Head for the nearest Decathlon and buy the cheapest bikes you can get, plus good padlocks.

Try Roccella Ionica on the south coast of Italy. It was still unfinished in 2005 when we called in, and looked like it had been that way for many years. No water or electric so no charges. Maybe there is someone else on this forum who has been there more recently.