April MBM..."Lotus Balls Up"...Have your Say ?

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oldgit

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So Carl,one assumes you are referring to the Moonraker 36,as all the later stuff was JCL.
Take a look at the asking prices for the 36,even the early 1970s boats which are now over 40 years old and still going strong.
Wonder if any of those new pansy MDF filled chest wig chariots featured in this months mag(er not the Aqua Star)will be still going strong after anything like the same period.
Most of the dozen or so Moonrakers of all flavours down here in the real world are still floating around on salty water being used,not skulking away up the wrong side of Teddington Lock.
Suspect many on their original engines,lets hope owners of them there new boats get a 100 hours before the £2.500 ECU craps out cos its got wet/fed up or one of them chocolate pistons/papermache injectors takes objection the the fuel/air/sunshine quality and goes to heaven taking the head to keep it company.
One of those early 1970s "balls ups" recently completed a little trip just round the corner down to the CI and back.
Much appreciated over on the continong of course where people think that anything sporting a bit of blue canvas held aloft with skinny chrome poles/velco and a mile of zip is a joke not a boat..Grrrr :)

http://www.moonraker.dk/eng_index.htm
 
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I to was a little surprised at the comment.

Friend of ours had a 36(?) "Jakaranda" and she was a spacious live aboard and was also used regularly around the Bristol Channel.

Where is she now? - sold a few years ago.
 
i have a 1972 moonraker on original engine(although they have had 8k overhaul 7yrs go).the boat was on hard standing for 7yrs abandoned, when i bought her.
boat like new now with total interior/exterior restoration.only done a couple of trip's down the humber as trial run's.but handle's brilliant at slow speed's or high.
survay found zero fault's with hull and believe me he looked very very hard to find faults.
 
Basically a tough as old boots cruiser which will still be giving somebody loads of fun for sensible money for years to come.Useable all year round and mendable by just about anybody with no need for a Volvo ECU swapper with a CanBus reader and a white coat to charge you for driving 100 miles to tell you that fault code 123456 is about to give you a heart attack.
 
oldgit said:
Basically a tough as old boots cruiser which will still be giving somebody loads of fun for sensible money for years to come.Useable all year round and mendable by just about anybody with no need for a Volvo ECU swapper with a CanBus reader and a white coat to charge you for driving 100 miles to tell you that fault code 123456 is about to give you a heart attack.
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Believe me, I'm on your wave length with this one. If I see another Vodia tool in my lifetime, it will be too bloody soon!
 
"Believe me, I'm on your wave length with this one. If I see another Vodia tool in my lifetime, it will be too bloody soon!"

Have a feeling that engine performance is being taken to the limit,not for reasons of fuel economy,but for reasons of top end speed and MBM is a prime example of the pressure exerted to that end.
Just observe the picture on the front of the magazine,the shots of the boats in "Making Waves",The MBM Boat Test",The Aquador 33 Test,the Bavaria 28 Test,50% of Ask the Experts",the DayDreamer artical,even the Aquastar test feels the need to compare the top speeds of the various hulls.
Its like Top Gear with anti-foul !
Basically if any shot does not feature a impressive bow wave complete with a boat rocking mountain of water in its wake its not in the mag..
 
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Oldgit, I am with you on this one.

I have a memory of seeing one of the first Moonraker's on display outside the Bournemouth Pavilion in the early 70's.
It looked quite superb and they made much of the fact that Colin Chapman was the man behind it.
In those days the Lotus Elan was being sold as a car you and a mate could build over the Saturday and finish off on Sunday morning and then drive it to the pub for Sunday lunchtime

We sold one of these earlier boats some years ago and it was a cracking boat, solid as a rock and as I recall a good performer to boot.

A classic with good resale values and potential.
Quality never dies.
 
Go to agree with you all on this to. In damp salt water conditions you want minimal electrics. ECU's and the like fill me with dread on boats...

Moonraker boats I always quite liked. There was one moored in Mercury back in the 70's as I recall... new then and looked great. But if I remember correctly this is not the first time they have been rubbished by MBM... will now have a look back in my archive to see when!

Got to say the Aquastar report I liked.... I really do like those! :p
 
The people writing in these mags don't live in the real world. They spend too much time with highly expensive boats all for free. Anything a bit "old" if it isn't mainstream, Fairline, Birchwood, Princess, Sealine, etc is dismissed. Also in the case of the Moonraker, Colin Chapman was never the most popular person being a bit of a maverick. Me, I'm a fan of him as I own a '72 Europa! I think it is high time that either the present mags or a new title started to look at boats that are more than 20 years old and/or cost less than,say, £50K. Perhaps a series of articles at various price breaks £20K/£30K etc and looking at older stuff too. Now, I'm just waiting for the survey on that Fairey I've just agreed to buy.....
 
While appreciating that advertising revenue is going to come from new boat builders and not sellers of old boats,the impression given in MBM ,which one presumes is a average bloke publication is that the only type of boat available,or even worth having does 35 knots whatever or wherever the trip.
Do wonder just how many MBM readers actually have a boat that can or ever does more than 10 or so knots?
 
oldgit said:
While appreciating that advertising revenue is going to come from new boat builders and not sellers of old boats,the impression given in MBM ,which one presumes is a average bloke publication is that the only type of boat available,or even worth having does 35 knots whatever or wherever the trip.
Do wonder just how many MBM readers actually have a boat that can or ever does more than 10 or so knots?
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and that a "starter" boat costs £100K???
 
older motor boats

Dose any one think that their is a gap in the mag market for us older boat owners. I have a Princess 32 1974 10 knots flat out with the tide behind me love her to bits.Just wish their was a mag for older motor boat owners.Lets face it there must be hundreds of us out their and we probaly spend £££££ on referb work,. know i do .Advertisers could sell us loads of product.
 
tichmarshjohn said:
Dose any one think that their is a gap in the mag market for us older boat owners. I have a Princess 32 1974 10 knots flat out with the tide behind me love her to bits.Just wish their was a mag for older motor boat owners.Lets face it there must be hundreds of us out their and we probaly spend £££££ on referb work,. know i do .Advertisers could sell us loads of product.
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Agree 100%. There are so many boats around like yours that the owners love and use and spend plenty of money on. It would be good for a regular "buyers guide" to the many so called obselete boats that are still around and used. Look at how many magazines there are in the car and motorbike world doing this sort of thing. The present boat mags concentrate on ad revenue from new boat manufacturers, so they will concentrate on those boats. Interesting how many car mags survive without taking new car ads..... Yes there is a huge gap in the market - are you listening???
 
What page of MBM is Carl's comment on?

Thoroughly agree that a magazine to cover older boats would be of interest..nice to see the piece on the Freeman 22 in this months MBM.
 
5 years ago we had a delivery skipper, Bill Van Bommel from the 'old' RYB at Windsor, deliver our Princess from France. He was the delivery skipper for Moonrakers for quite a few years. I think he's in the Thames Valley area still ?
 
What page of MBM is Carl's comment on?...Its on the first inside page in the mag.

Not really having a go but there are just so many pictures of "boats-on-the plane-going-back-over-their-own-wake-in-order-to-produce-yet-another-spray-filled-colour-shot-for the-front-page" one can endure before a catatonic state ensues.:)

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"Does any one think that their is a gap in the mag market for us older boat owners."

Problem is we is a tight bunch of olde buggers and do not tend go running for a scary bank loan or mega second mortgage to fund our fun.
Visits to the chandlery tend to be of the 1 x stainless washer and count out the amount in pennies variety rather than wave an arm expansively in the direction of the Raymarine display, deposit a selection of credit cards on the counter while asking when somebody can rip out last years system and fit the new stuff.
You can always tell which boaty group you are in......do you flinch when you increase your speed up to a heady 6 knots ?
 
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OG has probably increased the April editions sales numbers by referring to Carl's comment :).

I'm sure its been done before, but having a small, nostalgic section in the mag would interest me for sure, particuarly faults that had been successfully rectified, without getting too much like PBO.
 
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