Blakes Lavac Taylors - "having a laugh"?

BLT said:
It is hard to say as all of these changes were make well prior to Sea Sure taking on BLT. Looking back through the historic drawings the material was DZR1 as far back as 1991. We don't have any drawings previous to this so it is hard to pin point a date as to when the change was. I would like to be able to give you more information as to when the change was and the full reasoning behind it however this information has been lost over time. Our last original Blakes employee retired this year after 30 years with the company however he worked within a different division so also didn't know this information.
Our plans for next year is to update the BLT website so that all of this type of information is available as we know there are many people out there who are interested int he product and its history.

BLT
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Thanks very much for this. As I am particularly interested in this topic I have investigated it myself. My Blakes seacocks were installed in the boat in 1984, which coincides roughly with the date that DZR was introduced by Blakes. They remain in good condition. I have read an account stating that 60/40 brass was used for a short time, maybe three years, prior to this but I have no idea whether this is correct. The Copper Development Association issued its first standard for DZR brass in 1980, although it was in use prior to that.
 
Minn said:
I have now: £3,880!!!

"Perishable spares" kit for same: £160 or so... or £200 if you own a "Victory"..

To which it is wise to add the cost of new bolts (they dezincify - don't ask me how I know that...)
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I have a baby blakes, I love it, my wife hates it and the kids cant use it-they do struggle to operate the push cistern at home too though to be fair....probably worth more than my boat, tee hee
 
I own a Taylors 030, a Lavac, a Victory which will be replacing it when fettled, and a selection of "Popular" seacocks. The ex boat had, for the thirty years of my ownership, an 029 and a Baby, which once managed to swallow an entire disposable nappy flushed down it absent mindedly by my ex wife (the Popular seacock, however, did not...)

My whinge is directed at what feels like an arrogant approach to loyal customers such as myself, as seen in the supply of what seem like inferior spares, such as toilet bolts which appear to be made of ordinary brass, the notorious stop valve, which looks remarkably like a domestic radiator valve, etc., or everyday components, such as copper tubing or silent burner caps for kerosene burners, at prices which appear to incorporate a very healthy mark up.
 
Minn said:
I own a Taylors 030, a Lavac, a Victory which will be replacing it when fettled, and a selection of "Popular" seacocks. The ex boat had, for the thirty years of my ownership, an 029 and a Baby, which once managed to swallow an entire disposable nappy flushed down it absent mindedly by my ex wife (the Popular seacock, however, did not...)

Know what you mean, we did buy a rebuild kit from them, ouch, don't think it had been touched before that for 30 years though, I do agree their prices seem quite....er.... high, we do have a few seacocks, again probably 30 years old too, like the serviceability of them, too scared to look at replacement costs though..........
My whinge is directed at what feels like an arrogant approach to loyal customers such as myself, as seen in the supply of what seem like inferior spares, such as toilet bolts which appear to be made of ordinary brass, the notorious stop valve, which looks remarkably like a domestic radiator valve, etc., or everyday components, such as copper tubing or silent burner caps for kerosene burners, at prices which appear to incorporate a very healthy mark up.
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sorry Minn, seem to have edited your post-adding my own sentence to yours, no offence intended, teach me to multi task.........
 
Sorry if I've missed this buried in anyone's reply but is there a part number or a link for the schrader valve top for the paraffin tank? I'm sure I'm not the only one who gets a sleeve full of paraffin when pressurising the tank!
 
It is always nice when a manufacturer takes the trouble to respond.

One thing for sure, the Lavac is a belting lavvie. The best I think. The only thing I have done to mine in over 20 years is replace one lid seal, it now grips like a Mongolian wrestler.
While I am at it, despite their foibles, you know where you are with a Blakes seacock.
 
Can you retrofit a Schroeder valve pump onto an older tank. I have an 030 cooker which I love. But don't love pumping the tank
 
Minn said:
It's not that Blakes products are bad; nobody says that. It's just that they could do so much better.
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Yes, could do better but two cheers because despite all that, when these products are gone that's our lot. We will have to muck in with using items which might be cheap, but don't work very well, cant be repaired and have the endurance of a Chinese flashlight,
 
When we bought Norna Biron she came with a Baby Blake and a Taylors 041 gas cooker. We tolerated the toilet for a few years before finally replacing with a Jabsco when we needed to buy a spares kit for the Baby. We are still using the cooker despite it needing an overhaul. However, spares for this model are hard to come by and an equivalent replacement would break the bank.
 
birdseye said:
Why on earth would you want to buy a new one anyway. Its an obsolete design by any standards
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Comfort! A civillised,full-size warm mahogany seat, where a gentleman can read undisturbed in the morning.
Long term reliability! Class, pedigree, not made in China, I could go on..

I know of one or two restored BB's for sale if anyone's interested (no business connection) at reasonable prices.
 
I foolishly decided to contact Blakes ... yes I know! And with no surprise I got the expected disinterested half arsed reply. Unless you are handing over £2 - £3 thousand they have no interest. Supporting anyone who is game enough to maintain a Blakes / Taylors stove is of zero interest to them.

MY QUESTION
Dear Sir/Madam,
I am interested in buying replacement burners, which I know are now produced by Hanse. The burners in use at the moment are the four leg Portuguese (?) burners.
I do have a large collection of burner spare parts which I hope to be able to continue using as I replace the old burners with the new German burners, can you tell me if they are compatible?
Many thanks,
Gavin

THEIR ANSWER
"Hi Gavin
Thank you for your email
Some of the parts are compatible"

!!! - really?! Why did they even bother putting the HUGE amount of energy they clearly invested into replying? It would have been more use to me if they hadn't bothered.

Don't go near them! and any answers to make up for my failed attempt to get any advice from them gratefully received.
 
Absolutely love my Taylors 079D heater - a thing of wonderment if ever there was one.

Wish I could be as positive about the cost of their spares. I started a thread a while back based 'Marine Pricing Strategy'. It featured this lovely example:

Arcol HS50 Resistor (converts 24v to 12v) for Taylors stove with electric fuel pump.

Cost at SparesMarine.co.uk (main supplier of Taylors parts) = £21.55

http://www.sparesmarine.co.uk/websho...r-wh50-2r2/-3/


Cost at RS-online.com for IDENTICAL part = £3.86

http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/panel-...stors/0158317/
 
What’s the difference between a Baby Blake and a Lavac toilet? Price of Baby is thousands, Lavac £200+.

My last boat had a Lavac. I’d been used to Jabsco previously and didn’t like the Lavac at first, but got used to it. Now I have a Jabsco again and think it far inferior to the Lavac.
 
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Ruffles said:
It's easy to criticize high prices on premium brands. But don't forget that someone has invested in buying that brand on the basis of those high prices. They will have had to raise a lot of money which costs £££.
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So you feel they’re justified in selling a part for £20 that costs £4 elsewhere? Absolutely identical part.
 
fredrussell said:
So you feel they’re justified in selling a part for £20 that costs £4 elsewhere? Absolutely identical part.
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They can do what they like!

And to be fair, reading through the thread, a lot of people get a lot of enjoyment buying their products.

I'm still suffering from the physical and emotional scars from replacing the loo pipe on our Moody. I don't do loo servicing any more. When the new jabsco stops working I'll unplumb it, fit a new one and open a beer. I'll wash my hands first of course!
 
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