MaltaBob
New member
Bought the P360 from RYB Windsor 3 years ago and they agreed to get it to Malta. Finally it was decided the most cost effective route was truck to La Grand Motte in s.w.France and then motor down the med to our new base in the Grand Harbour, Valletta, Malta. This was done early in the year, April and the conditions were not ideal.
We arrived, myself from Malta and a pal from the UK and made our way to the agreed hotel that evening and found a note from the delivery skipper confirming the boats location and departure time of 5.30 am the following morning. Full of eager anticipation we trundled off the following morning down to the boat and said our hello's and off we went. The skipper was very emphatic that we did not need to do anything, he'd arranged 'everything'. Fair enough, and he made it very clear that his word was law. Again, fair enough.
However, whilst the boat had a VHF it did not work, my pal and I were not happy about this and it was agreed we could try to fix it - silver foil from a chocolate wrapper did the job as the fuse had blow and there was a dry joint at the back of the set. Sorted.
The weather was bl**dy awful, frequently lifting the stern out to the sound of two unhappy propellors! The weather continued pretty much like this for the next 8 days.
We had no flares, no life raft and only our trusty Avon dingy.
During the trip both compressor belts failed at different times thankfully, and numerous other repairs , which were listed in the survey and subsequently in the purchase process required on-route attention. When I challenged the skipper who worked full time for the company in a sales capacity, he simply said " we always pass on the info to the workshop, but they always let us down ".
My pal and I both jumped ship south of Naples, when it appeared the belt and alternator on the s/b engine had several days TLC heading their way. It was April , every where was deserted, and the trip had been longer than my friend had allowed for and he had other commitments back in the UK.
The radio produced some very interesting weather information, on one occassion F9 as we headed to Corsica. We got out of the way and changed course, credit to Bill the skipper, he was a bit of a cunning old fox and could handle a boat no doubt at all!
All in all, I do feel we should have been much better prepared, maybe we trusted his experience too much, but he was very insistant and said he would do every thing required.All we had to do was turn up. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
Well, we're alive to tell the tale , but what views do you have?
We arrived, myself from Malta and a pal from the UK and made our way to the agreed hotel that evening and found a note from the delivery skipper confirming the boats location and departure time of 5.30 am the following morning. Full of eager anticipation we trundled off the following morning down to the boat and said our hello's and off we went. The skipper was very emphatic that we did not need to do anything, he'd arranged 'everything'. Fair enough, and he made it very clear that his word was law. Again, fair enough.
However, whilst the boat had a VHF it did not work, my pal and I were not happy about this and it was agreed we could try to fix it - silver foil from a chocolate wrapper did the job as the fuse had blow and there was a dry joint at the back of the set. Sorted.
The weather was bl**dy awful, frequently lifting the stern out to the sound of two unhappy propellors! The weather continued pretty much like this for the next 8 days.
We had no flares, no life raft and only our trusty Avon dingy.
During the trip both compressor belts failed at different times thankfully, and numerous other repairs , which were listed in the survey and subsequently in the purchase process required on-route attention. When I challenged the skipper who worked full time for the company in a sales capacity, he simply said " we always pass on the info to the workshop, but they always let us down ".
My pal and I both jumped ship south of Naples, when it appeared the belt and alternator on the s/b engine had several days TLC heading their way. It was April , every where was deserted, and the trip had been longer than my friend had allowed for and he had other commitments back in the UK.
The radio produced some very interesting weather information, on one occassion F9 as we headed to Corsica. We got out of the way and changed course, credit to Bill the skipper, he was a bit of a cunning old fox and could handle a boat no doubt at all!
All in all, I do feel we should have been much better prepared, maybe we trusted his experience too much, but he was very insistant and said he would do every thing required.All we had to do was turn up. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
Well, we're alive to tell the tale , but what views do you have?
