Fairline Brava, on the Thames.....any comments please.

oldgit

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Chum who has been looking to buy a boat for ages took me to look at a very clean Brava 36 over the weekend powered by 2 x KAD 42 volvos.Boat was originaly in Majorca so is fully loaded with A/C etc.The boat will almost exclusively be for use on the Thames so the engine size is not that important and he appreciates that Windsor will prob be his up river limit due to radar arch.Any comments on the boat most welcome and anything to watch out for.Something about valve servicing rings a bell.
PS.The seller has hinted that the marina where the boat is parked in will expect a slice of the selling price..........Why????
 

oldgit

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Assume that the thing to do is to leave the existing marina with old owner and actually complete the sale while "on route" and arrive at new marina complete with new owner
 

tillergirl

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The 'tradition of boat yards 'charging' or getting a fee was that a long time ago there were very few yacht brokers (this is before marinas) and a yard would give owners a hand by uncovering the boat (in winter) or beaching her for a survey and showing potential purchasers over the vessel. The fee, traditionally 1% I think, would be to compensate yard owners for this work for which they would otherwise be uncompensated. Marinas have highjacked the principle. Seller should pay. Don't you get conned into paying.
 

DoubleVision

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I agree totally with everyone on this thread. There is no damn way a marina should have the cheek to charge 1% for doing sweet fanny adams!!.
Regarding your question about the fitness of the boat for the use mentioned hmm--I owned a Brave in 1997/8 it was the first off the production line in 91. The Kamd 42 is a damn good engine providing it is used throughout its rev range. Bear in mind it is not only turbo charged but also supercharged--the latter coming in at 1500 to 2500 revs. For Thames use at 5 knots those engines will never get much above tickover unless you can get it downstream once in a while to blow the cobwebs out. They are a superb sea boats for their size and imho best used for coastal and channel hopping at planing speeds. They are very roomy inside and came in 2 layouts. Continental which had an open plan interior and the one I had which had an enormouse fwd cabin with island double ,twin bed guest cabin to port and enormouse heads and shower to stb. Build quality as you would expect from fairline is superb but they do tend to sit bow high at 24 knot cruising speed. Expect around 28 knots flat out but think about a pair of unturbo`d nanni`s for Thames use /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif
 

boatone

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Just a few cables from Boulters Lock
www.tmba.org.uk
I think anyone looking to be based almost exclusively on the Thames would be mad to restrict their upstream limit to Windsor and preclude visiting so many lovely places all the way up to Oxford.

Is it possible the radar arch could be modified (gas struts like mine?) to make it easy to lower and raise?
 

oldgit

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Airdraft...................

Thanks to all for taking the trouble to reply and the prospective owner is already making plans to hinge the radar arch.Anyone aware if it is a one piece item moulded to fly or does it bolt on in some fashion?
Most importantly does anybody know the airdraft as we need to get under Windsor Bridge on the way to its new home at Bray.
 
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