Getting the keys on Monday :)

Nigelpickin

Nigelpickin

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Joined
12 Apr 2011
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Location
Falmouth
www.cornishcottageholidays.co.uk
After what seems like forever, we are finally having the handover on Monday of our brand new, very shiny, prestige 500s.
image.jpg
Its an upgrade/trade in from our 390s and bought through Ancasta, and I thought that I would start the thread and keep those who are interested up to date with the experience.
To date, and having bought 3 boats in the last 7 years through different suppliers, I would rate their service as excellent. Very joined up and 'can do' so happy FMPOV.
So if anyone has questions about the boat then let me know, the are proving extremely popular with over 200, (fly bridge and express cruisers combined), built in the two and a half years since launch....
And keep your fingers crossed for me re the weather as we plan to sail it back from Port Hamble to Falmouth on the 4th October.....
 
Congratulations! I saw (and visited) a 500 at SIBS this year. I like the styling and layout, but have never been out on one. Both the 450 and 500 look great though.
I'm sure you'll have many years of cruising pleasure on her.
 
Alwaysbyboat said:
Congratulations! I saw (and visited) a 500 at SIBS this year. I like the styling and layout, but have never been out on one. Both the 450 and 500 look great though.
I'm sure you'll have many years of cruising pleasure on her.
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Thanks, if past experience is anything to go by, will probably trade in for a bigger boat at the 2015 SIBS!
Seriously though, this has to be The One...
 
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Congratulations. Lovely looking piece of kit.

Best of luck on the 4th, but I assume you have some flexibility. We planned our journey from Swanwick to Torquay on one day end ended up overnighting at Poole as it was too rough to tackle Lyme Bay. Long range on yr.no for Torquay suggests quite strong SW winds on Friday, but calmer on Saturday and Sunday.
 
Andy Bav said:
Congratulations. Lovely looking piece of kit.

Best of luck on the 4th, but I assume you have some flexibility. We planned our journey from Swanwick to Torquay on one day end ended up overnighting at Poole as it was too rough to tackle Lyme Bay. Long range on yr.no for Torquay suggests quite strong SW winds on Friday, but calmer on Saturday and Sunday.
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Agreed, hoping to get three hours with the wind and tide on Friday, get as far as Portland but banking on having better weather and more time on Sat/Sun for the Lime Bay stretch...
Not had any significant time on the Solent so not sure what to expect...I guess there are a couple if good spots to pull in should it go pear shaped? Oh and renewing my seastart mbership tomorrow!!
 
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First time in the Solent and across Lyme Bay for us. We spent 4 days at Swanwick but had a Skipper at Cowes for a day who showed us around as well as close quarter manouevering ! And also P4Paul showes us some places also.

if you havent done the trip many times there is some good info on here that helped us. 3 areas we were wary of were before we set off were St Albans Head(a bit lumpy), Portland need to decide closen in or offshore (we did 10 miles out) and Lyme Bay (flat when we did it) but looking back, in the real rough stuff, the last buoy of the Needles Channel seemed miles away. Made even longer by a wide with mal de mer....

As with anything planning is key ... and if you do it right you will be OK and post the pictures to prove it.

Before we set off we had actually pre booked Poole and Weymouth as safety bolt holes and the Poole booking was our saviour..
 
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Many congrats lovely looking boat. Exciting times taking delivery and heading west.....enjoy :-)
 
she looks lovely lets hope we get some sun next year so you can use the bow sun shade....

hope the trip goes well, keep us posted with lots of pic
 
Nigelpickin said:
After what seems like forever, we are finally having the handover on Monday of our brand new, very shiny, prestige 500s.
View attachment 35584
Its an upgrade/trade in from our 390s and bought through Ancasta, and I thought that I would start the thread and keep those who are interested up to date with the experience.
To date, and having bought 3 boats in the last 7 years through different suppliers, I would rate their service as excellent. Very joined up and 'can do' so happy FMPOV.
So if anyone has questions about the boat then let me know, the are proving extremely popular with over 200, (fly bridge and express cruisers combined), built in the two and a half years since launch....
And keep your fingers crossed for me re the weather as we plan to sail it back from Port Hamble to Falmouth on the 4th October.....
Click to expand...

Well, so far, so very good.

We arrived at the Port Hamble Ancasta office, (following a night at The Royal Southern Yacht Club), and went straight into handover mode.
A very busy day including a couple of hours walking through the boats systems and features, detailed introductions to the Engine Room and Nav Gear and then a good blast out in the Solent.
First impressions of the boat are very strong, it looks fantastic and has been scrubbed and polished perfectly following its stint at SIBS. We were pleased to get a 2014 face lift boat as this means we benefit from a few new aesthetic touches and a couple of practical ones.

The Volvo and Raymarine reps were terrific and left us feeling both confident and comfortable to call on them for further support and Ancasta have been tremendous thus far, from the complementary jackets and bubbly to the 'can do' attitude regarding our requirements.

Following lunch we went on to run the boat up, Jezz from Ancasta, took the boat out from the berth and handed the helm over. We have come across from a boat with Mercruiser stern drives to these Volvo Pods and notwithstanding the fact they both utilise joystick control, they are like chalk and cheese.
From the way this 500s holds a steady course through river routine without the constant need to realign the wheel to the understated ease that it hoofs up onto the plan, this is a massive change for us. The boat is weighted wonderfully resulting in minimal use of the tabs, (even turning through solent cross winds), and an ability to plane at a far lower speed than our previous boats.

Noise level is unobtrusive and when we did manage to get the bow to whack down hard into the water I was delighted not to hear any creaks or vibrations from either hull or fittings.

Coming back into a relatively tight berth was seamless, again, the near amidships positioning of the legs meaning they vector and pivot with far fewer revs and thus more grace than stern drives. It will be interesting to see if we ever use the standard fit bow-thruster....

I could go on for ages, including a brief on how comfortable our first night on board was, our quick visit to Cowes Yacht Haven yesterday, the joy of having two heads and a laundry facility and just how great the guys from Ancasta have been but I fear this could become a little tiresome; suffice to say, we both have huge grins on our faces and are wishing away the hours until our voyage home to the west country this weekend.

Regards from Ann & Nigel
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Hi Nigel,

Saw you passing the Hamble fuel pontoon around 9 am this morning, and I must say your new boat looked fabulous! Hope the trip West went OK today, at least the weather was kind to you.

Cheers, Allan
 
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