Is washing the boat a Bad Thing?

[Guest]

I am hypothesising that washing boats with water *a bit* is OK to remove the salt, but very bad with large volumes of water, because all the minerals in all the tons of water abrade the surface. Of course, I have no evidence at all, yet.

So I need to conduct experiments comprising boiling down a big pan of water, brushing out the whitish remains, and then multiplying this up to find out how many kilos of rocks are lashed at the boat in (say) a minute or ten minutes. Has er any sad git yet done this, or have information?

This has nothing to do with last years's very successful season of experiments where we all proved the benefits of drinking beer in moderate quantities throughout the course of the day.

 

[Guest]

Not on the subject

What is the size of your leopard I've always admired the boats i have only seen one for sale they were asking £400,000 but I've always admired the boats they produce.Are you still berthing it in La Napoule?I've been there once when we sheltered from a storm but did'nt really get a look around.I dread to think what your journey was like towards St Tropez it had been blowing a mistral the whole week. I hope you enjoy your last summer with the 48 we are in Grimaud with a Sunseeker 43 but are looking at the Superhawk 48 mk2 with triple petrols but god they are expensive. All the best Your unknown friend The Captain

 

[Guest]

Re: Not on the subject

Fame at last, I have a personal stalker! Not a very discreet stalker with a sunseeker 43, and less so with a 48 with three petrol engines. Perhaps I am the first nobody to be stalked by a well-known famous person, who is being secretive about his name.

Anyway, it's a leopard sport 23, but not only is it not axshully mine yet, it isn't even a quite yet a boat.

 

[Guest]

Re: Gelcoat nearly worn right through

The Leopard sounds fantastic. Hey even if they wont take a T48 in p/ex, surely a 456 would interest them (though maybe the helm and throttles are the wrong side? )

Anyway, on the subject, yes I've worried about this. I dont have hard evidence yet but for the past few seasons we've pelted around at 23-25 knots (pah! such snailpace says prospective Leopard owner) and then I heard recently that the solent wanter has salt in it which is an abrasive mineral so for the time being I've restricted the boat to 12 knots to avoid further wear on the gelcoat.

If you get any info please post it. Meantime I think the best immediate plan is to re-run last season's experiments (the data was a bit dodgy anyway) only with a lot more curry, provided Haydn gives it the OK

 

[Guest]

Re: Vicarious posh boating

Anyway what was this force 8 storm you had to bash through last week in the Med? How did you get on?

And the Fr rozzers on the trip down, manage to avoid em' or out-run them?

My sailing has been dull of late except I went to Cherbourg for a day trip in a force 2 on Saturday, hence these questions to try to experience a bit of vicarious exotic boating (or yachting as you will be calling it from next season. Come to think of it, you'll be dropping off this BB and switching to Boat International now I guess?)

 

[Guest]

Matt, I agree wholeheartedly with you that there is good reason not to wash the boat. Apart from damage to the boat, there is the repetitive strain injury risk from all that polishing. And I've heard that Jif (or is it Cif now?) is about the most likely domestic cleaner to induce terminal lethargy in males (something to do with our hormones). I think this is why cleaning in general is widely regarded as women's work!

On the other hand, my wife has work colleagues up from England this week and we are taking them out one evening. "Get down to that boat and make sure its clean and does'nt embarrass me" I did do so as the risk of injury from her was greater than that from the Jif!

Nick

 

[Guest]

You mean you don\'t use Perrier in SofF? nm

nm

 

[Guest]

I only use the bottled water that most people use to top up their batteries - no extra minerals in this just good pure water. The only problem I now have is that my water bill is now twice my fuel bill and I have a huge pile of empty plastic bottles - however if anyone needs small cheap fenders.............

 

[Guest]

Re: French trip - reporting back to jfm

Motorway-wise no problems, downwards at night 8hours, back up near 11.

Don't think there is a Boat intl forum is there? All sorts of how do I clean carerra marble questions I wd imagine.

The storm force 8 in SoF is not at all like in UK. It goes like this:

1. Look at weather forecast. It says VRB2 Ligure, Est Provence 7-9. But it's calm now. The border of the two regions is where we are, as usual. So we must be in Ligure. Although that means we're using the forecast as a regional positioning system, rather than as a forecast. Agree with wife that Grand Frais and Coup de Vent probably doesn't mean Large Strawberry and Ice Cream Sundae.

2. Set off. Cloudless sky, no strawberries. See sailing race in distance. Prepare to alter course. One minute later realise it's a ton of wind starting up and coming at us, not a load of sailboats.

3. Cloudless sky continues, but horizontal spray across entire boat. Consider putting call out on ch 16, but feel a nitwit as we aren't really in trouble. Decide to make for st Tropez bay. Sea nearly flat. It's that bloke with a wind machine again. Consider ramming boat up beach now it's a Part-ex, teeh hee. But beaches full of people. Find nutcase bloke in the middle of St T bay with a sort of bicycle pedallable floating thing, going across the bay in force 8-9. Circle to see if he is okay. He waves us away, annoyed at the attention.

4. Drive into St T at some speed, all fender on one side. Harbour people bit amazed to see us doing family boating. Loads of sightseers.

5. In contrast with summer months, the bloke with the wind machine forgets to turn it off at night. In summer, it switches off a 7pm sharp.

6. That evening, kids come back from HM office with what looks like April Fool weather forecast, all 8-10. Read it in disbelief, wondering if it's knots, but it is Beaufort. Free lunch stop turns into 3 day stay.

 

[Guest]

Re: good idea! nm

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[Guest]

Re: women\'s work

No, it can't be the jif, otherwise they'd buy something else. A good crew play to its strengths. So I lift the heavy drinks. Meanwhile wifey does the cleaning and cooking because with smaller feet she can get nearer the sink! And she is shorter anyway so it's easier for her to clean the floo.. OUCH!

 

[Guest]

Re: Ooer it\'s Inspector Coliholic.

Ahem well the boat mostly works in readiness for your impending visit. You will have to call to advise of arrival times, and to impress the riff-raff at Luton.

Note to others: I am returning the compliment to Colin, and he is due to come down to the boat for a few days. Of course, as anyone would, I was a concerned to make it nice and shipshape over Easter. However, instead of doing any work, I have simply orgainsed it as a p-ex at end august, so that's the end of cleaning and worrying as all the bits stop working this year, and we can have a nice relax emptying the contents of the coolbox.

I will also be introducing him to the important differences between UK boating and SoF med boating. UK boating concerns itself with navigation, diesel maintenance, electrical faultfinding and suchlike. Med boating involves driving over there, yeah, miss the cliff by just a bit as it's 50m deep everywhere, booking ahead for lunch, and spending 150 quid at the fuel pontoon - no, not on diesel, which is MUCH more than that - but on a 200Amp special shorepower adapter which is what you need in this marina, but only on this pontoon. More on this later, I imagine.