She's finally arrived!

dune16 said:
After a very long few months my new baby (Dufour 430 Grand Large) has finally arrived at the marina (Canet en roussillon) where she will be commissioned. More thoughts on her when I take her down to her home marina Burriananova in Spain on March 5th. Very excited!View attachment 85018View attachment 85019 in
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Wow, some serious high rollers on this forum - good luck with your new boat. Back to rubbing down in the rain ;-)
 
Its pretty easy to get the gel coat chipped when recovering the anchor on all these modern plumb bowed boats. I suggest you get a stainless steel protector made and fitted.
 
Tell us some more about your choice of home marina . Why there and is it pricey in that part of Spain compared to not so sunny Solent? Did you look at many other ports for your new home? Looks lovely . What extras have you added for Spain ?
 
ashtead said:
Tell us some more about your choice of home marina . Why there and is it pricey in that part of Spain compared to not so sunny Solent? Did you look at many other ports for your new home? Looks lovely . What extras have you added for Spain ?
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Burriana is great! Its 2400 euros for the tidgy old boat photographed above includes water and electricity and one free lift out.
 
dune16 said:
Yes, I'll consider adding that although I managed to avoid the issue on the previous boat and think the plates look a little unsightly;)
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Agree and they become even more unsightly when dented. Judicious lowering and raising the last few feet seems to work for me and occasionally I deploy the bow fender ahead of time if I'm concerned, which also helps if the chain rubs on the tide change
 
ashtead said:
Tell us some more about your choice of home marina . Why there and is it pricey in that part of Spain compared to not so sunny Solent? Did you look at many other ports for your new home? Looks lovely . What extras have you added for Spain ?
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I had previously visited a few marinas further down the coast but the cost was more than double. I haven't actually visited burriana but have been speaking with a few people about the place and done a lot of online research and think for the first season it ticks all the boxes as a good base. The cost for my boat is around 3600 euros per year all in so it's a good bit less than i was paying on the east coast (Suffolk yacht harbour). The climate was the main draw for us and with lots of low cost flight options getting there isn't bad. I ticked most options for this boat apart from aircon, we will just make do with fans and see how it goes ;)
 
Thanks for that dune . Currently working but on a 4 day week basis but with future plans in mind we had the idea of spending a week in Spain and looking at a few locations from land . We have Valencia in mind for example merely driven really by flights but open to any Spanish locations really as early days As just planning where to reccy really. The price certainly looks attractive to Solent eyes and we are about the same length at 12.8 so hence interest. Did you go for a genset ?
 
ashtead said:
Thanks for that dune . Currently working but on a 4 day week basis but with future plans in mind we had the idea of spending a week in Spain and looking at a few locations from land . We have Valencia in mind for example merely driven really by flights but open to any Spanish locations really as early days As just planning where to reccy really. The price certainly looks attractive to Solent eyes and we are about the same length at 12.8 so hence interest. Did you go for a genset ?
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No, we haven't gone with a generator. Initially we have 300w of solar to add and see how we get on with that, we aren't heavy power users (fridge being main concern)
 
ashtead said:
Thanks for that dune . Currently working but on a 4 day week basis but with future plans in mind we had the idea of spending a week in Spain and looking at a few locations from land . We have Valencia in mind for example merely driven really by flights but open to any Spanish locations really as early days As just planning where to reccy really. The price certainly looks attractive to Solent eyes and we are about the same length at 12.8 so hence interest. Did you go for a genset ?
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We chose Burriana rather than Valencia as our main base though we have 'weekended' there on occasion. Its difficult getting to Valencia marina by car and parking is an issue. We like to be able to get out into the country so Valencia is difficult. Valencia 'cafe culture' around marina is great in summer but tails off and no close supermarket. Burriana is a mix of working and tourists so open all year supermarkets and resturaunts 5 minutes walk.
We did go for the aircon option on Coral Wind and it is a bonus on hot still days!
 
Thanks to both . Yes lots to research for Spain eg boat food deliveries etc but hadn’t even thought of parking but good point . When in st MALO we just hire for a few days and park on site but certainly a point to check along with more marine aspects like fuelling . I have in mind to buy a pilot book for locality and also check out Airbnb offerings. I guess no one hasn’t written a guide to moving your boat to Spain ? Not how to get there but what to look out for ?
 
If anyone needs a boat contents moved anywhere around Europe I would highly recommend Anyvan service. I just had the entire contents of my old boat moved from Milton Keynes to Canet en rousillon. Arrived at my house on Wednesday and the items all arrived safely today. Cost was £330. Even if I'd done it myself it would of cost double that
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Well, March 5th arrived and myself and Dave (TangaraToo) did the handover and set off from Canet with forecast gusts of 35 knots. Advice from locals was the seas won't start really getting up for at least 12 hours and we should have been a long way down the coast by that point. Within a couple of hours we were experiencing gusts of up to 55 knots and very large seas..... this went on for around 16 hours, a real baptism of fire for us and the new boat! After much exhaustion / adventures we arrived at Burriana marina at around 4am. The next day or two were spent trying to find somewhere to eat (I think the Spanish knew the lockdown was coming and started shutting up shops and restaurants). We flew home last Wednesday tired but very happy we got the boat down safely to her new home. I was meant to be out there this week with my girlfriend but obviously those plans had to be cancelled. Who know's when we'll get out there next. Very strange times we're all living right now.

Stay safe all!

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