So what has gone wrong this year ?

[Portofino]

My boats a 2001 modal .
So I guess there’s age issues or was .
In the first season I preventatively had the yard replace the high pressure hoses on the gearboxes , all the black water hoses on the engines , all the sea cocks .
We also had a top spec discretionary air con system retro fitted by a specialist , along with a new modern smart charger up from 40Ah to 80 Ah .
A new cockpit fridge , just because wife wanted a new look as the functioning of the existing one was fine it was grubby inside .
The thinking behind all this seemingly expense came from the fact buying used you obviously save and I bought it a huge discount so in a man maths , more like real maths we had a huge war chest to spend .
So cost was not the problem as it came out of the buying pot , there was a fair bit left after I homed in it .
Second reason is that we start with new kit , like a new boat in terms of our expected uneventfully usage.
That’s been the case .
Thirdly in a seamanship kind of way and looking over my shoulder at a potential insurance refute battle I just thought new hoses and seacocks were in order with the paperwork to support should it be needed ?

I’ve probably save £500 to £600,000 buying a used and fettling it over its nearest newer modal in the range .
I came with 1 year old covers and they are holding up well .
The seats in the cockpit are coming up for reupholstering in the next couple of years . No rush just mentally thinking with what ??
I,am on my 5 th season now .
Mechanically we do all our own service work and it’s never let me down been a show stopper it’s Uber reliable .

Sure it’s had minor self fix items over the 5 years , a toilet pump impeller , a new tv Ariel , a new GPS mushroom, new water pump on the geny etc .All about €100 or so each .
But a Jrudge says I enjoy doing that kinda stuff , the Dx , the hunt for a solution , a windy day in port fixing it .

 

[pks1702]

I refuse to get distracted by Bouba's Sump Pump!

This year the battery charger decided to go AWOL and not sense when batteries were charged so carried on, and on, and on unbeknown to me. It manifested itself when off shore power and we could not start the engines. Charger was around 8 years old.

New charger - starter batteries and genny battery :disgust:

 

[kashurst]

With regard to the Radar, I assume it is Raymarine open array - there is a power switch on the back of the base unit - mine often gets turned off when the boat is cleaned. Worth a try before you take it apart.

Andrew

re re the radar; if its a big raymarine open array it is belt driven. I had one get stuck (never used it just tested it once a year)
opened it up, inside there are two belts that run to and from an intermediate shaft. The intermediate shaft runs in bushes and on mine the steel shaft went rusty and jammed up. Take belts off and spray bushes with penetrating oil, whilst gently trying to rotate the shaft freed it off.

 

[Portofino]

On a light aircraft all hoses a changed every 10 years. My boat is 14 years old ..... so someone who made that decision knows what they are talking about. My winter list .... replace the hoses !

Yes I feel many on here never really think about the black hoses in the ER .
Guess there’s a preoccupation with generally keeping running costs down and adopt a sticking plaster attitude - fix it when or if it ever fails . Unbroken stuff just drops to the bottom of a never ending broken list on a boat , I can see that .

Coming from a Italian exotic classic and new car background it’s very much the other way .
Although outwardly there’s nothing wrong , the car runs / works etc lads do winter revisions of all sorts of systems .
Replacing water pipes , air con pipes due to gas leakage , brake pipes , fuel pipes etc etc .
Obviously a split water hose or union under the car ( mid engine to front rads ) is roadside show stopper and flat bed ride home .
You need AC there’s tremendous heat soak from moving water and oil about .
Brake pipes break down from the INSIDE with time and the pressure drops = loose effectiveness.
Fuel pipes run all over the place in a twin tank mid engined quad carbed engine compartment .If they leak = fire .

So all that above is life’d effectively on a rolling program of change out .
Why not on a boat ?? ( where applicable)

Last winter I changed all the suspension A arm bushes , drop link bushes , shock bushes .Rubber deteriorates now it handles pin sharp .It was fine before I just fancied a firmer sharper control for rallying in the Alps for obvious reasons = steep drops off the edges of passes .

Chucking money at this kinda car is offsetting unlike a boat by its continued rise in value , so by discretionary spending on something that not broke it helps keep the values up .Sort of looking after the investment.

You boat is just a huge money pit , you never will get it back so to speak m just the usage of the fixed item .

 

[Coustea1]

Outdrive oil seal leak...and BIG rosé leak in the fridge as even the bottles seem to disappear. Other than that just fun...

 

[Hurricane]

Hardly anything....

Yea Yea Yea

 

[Momac]

All boats seem to have faults waiting to be discovered, or at least faults under development.
At the weekend I found a bolt and spacer which had fallen off the engine. Both are damaged. Fortunately it looks like the replacements are inexpensive.
My domestic batteries appear to be in need of replacement.
Otherwise nothing life threatening although there is always something to do.

 

[kashurst]

whats broken this year?
so far touch wood etc, nothing.

we haven't got a tender at the moment so no outboard motor to curse and swear at.

Well I say nothing, I had forgotten about the duff float switch in the shower pump out box that died last autumn. I discovered the other day that the forward bilge pump has been doing the honours instead. I will be fitting a whale gulper and a manual switch shortly. In the mean time the forward bilge smells vaguely of strawberries.

 

[Whitelighter]

Yea Yea Yea

I wondered how long it would take.

I guessed less than 4 pages....

 

[petem]

Come on Jez, spill the beans!

 

[NGM]

hi guys, is there a common denominator here? Age? or maybe not? Can you guys share the age of your boat ? Im a newbie, and im finding it hard to digest that a newish boat but we as problamatic as and old one, yet maybe it is.so how old are your boats guys?

We have a 2018 boat and are in our second season. We had an initial snagging list, the most major was a sticking thermostat (30 mins to replace by engineer) all else minor, adjusting cupboads, small shower leak etc.
Since then we have had no issues (jinx now in place !!).
Components on new boats can malfunction but you are obviously not going to have any wear and tear issues for some time.

We did however catch a lazyline at a visiting marina which was by far the most stressful 90 mins of my boating career.

 

[oldgit]

not admitting anything......... but which genius at Princess put the water tank filler right next to the diesel tank filler ?

 

[MapisM]

J. you do understand that you're pushing your luck with a post like that mid season, right?

Positively +1.
I can't wait for Aug to come to an end, and the hoi polloi (including some with their superyachts!) to return to their busy lives.
Sep and Oct are THE boating season, imho.
So, ask again in Nov!

Meanwhile, I see that floating switch failures are always a popular subject, so I will reiterate this previous post.
A clear cut case of industrial equipment being MUCH more reliable than anything with "nautical" on its label! :encouragement:

 

[petem]

Perhaps when you are next on the boat you could be kind enough to take a pic. I am thoroughly fed up with these bloody things. Thanks

You're in luck, I've found a pic.

This is what I have. It's been utterly reliable (touch wood) and hasn't even clogged up....

https://www.jabscoshop.com/marine/p...er-sump-pumps/98a-rule-shower-sump-system.htm

I've no idea what was there before.

Pete

 

[Bouba]

We did however catch a lazyline at a visiting marina which was by far the most stressful 90 mins of my boating career.

That usually means sending in a diver. How did you get free?

 

[NGM]

That usually means sending in a diver. How did you get free?

Yep eventually a diver to free it.

We caught the lazy line and also the ground line, the lazy line sliced so we didn't notice the snag until we had turned out of the berth, then off course we were stuck with no power and drifting. After what seemed a lifetime of fendering off and lines attached everywhere we got the diver and pulled ourselves back to the berth. Luckily it was loosely wound and no apparent issues, we'll get thoroughly checked next lift.

We're so careful with the lines and couldn't believe we had caught one until later when I realised the issue. The regular berth holder had taken the slack from the lazy line and tied it to one of the round fenders protecting the berth wall. I can inly presume he got fed up pulling up excessive length of dirty lazy line so he adjusted it according to his boat. Our gear was obviously lower and we snagged - my fault for not checking the line wasn't dropping vertically from the dock. Lesson learnt !
The marina tried to hit us with a meaningful bill for repairs to the ground lines until we showed them the set up - we settled on paying for the line only, plus of course the diver.

 

[petem]

We managed to snag a ground line last year - a great start to our Med mooring experience. Marineros sped round with their dinghy to hold us still whilst I lifted the leg and unwrapped it.

No damage other than to my pride!

 

[Bouba]

We managed to snag a ground line last year - a great start to our Med mooring experience. Marineros sped round with their dinghy to hold us still whilst I lifted the leg and unwrapped it.

No damage other than to my pride!

Funny enough, in the millions of threads on how evil stern drives are, it’s rarely mentioned how grateful you are when the prop becomes entangled

 

[petem]

Funny enough, in the millions of threads on how evil stern drives are, it’s rarely mentioned how grateful you are when the prop becomes entangled

Bouba, I take it you've had a similar experience?

In my case, it was a pretty chunky rope and I was manoeuvring on tickover so it just stalled the engine. Naturally a crowd of onlookers soon gathered.

I lifted the drive and it was pretty easy to untangle it from the props (lying on the bathing platform). Checked that the props were turning freely, which they were, gave the crowd the thumbs up, let the marineros push me into the berth and opened a beer.

 

[Bouba]

Bouba, I take it you've had a similar experience?

In my case, it was a pretty chunky rope and I was manoeuvring on tickover so it just stalled the engine. Naturally a crowd of onlookers soon gathered.

I lifted the drive and it was pretty easy to untangle it from the props (lying on the bathing platform). Checked that the props were turning freely, which they were, gave the crowd the thumbs up, let the marineros push me into the berth and opened a beer.

No, but I’ve seen it often enough! However once I was maneuvering into a tricky dock and made a balls up so I thought I’d just go out and try again. But I didn’t realize that I was trailing my mooring line in the water. Somebody shouted a warning just as my prop ate the line. Luckily it was an outboard and I raised it and removed the line without fuss. Otherwise I would have been adrift in a very busy port.