THOSE OF US WITH BOATS IN THE MED

Worked on the boat today and rewarded myself with a BigMac. On the surface it might seem like civilization has returned. But it was drivethru only and no cash (will this be the excuse to end cash?).
How long can we go on like this, everyone looking at you suspiciously and skirting around you, face masks long queues and empty streets.
We are social animals (well not all of us on this forum) after the Spanish flu we had some great dancing in the Roaring ‘20’s. Will it be like that, all of a sudden like it never happened?
A big mac, in France, the home haute cuisine, you heathen. You’re a disgrace to all mobo owners. Be gone with you :D
 
Well lets hope somebody opens the borders first to let Brits in!
This was the last line of the France 24 story
“Philippe also said French people will be allowed to depart for the summer holidays in July and August -- but only in France and its overseas departments.”
So, if that means the French can’t go to Britain does it mean the converse ?
 
What are people's views of how long you can store a boat without any issues. I have a Prestige 500 Fly I took from France to Monfalcone in Italy in September last year. My plan was to spend 4 months on her from June to October this year. As I am from South Africa and the borders are closed for what will be the next 4 months at least it is not going to happen until June 2021. (Assuming no reoccurrences of Covid which might well happen). The boat is stored on the hard in a shed and had the engines, pods and generator serviced and winterised after the trip. The shore power is plugged in every two weeks to charge the batteries.
 
What are people's views of how long you can store a boat without any issues. I have a Prestige 500 Fly I took from France to Monfalcone in Italy in September last year. My plan was to spend 4 months on her from June to October this year. As I am from South Africa and the borders are closed for what will be the next 4 months at least it is not going to happen until June 2021. (Assuming no reoccurrences of Covid which might well happen). The boat is stored on the hard in a shed and had the engines, pods and generator serviced and winterised after the trip. The shore power is plugged in every two weeks to charge the batteries.
Sounds like you have done everything by the book. So I would imagine that you could keep it on the hard indefinitely. Is there anyone there who would tell you if there is an emergency ?
 
Pods ! I would have thought the seals will dry out and become ineffective .
You won’t know until it’s dunked in and few hrs later milky oil on the dip stick ....if there is such a useful feature inside the boat for the drive oil ? Realise this may be different to the g box dip stick .

Apart from that there could be minor pumps impellers setting , - holding tank , toilet ,
Again seals in the Aircon and the reversing valve don’t like lack of use .

What you have done thus far feels ok .
Maybe turn the engines in N a few times before firing up to circulate oil .

Ideally full service + pod prop seals before it goes back especially as you require a 4 month breakdown free stint from the off .
 
What are people's views of how long you can store a boat without any issues. I have a Prestige 500 Fly I took from France to Monfalcone in Italy in September last year. My plan was to spend 4 months on her from June to October this year. As I am from South Africa and the borders are closed for what will be the next 4 months at least it is not going to happen until June 2021. (Assuming no reoccurrences of Covid which might well happen). The boat is stored on the hard in a shed and had the engines, pods and generator serviced and winterised after the trip. The shore power is plugged in every two weeks to charge the batteries.

Lots of dealer stock and brokerage boats sit on the hard for an awful lot longer than that. You've winterised everything and are keeping the batteries charged. You can't do any more. The grp certainly wont come to any harm. Just one minor tip. Check that all the overboard drains and vent pipes are clear before you relaunch because insects can make a home in them and fill them with debris to the point of blocking them if a boat isnt used for a long period in the Med

Btw you are not in Hannibal marina in Monfalcone by any chance? I used to winter my boat there when we were based in Croatia. I trusted the Italians a lot more than the Croatians to look after my boat
 
The trend is definitely moving in the right direction in the UK, lets hope there are no spikes to skew the data as we unlock,.

We should be in a much better place to assess the risk in 2-3 weeks time: according to my GP I am med-risk of complications should I contract C-19 but with sensible precautions, I feel the risk(s) can be mitigated; so I would be confident using the Chunnel/driving and would welcome the opportunity to quarantine on the boat and again on return to UK. We are conducting infrequent site visits and the Teams project meetings seem to be going very well... will no doubt continue under the 'New Normal' stages for many months to come...
C19adj1.jpg
 
yep, all online meeting/colab tools are used to the max. Finishing the semester with MSTeams, and 99.9% will also do the autumn semester without f2f teaching.
Spring 2021 and we'll think about it. Bear in mind Greece has 14deaths/million and you are at 495d/m and getting v.close to Italy (at 520d/m)

strange days...
 
Lots of dealer stock and brokerage boats sit on the hard for an awful lot longer than that. You've winterised everything and are keeping the batteries charged. You can't do any more. The grp certainly wont come to any harm. Just one minor tip. Check that all the overboard drains and vent pipes are clear before you relaunch because insects can make a home in them and fill them with debris to the point of blocking them if a boat isnt used for a long period in the Med

Btw you are not in Hannibal marina in Monfalcone by any chance? I used to winter my boat there when we were based in Croatia. I trusted the Italians a lot more than the Croatians to look after my boat
I am in Marina Lepanto
 
I am in Marina Lepanto
Ha! That's precisely where the bigger sisters of your boat (the MCY range) are built.
I never had the opportunity to visit that plant, but I know a chap who saw MANY of them, of different builders, both in and outside Italy, and he was impressed.
In your boots, whenever you'll be able to go there, I'd knock at their door and introduce myself as the proud owner of a Prestige 500 who is considering a MCY 66 as his next boat.
I would expect them to show you around the place a bit!
Very close also to the Hannibal Marina that Deleted User mentioned btw, particularly as the crow flies.

Back to the point, I also wouldn't be concerned about the long period out of the water. The only boats which are sensitive about it are those built in timber.
And the fact that she's sheltered is a big bonus for all the boat exterior, whose wear is more driven by sun exposure than anything else.
I would just add one winterisation-related suggestion, which is to ask the yard whether they sealed the air filters and the exhausts with some cellophane.
It's an old trick for restricting air from circulating inside any cylinder with an open valve, hence reducing the chance of moisture forming inside them.

Most yards in the Med don't bother doing that, because the temperature/humidity excursions are not so severe, in general.
But the N Adriatic is a bit of an exception, so I would expect from the yard a reply along the lines of "of course we did, why are you asking?".
And I would like/hope to get such answer. Otoh, if they should tell you that they don't consider it necessary, well, I wouldn't be shocked, but I'd be a bit disappointed to hear that from a Monfalcone yard.

That aside, in the only occasion when I had to keep my boat stored for more than 6 months, I also went to the yard and made a half turn manual rotation of the engines. But I'm a bit maniac, and to be honest I don't think any yard regardless of its location would agree with such request!

All the best anyhow for being able to enjoy your boat also sometime this season.
As of today, here in Italy there isn't yet (afaik) a planned date for allowing access from outside Schengen area, but I would expect at least a tentative date to be released soon.
 
Ha! That's precisely where the bigger sisters of your boat (the MCY range) are built.
I never had the opportunity to visit that plant, but I know a chap who saw MANY of them, of different builders, both in and outside Italy, and he was impressed.
In your boots, whenever you'll be able to go there, I'd knock at their door and introduce myself as the proud owner of a Prestige 500 who is considering a MCY 66 as his next boat.
I would expect them to show you around the place a bit!
Very close also to the Hannibal Marina that Deleted User mentioned btw, particularly as the crow flies.

Back to the point, I also wouldn't be concerned about the long period out of the water. The only boats which are sensitive about it are those built in timber.
And the fact that she's sheltered is a big bonus for all the boat exterior, whose wear is more driven by sun exposure than anything else.
I would just add one winterisation-related suggestion, which is to ask the yard whether they sealed the air filters and the exhausts with some cellophane.
It's an old trick for restricting air from circulating inside any cylinder with an open valve, hence reducing the chance of moisture forming inside them.

Most yards in the Med don't bother doing that, because the temperature/humidity excursions are not so severe, in general.
But the N Adriatic is a bit of an exception, so I would expect from the yard a reply along the lines of "of course we did, why are you asking?".
And I would like/hope to get such answer. Otoh, if they should tell you that they don't consider it necessary, well, I wouldn't be shocked, but I'd be a bit disappointed to hear that from a Monfalcone yard.

That aside, in the only occasion when I had to keep my boat stored for more than 6 months, I also went to the yard and made a half turn manual rotation of the engines. But I'm a bit maniac, and to be honest I don't think any yard regardless of its location would agree with such request!

All the best anyhow for being able to enjoy your boat also sometime this season.
As of today, here in Italy there isn't yet (afaik) a planned date for allowing access from outside Schengen area, but I would expect at least a tentative date to be released soon.
Thanks, yes I did see the MCY yard a few 100m away from Marina Lepanto. Unfortunately when we arrived the weather was bad and we were pushed for time so I did not get a chance to check them out. There were some stunning boats that had been launched and were at their dock. I will hopefully do that next time I am there. Thank you for your tips, I will follow up on those.
 
....Spring 2021 and we'll think about it. Bear in mind Greece has 14deaths/million and you are at 495d/m and getting v.close to Italy (at 520d/m)
strange days...

Strange days indeed. I agree, I reckon we are closer to 500d/m already and will exceed it. If we take the 2018 population in UK at say 66.4m and add say 0.6% growth/y, so in 2020 more likely 67.2m that we know of, with yesterdays figure at 33,164 deaths that equates to a neat 500 d/m..... every one a tragic loss to someone.

There are too many variables though to accurately compare data, that will be done much later down the line by the Infectious Diseases and Epidemiology (IDE) and Public Health (PH) statisticians.

Population density in the UK is surely a factor. I do also wonder if 'others' figures are as accurate as ours (National pride of course) and how many actually died of C-19, albeit I accept it could have tipped-the-balance and shortened the lives of the otherwise critically ill. Only time will tell and we need to be patient and hopefully not a patient.....

Mmmmm I reckon we will be in Spain late this summer, still reckon July-Optimistic, August-Realistic - the glass is still half(ish) full ;-)
 
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Quote yesterday evening from our chief negotiator Mr Frost after another virtual Zoom meeting with the other side .

“The EU continues to insist on fisheries arrangements and access to UK fishing waters in a way that is incompatible with our future status as an independent coastal state,” he added. Mr Frost described the EU’s proposals as “manifestly unbalanced and against the interests of the UK fishing industry”.

Not saying they are mixing Brexit with Covid 19 policy’s but I don’t believe in co incidences.

Turns out Fr s tourism % of it’s GDP is high .
 
Quote yesterday evening from our chief negotiator Mr Frost after another virtual Zoom meeting with the other side .

“The EU continues to insist on fisheries arrangements and access to UK fishing waters in a way that is incompatible with our future status as an independent coastal state,” he added. Mr Frost described the EU’s proposals as “manifestly unbalanced and against the interests of the UK fishing industry”.

Not saying they are mixing Brexit with Covid 19 policy’s but I don’t believe in co incidences.

Turns out Fr s tourism % of it’s GDP is high .
Frankly pathetic that this is all being politicised all over the place. the only losers are the people these politicians are supposed to represent. On a brighter note I took the rib down to the sea today. the MDL marina was in full operation, people were on their boats or enjoying sitting next to them for those on stands still, and no issues re distancing. People looked happy and everyone was smiling and being courteous to each other. Makes a mockery frankly of some of the nonsense and healthy for people to be out on the water again.
 
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