Tim Spall and the orange harbour markers

Seahope said:
:D

I am struggling to understand his choice of craft though. If I ever get that opportunity then I would take a trawler yacht type with the best fuel economy I could find ;) Therefore, unlike MBM I would have selected the ST44 over the GB42.
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I doubt that money has much significance to him after the Harry Potter movies. His background is narrowboating & he was basically looking for a houseboat to take on short coastal hops. Naturally, that lead to the idea of a Dutch Barge style boat, so he commisioned a well known designer of Barge Yachts & had one built. I guess he didn't like the idea of sailing & thus ended up with something closer to a fat narrow boat than a pukka sailing barge.

Pity really, the trip would have been improved 200% if it had been a Sailing Barge, they are soooo photogenic.
 
Searush said:
I doubt that money has much significance to him after the Harry Potter movies. His background is narrowboating & he was basically looking for a houseboat to take on short coastal hops. Naturally, that lead to the idea of a Dutch Barge style boat, so he commisioned a well known designer of Barge Yachts & had one built. I guess he didn't like the idea of sailing & thus ended up with something closer to a fat narrow boat than a pukka sailing barge.

Pity really, the trip would have been improved 200% if it had been a Sailing Barge, they are soooo photogenic.
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Suppose he could have just bought Mucky Farter and glided round the country, without a hitch.

Mind, he'd have needed a dam good scipt writer and editor to follow MF's stories.
 
Searush - just to correct you, he did not have it built as he sought advice and bought the boat as it is a seagoing vessel and he had it converted.
 
Assassin said:
Searush - just to correct you, he did not have it built as he sought advice and bought the boat as it is a seagoing vessel and he had it converted.
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Converted to be less capable of seagoing???? :eek:

I actually suspect its problems may be linked to too little weight. IF it was oribginally a seagoing cargo vessel (rather than say a river based peniche) it must be carrying significantly less weight than it was designed to & a few tons of paving slabs under the floors may help a lot.

Still more like a houseboat than a suitable vessel for a UK circumnav.

Edit; Peter Nichols claims to have built it for them;

The FCN 54 that we built for Tim and Shane Spall which is featured in their TV series can be seen in this section - it is the blue boat, named Princess Matilda.
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One of you is wrong. What's your evidence?
 
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For Gords Sake......

Basically its Mr Spall doing what he wanted to do in the boat he wanted to do it in,doing it his way,with his wife aboard doing it with him.
You could substitute all the above with your personal preferences in boat/skipper/area/skill level,but as FAIAC,thats me out there with my average skill level,the sort of probably unsuitable boat I have and making the sort of mistakes I make.

To all the critics......OK.... Ace...off you go, put your money where your keyboard is and get going,will your other half be desperate to tag along on your adventure or just glad to see the back of you for bit.?

Let us know when it is on TV,we will all be watching.:)
 
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Spalls Circumnavigation

I think the strong and very usefull message that come's from the programme,you treat the sea with a great deal of respect,thing's go wrong on bright calm summer day's as well as dark winter one's ...and Tim Spalls petrified mariner approach is the right datum line to start with....I have been around boats since i was 6 years old and i am now 68 both at sea and on inland waterways..and i am still learning...even the very experienced professionals get it wrong sometimes...
 
What I can't understand is why the engine is so blimmin noisy. Surely on a boat of that size they could have properly insulated the engine room????
 
Engine noise

It is a steel vessel, and even with a good level of insulation they will always transmit the sound of machinery.The Navy have experimented with white noise to reduce the transmission of sound in warships for years.The other thing it might be direct drive without a reduction box so you will get 2200rpm..what he should have in there is a Gardner or Kelvin at 1200 rpm of better still a National Gas and Oil company engine at 600 rpm...oh happy days...:rolleyes:
 
duesouth68 said:
It is a steel vessel, and even with a good level of insulation they will always transmit the sound of machinery.The Navy have experimented with white noise to reduce the transmission of sound in warships for years.The other thing it might be direct drive without a reduction box so you will get 2200rpm..what he should have in there is a Gardner or Kelvin at 1200 rpm of better still a National Gas and Oil company engine at 600 rpm...oh happy days...:rolleyes:
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Linssen manage to make very quiet steel vessels with high revving diesels, so it can be done. I seem to recall they even build a steel box above the propellor and fill with sand to reduce prop noise.

To me, Princess Matilda sounds like she has the engine room door open at all times.....not a good advertisement for the designer or the builder.
 
Engine Noise

If you are comparing like for like Linssen is a luxury yacht builder..Princess Matilda would have cost a lot more
 
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duesouth68 said:
To me, Princess Matilda sounds like she has the engine room door open at all times.....not a good advertisement for the designer or the builder.

If you are comparing like for like Linssen is a luxury yacht builder..Princess Matilda would have cost a lot more
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Although I agree a Linssen is a lot more, I would still be very disappointed at spending >£200k on a boat that sounded like that.

To quote the site:

"You may feel the
word "Quality" is much overused
these days and often misapplied.

We would tend to agree. But this is
not the case with a Peter Nicholls
boat, which is a head & shoulders
above most other boats and which
will give years of lasting pleasure
and satisfaction."

Surely the whole point of slow motor cruising is that it isn't noisy??
 
Quite passage on Princess Matlida

Just to put the record straight..i am not critising the engine noise ...quote that was in the top of my posting which ends with "not a good advertisment for the designer or the builder" this is RB_Stretch is QUOTE not mine........:)



It is all about rpm, low rpm you do not have all the noise,and remember some of the shots in the programme he was punching the tide,so you will have to put a bit more power on...
 
It's a pity the BBC didn't see fit to support Jolly Olly with his recent circumnav (in a 20' Corribee?) to raise funds for Leukaemia Research. A more interesting project & a bigger challenge & a better reason for doing it. Olivers reason for the circumnav is almost the same as Tim's, he survived Leukaemia - but he wanted to pay something back to society rather than blow his own trumpet. he also did it from a position of have no money to start out with rather than a bank account full of Harry Potter Dollars.

Oliver Rofix's trip is 10x the acheivement of the Spalls.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy Tim's programmes, I just don't consider him more than he calls himself
an idiot mariner
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.
 
Searush said:
It's a pity the BBC didn't see fit to support Jolly Olly with his recent circumnav (in a 20' Corribee?) to raise funds for Leukaemia Research. A more interesting project & a bigger challenge & a better reason for doing it. Olivers reason for the circumnav is almost the same as Tim's, he survived Leukaemia - but he wanted to pay something back to society rather than blow his own trumpet. he also did it from a position of have no money to start out with rather than a bank account full of Harry Potter Dollars.

Oliver Rofix's trip is 10x the acheivement of the Spalls.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy Tim's programmes, I just don't consider him more than he calls himself .
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Albert,

Tim's programme is meant to be entertaining. If you do not find it so, then you have the option to turn off, or try another channel.

Oliver's achievement is massive, and I am full of admiration, but those in the BBC who make the programming decisions are probably not aware of Oliver, and are immensely aware of Tim Spall, and his audience pulling power.
 
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