Went for lunch and adopted a Casper

[Alicatt]

We went out for lunch today at the Waterkant in Kerkhoven on the way there we found the tarmacked canal path was blocked so we went over the canal bridge and up the other side of the canal where it was a rough stone track, we almost got to the next bridge to cross back to the other side where the restaurant is when the wife shouts to me "I like that one..." she had stopped and was pointing at a little canal/river boat with a burgundy canvas top on. I recognised it as it has come up on searches for boats a few times and I had mentioned it to my wife a month or two back and she had dismissed it.
We carried on and had lunch, a very nice Caesar's Salad and talked about the boat while I looked it up on my phone, we then left and could not see a way in to the yacht haven as the path was blocked, we cycled towards home as we got to the end of the road the Mrs says lets go back up the path to the haven and have a look.
The Haven: HOMEPAGE Yachtclub De Blauwe reiger




We cycled up to the club house where they had dug up the path to put in a new watermain and electricity to the club house, and asked about the boat, they guy there says "Wait and I'll get the owner, he lives just up the road"
We had a chat with the owner and he showed us around the boat and a little run on it, 2 cylinder MD7 Volvo Penta with shaft drive ran well and started on first turn of the key, for a 1984 boat it was in reasonable condition and the hull was recently antifouled, engine was recently serviced too, and had receipts for it all, the owner has a terminal disease and has not got too long to go, the tracheotomy scar is very visible on his throat. We talked money and made a deal he was happy with and we were more than happy with.
We now have our names down for the membership of the yacht club and the berth to take it over after we take possession of the boat.

The boat is a Waterland 750
Weight: 2 tonnes.
Depth: 0.50cm
Length: 7.20m
Width: 2.50 m
Brand : Waterland
Model : 750
Onboard: toilet, cooker, 100 litre water tank

 

[Greg2]

Congratulations!
Funnily enough SWMBO firmly dismissed a couple of our boats that some time later we ended up buying, including a Hardy 36, which was robustly kicked to the kerb several years ago as being ‘a blokes boat.’ She loves it now

 

[Sticky Fingers]

Congratulations! Who doesn’t love a new boat purchase!

 

[Alicatt]

Congratulations!
Funnily enough SWMBO firmly dismissed a couple of our boats that some time later we ended up buying, including a Hardy 36, which was robustly kicked to the kerb several years ago as being ‘a blokes boat.’ She loves it now

The first boat we looked at together was a Hardy Pilot 20, she liked it but not that one, she sat down on the cushion in the cabin and got a wet bum plus the smell of damp was very strong, there was a small gap in the rubber on the bottom if the window, plus there were a few things about it I wasn't happy about.
We both would still like a Hardy and the 25 would fit the bill here, but first some experience with this one to get some sea legs under my wife, it has taken 3 years since I first let her have the controls of the little hire boat we had in Friesland and she loved it to getting this boat, it was 7th Sept 2020 during a gap in the Covid regulations here to today

Edit: she is already planning out our first cruise, but first we go off on holiday to Scotland next week and boating there.

 

[Sticky Fingers]

Sounds good. Getting your wife on board (literally and figuratively) is pretty much essential IMHO

 

[cherod]

I nearly adopted a cat …
Walking back to the boat the other evening ( bit late ) feeling a bit lonely as wifey had had to get back hone ( work ) when hears this miaow miaow miaow on and on so i looks throo the perimeter / security fence to see a lovely little black cat ( if ever there is to be one ) miaowing away , not a happy miaow but a sad desperate miaow so i does miaow miaow back and eventually it stoped and come over to the fence , i thot this poor wee pussy is in distress and much as i hate cats i could not ignore this poor felines cry for help , cat on the catemran i thot no way but no i could not ignore , me thinks i am going to help this poor thing and walks back down the fence and up the other side ontent in helping my fellow creature on this earth , but no , no sign , it had gone , I still feel guilty for not trying harder and adopting this poor creature .

 

[Alicatt]

We were down at the boat today doing the paperwork for exchanging it into our names.
Looking at her she is different than the other Waterland 750s I have seen, the ones online have a rounded top to the cabin and small windows to the fore, ours has a flat-ish top to the cabin with a large opening hatch and large windows to the fore, looking at the Waterland 700 it has largeish windows to the fore but still the rounded top to the cabin plus the cabin is shorter than the one on our boat, the 700 has the galley to starboard and is a lot smaller than ours, and the helm is to port on the 700, and on the starboard side on the 750 where ours is.
Boats can be confusing, I have not seen any pics of a 750 with large windows to the fore when searching online, I did ask about it with the owner and he said it was like that when he bought it, it's different! There is plenty of head room inside at about 2m from the deck to the ceiling, seating in the galley for 4 and it converts to a bed - a short one at 1.87m, the bow berth is a a bit longer at 1.96m there are 3 steps down from the cockpit into the cabin with a cassette WC to your port hand and the galley then stretching from there, to the starboard is the dining table for 4 with cupboards and a hanging locker forward of them.

It's a birthday party for our grandson tonight, then tomorrow I take him VIP to the local airshow at the KB airbase, so Sunday before we can go out for a little shakedown cruise.

Oh and when I had handed over the money for the boat and signed the documents today, the ex owner got a phone call offering him above what he had advertised the boat for, I know we got a bargain but I gave him what he wanted for the boat, others are advertised at about €4k more than what I paid ( it was cheap!)

 

[Alicatt]

Some more pics:
Cabin


Helm


Open hatch in the cabin with fly screen


Edit: The cockpit is quite large, more than enough to get a good sized table an chairs in plus there is a bench seat along the transom, and lifting what I thought was the engine hatch turned out to be a large lazarette where the infill cushions are for the dining table, and with a load of space still left over it runs from the motor which is really under the bench seat and a bit further back, it seems to have a V-drive from the engine to the propellor which is stainless steel, I'm going to have to get my diving suit on and go give it a bit of a scrub underneath, she has a shallow V hull and while the engine is not powerful enough, ones with larger engines can get on the plane, it has a short keel to the stern with the shaft running through it and a reasonable sized rudder, the popeller and the rudder are protected by the short keel with the rudder has a pivot point on the keel extension. the bilge was dry when I looked yesterday and the interior was also dry without any smell of damp.

 

[Alicatt]

Short clip of our first outing on the canal from Leopoldsburg

 

[Alicatt]

The mystery deepens... On registering the boat it was originally registered as a 7.5m Falcon and that is all the info they have, the last two owners had it registered as a Waterland 700 which on examining the drawings of that boat it is definitely not a Waterland, they have a midships engine location where this is quite in the stern

Engine is behind the wooden panel in the lazerette

Anyone got a clue as to what she is?


Home Haven:

 

[Alicatt]

After the cancelation of the PB level 2 course last week we got re-booked for today and tomorrow.
It was nice and windy in Largs and we got to learn how to use the wind to our advantage while docking and manoeuvring in the marina, then a blast out to Big Cumbrae and in to the lee of the island to do some anchoring and MOB practice. My wife got to helm the boat quite a bit and she was loving it, when we went for a meal she said... We need a bigger boat! Somehow I don't think she will be satisfied pottering about on the canals, the grin she had on her face as we leapt from wave to wave at a stately 19kts was priceless

 

[dunedin]

After the cancelation of the PB level 2 course last week we got re-booked for today and tomorrow.
It was nice and windy in Largs and we got to learn how to use the wind to our advantage while docking and manoeuvring in the marina, then a blast out to Big Cumbrae and in to the lee of the island to do some anchoring and MOB practice. My wife got to helm the boat quite a bit and she was loving it, when we went for a meal she said... We need a bigger boat! Somehow I don't think she will be satisfied pottering about on the canals, the grin she had on her face as we leapt from wave to wave at a stately 19kts was priceless

Didn’t realise it was you - was on our boat at Largs yesterday wondering who was moving around in the breeze

Glad you enjoyed it. Fantastic location.

 

[Alicatt]

Just completed the course, all went well and I did the VHF SRC last week.
Seen a lot of movements and the docking was … a breeze …well it was today. Theory and navigation this morning and more practice this afternoon, the water was a lot calmer today

 

[Alicatt]

@zt260
Here is one for you:

 

[Alicatt]

Some pics of our days out on the water with Voyager 3 a Merry Fisher 725 While the morning of the second day it was blowing hard from the South West, by lunchtime it had really calmed down and the sea settled, great for doing our MOB drills, compared with the previous days force 5 that we were out in trying to pick up a mooring buoy

 

[TK Blue MAX]

@zt260
Here is one for you:

View attachment 164619View attachment 164621

Nice Sleeper looks like a opcon blower with a rebadged end cover

 

[zt260]

@zt260
Here is one for you:

View attachment 164619View attachment 164621

I used to own the top gear zt 260 bx04ydd years ago and I don't know how to change my profile name
That looks a nice car

Re gds Ash

 

[Alicatt]

Finally back home and got to the boat. Now for a deeper dive into what it is and has, I did wonder about the position of the engine and how close it is to the stern how would it get a shaft in that little distance, so it is a sail drive MD7 derivative.
At least the bilge is still dry even after the hammering we got with all that rain.
Need to replace all the soundproofing around the engine the stuff that was used is disintegrating as you touch it.

 

[Alicatt]

Nice Sleeper looks like a opcon blower with a rebadged end cover

Kenne Bell s/c they come as a kit from Canada and Dreadnought fit them, then a custom remap for the 4.6Mod motor engine to suit the UK/European fuel, gives 398hp and goes not bad for a Rover 75
This is one of the few that does not have a speed limiter on it, she will do a bit over 170mph