What?, you've got a gin palace?

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Simon391088

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What?, you've got a gin palace? (Question I get asked!)

Hi,

So I've had my SC35 for just over a year....

During the course of my work I meet a lot of new people ....

Unsurprisingly I often talk about boating....

The conversation usually goes like this....

Me - "I have a boat on the south coast"
"Really? That sounds good - where do you go in it"
Me - "Usually around the Solent, but this year I want to go to France"
"How long will it take to get there"
Me - "Not long maybe 3 hours"
Other person looks thoughtful and confused
Me - "It's got engines, it's not a sailing boat"
Other person looks bemused and then almost offended like I have let down humanity in some way
"What? - you've got a gin palace?"

This is a slight conversation breaker - it's as if there is some unwritten rule which states that you have to be blown across the sea.
I suspect that this is a conversation regularly encountered by many forumites...

My question is - What's the answer?!

Simon
 
Last edited:
Simon391088 said:
Hi,

So I've had my SC35 for just over a year....

During the course of my work I meet a lot of new people ....

Unsurprisingly I often talk about boating....

The conversation usually goes like this....

Me - "I have a boat on the south coast"
"Really? That sounds good - where do you go in it"
Me - "Usually around the Solent, but this year I want to go to France"
"How long will it take to get there"
Me - "Not long maybe 3 hours"
Other person looks thoughtful and confused
Me - "It's got engines, it's not a sailing boat"
Other person looks bemused and then almost offended like I have let down humanity in some way
"What? - you've got a gin palace?"

This is a slight conversation breaker - it's as if there is some unwritten rule which states that you have to be blown across the sea.
I suspect that this is a conversation regularly encountered by many forumites...

My question is - What's the answer?!

Simon
Click to expand...

You tip your hand too soon and are missing out.

It goes like this - you meet them in the bar and offer a drink on your boat. Don't spill the beans with the 3 hours bit, just talk about boats or whatever.

They arrive. The woman looks surprised. The man looks disgusted. She steps aboard and takes a seat. He stabs the bathing platform with his shoe to test it for contamination.

He finally gets aboard and sits rigid. You offer them cold drinks with ice. She is relaxed in your sumtuous cockpit seating, looking all around with a smile. He's sat upright trying to be polite.

Then - the best bit. She says, "this is nice darling we should get one of these"

I know you have to clean his drink off the cushions and the floor when he spat it out. But it's worth it :D
 
I've got a 25' fast fishing boat, I built it myself to a very high spec, plenty of teak, stainless, smart grey trim etc, fitted a nice electronics package, hot water, heating etc, etc....

Whenever I mention I've got a boat, usually to colleagues or customers, the first thing they ask is 'what sort of boat do you have?' When I reply, it's a fishing boat, you can see the imaginary bubble appear above their head with an old green, wooden plodder puffing out smoke and stinking of fish... It then takes an age to explain that is actually does 36 knots and is more power boat / cruiser than plodder!

If I try and call it anything else, they then ask if its a speedboat or a gin palace.....
 
I keep my mobo ownership under my hat. It's my dirty secret. If folk display a knowledge or interest of things nautical or mechanical I might drop a hint about my six hundred horses under the saloon floor.
 
Is this us and them a Brit thing? When I'm swanning around I get as much interest from yotties as I do from other mobo's (probably cos they're amazed it floats). The only time I've run into genuine snobbery is from the Brits. The French, Dutch, Germans, Russians etc are no problem. Could it be a disease? Is it catching?
 
"In the 20th century, the term gin palace came to be used for large ostentatious pleasure craft"

Large? Definitely not.
Ostentatious? Didn't he shoot his girlfriend, thinking she was an intruder?
 
The comments we have had is your boat looks great you must be rich!
What do you say to that when they are living in a house worth Several hundred thousand pounds!
Each to their own!
 
First question is normally... 'Do you sleep on it?'
Er yes, big kingsize double (Front V berth is pretty much kept made up)

Isn't it cold?
No, don't you have heating at home?... so why not on the boat.

Cue, thoughtful silence
 
Great replies!

I think the underlying theme is that they probably won't understand and I should probably keep my boating habit to myself :)

On a different note, I expected everyone I ever mention it to to want to have a trip round the solent etc. However a surprisingly large number of people seem to not exactly jump at the chance! Seasickness, fear etc!

Simon
 
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