The Boat.
It is a 2010 model put into charter this past March. Length 54’6”,Width 6’6”, draft 24”, Diesel (4 cylinder Bates Marine 42hp) 17” fixed prop, top speed around 6k, 2k when passing moored boats and going through bridges or into locks. Cruise is around 4k.
Navigation is simple with a book that shows points of interest, locks, bridges, etc…
Cost is around L90,000
Built of steel and very touchy to drive. One MUST pay attention or you get sideways quickly and are ramming the stone edge, a bridge or another boat. The hulls are built to not use fenders. Ours is quite scraped up and we added a couple of new ones. It is unavoidable unless you just stay in a marina. They just don’t turn real well.
We think it cost about L3000 to selfdrive charter for two weeks from UK Boat Hire in Anderton,England.
Below you will see photos of the interior working from the bow to the stern with a bit of captions.
From the bow
The Count showing the anchor in the bow. There is rode and chain too. Water hose and bow line.
Showing from the bow to the aft. Taken from the bow deck. The salon. Note pull out seat on starboard which allows facing seating for dinner.
Starboard stove top and counter
Port galley, double sink and drain basin over fridge.
Port side from galley towards stern. Gas oven and broiler and microwave.
Polly modeling her stateroom in center with escape door where her right hand is.
Forward wall of head, just aft of Polly’s stateroom. Techma electric head using fresh water.
Momentary switch on starboard wall outside the head, for pumping out shower basin after you get done. One is standing in ankle deep water when finished with a shower.
Shower basin in head. Note height of sill with the bath mat on it.
The Count and Countess’s stateroom just aft of head, looking forward.
Aft stateroom looking aft to cockpit. The battery meter (an analog with red, green graph and a needle) in upper right and the on/off for the hydronic heat.
Nice installation of inverter (2000 watt)
Taken from cockpit to aft stateroom.
The Countess with her tea. The tiller extension (30”) is removed every night so it won’t be nicked.
Note the rudder protection to keep it safe in the locks when you get shoved back and forth with the water coming in.
The view from the cockpit when entering the locks. Note the lack of extra width!
Make no mistake, if you rent one of these you will have a hoot! They are great fun and easy to drive if a bit of a beast for turning. We loved the central heat of the diesel powered radiator heat. It was needed every night for the last two weeks in September. The appliances were super, the settee was less comfortable than easy chairs that we saw on privately owned boats for evening leisure.
Our gremlins, as you will find on any boat, were confined to the TV power supply. It worked when it wanted to. So it goes. It was hit and miss with a 'dongle' from Vodafone for internet hooking up. The city was better than the country as it worked off the cellular system but was a LOT cheaper than what we find in British Columbia in Canada.
Shopping was easy with some nice Tesco stores right next to the canals. Others were a short walk away. Parking was easy and free. Water needed looking for each day but was easy and free too. The locks were well run with lots of friendly cruisers.
You can read about our cruise in the January postings on this blog.
Submitted by Count Enrico Alfredo Ferrari.
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