Ever since I last got to wet a line from the boat in September 2021 it’s been spend spend spend. Bung On Another Thousand has never been more true, so far we’re up to £3500 and with everything crossed, touching wood we should be done.
Whilst there’s been a few improvements there’s also been a lot of maintenance stuff that just had to be done. Engine service plus a few extra bits that needed replacing came in at around a grand. Boat lifts in and out £320. A full set of anodes £125 (this may go up yet, I think the threads on the prop nut that secure the prop anode have worn and it may drop off, another £100 if I need to replace that nut + anode again, not to mention the lift out/in). Antifoul which is a massive pain in the ass to get delivered to the Isle of Man so we are right royally shafted on price (a lovely 40% Manx Premium) comes in at around £160-£180. Then for each day the boat is being lifted I lose a days pay, you can be one of those people that just rocks up does your own boat and buggers off but generally most people appreciate that it’s a multi person job and so stick around to help each other out, to be honest there are worse things to be doing on a nice day. Which brings me on to labour, when it comes to engines I always pay. If my boat breaks down I can’t get out and walk home, I will happily service my car engine, not a chance with the boat. It’s done every year religiously no matter how many hours I put on it. Things can still go wrong but at least I know I’ve given myself the best chance. Cleaning, polishing and painting is slightly different. It cost me £550 this time around to have the hull polished, painted and the whole boat brought up to standard. There are a couple of points here. 1. It had never been out of the water for 4 years so was grotty as hell. 2. It’s not cost effective for me to do it myself for the amount of time it would take. 3. Organising the crane was all very last minute with a very short window to get work done and I was in Liverpool on the piss for a lot of that time 4. I get bored cleaning really quickly and wouldn’t do half as good a job as somebody doing it professionally. Now it’s been done I’ll keep on top of it this year and see how things are next time the boat is out of the water, like I said the last antifoul was on for 4 years so was well gone. Having the hull cut and polished should not need to be an annual thing at all.
That’s all the boring stuff out of the way. You can’t own a boat and not like gadgets so the secondary fishfinder has been upgraded this year, now sporting a Lowrance Elite FS which should give me better thru-hull penetration…and also allow me to use the full set of charts I created back when I had Kirsty II. The second improvement is the big one, the big sticky out radar arch and mast has gone to be replaced with a low profile scanstrut model. I forgot how much it cost, I’ve tried to blank it from my mind FFS!! BUT it should allow me to now creep under the bridge at Peel when the flapgate drops, that’s the plan anyway, guess I’ll find out today.
So all being well for my money I should have a boat that is more reliable, goes 7-8 mph faster across the cruise-WOT rev range, can fit under the bridge at Peel and can use my detailed charts. Fingers crossed. A mere bargain at around £3500. Now there’s just a simple matter of keeping it fueled whilst it burns through dinosaurs at a rate of around 1 litre per mile…and the fuel additives…and the oil etc etc etc Just keep this in mind next time you’re moaning about Casey J charters upping their prices this year! 😉
ps Just because I know that somebody is going to ask the boat stands come in at a mere £600’ish for the set.