PICKMERE 40ft

In my previous post I mentioned the challenge of fitting out a 40-45ft narrowboat hull.

The Pickmere 40 by the Northwich Boat Company is a prime example of how well a couple can cruise the canals on a 40 footer. 

Technically it can accomodate 4, but I wouldn't want to try it. But two ?? It would be very comfortable indeed.

The website price of £45,995 includes a great list of inclusions making it ready to cruise, however, one may want for a few luxuries such as pump out loo, L-shape dinette, gas heater with towel rail and radiators or sine wave inverter for instance, which will add anothe £6-7K to the base price.

But for mid-length narrowboat comparison, the Pickmere is a great yard stick.

55ft Classic by ABC Boats

I can't say it more simply than "I love this hull". From every angle I love the way it looks. And there are many many photos available online. 

I've written about this hull before. The 45ft hull was well received at Crick last year. It is for sale at £27,500  (AUD $43,505) which means for 12 or more months this hull has not been sold .. or fit out for that matter.

Not being in England I can't check out  why this might be. Quality will not be an issue. The market is flat, but boats are being built and sold, just at a slowler rate.

A 45ft length creates a slight design challenge. The cabin length would be approx 31ft, allowing for the extra length the butty style stern requires. Length well spent in my opinion. I'll say more in a moment.

The narrowboat industry does very well at interior design for all lengths. I have been waiting for this hull to be fit out for some time to see what they do do .. if that makes sense.

Anywayyyyy ... I noticed on Apollo Duck that ABC Boats are selling this same hull with an extra 10ft ... making it a more conventional 55ft. The photo shows the 45ft hull , so a 55ft hull may be to order or in manufacture. At £20,594 (AUD $32,580) it looks good value. With a 40hp engine (extra 5hp on 45ft) and primed but not painted, blacked with 2 pack epoxy pitch ... and ... without the portholes and focsules, the cost of this boat will proportionately more expensive to complete. Being 22.22% longer ... expect it to cost 25% more to complete. 

Guessing it will take another £27.5K to fit-out the 45ft ... thennnn ... bringing it to the same level with windows and paint ... add the same again for fit-out ... and you will be just north of £65K (AUD $100K) for a great looking 55ft narrowboat with a professional fit out and a decent list of inclusions suiting liveaboard.

And the aft deck ... what makes this function so well ?? The set back tiller never gets in the way of crew and guests. Nobody needs to reposition themselves because of tiller usage.

There are two (unencumbered) seats either side of the cabin doors.

The two rear wooden seats (rails) integrate well to the functions of steering, aiding access on and off the boat and providing an ideal location for morse controls so that tiller and controls are not impeded at any time, thus making for very comfortable cruising for all concerned.

The cost of 2ft for the longer butty style pointy end ?? .... totally worth it !!

Stern Catacomb 1981 Pinball Machine

This is my fully restored Catacomb pinball (Reg #5702) which was made by Stern in 1981. I consider it one of the better playing machines of it's time. 

I bought it a few years ago in fair condition, requiring some attention to return it to a condition that appeals to serious collectors.

I have attended to all it's (rather minor) ills so that, it operates and plays extremely well (photos are a year or so old ... being prior to some repairs).

It's appearance is nice, with a clean and original cabinet and playfield, as well as a brand new (reproduction) backglass.

For appearance, I use a mix of incandescent and LED globes. The LED's are nice, bright and modern looking, however the warm glow of the old incandescent globes better illuminate some areas.

Overall though, it looks spectacular in a darkened room.

Photo taken before 4th Player display was replaced.

The beauty of this particular machine is it's great original condition.

To a collector of early Stern's, it is the hardest machine to find. And a Catacomb in this kind of condition is virtually impossible to find ANYWHERE in the world.

This is also the most visited page on this entire blog (about boats). So it draws a fair bit of internet attention.

Newly manufactured circuit boards (including a test board) are available. The new boards are technically superior to the boards manufactured 31 years ago.

If the time comes to replace anything, parts are available, though every effort has been made to retain it's originality.

The Pool Room

I get frequent offers ... but honestly, I'm not sure what value could entice me to part with it.

Ok .... that's it for now. Talk (blog) to you later.

MORGAN 3 WHEELER

Harley Davidson & the middle aged male

As you know, I love good design. I hope what is to come appeals to you in the same way. In fact, if your mid-life crisis is telling you to buy a Harley, consider this instead. I think it's way cooler and a much better buying decision.

This post is about my favourite petrol ... I was going to say car, but it is equally a motorbike, with 3 wheels. Let's just call it a vehicle.

What you are looking at is the new Morgan 3 Wheeler. Morgan first manufactured this 3 wheeler just over a century ago, back in the 1910's. Visually, the differences are few.

Unfortunately a price in Australia is not available because it still needs to meet aussie requirements for 3 wheeled vehicles. Expect it to be around $50k. If you live anywhere else in the world, you can line up to have yours made.

The Morgan Threewheeler is powered by a 1.8-litre S&S motorcycle engine (mounted at the front) with 75kW of power and teamed with a five-speed manual transmission from Mazda that sends power to the rear wheel. It accelerates from 0-60mph (0-96.6km/h) in 4.5 seconds and has a top speed of 185km/h.

In imperial terms it does 50mpg, which by my maths is 5.6lt/100km. So it's quite economical on fuel. The top speed is not record breaking, but more than ample to run up a (collective noun) of speeding fines. The real buzz about this car is accelaration more than top speed, which in a world of speed limits and speed cameras makes good sense.

If you watched the latest Top Gear on UK television last night, you would have seen that the guys liked it, performing all tests suprisingly well ... even the doughnut test.

James May pointed out it has a better power to weight ratio than a Bugatti Veyron, however Hammond said it's redeeming feature is that it's just so much fun to drive.

Coincidently, the redeeming feature of the 3 Wheeler in Fifth Gear's review is that it is so much fun to drive. Telling you something ??

Here is the current UK pricelist ... and it is quite good news ...

The Superdry version is a 200 run limited edition by the Japanese Superdry franchise. It is very nicely configured and presented. For those non-aussie buyers ... it's an extremely good choice for investment purposes. It will have Morgan collectability as well as Superdry collectability, which has a long and strong cult following.

LINKS:

The official global site for this vehicle is here. The UK Morgan site is here ... and the Australian Morgan site is here.

EYE CANDY: 

Pretty nice eh ! Here's hoping they come to Australia soon and I am cashed up at the time. The mid-life crisis goes without saying.

Since the dawn of time ....

From the earliest times man roamed the earth, clad in pelts and bearing tools of stone and wood ... and throughout all events that have transpired since, until this very point in time .... IF .... if mankind (and womankind) has learnt anything at all ...

... it would be that the ONLY civilised way to start any day is ... with an espresso coffee and a properly made croissant.

THE PROBLEM IS ...

I live in a great part of the world. In fact, if I knew of a better place, I'd probably live there.

Mandurah - looking south towards Bunbury / Margaret River

However, no-one in this region makes proper croissants. They are all bread rolls in a crescent shape and taste nothing like they should.

On the basis that life's too short ... ENOUGH IS ENOUGH !

So .... I am going to make a couple of dozen croissants (with 32 layers of butter) and I'll show the process and the results on this blog soon.

Stayed tuned ...

Single-handed cruising & Hybrid Propulsion Systems

Well … I admit it. I have spent a little time drooling over technical specs on the Hybrid Marine website. How sad is that. In fact, one of my first entries to this blog was of a boat powered by a hybrid system.

Any weights, Hybrid Marine's products have been good, if not a bit pricey. Though, over time, with attention to ongoing development, they are creating increasingly effective systems, making them a more astute buy. Also, proliferation has brought price reductions. They make widebeam & sea-going systems too.

What is a Hybrid Propulsion system ?

They can take many forms, but to Hybrid Marine, it is a diesel engine charging a bank of batteries to power and electric motor driving the prop. The diesel can also propel the boat if required. It requires a little more room to accommodate the electric motor and the accompanying bank of batteries.

The batteries work as house batteries too. And with a bow thruster fitted, the battery for that can be used as a spare if the house batteries are low.

The down side of battery banks is the initial cost, the space and weight. Weight relates to ballast, so is more a consideration than a cost.

Maintenance is also an issue and if not maintained correctly, may not live out their expected lives of about 10 years, pumping up the running costs/cost of ownership. 

Hybrid Marine provide good battery maintenance systems with increasingly better to understand monitoring systems for those that may not be the most knowledgeable as to how it all works, but becomes the end user (and owner) of the gear.

A bank of batteries may provide around 8 hours running time before requiring charging. Not bad eh.

So what does all this have to do with single-handed cruising ??

Well … I mentioned ongoing development at Hybrid Marine. And an item to accompany their systems is currently in prototype phase and hopefully available soon, which could re-write the manual on single handed cruising.

And that is a remote control, which in this day and age should not be rocket science. Though a very clever addition, particularly where locks are concerned.

Adding my two-bits ... twice

1.   If they are truly smart, the battery for the remote will be rechargeable by replacing it in a cradle on or around the control panel. I look forward to seeing it listed (with my free-to-use cradle idea) as an option soon. Let's see if they read this blog.

2.    With an onboard 12V mini-PC (also functioning as audio & video media centre) connected to a VPN via your marina's WiFi, Australian located (or located anywhere for that matter) boat owners could monitor their boat's power and security systems to alert by email, phone or SMS marina staff if any intervention or maintenance tasks are required, providing those sytems have a provision for PC monitoring.