Cropredy Marina for Shared Ownership Boats

[Simon (Hawksmoor)]

We are considering moving our home base to Cropredy Marina this winter.

Looking for feedback from other shared boats, especially on the Maintenance, Engine Servicing, and Turnaround Day Trouble Fixing facilities offered by (I believe) Tooleys Boatyard.

[Athy]

They have diesel, gas and water available, but no maintenance or workshop facilities on site as far as I'm aware. When we, who moor in the village, approached them a few years ago to fix a problem, they gave us the number of a local independent fellow who was so curmudgeonly on the phone that we went elsewhere. They may have formed an alliance with Tooley's since then, I don't know.

[cuthound]

5 hours ago, Simon (Hawksmoor) said:

We are considering moving our home base to Cropredy Marina this winter.

Looking for feedback from other shared boats, especially on the Maintenance, Engine Servicing, and Turnaround Day Trouble Fixing facilities offered by (I believe) Tooleys Boatyard.

 

I had shares in boats for over twenty years.

 

Whenever we chose a marina or boatyard that wasn't a hire base we experienced delays, poor workmanship and on occasion a boat unable to go out because a simple repair hadn't been undertaken.

 

After three of these experiences I always insisted we chose a boatyard with a hire operation. That way you know they are used to undertaking all manner of work in a short time to get the boats out or they lose money.

[Cheshire cat]

We tried to get on to Cropredy Marina seven or eight years ago with our shared boat and they told us they didn't want shared boats. Obviously, things may have changed. 

[Simon (Hawksmoor)]

Here is a reply I received on another forum from a shared boat owner.

 

"Hi Simon, we've been in Cropredy with a shared boat for about 18 months. We find Tooleys really excellent.

As in your case, they do our turnaround day checks and we've had no issues there.

Just in the past couple of weeks, one of our owners reported a fault; Tooleys made an appointment to come out a few days later while we were on board.

The engineer spent about 4 hours taking the engine apart and diagnosing the problem (drive plate needed replacing), ordered the part, came back next day as promised and repaired it (another 4 hour job).

He was really friendly and polite, and even tightened our throttle while he was there - we were going to list that for next turnaround as it wasn't urgent.

Tooleys did our winter maintenance last year (and will be doing it again in Feb). Again, an excellent job, they provided a diagnostic video for us to show what was working well, what needed tweaking, and anything that might need us to pay extra.

All that aside, Cropredy is a beautiful marina, very peaceful and friendly, and with plenty to do around the locality if weather or winter stoppages prevent you from cruising. Highly recommended!!"

[cuthound]

16 minutes ago, Simon (Hawksmoor) said:

Here is a reply I received on another forum from a shared boat owner.

 

"Hi Simon, we've been in Cropredy with a shared boat for about 18 months. We find Tooleys really excellent.

As in your case, they do our turnaround day checks and we've had no issues there.

Just in the past couple of weeks, one of our owners reported a fault; Tooleys made an appointment to come out a few days later while we were on board.

The engineer spent about 4 hours taking the engine apart and diagnosing the problem (drive plate needed replacing), ordered the part, came back next day as promised and repaired it (another 4 hour job).

He was really friendly and polite, and even tightened our throttle while he was there - we were going to list that for next turnaround as it wasn't urgent.

Tooleys did our winter maintenance last year (and will be doing it again in Feb). Again, an excellent job, they provided a diagnostic video for us to show what was working well, what needed tweaking, and anything that might need us to pay extra.

All that aside, Cropredy is a beautiful marina, very peaceful and friendly, and with plenty to do around the locality if weather or winter stoppages prevent you from cruising. Highly recommended!!"

 

So potentially a few days holiday lost because f a faulty drive plate that takes four hours to change. That would have really upset me if I only had the boast booked for a week.

[Simon (Hawksmoor)]

Would RCR have been as efficient I wonder?

That fault could have easily turned into a cancelled week for many boats.

[matty40s]

32 minutes ago, Simon (Hawksmoor) said:

Would RCR have been as efficient I wonder?

That fault could have easily turned into a cancelled week for many boats.

I very much doubt it hearing latest reports from thisb year.

[IanD]

32 minutes ago, Simon (Hawksmoor) said:

Would RCR have been as efficient I wonder?

That fault could have easily turned into a cancelled week for many boats.

Or you just send the hirer out anyway with a boat which at low-medium rpm sounds like a bucket of bolts in a washing machine. DAMHIK... 😞

[Tigerr]

I expect the Tooleys service is not much different to anywhere else on the system. 

There's a shortage of good boat mechanics, and they are often booked up ahead. There's no incoming stream of young enthusiastic mechanics, it's not a job people want to do these days. 

The 'resident' at Cropredy has retired, as an example. 

The problem for shared boats is that they are simply in the same line, and have no priority, for the increasingly scarce resource of reliable, fast-turnaround mechanics. But the shoe-boat 'loss of holiday' is actually just the same as anyone else's loss of holiday isn't it. 

Maybe shared boat contractor companies, could work out some sort of 'platinum standard' service contract, at a significant premium, to ensure their holidays are protected. Like hirers pay a premium to ensure their boats are working. 

 

[cuthound]

1 hour ago, Simon (Hawksmoor) said:

Would RCR have been as efficient I wonder?

That fault could have easily turned into a cancelled week for many boats.

 

When we had our second shareboat I had a drive plate fail on the Ashby Canal mid afternoon.

 

Called RCR who visited the boat the next morning with the wrong driveplate (apparently BMC 1.8's use one of two fittings).  He asked us if we needed any stores, as we were in a remote location, and returned that afternoon with the correct driveplate and a bag of shopping and completed the work in a couple of hours. Excellent service.

 

On our return I called in at Boot Wharf on the Coventry for diesel and mentioned it to the proprietor, who said he was an agent for RCR and wondered why they hadn't called him as he could have fixed it the same day.

[matty40s]

I think this is one of the problems with RCR, you can have a fantastic quick, knowledgable service, or you can have someone who doesnt know much about anything he hasnt been trained on, and struggles.

[Simon (Hawksmoor)]

2 hours ago, matty40s said:

I think this is one of the problems with RCR, you can have a fantastic quick, knowledgable service, or you can have someone who doesnt know much about anything he hasnt been trained on, and struggles.

2 years ago one of our less experienced owners got "leaf bound" and did not recognise the symptoms so called out RCR.

Two separate RCR mechanics diagnosed a gearbox problem. Only the third recognised the problem, bow hauled the boat clear of the autumn leaves and hey presto! 

But 3 call outs! (I think they only charged us for one)

[Grassman]

15 hours ago, Cheshire cat said:

We tried to get on to Cropredy Marina seven or eight years ago with our shared boat and they told us they didn't want shared boats. Obviously, things may have changed. 

 

Different owners in those days. It's now owned by Aquavista.

[StephenA]

19 hours ago, cuthound said:

 

So potentially a few days holiday lost because f a faulty drive plate that takes four hours to change. That would have really upset me if I only had the boast booked for a week.

 

4 hours (or 8 if you include the "diagnosis") for a drive plate?

[cuthound]

11 minutes ago, StephenA said:

 

4 hours (or 8 if you include the "diagnosis") for a drive plate?

 

The drive plate failed mid-afternoon on day 1. Called RCR who sent someone out first thing the next morning with the wrong drive plate. He returned to base, collected some shopping for us and returned with the correct plate soon after lunch. It then took him about two hours to remove the gearbox, replace the driveplate, replace the gearbox and tidy up. We were on our way by late afternoon on day 2.