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Whitfield

dor

By dor
in General Boating

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Bobbybass Experienced

Bobbybass

Posted
Posted

I saw Whitefield being taken to the Crick show by the people that built it. You would 'assume' they knew as much about how to manouever the boat as anyone. It took them an age to reverse it into a bay...totally calm day..and that was before other boats arrived. I could have put a standard boat into the space with little problem (I'm not blowing my own trumpet) ..but using the bow thrusters and stern thrusters the thing was wallowing about for ages as the silly little 4 inch joystick steering was worse than useless.Some time later I saw the boat on the cut with the sainted owners approaching a pretty average left turn and under a bridge. They looked terrified as the boat zig zagged left and right and hit the bank...almost uncontrollable.

 

We went onboard at Crick after they (builders) finally got it into a space...and they were just finishing off a few things. The cost of build was in the £350k region...although they wouldn't 'officially' say...we had to say 'is it more than ?..is it less than ?...and arrived at £350k after a while...

It had 6 TV's onboard including one in the shower/wetroom..(which was grey slate floor and floor to ceiling multijet shower) and the TV in the bedroom (about 32 inch) rose from the floor and showed mainly video of waterfalls, seascapes or a raging fire.Various cabinets rose from things under electric power.

The bow doors were floor to ceiling ..quite thin tinted glas. I wondered how long they would last in Manchester.

The interior had a Meditteranean feel..light..glass..and chrome. I admired the electrics and wondered how many hours a day you would need to run it to find all the power !. It was great sitting in the 'drivers' seat twiddling the joystic..watching the bow side and stern cameras which were split screen on the monitor between the seats...I guess being a big kid I liked the James Bond theme. Looking back though..the whole boat was rather silly !

 

If anyone here buys it..tear out all the electrics and 6 TV's , get rid of some of the fancy glass, put a tiller on..and then you end up with....a narrowboat like you and I have !!

 

You can't easily reinvent the wheel.

 

Bob

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Doorman Veteran

Doorman

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Last winter whilst ice breaking on the T&M, we called into Festival Marina to take refuge for a few days. There, nestling in one of the berths, was a stunning looking narrow boat that had many audio visual features similar to Whitfield.

 

The lads who maintain the marina based Black Prince fleet, commented that the boat was unstable, due to the many OTT features that were installed high inside the cabin. Surely a decent boat builder/fitter should be aware of the potential instability created by such installations as this!

 

Mike

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Bobbybass Experienced

Bobbybass

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Posted (edited)

Last winter whilst ice breaking on the T&M, we called into Festival Marina to take refuge for a few days. There, nestling in one of the berths, was a stunning looking narrow boat that had many audio visual features similar to Whitfield.

 

The lads who maintain the marina based Black Prince fleet, commented that the boat was unstable, due to the many OTT features that were installed high inside the cabin. Surely a decent boat builder/fitter should be aware of the potential instability created by such installations as this!

 

Mike

 

True...but if you have £350k to spend on this and more to spend on other toys...the boatbuilder's opinion doesn't count !

I seem to recall seeing the customer looking over the 'build' on TV, and he said...he always got what he wanted.

So there you are..he must have wanted an unstable boat.

By the way..the builder told me it is built from 20mm plate..and as a consequence of that and all the gizmos, has a huge draught. Another reason to be wary.

 

 

Bob

Edited by Bobbybass
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Neil TNC Rising Star

Neil TNC

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Posted

Good luck trying to sell a narrowboat to the Thames Cruiser lot. :lol:

 

Narrowboats are not their favourite boat type to say the least. Take a look at the Thames forum if you dont belive me :D

 

Just go there and tell them one of their main NB opponents (Ian Clarke AKA River Tramp) is an avid TNC narrowboater...in fact he can't wait to do some more narrowboating next spring, en France! ;)

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Doorman Veteran

Doorman

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True...but if you have £350k to spend on this and more to spend on other toys...the boatbuilder's opinion doesn't count !

I seem to recall seeing the customer looking over the 'build' on TV, and he said...he always got what he wanted.

So there you are..he must have wanted an unstable boat.

By the way..the builder told me it is built from 20mm plate..and as a consequence of that and all the gizmos, has a huge draught. Another reason to be wary.

 

 

Bob

 

Surely he meant 20mm base plate?

 

Whilst in business myself, I would often encounter customers who would insist upon their own specification for a particular application, more often than not, creating a potential injury hazard. If after advising them to the contrary, they persisted in trying to get what they wanted, I would simply add another piece of advice; "go elsewhere!".

 

My reputation was far more valuable than their money.

 

Mike

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Ray T Veteran II

Ray TDonate to Canal World

Posted
Posted (edited)

From the Fernwood site Quote:

 

"And so armed with our list, we looked at web sites and then visited several boat builders to put forward our thoughts. Now that was interesting ! Many of them just stared with their eyes seeming to glaze over as we tried to explain our bizarre concept for the cut. The lights were on but there was certainly nobody home at many of the places we visited. Others trotted out such phrases such as " We haven't done that before".

 

Some even came out with such out of keeping comments that we knew they hadn't really fully digested the tablet. i.e. " We have a sign writer who is very good at decorative watering cans "….What ?

 

Also:

 

"Dick and Alison took the idea to several builders and say they were met with blank looks and closed minds".

 

 

IMHO smart alek comments which have come back to bite

 

 

http://www.fernwoodd...ld2.aspx?part=2

 

 

Good for you Mike for maintaining your standards.

 

"My reputation was far more valuable than their money."

 

Mike

Edited by Ray T
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Guest

Guest

Posted
Posted

Ah, Fools Nook, T&M.

 

It has actually gone, and I believe it has now been done up very nicely.

 

Now that is interesting - I wonder if it's now the boat I refered too further up - 'Tig' also on the T&M but at Burton.

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Doorman Veteran

Doorman

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Ah, Fools Nook, Macc

 

It has actually gone, and I believe it has now been done up very nicely.

 

I confess that I pinched that photo from Andrew Denney's Granny Buttons site and

hopefully I've not offended anyone, especially Dom Corleone.... :P

 

Mike

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Doorman Veteran

Doorman

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You mean I can't have it then ? and I've just freshly printed raided the savings to rustle up the necessary too ... five_pound_note1944.jpg

 

No..! I've closed the brokerage down, but I'll sell you the photo for thrupence.... :P

 

Mike

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  • 6 months later...
Bobbybass Experienced

Bobbybass

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I went onboard this boat before the owners took over...

The builders brought it to Crick for the show..

Even though it was a nice calm day...they took ages using the bow and stern thrusters...to get it into a space...

I went onboard...and thought it was 'wow'...but not practical...

A year later...I saw the owners near Napton...trying to get it around a very shallow corner and under a bridge...

They looked terrified...with the silly little joy stick.....as it wouldn't respond hard enough to get it around the corner...

 

I think...if you tear out the electronics...and get back to good old fashioned tiller...it would be a good boat...

I think...you could spend your money more wisley....and get a very good second hand boat...much cheaper than this...

 

bob

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scrumpylurcher Community Regular

scrumpylurcher

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I think the fact that the new owners have possibly bought this boat for somewhere near 100k as against its possible cost of 250k plus tells all. there is a lot more you need to rip out before it becomes a useable boat. Looked at another way, I think they could have spent a similar ammount and got a really excellent s/h boat. Just my opinion though !

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Jeanie920 Contributor

Jeanie920Donate to Canal World

Posted
Posted (edited)

We were in Mercia Marina last week and noticed the boat there.

The Salesman told us that someone was interested in buying Whitfield but that the owners had changed their mind and decided not to sell

Edited by Jeanie920
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