River canal Rescue, worth joining?

[Martin Megson]

I used them this week to remove a mattress from my prop which I would never have removed on my own. very good contract engineer did the job.

[mrsmelly]

Yup a no brainer imo

 

Tim

[Guest]

We haven't been members for a couple of years but we were when we were new to boat ownership.

 

We used them once when the alternator bracket on our domestic alternator broke rendering us unable to charge our domestic bank. We got a good response and the guy that came to us at the head of the Erewash canal took the bracket away and had it welded.

 

He fitted it the following day and we were on our way.

 

When we rang the call out in they asked if we needed anything provisions wise we needed bringing to the boat. We didn't as we were about a ten minute walk to ASDA but if we hadn't been that would have been very helpful.

 

On balance particularly if you are not good at wielding a spanner in the engine hole then yes join, as you get a bit more confident with tools on a boat as I did then you might want to save a bit of money and use it to pay for the bits you need to service your boat each year. Which is what I did latterly.

[blackrose]

As well as one's mechanical abilities, I think it depends on how much of a hurry you're in to get going again. I don't weld but in the example above I think it would be easy enough for me to remove the bracket and take it to a metal fabricator to weld. It also depends on how far your going and who you know if you need a tow. Anywhere along this river I could get a tow back to base for the price of a few drinks.

 

So for me it's entirely different to having breakdown cover for my car. If I'm driving I'm trying to get somewhere relatively quickly. If I breakdown on the boat I'll just moor up and I'm still at home. I can make a cup of tea, cook a meal, or if I'm there overnight I can have a kip. I've also got all my tools on board so I'll try to fix it myself.

Edited March 27, 2015 by blackrose

[Guest]

As well as one's mechanical abilities, I think it depends on how much of a hurry you're in to get going again. I don't weld but in the example above I think it would be easy enough for me to remove the bracket and take it to a metal fabricator to weld. It also depends on how far your going and who you know if you need a tow. Anywhere along this river I could get a tow back to base for the price of a few drinks.

 

What was interesting was that were it happened we were about 100 yards from a yard that were in the process of stretching a narrowboat. I thought it would have been no problem (given that involves a fair bit of welding) for them to weld my bracket. For a price of course I wasn't expecting it for free. They were however unable to help, which I found very surprising.

[Phil Ambrose]

 

What was interesting was that were it happened we were about 100 yards from a yard that were in the process of stretching a narrowboat. I thought it would have been no problem (given that involves a fair bit of welding) for them to weld my bracket. For a price of course I wasn't expecting it for free. They were however unable to help, which I found very surprising.

Martin, was that unable or unwilling?

Phil

[Guest]

Martin, was that unable or unwilling?

Phil

I guess the latter. It would have taken them a few minutes to help, I didn't want it doing immediately and could have left it with them but for whatever reason they didn't want to assist.

 

It was no big deal really given RCR sorted it for me.

[raymondh]

Hi,

Eight years on the cut/rivers do all my own servicing and check/inspect boat and systems ongoing - no breakdowns in 8 years how much have I saved on breakdown cover/servicing fees and costs?

Not worth it in my case

Ray

[rgreg]

I had to call them out once to repair a broken bracket to one of the fuel filters. The repair required welding so no matter how well equipped you may be on the boat you are unlikely to have that kind of kit. My experience of RCR is very good and I would recommend them to anybody.

[mrsmelly]

I had to call them out once to repair a broken bracket to one of the fuel filters. The repair required welding so no matter how well equipped you may be on the boat you are unlikely to have that kind of kit. My experience of RCR is very good and I would recommend them to anybody.

 

My drive plate jacked in one christmas eve afternoon they immediately answered the fone. and I confirmed the problem then they asked if I didnt mind if they didnt come out the next day being christmas day but could they come boxing day to which I said sure thing as I was going out for lunch xmas day anyway. They appeared promptly and fitted new one on boxing day. Try sorting that out that quickly in the middle of nowhere at that time of year yourself. Like I have said its a no brainer however competent you are.

 

Tim

[raymondh]

I had to call them out once to repair a broken bracket to one of the fuel filters. The repair required welding so no matter how well equipped you may be on the boat you are unlikely to have that kind of kit. My experience of RCR is very good and I would recommend them to anybody.

Yes welder on board and 5Kw travelpower to fire her up + grinder/disc cutter, drills, saws etc etc and yes I made my own bracket for my latest fuel filter - child of the over 60's and a lifetime in engineering and maintenance, there are many like me who served their six years from leaving school and benefitted from having to fix or walk

Ray

[blackrose]

 

What was interesting was that were it happened we were about 100 yards from a yard that were in the process of stretching a narrowboat. I thought it would have been no problem (given that involves a fair bit of welding) for them to weld my bracket. For a price of course I wasn't expecting it for free. They were however unable to help, which I found very surprising.

It's depressing when a 5 minute job like that which would help out someone in trouble is refused just because they won't make any money on it.

 

I had to call them out once to repair a broken bracket to one of the fuel filters. The repair required welding so no matter how well equipped you may be on the boat you are unlikely to have that kind of kit. My experience of RCR is very good and I would recommend them to anybody.

Yes, you may not have welding kit onboard, but as I said, you can always take the bracket to be welded elsewhere. Fortunately even these days Martin's experience is not generally the norm.

Edited March 27, 2015 by blackrose

[blackrose]

 

My drive plate jacked in one christmas eve afternoon they immediately answered the fone. and I confirmed the problem then they asked if I didnt mind if they didnt come out the next day being christmas day but could they come boxing day to which I said sure thing as I was going out for lunch xmas day anyway. They appeared promptly and fitted new one on boxing day. Try sorting that out that quickly in the middle of nowhere at that time of year yourself. Like I have said its a no brainer however competent you are.

 

Tim

The operative word there is "quickly". As I said, it depends on how much of a hurry you're in. I wouldn't be in any hurry at Christmas and I'm competent enough to get it done myself at my own pace. So while it may be a no brainer for you, you'll just have to accept that we are all different and it's certainly not a no brainer for me.

Edited March 27, 2015 by blackrose

[Jerra]

The operative word there is "quickly". As I said, it depends on how much of a hurry you're in. I wouldn't be in any hurry at Christmas and I'm competent enough to get it done at my own pace. So it may be a no brainer for you, but it's certainly not a no brainer for me.

I suspect if the OP was as competent as you they wouldn't be asking the question.

[blackrose]

I suspect if the OP was as competent as you they wouldn't be asking the question.

Possibly not, but who knows? I have no idea of the OPs level of mechanical competency. Anyway, I think I've made it pretty clear that I'm just speaking for myself.

Edited March 27, 2015 by blackrose

[Jerra]

Possibly not, but who knows? I have no idea of the OPs level of mechanical competency.

I would suggest that if they had and were confident in a high level of mechanical competency they wouldn't (as you don't) consider RCR worthwhile. Seems reasonably clear to me.

[mrsmelly]

The operative word there is "quickly". As I said, it depends on how much of a hurry you're in. I wouldn't be in any hurry at Christmas and I'm competent enough to get it done myself at my own pace. So while it may be a no brainer for you, you'll just have to accept that we are all different and it's certainly not a no brainer for me.

 

Well ok then it also only cost me the fifty quid exess which is another no brainer, the drive plate alone woiuld have cost me more than that, I could do the job standing on my head with my eyes closed but having rcr on call for the small yearly charge is quite simply a no brainer. same as with roadside assistance for the car having that is also a no brainer however competent you are. Jeeeeeze get off your high horse I bet the op buys the cover lets ask em and find out.

 

Tim

[Wanderer Vagabond]

 

Well ok then it also only cost me the fifty quid exess which is another no brainer, the drive plate alone woiuld have cost me more than that, I could do the job standing on my head with my eyes closed but having rcr on call for the small yearly charge is quite simply a no brainer. same as with roadside assistance for the car having that is also a no brainer however competent you are. Jeeeeeze get off your high horse I bet the op buys the cover lets ask em and find out.

 

Tim

I think when I enquired the service isn't quite like the car roadside breakdown. You'll find that the 'recovery' isn't really worth the paper it's written on since the 2 hour limit includes the time it takes them to get to you so unless you are moored outside their workshop you ain't going to get towed far. You state that the cost was 'only' £50 quid excess but you need to add to that the annual subscription (minimum of £55) so it's not quite so cheap. I was quite disappointed with my use of them since of both occasions I had to pay the marine engineer who turned out, first for failed oil sensor (not on their list of items covered) and second for a failed domestic alternator (again not on their list of items covered).On both occasions it took a week before I was mobile again. As I said earlier in the thread I have access to the internet on the boat so now I just look up the nearest marine engineer and call them out (which is effectively all RCR do anyway). If I manage 2 years without breakdown that'll be £280 saved (Bronze) which I can put towards any costs of marine engineers I need to call out. At the moment I'm in profit.

[rgreg]

It's depressing when a 5 minute job like that which would help out someone in trouble is refused just because they won't make any money on it.

 

 

Yes, you may not have welding kit onboard, but as I said, you can always take the bracket to be welded elsewhere. Fortunately even these days Martin's experience is not generally the norm.

In the middle of nowhere in the pouring rain? No thanks, I'll quite happily stick with RCR and have that peace of mind even if I don't need to call them out.

Yes welder on board and 5Kw travelpower to fire her up + grinder/disc cutter, drills, saws etc etc and yes I made my own bracket for my latest fuel filter - child of the over 60's and a lifetime in engineering and maintenance, there are many like me who served their six years from leaving school and benefitted from having to fix or walk

Ray

Like I said, it's unlikely people will have that level of kit on board, or the expertise to use it, but obviously you are one of the few that do. Edited March 28, 2015 by rgreg

[George94]

People aren't always very good at agreeing to disagree on this forum. I choose not to use use RCR (I know who to call for a tow), but I can see why people would, and especially those who are even less technical than I am.

 

It's almost invariably the case that bad news travels faster than good, so the high ratio of good experiences to bad, as related above, suggests that in in the great majority of cases RCR perform satisfactorily.

[Laurie Booth]

If I breakdown on the boat I'll just moor up and I'm still at home. I can make a cup of tea, cook a meal, or if I'm there overnight I can have a kip. I've also got all my tools on board so I'll try to fix it myself.

I agree with your statement providing you have broken down in a safe place. We had a gearbox fail and RCR came very quickly to us. The engineer/mechanic took one look at where we were and said " I'm getting you out of here now" He arranged for us to be towed back to our marina. Cost was £40.00 call out charge as we were on RCR retainer. Very pleased with RCR.

[blackrose]

I would suggest that if they had and were confident in a high level of mechanical competency they wouldn't (as you don't) consider RCR worthwhile. Seems reasonably clear to me.

Not really. You're suggesting a clear correlation between mechanical competence and membership of RCR, which there may be to some extent. However, if you consider that there are some very mechanically competent people on this thread who are members of RCR, then perhaps that correlation isn't as clear as you think.

Edited March 28, 2015 by blackrose

[blackrose]

 

Well ok then it also only cost me the fifty quid exess which is another no brainer, the drive plate alone woiuld have cost me more than that, I could do the job standing on my head with my eyes closed but having rcr on call for the small yearly charge is quite simply a no brainer. same as with roadside assistance for the car having that is also a no brainer however competent you are. Jeeeeeze get off your high horse I bet the op buys the cover lets ask em and find out.

 

Tim

 

You're the one on your high horse Tim, not me. As I've said, RCR may be a no-brainer for you but it's not for me. Hope that's ok with you? We're each entitled to make our own choices.

 

Also, I'm not sure where you got the idea that I don't want the OP to join RCR? If it's a service that they want then of course they should join.

 

I think when I enquired the service isn't quite like the car roadside breakdown. You'll find that the 'recovery' isn't really worth the paper it's written on since the 2 hour limit includes the time it takes them to get to you so unless you are moored outside their workshop you ain't going to get towed far. You state that the cost was 'only' £50 quid excess but you need to add to that the annual subscription (minimum of £55) so it's not quite so cheap. I was quite disappointed with my use of them since of both occasions I had to pay the marine engineer who turned out, first for failed oil sensor (not on their list of items covered) and second for a failed domestic alternator (again not on their list of items covered).On both occasions it took a week before I was mobile again. As I said earlier in the thread I have access to the internet on the boat so now I just look up the nearest marine engineer and call them out (which is effectively all RCR do anyway). If I manage 2 years without breakdown that'll be £280 saved (Bronze) which I can put towards any costs of marine engineers I need to call out. At the moment I'm in profit.

 

Nor another person who doesn't want RCR cover? Jeeeeeze get off your high horse!

 

I'm on 13 years without RCR cover. I wonder how much I've saved so far?

 

In the middle of nowhere in the pouring rain? No thanks, I'll quite happily stick with RCR and have that peace of mind even if I don't need to call them out.

Well, first I would wait for it to stop raining.... As I said, it really depends on one's time constraints.

 

Anyway, good for you, I'm glad you have RCR cover, but just because you have it that doesn't mean it's suitable for everyone and that we should all have it.

Edited March 28, 2015 by blackrose

[rgreg]

 

Good for you, I'm glad you have RCR cover, but just because you have it that doesn't mean it's suitable for everyone and that we should all have it.

Err.. I don't recall saying you should have it; just expressing the reasons why I do, and have been pleased to have it! You choose not to and that's absolutely fine with me.

[blackrose]

Err.. I don't recall saying you should have it; just expressing the reasons why I do, and have been pleased to have it! You choose not to and that's absolutely fine with me.

 

Perhaps that was my misunderstanding. Your question about being broken down in the pouring rain in the middle of nowhere was in response to my post, so it seemed to suggest that I needed RCR cover. Perhaps it was just the tone of your post. Anyway, we're both agreed that people should make their own choices on the matter.

Edited March 28, 2015 by blackrose