Capturing the Cure

[Bigplumbs]

It has been an eventful few days for me and my wife. I know there are several bits and pieces on this in other threads but I thought I would bring it all together here:

1) Firstly at the age of 52 I caught Chicken pox (From the plane on returning from Mallorca). Not nice at all and I was sort of laid up for 2ish weeks. The problem with this being that I focused my thoughts on my next purchase. Problem because now I have now spent too much cash on toys
2) After doing quite a lot of research and listening to the various advice I received on here. I decided to buy 'The Cure' which is the Fletcher 19 GTS as featured in this video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHVs3jM ... e=youtu.be The difference is however it is/was at Madog Boat Sales in Port Madog Wales

I am also pleased that in 2014 she had a new base engine etc and winter cover.

I will split this into separate posts in case I loose the lot

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So after several phone calls to the very nice people at Madog Boat Sales I agreed a price subject to seal trial.

After the advice from here I also decided that although I already have far too many (mainly old) cars I needed a 4 x 4 to pull the whole set up.

Being an impetuous person I spent about 2 hours on Auto Trader this Saturday and then on Sunday bought a 14 year old Disco 2. Here she is

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I then rushed around on Sunday getting insurance, Road Tax and several other things sorted out for the new car.

On Monday Night myself and my Wife (Catherine) left home at 18.50 for a hotel in Coventry where we stayed the night. At 05.45 today (Tuesday) we struck off in the untested Disco for Wales to hit the tide and I am pleased to say we arrived at 09.15 and promptly had a very successful sea trial in The Cure. I then paid the man and set about securing the boat on the trailer and checking the trailer to ensure it would make the 280 mile Journey to my home in Suffolk.

We managed to leave the boat yard at about 11.15 today and the Sat Nav said arrival home at 16.40 (Well I can tell you that that never happened).

Leaving Port Madog we stopped after about 15 miles to check things over and I took this pic of the complete set up

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Off we then went and after about another 40 miles we stopped again to check things only to find that my front holding down strap had snapped and the left indicator on the light board (Which I had checked over before we set off) was acting up.

I wiggled things on the light board plug and that seemed to fix that.

Luckily I had another 2 straps so I put them in place and set off again.

I was as would be expected a little concerned about the front strap. We found that if Catherine kneeled on her seat and looked back she could see if it was ok as we travelled along. We checked it this way several times and my confidence started to build.

I had not however taken account of the terrible bounciness of the M6 around Birmingham. Because of the volume of traffic the hard shoulder was in use and there were lorries all around me when I heard a sort of snap sound after I hit a bump. Catherine had a look and you guessed it the front strap had snapped again. (These are quite good straps by the way)

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With no where to go or pull off I felt most uncomfortable so I reduced speed and was very pleased to see a services sign showing 2 miles

I successfully pulled into the services and because of the length of my set up I parked in the lorry park and pondered on where I might buy some new straps. After a minute or 2 I realised that around me were about 30 parked lorries. I approached the driver of the first flat bed I saw and explained my situation and asked if I could buy a strap from him.

Just to confirm that good will and helpfulness is still alive he gave me a brand new strap of amazing quality. Another lorry driver helped me use the strap to its best advantage

I fixed the new strap and secured a couple of other minor things, wiggled the light board plug and set off again.

Sadly all this strap nonsense cost me about 1.5 hours and it was now getting dark and it started to rain.

I carried on with Catherine doing the kneeling on the seat trick every few miles and eventually I was on my home roads and I arrived home at about 8pm.

I had been driving for about 11 hours but curiously was not at all tired. I think the thought of my new boat (and of course the red bull ) had kept me going

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The upshot is I am now the proud owner of 'The Cure' (A 19 ft Fletcher GTS Sports Cruiser), a Land rover Discovery and several broken straps.

Interestingly the Discovery and the Boat were both built in 2001. Also interestingly I estimate that for the complete Rig I paid about a fifth- Sixth of the original combined price of the boat, Trailer and Disco.

I was very pleased with the sea trial by the way and can confirm that the 3 ltr 135 HP inboard has plenty of go. According to the spedo we managed 36 mph with no real problem.

I now have to find a time when I can have a quick go in her before the season is over.

I am off to bed

Dennis

[Bigplumbs]

By the way this was my hurridly compiled check list before I set off on my 560 mile round trip

Drop plate removed from old car and in new car with correct spanners if I need to fit it
New number plate fitted to light board and fixing method thought about and more than one system in car
Light board wire length checked 23.5 ft to include turning swing
Light board tested and works ok on new car
Hi viz prop cover in new car
Holding down straps in new car and length checked the best I can. I have at least 6 of these
Grease gun filled and in new car.
Sat nav plug tested in new car and works ok
Bluetooth in new car tested and works
Tide time checked at Port Madog as only good 3 hours each side. Arrival time planned for 1 hour after HT for sea trial
The Broker assures me the trailer, bearings and breaks are all good I made him get an engineer look at these
I have checked that there is a shop near buy that I could buy a light board extension and better straps and there is if I need to. (I did not do this bit !!!!!!!!!!)
Tyre pressures, Water and oil will be checked on new car this morning when it is light
Red bull and sugar drinks and coffee bought for journey to keep me awake
Premier In number in phone in case we cant make it in one day for the way home
Food for trip being prepared tonight, Disco being fulled this morning

Going to see if I can get the boat insured as the boat and trailer is only 3rd party when towing home under car Insurance. - Craft insure agreed t oinsure the boat and if I did not buy it they would give me my money back.

I am deffo now off to bed

Dennis

[betty boop]

blimey Im impressed. I was getting stressed reading about the amount broken straps you had to replace. Kudos to Mrs BP's for going along and 'allowing ' these little purchases I have to say I was a little younger and a little less stressed with life it was a struggle buying a new car and then a new boat 2 weeks later so well done. New car/new boat/Long drive must equal moving house as one of life's stress points

good luck and hope she works out well.

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Yes it did get a little stressful at times but she is all safe at home now as pics below in the rain. Must get the cover on her

Dennis

[Ianfs]

Wow Dennis, great stuff. As Ian has said I bet you are tired but also full of beans about your new purchases. I saw that boat advertised and thought how clean the engine bay looked and in general how tidy she is.

Is the Disco a V8 or TD5, Man or Auto? As an aside, I advise you to join the D2 forum. The reason I say this is because these are quirky vehicles and there are a lot of things that go wrong, but are also easy fixes. An example is the TD5 has only 4 heater plugs and can lose coolant water through the top hose. With only the 4 heater plugs, it can fire up on cold mornings sounding like a bag of nails and with the water loss, diagnosed by an inexperienced mechanic as a head gasket. A quick post on the forum could save you a grand.

It's a closed forum, so you have to register to see any posts.

Here...

http://www.thed2boysclub.co.uk/