Hi There!

[Piers]

I, too, am a newby, and from the UK. I keep my boat in the Channel Islands in a small marina in Guernsey.

Google Earth - 49 30' 08.35N 2 30' 19.31W

My wife Lin and I have had a Fleming 55 (#129) since 2003 and love it!

The marina used to be a disused quarry until the Royal marines blew out the entrance to the sea!

The boat's name is Play d'eau.

 

[Marc1]

Hi Piers, that is a lovely boat you have there!

Looks fit enough to come to Sydney!

Why don't you tell me more about it?

Marc

 

[Steve]

Welcome congrats on the Flemming 55, my dream boat!
Steve W.

 

[Piers]

Hi Marc1 and Steve,

We never thought we'd be able to own one, but it all suddenly happened. We saw the boat at the agents where she was a stock boat, they wanted to show her at the Southampton Boat Show and the Dusseldorf Boat Show, we were able to strike a deal, and suddenly we owned her!

That was 2003. We have since cruised her through Holland in the east, along the English Channel to the Scilly Isles in the West, The northern coast of France (Normandy), the Channel Islands, and the northern coast of Brittany.

She is fitted with a pair of Cummins 450C (900hp - far too much!) and although she can do 17kts, we only ever cruise at 8kts. Much nicer! Going with the flow, enjoying the passage. One 250 would have been ample....

Apart from two oversized engines (!) she has 2 gensets (13.5 & 7.5 KVA) and air con in each of the boat areas.

I will have to upgrade the electronics next year since the Simrad chart plotter cannot cope with the latest C-Maps, and given the amount of fog we get around the Channel islands, we want a second radar just in case.

We are looking at the new broadband radar from Navico. Seems interesting, provided they've overcome the interference issues from other radars. Have you any knowledge of this radar?

Well, must get ready for work. Good chatting with you.

 

[RED]

I've done a little research on the broadband radar. from what I've read (I haven't had my hands on one), they are excellent at close range; say less than 2-3 miles. They are also instant on, which is a nice feature. The one drawback I've heard about is that since they are low power devices, there isn't enough transmitted energy to "light up" a racon bouy. Since these are on the river entrance bouys here on the West Coast, that is an issue for me.

Since most of our craft have a horizon of about 8-10 miles, I'm not that concerned about the long range 36-48 mile radars, other than they have a higher power output, so have a somewhat better chance of "seeing" smaller targets in marginal conditions.

There is a marine electronics website www.panbo.com if you're interested in seeing more on the subject.

Welcome to the forum - what a great boat!

 

[Codger2]

Very nice boat! I agree...it would be at the top of my boat list too!