Page published 18 July 2023
Getting the Move Done
Having bought our Safari through the brokers BoatInland, based at Buckden Marina, back in December last year, we were handed on to Marlex Marine, the sister engineering company.
Marlex appeared to struggle with our boat or, perhaps more importantly, to report what they were doing. It culminated in a feeling that they were completely out of their depth with our Safari's gearbox. Finally, on 27 June, We'd had enough and I arranged to pick up our "Velvet Drive" gearbox from the specialist Marlex had sent it to and I asked them to arrange transfer of our boat to the yard nearest to us, Wayford Marine.
Wandering, still in the transfer sling and before she was fully propped.
Wandering, or Wandering Star, as she was officially known when she was taken to the Great Ouse.
Even that did not go smoothly, but that was no fault of theirs. The haulage company they had recommended suffered a breakdown and their vehicle off the road for a week. So it was that Singing the Blues did not arrive in Norfolk till 08:30 on the morning of Tuesday 18 July.
I got to the yard before the lorry that brough our boat to Norfolk had left. I didn't have time to take a photo, but was able to stop and say my thanks. Wayford Marine were still in the process of getting her properly chocked and she was still in the sling behind the tractor that was manoeuvring her into her resting place.
Diana and I had not seen the boat in months and one of the first things I noticed was that most of the windscreen wiper was missing. I had tested it on our River Trial and found it was not working.
One of the things we had asked Marlex to do after our purchase, and before Christmas last year, was to:
Report on the Work required, cost and date to complete to make the wiper operate.
It took until 2 March for them to respond when they reported:
The wiper system has been tested and we have found that the wiper motor is defective and will need replacing and a new switch installed.
But they provided no quotation or or date by which it would be fixed so the repair was never progressed.
When we viewed the boat there was a full cantilevered blade mechanism in place.
When the boat arrived in Norfolk almost the entire external mechanism was missing.
As you might imagine I was left concerned that a lot of difficult to obtain components might have been left behind in some workshop at Buckden but the answer to that was to wait till I had the chance to get inside the boat.
Once more, The story continues...