4
Old boat, but good value
Nikki
wrz 2011
We had 2 weeks, which we mostly spent cruising Elba - a lovely destination, with great anchorages, a few marinas, and some nice old town quays.
We arrived late in the evening, by train to Follinica, and the renter arranged a taxi to take us to the Marina. Mr Gabrielle welcomed us, showed us where the marina facilities were, and arranged to check us in in the morning.
The checkin was quick and efficient, and Mr. Gabrielle was helpful.
The boat was old, but reasonably well cared for (and the price was good!). The navigation and safety equipment was complete, although I missed a few domestic touches (clothes pegs, deck scrubbing brush, cleaning fluids, tea towels, toilet paper and such like were not provided).
On our 3rd day out we realised the service battery was useless - it wouldn't hold its charge for more than an hour or two. We spoke to Mr Gabrielle, who advised us to put it on charge in a marina, so we went back to base, and charged it overnight. In the morning it lost charge just as quickly, but we couldn't get through to Mr G. I rang the renter, and they were very helpful (after the usual questions to check we weren't being dumb). They said Mr. G was not available till the afternoon, but arranged for someone else to come and check it out. He arrived, and verified the battery needed replacing, but we had to wait for Mr. G (and he had to wait for the battery shop to open after siesta). However, he arrived with the new battery about 3 pm, and fitted it no problem. We went out for a quick sail, and came back to the marina that night, so you could say we lost a day of our holiday.
A few days later there was a thunderstorm, which is when we discovered the aft cabin window leaked badly.
There were other problems with the boat (the anchor was a cheap and nasty CQR copy, which was very difficult to set, and I wasn't too happy with the SS shackle holding it on, the autopilot had a habit of cutting out if you asked it to change course by more than 10 degrees, and the genoa was very old and tired).
However, I knew the boat would be old, and the price reflected this, so I wasn't unhappy. Many Thanks!