The Times They are a Changing

The Golden Cloud 8/12/11

So I thought to myself, a broker who has on his website boats of up to £500,000, and has sold boats from the UK to people in the USA, should find a 24ft boat for under £1000, moving only 22miles plain sailing (pardon the pun). Perhaps not it seems.

Now I understand I'm small fry, its out of season, and probably not worth the effort. But if this is the case, don't offer to sort everything out. This is a big deal, big expense for me, for gods sake it's going to be my house. So waiting the best part of a fortnight for the broker to liaise with the boatyard to sort out the best date for moving and a price to suit, does kinda grind.

Before I go any further I'll put this into context. 24ft of boat, moving 22miles, I've sorted the road transport, but I needed the yard where the boat is, to get a crane for demasting the boat and getting her on the lorry. That was the only thing I needed. I myself had sorted the crane at the destination boatyard, in about 10minutes. The cost at the destination boatyard to get her off the lorry and remasted came to £60.

I told him the dates the lorry could do, and he said OK he'd sort it out. So each day he called me gave me a cock and bull story of why he hadn't. Made funnier by the fact he lives half a mile from the boatyard and could easily pop over there any time.

So this morning, after getting a call from him claiming that "all dates wouldn't align, and that the price for the crane was going to be astronomical", I decided to take matters into my own hands. 

In 15minutes, the boatyard, crane, lorry, crane, boatyard from origin to destination were all aligned and the primers set. Upon calling the broker he was amazed that so much work could be done so quickly... I know the sailing type are meant to be layed back.... but he's bloody horizontal.

The new date is the 7th of January, a full 25 days after the originally intended date. This isn't a bad thing though, it means £50 less rent, it means I get a straight run at it, it means I can shop for items I need in the January Sales, it means I have the best part of a months more wages. But on the other hand it is a pain in the arse to have to wait.

But if anyone is free through January for an hour, an evening, a weekend, or a week, please give me a shout. Any help would be much appreciated, and as part of the deal a boat party in the summer!

The date set, costs confirmed, looks like the times will soon be a changing.