Parker Baltic 900 with 2 x 275hp Verado's

[Mike C]

Yep, they build 'em beautiful in Poland. Sleek lines, smooth curves and well made where it matters.

The boats are pretty good too!


Mike

[Andre]

Originally Posted by Mike C

Yep, they build 'em beautiful in Poland. Sleek lines, smooth curves and well made where it matters.

The boats are pretty good too!


Mike

Mike , I thought your August trip to Poland was for ribbing and not bird watching

[The Jackeens]

('No-one Expects the Spanish Inquisition')

Part 6 'Six Nurofen and a Bottle of Holy Water'


At last Littlehampton was in view. We maintained a respectful distance from the coastline and radioed the reception party who were waiting near our destination. As we drew closer they began signalling their location with a flashing light. We hailed each other and soon Lucasz was snapping away as the designated Pontoontalk photographer!

And then we turned into the Arun. As we proceeded in stately fashion up past the quays it was evident that Littlehampton was in festive mood with loud music emanating from the local hostelries and people dancing and congregating on the quayside despite the late hour. As no Littlehamptonites displayed any surprise whatsoever, it slowly dawned on us that we had in fact stumbled upon the Aya Napa of the South Coast of England!

As we proceeded upriver Richard worried that we should keep to the speed limit but Andre, delighted that he was once again in his home territory, declared loudly ‘there will be no-one about! Not this time of night or this time of year!’ A Monty Python moment! As seconds later at the pontoon we were blinded by a bright light from a craft alongside. Suddenly a man in black leapt aboard in the manner of Peter Schmeichel’s best efforts in ‘Strictly Come Dancing’. He maintained a dignified front despite nearly losing his balance. Concerned for his well-being we checked if he had injured himself but stopped short of awarding points for his manoeuvre.

The rest of his team had over-egged the custard slightly ( no slight intended to Parker’s first yellow RIB! ) on the approach and slapped into Nauti’s pride & joy (boat) head on. In the ensuing confusion the helmsman backed off and the team disappeared again into the night after at least managing to gather their dignity enough to ask us politely to stick around.

As we waited in orderly fashion for the boyos to sort themselves out we realized that they had brought along quite significant back-up! All thoughts of basic needs after four hours and 130 miles at sea (toilet, coffee, beer, food!!!) were forgotten as we noticed the choppers overhead and the blue flashing lights of half a dozen police cars in the car park!

By this time our friendly welcoming party (top Ribbers from Littlehampton) had also been directed to wait with us while the boat and luggage was checked. The unexpected visitors relaxed a little as they realized they were on a wild goose chase and seemed entirely unflapped by my collection of drugs and magical liquid ( 6 nurofen and a bottle of holy water)! Indeed they took the time to compliment us on excellent gear (equipment) and preparation for sea!

I asked the assertive little laddie who had jumped aboard why he would take such a risk alone in boarding a boat that already contained six burly figures! He explained one of his colleagues was supposed to board with him but when they realized the helm had mucked up the approach they knew they were heading for the drink and aborted their leap in the dark!

The next bizarre event occurred as a gentleman of the Special Branch turned to Richard and asked him a question. Immediately three loud bangs sounded out from beyond the marina. Richard leapt three feet into the air in perfect time with his interrogator and we all looked round aghast as to what further surprise was in store for us. Seconds later, the night sky burst into flame as we witnessed the beginning of the town’s firework display!

So there we were joking and chatting with England’s finest while the report of the pyrotechnics blended with the whirr of chopper blades, the wail of the sirens and the pounding rock music emanating from the Arun View. JK couldn’t have organised it better!

Nautibuoy carefully moored, we finally bid farewell to our eclectic welcoming party, Lucasz took some more souvenir photos and we headed for home. We turned back one last time on the pontoon to wave at our colleagues from Customs who managed to demonstrate at least PB 2 skills in a smoother departure. They clutched their only loot carefully; their brand new copy of the Parker RIBs brochure freely donated by old ‘Seahawk’ himself, the inimitable Andre !

[Nauti Buoy]

Kathleen, that is a first class write up thank you. Made superb reading, sitting here with glass of wine chuckling away to myself.

[The Jackeens]

Hehehe you're most welcome

Paul has a few final photos and the crew has done their job!

[Limey Linda]

Watch out for that holy water; it can make you pregnant, but only if you are a virgin.

[Andre]

Fantastic reading . A very good account of the trip. Makes one want to do it again

well written Kathleen, I salute you

[codprawn]

Maybe you should do the run again just to wind them up - video cameras at the ready and post it all on Youtube - they may think twice if they make idiots of themselves for the whole world to see!!!

[Hightower]

What a great account Kathleen, I felt like I was there, reading your adventure.

Richard must be very proud to of have his New RIB's first adventure writen about.

[Andre]

Originally Posted by codprawn

Maybe you should do the run again just to wind them up - video cameras at the ready and post it all on Youtube - they may think twice if they make idiots of themselves for the whole world to see!!!

No I do not think I would be a good idea. For sure we will have another run or more as it is a very good way to deliver big ribs when the client does not require a trailer. Next time will for sure advise relevant authorities and plan the crossing to arrive at daylight.

It is nice to know that our coastline is being guarded. If I remember correctly not so long ago two ribs were caught crossing the channel with illegal emigrants. I have also heard that about 1 year ago a boat carrying drugs was nicked coming into Littlehampton.

[Nauti Buoy]

Originally Posted by Andre

I have also heard that about 1 year ago a boat carrying drugs was nicked coming into Littlehampton.

Yeah, I've heard about your parties at the Arun View

[Andre]

Originally Posted by Nauti Buoy

Yeah, I've heard about your parties at the Arun View

You should come to one of them
next party New Year's Eve followed by a morning rib cruise to get rid of the hang over, that is if we will be up to it.

and plans have already been put in motion for the Xmas Bash 2007 (this time must get a date closer to Xmas hence early booking)

for those interested pls see www.pontoontalk.co.uk/forums

[timw]

This looks like a really great RIB, and everything written about it is very positive. Personally I think it looks fabulous.

However, is there anything about it at all that is negative? I know this thread hasn't been a comprehensive test write up, but it is always interesting to see if there are any areas that could be improved.

[Nauti Buoy]

Originally Posted by timw

This looks like a really great RIB, and everything written about it is very positive. Personally I think it looks fabulous.

However, is there anything about it at all that is negative? I know this thread hasn't been a comprehensive test write up, but it is always interesting to see if there are any areas that could be improved.

Hi Tim

If there is anything negative I'm yet to find it. Cannot fault the handling of the Rib, the quality of the build is 1st Class, the engines are sublimely quiet and very responsive, returning 1.1l/mile per engine based on throttling constantly across huge seas. I have had quite a lot of various people look over it and all comment on what a superb quality fit out. Also taking into account the fact that we bought the Rib back through Force 6-7 from Calais, with nothing breaking or faulting, with 6 adults on board, is a good trial for any brand new boat.

The one thing I do have to be careful about is the throttle box, which is through no fault of Parker Ribs, and I belive there have been other comments on Ribnet ref this. Passengers have a habit of mistaking it for a grab handle when getting on board, so if you are sat there warming the engines up or in neutral waiting for a lock as I do you are best off keeping your hand on the throttle or switching the engines off, cos on two occasions now when I have been in neutral I have had a passenger sit on the jockey next to mine, lean on the throttle either with their hand or just caught it and pushed the rib into gear, and with 550hp purring on the back you really don't want that happening in a confined space!!!

There is a small ammount of resistance for the initial push into drive as well as a bit of travel before you get a major surge of power so you do have a small amount of reaction time to get them off of the throttles and back into neutral. But then that is a design fault of Mercury, when a simple lift up button under the throttles would solve that problem, or if they wanted to keep it all electric then an electronic button underneath you have to press to release the throttles.

Other than that it is a superb rib I am 100% happy with it, just wish it would stop raining so much so that I could go out and use it without getting drenched.

[Milan]

Originally Posted by Nauti Buoy

Hi Tim

If there is anything negative I'm yet to find it. Cannot fault the handling of the Rib, the quality of the build is 1st Class, the engines are sublimely quiet and very responsive, returning 1.1l/mile per engine based on throttling constantly across huge seas. I have had quite a lot of various people look over it and all comment on what a superb quality fit out. Also taking into account the fact that we bought the Rib back through Force 6-7 from Calais, with nothing breaking or faulting, with 6 adults on board, is a good trial for any brand new boat.

The one thing I do have to be careful about is the throttle box, which is through no fault of Parker Ribs, and I belive there have been other comments on Ribnet ref this. Passengers have a habit of mistaking it for a grab handle when getting on board, so if you are sat there warming the engines up or in neutral waiting for a lock as I do you are best off keeping your hand on the throttle or switching the engines off, cos on two occasions now when I have been in neutral I have had a passenger sit on the jockey next to mine, lean on the throttle either with their hand or just caught it and pushed the rib into gear, and with 550hp purring on the back you really don't want that happening in a confined space!!!

There is a small ammount of resistance for the initial push into drive as well as a bit of travel before you get a major surge of power so you do have a small amount of reaction time to get them off of the throttles and back into neutral. But then that is a design fault of Mercury, when a simple lift up button under the throttles would solve that problem, or if they wanted to keep it all electric then an electronic button underneath you have to press to release the throttles.

Other than that it is a superb rib I am 100% happy with it, just wish it would stop raining so much so that I could go out and use it without getting drenched.

Same problem with the E Tec the consul mounted throttle control has no safety lever unlike a side mounted throttle control which I assume the designers expect to be more vulnerable to being caught or accidentally knocked because of its proximity absolute madness it’s always been a worry of mine and the other thing is when the engine is turned of and you knock the control by accident not knowing you’ve done it when you come to fire it up you spend the next ten minutes having a heart attack wondering why it wont start

[The Jackeens]

Originally Posted by Limey Linda

Watch out for that holy water; it can make you pregnant, but only if you are a virgin.

Hehehehe

Have you got an evidence base for that?

(Ta for kind comments Andre & Andy! Glad ye enjoyed the tale )

[Poly]

Originally Posted by Nauti Buoy

If there is The one thing I do have to be careful about is the throttle box, which is through no fault of Parker Ribs, and I belive there have been other comments on Ribnet ref this.

Richard, This probably goes with out saying - but be especially careful when recovering MoBs, skiers, etc then. It is very easy to bump a "non locked" throttle (although perhaps less so with the beam on your ship!) - especially if you or other crew have to help them in. The argument for killing the engines rather than leaving in neutral is much stronger in this case.

[The Jackeens]

Originally Posted by Polwart

. It is very easy to bump a "non locked" throttle (although perhaps less so with the beam on your ship!) - especially if you or other crew have to help them in. The argument for killing the engines rather than leaving in neutral is much stronger in this case.

The risk of having non-experienced crew in the vicinity of the throttles also came up in discussion. (Something we thought about when positioning our throttle centrally; easy to grab it for someone losing balance / crossing the boat.)

Kathleen

[Nauti Buoy]

Originally Posted by Charles

What's this all about?

Here you go, sorry taken so long to take a pic for you. Eventually got round to doing it today.

[Nauti Buoy]

Master Cover in Port Solent, Consul Cover with huge Zip up the back fits very snug around the consul, plus Jockey Seat Cover which again fits super snug.

Also had shore power installed so won't suffer any flat batteries.