I tried this last year with chain and one of you took me up on it - no complaints so I guess he is happy.
The idea is simplicity itself -
1 You contemplate all the likely purchases for your boat over the winter period - things like ropes, anti-foul, new blocks, engines, winches, batteries, etc., etc.
2 You advise the forum of your likely wants - perhaps Nick could start a dedicated space under the Members confidentiality?
3 Others indicate if they want the same things
4 One of you volunteers to negotiate with suppliers for quantity price
5 Firm and binding agreement followed by payment
6 Man hunt for anyone who reneges after 5 with dire consequences to him and his boat - we know who you are!
Cable, ropes etc. are a lot cheaper by the reel than by the metre.
Sounds a good idea. Some things like SS fasteners are much cheaper by the 100 than in chandlers' wee packets. A couple of years ago I looked up a source of timing belts suitable for autohelm spares - I could revive that if there was interest.
This really is a good idea.
I wish that I'd thought of it, or noticed it earlier.
I was thinking to replace some ropes, 12mm polyester three strand. And a friend who has a marquee wanted new halyard ropes for that too. Added together I needed about 300m. I got this for about 60p/m eventually. Check out the price of that rope, and it ranges from £1.50/m at best to sometimes >£5.00. That's a good indication of quantity discount. (was a 200m and a 100m reel) Excellent quality.
Now what do I need?
How about we buy a few hundred litres of ant-fouling before the EU ban us from applying it ourselves!
I have found a few excellent sources of 316SS fittings, nuts bolts etc.
Geoff.
"Contender" Rival 32: Roseneath in winter, Mooring off Gourock in summer.
marisca wrote:I tried this last year with chain and one of you took me up on it - no complaints so I guess he is happy.
I don't do happy, especially since that new 50m chain doesn't self-stow any better than the old 30m, and nobody wants to buy the old chain in spite of my excellent photos viewtopic.php?f=4&t=9145
But seriously, I like the concept of saving money on boating purchases where possible. Nothing specific on the shopping list yet, but we don't come out of the water till next week, when the spending will resume in earnest I expect.
Anyway, I think that this is a brilliant idea and would definitely be interested in purchasing anti-fouling at a discounted rate if possible.
I'd also like to offer the suggestion of the end purchasers paying the volunteer using Paypal. Despite it's sometime bad press I've always had virtually instant transfer of funds when sending money, and as I work overseas offshore it can be slightly awkward arranging payments...
Probably anti-social, anti-environment and not necessarily cheap - Jotun commercial anti-fouling (7 years between coats!) comes only in red and in 20 litre and bigger quantities. I can see difficulties in persuading the sellers we are commercial, distributing the stuff into smaller quantities and then there is the morality of using anti-fouling that actually works, never mind compatibility with whatever ineffectual stuff we already have on our bottoms.
.... and as an afterthought - unlike Gaelforce's own brand which demands double figure temperatures for application, Jotun SeaQuantum can be applied at the more likely pre-launch temperature of -10C!
I'd be up for a group anchor chain re-galvanising project if we could get together enough to make it worthwhile. I could probably do the collection/transport too.
SteveN wrote:I'd be up for a group anchor chain re-galvanising project if we could get together enough to make it worthwhile. I could probably do the collection/transport too.
Calling mm5aho! Obviously SteveN does not watch BBC Scotland News.
SteveN wrote:I'd be up for a group anchor chain re-galvanising project if we could get together enough to make it worthwhile. I could probably do the collection/transport too.
+1 for the regalvanising of my anchor (CQR if anyone needs a debate) and chain.
I could also get interested in commercial antifouling
