Mercury 20HP Efi - Smoke on the water

[ChrisParish]

I am just editing together a video. Watch this space.

[harrison]

We have already tested the T38 and Volaire head to head last Monday

Nice one chaps!!

Look forward to reading your findings, or do you need a ‘special handshake’ to gain access to these. Effing classic.

[sonny1]

im not surprised harrison is miffed ,i thought the forum was for sharing experiences and boaty happenings . this one ,on the face of it seems to have been kept a bit quiet . did many attend ? or at least get an invite. anyway on a lighter note , what was the outcome? ,i think a lot of people will be interested .

[ChrisParish]

Wow wow wow! @harrison and @sonny1, No one is keeping anything secret! I just haven’t edited the video together yet because it is too hot to sit in my study.

Originally it was just going to be me and brerabit getting together to go out on the Solent, then Chris M joined us at the last minute. I wasn’t even going to take my T38, I was just going to ride along with Brerabit but decided to take it the day before.
No subterfuge - no corruption - no special handshakes. We just saw an opportunity and took it. It was all very informal. I’ll write up my findings now and add the video later.

[sonny1]

well im not buying it. it was all done with private messages ,obviously. when it was planned and signed up for previously by at least 10 people it was all out in open posts. none of that this time .. bitterly disappointed not to have been able to attend. do any of the previous boats who signed up for the test feel the same? this post has certainly got an apt title ,,,,,,smoke on the water

[ChrisParish]

Sorry you feel that way. I assure you that it wasn’t done to upset anyone. I’ve told you the truth - not my fault if you don’t buy it. Hell, we hadn’t even made up our minds where we were going until the day before!

[sonny1]

it is not my wish to upset or annoy anybody on the forum,i just felt that this previously ,much heralded event which drew so much interest has now taken place without any prior warning. im just so very disapointed. i cannot deny your absolute right to do what you wish,with whom you wish ,when you wish, without any obligation to notify anyone ,i just feel this event has taken place outside the spirit which i thought prevailed on the forum. in conclusion i have to say the results are interesting and probably sound the death nell for honwaves previously unassailable position on this site. theres a new kid in town

[sonny1]

I understand your frustration. This was never planned as a comparison - I just saw an opportunity to have a go in a boat which I am considering buying and I took it.

[harrison]

well im not buying it. it was all done with private messages ,obviously. when it was planned and signed up for previously by at least 10 people it was all out in open posts. none of that this time .. bitterly disappointed not to have been able to attend. do any of the previous boats who signed up for the test feel the same? this post has certainly got an apt title ,,,,,,smoke on the water

I’m with sonny on this one.

Whilst I fully appreciate privately organised trips between forum members are perfectly normal, acceptable and a good thing, and certainly not accountable to the greater forum whatsoever. I do however think it pretty poor form to privately organise this particular jaunt in light of the previously cancelled ‘ultimate sib’ test.

I seem to recall the plug was pulled at the eleventh hour by the organiser and most of us who’d signed up decided to turn up anyway for just a club run out.

This may well have been organised last minute but in my book it would have been polite and proper to at least inform the previous attendees of this test.

[Brerabit]

I have to support @ChrisParish here. This casual meeting arose out of Chris expressing an interest in the Voltaire on the forum. Shortly after this I was arranging my VHF course with DMT for Sunday 21st. I contacted Chris to offer him the chance to try the boat while I was down there on either the 20th or 22nd, we settled on the Monday. Nothing planned, just going to take the boat out and put it through its paces. When @chris moody asked if he could come and take a look, I contacted CP to ask him if he minded sharing his ‘test drive’ - no problem says CP - and that’s all there was to it.
That it turned out to be an ideal opportunity for an objective test with two of the most respected mariners on the forum was pure happenstance.