Bohemian rhapsody
KARNIC BLUEWATER 2250 Hugo’s love affair with his boat shows no signs of waning after ten happy years
I can’t quite believe that Bohemian Girl has just celebrated her tenth birthday. I’d swear it was only five years ago that I was lowering it into the water for the first time to run in its 200hp Suzuki outboard. The good news is that I don’t think it looks or feels past its sell-by date. That’s partly because it’s not the kind of cutting-edge design that looks out of date as soon as it’s launched, and partly because I’ve taken a few judicious steps to offset the ageing process. The two most effective have been getting it vinylwrapped by Grapefruit Graphics in a metallic silver colour and fitting Flexiteek to the cockpit and side decks.
Both of these have been a huge success, greatly enhancing its visual appeal and in the case of the Flexiteek, improving grip and comfort underfoot. Thanks to the power of man-maths, I also reckon that they both saved me money by postponing any thoughts of upgrading to a new boat.
How long that will last is hard to say. The vinyl wrap has just completed its third season and is starting to show its age with a few nicks and scrapes picked up from a relatively hard life spent on a swing mooring. Most estimates suggest a five-year lifespan and I reckon mine will go the distance. It still looks a lot better than it did before the wrapping and I can always patch the worst scratches. The Flexiteek decking has plenty of life left in it and has actually proved much easier to maintain and keep clean than the non-slip GRP that used to trap ingrained oil and dirt.
The other major upgrade I made was installing a Coastkey wireless kill-cord. This clever bit of kit is a small radio transmitter that I wear on a lanyard around my neck, and replaces the traditional fixed kill-cord. It sends out a continuous signal to the receiver that means I can move around the boat to put out fenders and rig lines without having to detach from the kill-cord or stop the engine. But if ever I were to fall overboard, the water blocks the signal and the engine stops. I did have some concerns about how reliable this technology would be but after three seasons’ use it still works a treat, and I haven’t even had to change the battery yet. Ironically, the only thing that has started to wear is the neoprene lanyard. It’s not cheap at £550, but it’s a brilliant bit of kit that in my opinion is both safer and more convenient than a standard kill-cord because you can’t start the engine without it, and once you’ve put it around your neck, you never need to take it off again until the end of the day.
In most other respects, the boat is holding up just fine. The cockpit upholstery is looking tired and tatty so that’s the next thing on my list, and the speed log and depth gauge need replacing after the folding bracket failed, but the hull and engine continue to deliver flawless service. Suzuki’s big-capacity V6 engine is a creamy, unstressed engine that provides effortless 40-knot performance and faultless reliability. The hull is nothing special but it’s safe and secure, and the layout of the walkaround decks, large open cockpit and spacious, dry cuddy suit our needs extremely well. So happy anniversary, old friend, and here’s to the next ten years. Hugo