Welcome to Avon Marina’s meet the boat.  A chance for us to get to know the Avon Marina community.

This week I went to meet Mike and Sue James, a lovely couple.  They have a beautiful mooring overlooking Stanpit Marsh.  It is at the far end of the marina compared to Vin Rose last week, but equally as beautiful setting.

Their Boat is named Equinox.  They have owned her from new and here is her story.

Sue- ‘Our son owned a sailing boat and we enjoyed that, we decided one day to go out and look for a boat of our own.  Before we had Equinox we had the smaller version, called ‘Dark Horse’ after the Stanpit Marsh horses.   We decided that with the grandchildren onboard it was just a bit too small.  So we upgraded to Equinox’. 

Mike- ‘14 years ago we bought her all the way from America.  We were so happy, however 4-6 weeks after owning her she developed a problem and kept going into limp mode.  The Volvo D3 engine appeared to have a fault.  We tried to ask UK dealers to help with the repair but we were getting nowhere.  We eventually called the supplier in the USA and told him what was going on.  He flew in a new engine and drive completely free of charge.  Not only did he do that he also asked us what engine replacement we would like.  We asked for the next model up, the D4 Volvo engine and he obliged.  Since then we have been extremely happy with her.’

 We named her Equinox as she arrived in April in the Equinox tide.  We thought it was fitting.  We have had so many memories on Equinox. The best being simply going to Studland and taking the grandchildren on days out.  They are the best memories.  The furthest we go is to Swanage, Studland and the Isle of Wight.

If we could give advice to a new owner it would be to get a walk on and off berth as it makes life easier and to use a professional service to learn how to use your boat.

I asked Mike and Sue what they loved most about Equinox.

Sue said ‘We love it because it is ours, its become one of the family.  When we are out on her.  We often just read the paper, have a nap and relax.  We often get friends come by and wake us up as we have fallen asleep as it’s so peaceful.

We are so pleased with the bigger engine and the story behind it.  She really goes now.

If we could choose our dream boat it would be a Sunseeker, for obvious reasons.

I asked if they have always been motor boat fans and would they sail?

Sue said ‘No, my son has a sailing boat and its just too much hard work for us, we are all about relaxation and taking it easy with the family.  We have both always had boats in our lives. ‘

Sue- ‘I have had boats from a young age, my children have also always been around boats as have our grandchildren.’ 

Sue told us all about her wonderfully happy and successful family and the adventures they have had both on and off land.  They have had such a fascinating, well-travelled life and it was extremely interesting to hear their stories.  If you happen to see them on their mooring and they are not asleep, (just teasing).  I’m sure they will tell you all about it!

Finally I asked them what they love about mooring here at Avon Marina.

‘We like it here because it is organised.  There is attention to details.  If there is a problem it is dealt with immediately.  We also like the security aspect.  We know that no one is tampering with the boat whilst we are away.’

Thank you so much for your time Mike and Sue.  You have a beautiful boat and I really enjoyed my time chatting with  you both.

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