During the initial upset of a long journey for no reason we came across a newly advertised Karnic 2260, a new chose we hadn't seen before, only bummer was it was back up East just short of Colchester. 2 days later and a trip via mummies in London and we have a new boat.
EBay advertised and the dealer couldn't have been more helpful. Yes there are some and they're not all retards on eBay. Twas dreading it as we headed down a little Essex lane to a dead end farm but he was a Merc dealer and just not all flash and glamour.
Equinox, as its named at the moment is in immaculate condition, 1 owner from new (2007) with just 75 hours on the 4.3 MPI who's now 70 y/o and has given up boating. No hour counter but we've printouts of dated management system reports from day 1. Full service history, fully maintained new battery bank, bellows, shift cables Gimble bearing, belts - you name it it had it done. No new risers but we'll see how that goes as the mechanic said no need to worry on those hours, esp as it was on brackish water mooring for only 3 months a year. SBS roller trailer which has never been dipped in water, in perfect condition. not a dink or scratch in sight. Even weighs in at 1300kg so we can but a smaller 4x4 (looking at Lexus hybrid but the max towing is only 1.6 T ) or back to a Galaxy Auto.
The only 2 problems, the windless went down not up and they rang whilst we were enroute to apologise but fixed it the same day, (corroded plug) and no trim on the drive. They insisted it worked the day before (yeah right !) so we went for lovely fish lunch in Mersea Island - came back and it was fixed. Heavy handed mechanic broke a sad connector whilst testing the windlass motor. Job done.
The only thing we can see not working is the cabin door lock.
And I have to say he was soon helpful, esp as this idiot went along with no trailer board straps or prop bag. They gave us a full run down of the 4.3 MPI the in's and out of the craft and its history, valeted it & even had the owner bring down the paperwork to prove its history. In my eyes right now Ive got a bargain, nothing to do but change over to a better stereo & nothing to buy (even comes with GPS plotter) for £14990. Couldn't see any reason why I shouldn't roll it back home - so we did. Im even tempted to stick back on sale for £18k ESP as the other Karnics on offer are 2050 O/B and refuse to budge from the asking price of £17k and £15.5K with lots of work to do on them both. Only problem is I think I went too big and its back to farm storage locally esp with Betty on the drive still as it'll be just too tight until we change tow car and fit a front tow ball. Bit of a bummer but we'll see how it goes. Heres some pics from the advert, Hoping to go out at the weekend as were on hols but the 1st officer has come down with Yellow fever and insists she's OK but looks crap.
