Spent a slightly unusual day yesterday, charging about the Solent and Southampton Water in an inflatable boat. I was writing a feature about a company called SeaStart, which is effectively a breakdown organisation for boat-owners. It’s just like StartRescue but on the sea; your boat’s engines won’t work, so you call in an expert and he rides to the rescue with a set period of time to sort out the problem.
I was out on patrol with Jonathan Parker, who ironically used to be a car breakdown patrolman before swapping dry land for the south coast’s waterways. His seven-metre rib boat uses twin Honda outboard engines, which allow it to happily cruise at about 30mph. I asked Jonathan why he chose that brand from all the different ones that are available, and I thought his answer was pretty telling. He said that on his rescue missions he vary rarely gets called out to problems with Honda engines, and in his previous job, he was very rarely involved with mechanical problems on Honda cars. Have a look on AutoTrader or similar websites and you’ll find Honda cars aren’t cheap – they hold there value exceptionally well on the secondhand market – but they have a well-earned reputation. And that’s probably worth the extra cash.
Breakdown Cover from 
