Brittany Ferries did exactly the same to my bike, ruined the seat completely, they strapped it down to the wire running along the deck and each bike that gets strapped down adds to the tension. They did compensate me after I had it repaired but the seat was never the same, I now have three seats, standard, modified and just the small base unit with no padding which if I ever go Brittany again I will put on the bike and take the proper one with me. Useless twits.
On a trip back from Assen, the ferry sailed when it should not have, the sea's were far too rough but being an Assen weekend there was so much traffic at the Hook that they sailed anyway. I lashed down the bike myself then asked the ferry loader to check it and that he was happy with it. I was very careful as I had had a custom paint job a few months earlier. Sure enough got to the other end and a number of bikes had gone over of which mine was one. To be fair to the ferry company, I contacted them with before and after pics, receipts for the paint, estimates for the fix and they paid up within a reasonable time without any fuss.
If you like those long ferry trips (which i hate) We used the Shuttle and then Autotrain from Paris to get to the Picos area and Pyrenees, bit more complicated to arrange but good riding and the cost was about the same.
Horses for courses i guess, I find the ferry quite relaxing. Get on the Pont Aven, have a few beers, sleep, wake up, eat, chill and arrive in Spain. All very easy, and they've never fucked my bike yet..... Fingers crossed...
An interesting alternative that I need to look into. But in the spirit of this thread, how did they tie the bikes down on the train?
What position was the seat in? Mines on lowest and never had a problem on my dvt Base model... Wondering if yours was higher setting the plastic 'raiser rails' may have buckled?
They wanted to strap mine down, with the top box rubbing against a steel beam on my last trip, until I told them to Foxtrot Oscar. Ended up with my front tyre rubbing against a Harley, the owner of which wasn't best impressed. They wedged us up on the mezzanine level, against a railing, where the last cars on the ramp get lifted up by hydraulics. Arse end of mine was left sticking out, such that no one could get past or the adjacent car could not open their car door without damaging their paintwork - bit chaotic, but other than a 3 day seat crease that came out, no damage.
Rather than using old seats, why not fab an ‘A’ shaped rail to go over the seat, that hooks onto the frame or something. No load on the seat and it could be made foldable using thumbscrews at joints or something.
Autotrain - They have a roll in front wheel chock/support and a metal bar at the rear. Then they use nylon pallet style straps to the forks and frames. Seems pretty secure to me, never had a problem. The cartridges have mesh sides so the bikes aren't totally inside. The only PIA is you have to catch a separate train to the location. However this worked well for us on the way back when we rode to Lyon, put the bikes on the train, stayed in Lyon overnight opposite the station and then caught the early morning train to Paris (Cheaper than staying in Paris). yiou have to let them ride the bikes on and off and they only really like to accept hard luggage (although they did allow my roll bag which was strapped on well in front of the top box)
As the OP I can confirm the creases didn’t come out 100% and in fact the seat base was bent permanently.
Made me a bit nervous this thread !! I’m going from Fishguard to Rosslare on Saturday with Stenna line ! Hope I won’t be adding damaged multistrada pics to this thread
I normally take 1 long piece of that grey plumping pipe insulation but get the thickest one you can https://www.screwfix.com/p/economy-pipe-insulation-15-x-13mm-x-1m/72357 cut it into pieces, then when the straps go on, the insulation tubes wrap around the securing straps to avoid damage on the seat/bodywork.
Damage can happen, no denying that, but its rare. I have been over on Brittany ferries more times than I can remember and have never suffered more than a few seat creases, which come out after a couple of days sitting on it. At the end of the day, common sense prevails and if you think they have over tightened the seat lashing, get them to loosen it off a bit. Or you can use a spare cheap seat if you are that worried about it. As the OP has stated, on the rare occasion something happens, then the boat folk paid for it. I am not sure it happens that frequently that I'd worry about it or let it stop me travelling on a ferry.
Agree, having had it happen to me I now have a spare slightly damaged seat which I will use in the future when going on the ferry, problem solved, caused but solved by Brittany