The Best And The Worst

[vanessan]

The ‘first night on a boat’ thread got me thinking about the best and the worst boats we ever hired. I’m sure we have chatted on a similar thread in the past but now we have a lot of new members, it would be nice to hear their stories too. This is not about boatyards, just the boats themselves as we don’t want to get into trouble!

I think probably the best boat we ever hired was one of the Connoisseurs, the 2-4 berth model with the super galley in the bow. Everything seemed just right. That style of boat definitely wouldn’t suit us now for various reasons but I loved it then. The worst boat was called Triumphant Lady from a yard now long gone at Somerleyton. It was a sedan style and the bow leaked right on to the v-shaped bed. The fill-in bit of the bed kept falling out and the whole boat could have done with a lot of tlc. Not the boat’s fault but I remember a rhond anchor coming adrift whilst moored overnight in Langley Dyke (no proper moorings in those days). My husband donned a short jacket (nowt else on) and went ashore to sort it out. I thought I was helping by shining a torch for him but all the thanks I got was ‘turn that b****y torch off’! Funny how white things look by torchlight 

Looking forward to hearing some of your best and worst but please be careful of naming boatyards and causing unintended offence. 

[Hylander]

Our first hire boat was a 2 berth Connoisseur, hubby thought it was the bees knees , I thought it was anything but.   Darn thing the heating did not work and this was April and it snowed,   the hot water packed up, it had a slot in the woodwork which was about 4 inches wide that was apparently the 'wardrobe'.     We spent more time moored up on our 4 night stay waiting for a mechanic than we did cruising.    All they offered us was our fuel deposit back less what we had used.        Which as you know is the norm anyway.  Must have seen us coming a mile off but we did not know the ropes then.   I got back to work and moaned and moaned about this holiday swore blind that it was the last boating holiday we would every take but as you know we hired many more and in the end bought our own boat.   

[Arthur]

On Carols Broadland Memories Site There are one or two tales from my my boat hires back in the 1970's  one of which was my only bad experience with a hire boat.

I wrote those down back in 2009 but it is amusing to read them again.

http://www.broadlandmemories.co.uk/arthur1970s.html

[johnb]

We have never hired, had our own boat since 1986. We visited my brother in law on a boat he hired, and one cabin (bedroom) I believe was next to the engine compartment and stank of diesel. I am afraid I couldn't have slept in it. 

If a window is going to leak, it's going to be one above a bed. I guess it's almost inevitable as many windows are built there, but has been our experience that only these ones leak!

[Guest]

Best one we hired was a Bounty 28, closely followed by an Aquafibre Pearl 38 which was only let down by engine noise when the roof was closed.

Not really had a bad one although in hindsight the Horizon 30 I had my first Broads holiday on had a really worn engine and a tired interior (this was late 80's)  but it still got me hooked!

[JennyMorgan]

Being in the trade I never hired but did often borrow a cruiser from other yards for a long weekend. I once borrowed a modified Caribbean from a long defunct yard on Oulton Broad. Now, whilst most Caribbeans had their engines mounted against the transom and the propellor was driven by a hydraulic drive, this one had a centrally mounted engine with a shaft driven prop. Great, in theory, the engine box was part and parcel of the main double berth. Downside was that after a few hours running the engine and box became hot and acrid, the smell would linger long after the engine was turned off, long into the night. I was really glad to return that boat!  

[Lulu]

I dont remember a bad boat on the Broads but I did love the Connoisseur.   That will always be a favourite. 

The worst was a barge on a canal somewhere. I remember  us being stuck in the middle of nowhere waiting to be rescued. Dad in the end got it up and running again , knowing him, most likely using a wire coat hanger and black insulation tape (always two vital bits of kit where ever we went according to him) .    We've got a roll of black tape on our boat :)

[SPEEDTRIPLE]

Best boat was definitely the first, the then brand new Aston Orion in 1970, being brand new, and the latest most modern and best equipped family boat with the layout it had, it was perect for our needs. The worst was from Herbert Woods in Easter 95, called Premiere Light. It was filthy, with flaking paint, the steering arm snapped 10 minutes after we set off,  there was a badly jagged edge to a broken porthole, the hatch was falling apart, the engine was knackered, and it had`nt been serviced properly. And we werethe first to hire it that year. Later in the season, they took it out of the fleet, cut the old wooden top off it, and moulded a new GRP top and put it on. They then named it Royale Light.

[CambridgeCabby]

Best we hired was Fair Aristocat , a Haines 35 flybridge , since sold . Hired her 4 times , the worst was Grecian Girl nothing wrong with her per say just wasn’t our sort of boat but we needed the cabins that year .

[PastorsDayOff]

Ironically; the best and worst for me were the same kind of boat, a bounty 37. One had truly uncomfortable beds and an engine that would overheat if you pushed it above 1800 rpm, which made crossing Breydon not much fun; the other with far better beds, and a better serviced engine, of the same type, that I could run against a 3-4 knot tide at full chat without it getting warm.

Have our own boat now, so not much hiring from here on in.

[Polly]

We never had a bad hire on the Broads, but we had a bad narrowboat once with the world's noisiest diesel. 

Broad hire, my favourite was the Zoe last August, what a lovely little boat! We had the Lady Harriet from HW when they did sailies, on both it was the combination of sailing qualities and a lovely warm varnished cabin that was the winner.

[donnygeoff]

my worst hire was the last one I had, because I had to hand the boat back, my best one is the next one I will have....

[SwanR]

I wouldn't want to rank the boats that we have had as they are all still on hire, apart from one that we had in the 90s.

I am always wary of saying something negative in case someone who has already booked the boat should happen to read it and then feel disappointed with their choice before they've even started their holiday.

So I will just state the obvious ... Swan Reflection remains my favourite boat for so many reasons. Also with Swancraft not hiring anymore, Ferry Marina is our number one choice of yard for lovely boats and great service.

[Guest]

Best (for differing reasons)-

Westminster bridge

Clifton bridge

Silver wisper

Worst - 

Never had a bad one

 

This is obviously excluding the best boat on the broads "Moonlight Shadow" but she isn't available to hire 

[SteveO]

The best? Justabout all of them have been excellent bar two. The worst? A bathtub hired from east of PH bridge. It wouldn't start on the second day of our holiday when we were moored in the middle of nowhere and for the rest of the week, it was a constant battle between the bilge pump and the water pouring in through the stern gland.  The second worst was a 37 ft  bathtub  which would not answer the helm in any more than a slight breeze - we got blown sideways down Womack water and couldn't do anything about it -  and whose batteries were so poor that we couldn't run the heating at the end of October.

[Wyndham]

2 hours ago, donnygeoff said:

my worst hire was the last one I had, because I had to hand the boat back, my best one is the next one I will have....

Along a similar line..... the worst I will not mention other than to say awful, the best was the one that followed. It made us realise that not all hire boats were poo. It happened to be Fair Princess from NBD. She really was a Princess and contributed to a great holiday for us both.

[BroadAmbition]

The best? - Easy one, many hires of great woodies - The Admiral Class from Brooms in the 60's and 70's followed closely by the Supreme Commanders

The Worst? - Tobago on a Lads week during a very cold October, the aft cabin was a shared two berth. I had the pleasure of listening to the very loud 'Tick Tick' of the heating pump all evening but no heating outlet,  then there was the hydraulic drive system, proper noisy and more thirsty than Oliver Reed - Never again

Griff

[webntweb]

I've enjoyed all the boats we've hired over the years. From really basic old ones when we were skint to quite posh ones when were flush.

If I had to pick a worst it would be a five year old AF42 from Beaver Fleet at St Olaves. They were ex King of Light from Woods and I believe Beaver bought them when they were only about three years old. Very poor starter, doors were falling off, canopy wouldn't slide properly plus loads of little things. There was a form on the boat asking you to list anything that needed attending to; I gave up after over a dozen items and put etc, etc.

Too many good ones to pick a best but I did particularly like Yare Sunset 1 which we hired from Brister Craft in 1994. Mind you it does help that she was the little sister of our present boat Lightning.

Roy

[Guest]

Deviating slightly from the original question "the best boat you've been on" it is usually the one you happen to be on at the time of questioning.

Our all time favorite hire was the original Silver Emblem II from Ernest Collins, we had that from the second year of hire for many years. It earned this accolade through a combination of being at the time a "Gucci boat"! combined with good weather, luckily for many years in succession  and the enthusiasm of youth.  When my little sister grew up from being a baby and probably slept in an open drawer as an improvised cot, we moved to the Diamond Emblem which was a genuine 5 berth. 

[Gracie]

The best for me was Broadland Mars, having the roof back and sunning myself with out even stepping off the boat, glass of wine and watching people messing about in their boats, my idea of paradise

The worst was a boat we hired on the Yorkshire Ouse, I right heap of junk she was but I still loved her. I don't think she'd been used for months, there were dead spiders in the cupboards, the loo broke down and our lights stopped working, we had to call the engineers out several times but still made the best of it and had a right old laugh. Half way through the holiday my dad asked us if we wanted to pack up and go home, I told him very respectfully to jog on Lol

I guess I've loved every single one, a heap of junk or posh, I'm not fussed as long as I'm afloat

Grace

[MauriceMynah]

We hired Diamond Emblem (Ernest Collins) many times and it was always a favourite of mine. We only hired Silver Emblem once but that was when Ernest Collins were operating under Pennant holidays, a very different concern, and the state it was in caused us to stop using them.

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, MauriceMynah said:

We hired Diamond Emblem (Ernest Collins) many times and it was always a favourite of mine. We only hired Silver Emblem once but that was when Ernest Collins were operating under Pennant holidays, a very different concern, and the state it was in caused us to stop using them.

We hired in "the good old days" of Jack Latham. It was very sad to see the boats in such a state as part of the boatyard's turnaround routine in those early days was for someone in a small dinghy to go and clean/polish any marks out of the hull collected during the previous week's hire. 

[Simon]

About 4 years ago myself and two young children hired San Pedro from Richardsons, basic boat but was perfect for us, 

Went to sleep one night moored just above Wroxham bridge, woke the next morning tied up on the opposite bank. I remember climbing into the cockpit still not wide awake and being really confused seeing the arched wooden bridge outside.

turned out we were let loose in the night and drifted around the basin until a dog walker managed to tie us up to a tree.

kids never knew as I moved her back before they woke up.

was a brilliant holiday loved every second of it.

[chrisdobson45]

Worst was a very tired "Aston something" in the mid 1980's, just about everything was worn out / life expired. Smoky, noisy diesel. My brother in law managed to get his fingers caught in the canopy winch when lowering it when we were getting ready for Wroxham Bridge, blood everywhere and a long afternoon trying to find a medical centre to repair the damage.

Best was probably last year, a return to the Broads (on a boat) after a 30 year absence. We hired Brinks Royale 3 for a week in late July, was like a trip back in time. The biggest problem we had was trying to keep Jasper onboard...

[Broads01]

15 minutes ago, chrisdobson45 said:

Worst was a very tired "Aston something" in the mid 1980's, just about everything was worn out / life expired. Smoky, noisy diesel. My brother in law managed to get his fingers caught in the canopy winch when lowering it when we were getting ready for Wroxham Bridge, blood everywhere and a long afternoon trying to find a medical centre to repair the damage.

Best was probably last year, a return to the Broads (on a boat) after a 30 year absence. We hired Brinks Royale 3 for a week in late July, was like a trip back in time. The biggest problem we had was trying to keep Jasper onboard...

Funnily enough my worst was also an Aston, it was Aston Goblin in 1983 and I was 12 years old. By the time we'd been aboard 2 nights we were on to our 3rd call out. After a dodgy canopy and a water leak, a battery problem had us stuck at Harvey Eastwood in Brundall for a whole day whilst we waited for the engineer. Fortunately after that the boat behaved itself and I have happy memories of the rest of the holiday. 

My best is hard to say because all boats have their positives. I think if pushed I'd go for one of the dual steers I've had over the years, either Gainsborough Girl or Soprano. I love the outdoor freedom a dual steer gives and not being stuck inside at the helm when it's raining.