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Your Favourite hire Boat


Guest KeithC

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 3 months later...
Guest flanaguff

Royall Diamond had it last year with dinghy and outboard, couldnt get it through Potter, hope we can this July. It has plenty of space, is very well equipped, micro wave, DVD player [keeps the grandchildren quite] Bow Thruster first time i have used one brilliant! Only complaint you have to be a midget to actually shower in the aft shower!

Never had a bad boat from Royalls, always reliable, clean, quite, have had Sapphire5 times [loved that one] Satin, nice to have a bath! Commodore the hoods a nuisance! Stuart didnt like the saloon! Much prefer flat boats, appreciate they dont look as good as those with hoods, but much more practical particularly with young children aboard!

We always have dinghy with outboard, lazy and arthritic wrists, necessitate, but it does allow swinging on mud weights and guaranteed access to the gargle shop!!! Is this overkill???????

Just found the site looks great!

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  • 1 month later...

We had Satin last year and got her again in a couple of weeks, a lovely boat, I think I prefer the "flat"boats, particularly when there's just two on board, mooring is easier especially when its raining, no hood to bother with. We had Ambassador a couple of years ago, that was another good'un, but there were 3 people on board that year to manage her. :)

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Guest flanaguff

Yes ive had Satin very nice particularly like the "sit bath" got it through PH had some good fishing, great holiday!

Agree about hoods blasted nuisance!

:-D :-D :-D :-D

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Guest flanaguff

Jonny tell us why, looks ok for fishing with large area at the stern, but inside? only a sun roof! does it go through Potter!

whats its value£££? :-D :-D

Agree decent windscreen wipers and maybe demister, would be nice, and Water gauge great idea! :-D :-D

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the boat is currently up for sale at just under 30k last one of there hire fleet as they and other yards had meny

the sole purpose was for fishing with the large stern and big well. inside was very spacey and the pull out double all to me self in the saloon a dream. yes we did manage to get her through PHB but got stuck as we was on a two weeker they swapped us over to Astral light.

but was the last time with my mam on Adventuring Light thats and shes an odd shape to see her up for sale hurts we was thinking about buying made josephine same boat but dual steer was up for 38k now called kingfisher moored round the back of HB but way out of ower range.

PLEASE ALL I ASK IS FOR A FEW LUCKY BALL :bow:bow

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  • 1 month later...

My favouite boat strictly for comfort is Alpha Blenheim,probably the best all rounder is the Alpha Pantom and the worst one we have tried is the Alpha Thunderbolt.A lovely boat but in my opinion poorly laid out with a lot of wasted space.I must add we have tried out most of the Alpha fleet and touch wood have never had a bad holiday.John

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Don't really want to start an arguement..... honest! But I can't believe you think Alpha's "Phantom" is a good all rounder! I've ranted about AlphaCraft's "Rapide" elsewhere before. This is a similar boat to "Phantom" and should really be higher rated because it is only set up for four. We would not hesitate in saying this was the worst boat we had ever been on. Two supposedly double cabins side by side at the stern were very cramped with the beds actually being singles slid together. The stateroom was comfortable but the arrangement of the table and seating is such that once you are all sat, that is where you stopped until everyone was done or everyone had to move! The shiney silver pole suggested interesting entertainment though! The inside helm is so far back in the stateroom that visibility and any idea as to where the bows are is guesswork. Worst of all was the up top steering position. Chronic backache after five minutes of that. We had Alpha's resident engineer out to the boat and he actually said that it was generally accepted at the yard that this was the worst design Alpha had ever come up with.

Oddly enough we quite liked "Thunderbolt" except we felt it was a tad expensive for what it was. We too have been through most of Alpha's fleet right from the early 70's and our favourite boat then was originally called "Samarkand" and later renamed "Jaguar". Sadly there are no decent pictures of this around except a tired old photo of the boat at Reedham which I had and is in Craigs database.

Nowadays we have two favourites really. The "Juliette" from Martham for layout, handling and pure nostalgic class although this was let down for us by very poor maintainance on our trip. This has now improved in huge strides I must add.

Currently its "Royall Commander" (2) which we will be boarding next friday for the fourth year in succession. Can't wait !!!

Trevor

www.normanboats.co.uk

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i agree with you re Alpha Rapide but we honestly found that Phantom 2 had the best layout and for general comfort,we tend to come on holiday late October and found that the forward saloon was better for us than a centre cockpit boat but everyone to their own choice.Jaguar is now a up market 2 berth,very nice too.I am trying to get Langford to let me have a go on Spitfire but with our 2 dogs I will have to wait a while longer.John

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To add to rapide, 2 on suite bathrooms both unuseable due to the positioning of the toilet under the side decks and what is all the empty space about between the galley and the stateroom, only thing we found to do with it was store suitcases, boat could be 10' shorter and still have the same accomodation.

Spot on with the steering positions, was a week before I could stand straight and am still having nightmares about being blind at the internal helm, at least you didn't notice when it misted up, you couldn't see as far as the windows anyway.

Oddly we were told that there had never been another complaint about it and it was one of the most popular boats in the fleet.

Was the last time we hired with Alpha.

My Favourite is definately Pacific Princess, old but nice, not because it is the best but because it comes the closest out of the ones we tried to the perfect all rounder.

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  • 3 months later...

Favourite hire boat ... well, as my user name suggests is Sunny Sunlight (my name for the gorgeous Gainsborough Girl or as she was originally called Yare Sunlight). Now, granted she isnt the perfect boat - as already discussed when you gain something on a boat you often compromise on another, she has bad access if you can climb up the ladder style steps at the back and then down into the saloon but for me she is THE best boat on the Broads.

I've hired her far too many times to recall but there is simply something very special about her - it's as though she has a heart (does anyone understand that??). Everytime I catch a glimpse of her she takes my breath away - sounds very romantic and dramatic, but she does. I once had a week on her on my own and during that time had a few days of absolutely horrendous weather, she completely looked after me and behaved herself impeccably. I cant really put into words why I feel the way I do - I just do. If I could ever buy her I would - even though with my young family of five she isnt really suitable. At least in August I will get my week with her - we've hired her and a cottage at Summercraft with my parents, so we'll all get the best of both worlds.

A very close second comes Supermore - with lots of TLC she could be fantastic. She handles the best out of ANY boat I have ever hired, despite her long length and was fabulous. Just a shame she couldnt have been loved a bit more.

As for worst ... sadly for me it was a Faircraft - Encounter. I was just completely disappointed with her - everything seemed to be done on the cheap, she didnt handle all that well, wasnt very clean and our service at Faircraft wasnt very good - but, hey I am not knocking them, it could just have been their off day and the boat wasnt for me.

Great thread - I could go on and on!!!

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Hi all

I'll have to split mine into eras.

Era 1 definitely Y408 Queen of Hearts, the old wooden one. Built like a tank, easy to handle and lots of fun. Also warm and snug when the weather was bad.

Era 2 definitely N529 Bosun, from Brooms. A beautiful looking boat, nicely fitted out as well, even had a winch for the sliding top. Now on the Thames looking as good as new. Absolutely oozed quality and class and people were surprised it was a hire boat. Mind you, woebetide anyone who brought it back to Brooms in less than pristine condition!

Era 3 Ferry Privateer, the Sedan class boats, in fact the one Jimbo has now is number one of these. Good view, enough space, nice galley so the galley slave can see out, handled well and a good all rounder. In fact this year we are hoping to hire San Remo from Richardsons, which is one of the ex Ferry fleet.

Twist my arm for an absolute favourite from these three and it would have to be Bosun.

Regards

Geoff Pethick

Johannesburg

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Forgive me, yes, Ferry Privateer is up there with the best .... we were due to go on number one when she was brand new - she was delivered to the yard the same day as we were due to hire her, but in my parents infinite wisdom instead of waiting for her trials to finish they were offered and took Ferry Muskateer (have never let them forget it!). We did end up on Privateer the next year (and stayed with Ferrys for many, many years after that). She is still very dear to me - I recall pretending to be fast asleep on the handback day so as to stay onboard for a minute or so longer!! A lovely boat!

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Hi all

Just to clear up that Jimbo's boat was Ferry Privateer 3, our no. 1 choice! But of course you already knew that. Lewt's hope that the forthcoming makeover isn't expensive.

Regards

Geoff Pethick

Johannesburg

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  • 1 month later...

the best boat i have to say was one i hired 30 years ago the name was SUNDANCER 11 berth it looked like a boat not a bath tube, we did not race it just moved along at a snails until we crossed breydon when we opened it up there was not one boat that could live with us agreat boat unlikley to find one now we are hireinga 9 berth this year from silver marine

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  • 1 month later...

Without a doubt, the best hire boat I've ever sailed on is Luna from Hunter's Yard, though any of the four berths are good, and for the smaller party the Hustlers are very hard to beat. (Whilst the three berths are still very good boats, they suffer from a sub-optimal rig, not to mention the third berth sharing a cabin with the heads.)

Aside from the Hunter's boats (given that there are many people who would balk at the lack of an engine - as I learned to sail without an engine it doesn't bother me), I've had good experiences with the Eastwood Whelpton fleet at Upton - I really couldn't choose between Windjammer or Bootlegger, both are very pleasant to sail and fairly comfortable (though the Hunter's boats do have the edge in comfort over anything else I've sailed - huge berths, loads of storage, and whilst the facilities are basic they work very well).

The one other boat that deserves a mention, IMHO, is George Thetford, formerly from Camelot Craft at Wroxham, now available from Eastwood Whelpton. Whilst the accommodation isn't perfect, and I found her harder work to sail than many other boats, the electric inboard engine worked very, very well indeed (it was the main reason we hired her, having been impressed with the electric canal boats we'd seen a year earlier on the Monmouth & Brecon Canal).

If I were ever rich enough to consider commissioning my own boat (or building her myself), I'd want to take the lines, layout, and rig off Lucent from Hunter's yard, modified to account for the mass of a large battery bank to power a reasonably beefy electric motor hanging off the bottom in a waterproof pod, attached to a three bladed, feathering prop (I'd also be making alterations to the keel and rudder, but the details of those should probably be saved for a different post, as they're a bit techie).

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