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Broad Ambition - Underway on the H2O


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'B.A' has always had a Yorkshire rose at the stern since her recommission back in October 2007.  Note to self - must get a new one as it is looking somewhat tatty of late

Ok this years annual 'Lads Week' 

We crew up two Jewel-of-Lights' from Herbert Woods and of course 'B.A' on Friday evening 09th Oct.(Although I'll be onboard 'B.A' from Wed night 7th)  We are afloat through to Sat 17th.

6 x crew on each Jewel and 5 x crew on 'B.A' so we are just one crew member short of our maximum with three craft.

We will have two Golden Retrievers with us, our Macie onboard 'B.A' and one of her offspring 'Barney' on a Jewel

All male crews, the only females allowed onboard are the venerable 'Lap Dancers' - The next Lap dancer we welcome onboard any of our craft will be the first one as we have failed most miserably to tempt any beauties of this nature with a nautical mile of us - Can't think why!

Griff

 

 

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'B.A' has always had a Yorkshire rose at the stern since her recommission back in October 2007.  Note to self - must get a new one as it is looking somewhat tatty of late

Ok this years annual 'Lads Week' 

We crew up two Jewel-of-Lights' from Herbert Woods and of course 'B.A' on Friday evening 09th Oct.(Although I'll be onboard 'B.A' from Wed night 7th)  We are afloat through to Sat 17th.

6 x crew on each Jewel and 5 x crew on 'B.A' so we are just one crew member short of our maximum with three craft.

We will have two Golden Retrievers with us, our Macie onboard 'B.A' and one of her offspring 'Barney' on a Jewel

All male crews, the only females allowed onboard are the venerable 'Lap Dancers' - The next Lap dancer we welcome onboard any of our craft will be the first one as we have failed most miserably to tempt any beauties of this nature with a nautical mile of us - Can't think why!

Griff

 

 

If you change the flag at the stern to a RED Rose, you may just be in luck perhaps Griff with lap dancers! :naughty::naughty:  I will look out for your boats that week, but think you are heading South? We are on Sparkling Horizon. Sorry NO lap dancers aboard either.:norty:

 

cheersIain.

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We don't have a white rose on the back of the boat,what we do have is our number a a smiley faces sticker.Our boat is ex hire and she had a dash six.Last year Alan had the boat for a few day and was stopped by the ba,informing him the boat did not have numbers in the front and to take the six off the back.Therefore we were looking for a kingfisher to replace the six,we settled for smiley faces,Saddly could not keep the dash.

 

Ian:hardhat::wave

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Update on the F/W pump.

It failed during Robins first weekend afloat without me onboard - I was proper miffed for him/Sheila.  it failed because a certain crew member left it to run dry for over an hour without turning it off - Yes he had run 'B.A's tanks out of fresh water and ignored the helm gauge telling him so.  No pump will stand that and so it came to pass that it is knackered.  I was afloat during Robins weekend - sailing round the Greek islands to be precise so there was nothing much I could do.

However once home I rang the suppliers and ordered an identical like for like f/w pump.  This I collected and fitted the day we sailed for Beccles onto attend the classic boat rally

Of course the law of sod came into play didn't it? the new replacement pump was wrong wrong wrong. 'Like for like / Identical' - My Sphincter!

First off the rubber feet were spaced differently meaning I could only use the front two feet and these had to be drilled out to accept the original s/steel bolts, the rear of the pump had to be tie-wrapped down.  Then the electric connections were different lengths too, the input water connection from the tank filter was a different diameter as was the outlet side from the pump. Both hoses are now a tad too long and will require trimming down,  I had to 'Make Do' with all of the above issues as with six crew onboard managing via the 'Robin' method was not acceptable.  Then the biggest differnce came to make itself known.  The original pump produced 39psi with a flow rate of 15 Ltrs per minute.  The new pump had taken a man sized dose of steroids and was producing 60psi - Yes SIXTY! and 20Ltrs per minute.  Now this caused issues within the fresh water system, the calorifier or heat exchanger has a safety valve that operates at - Yes 60 psi so it was right on its' max and consequently dribbling fresh water into the bilge.  The accumulator tank will run to 80psi but I only has around 20psi of air in it so that wasn't operating to its potential either.

Still we had fresh water on tap again which was our objective.  Trouble with that was if you turned any tap on too much it was blasting out over the basin onto the deck or even bouncing up and hitting the deckhead, using the shower would have been akin to getting water jetted.

So the suppliers - I had to ring them and explain all this lot, they have been very good, apologised and supplied me with a second new f/w pump, this one rated at 44psi and 15 Ltrs per minute.  Much better,  apparently the feet/plumbing fittings will still require attention. I hope to fit it this coming weekend with a more permanent / professional fit down the river sometime.

Griff

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Hi Gtiff, 

The pump saga sounds like the standard replacement issues we all tend to have these days, even if the parts required are by the same company, is supposed the correct type, it is odds on that they will have changed something. We all  have to play the adaption game and get our hands dirty.

Regards

Alan  

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And so the last part of the series is upon us - but not to worry, there will be more episodes in time :)

Part four sees us visit St. Helen's church at Ranworth (for some reason I refer to it as St. Margaret's Church) and we end up at Sutton Staithe Boatyard for very cheap fuel and a pump out.

It truly was a lovely weekend with amazing weather that seems but a memory now.

 

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Thursday evening 27th Aug, by 2245 we are settled onboard but still in the wet shed, the crew wanted me to get them out of there but as I pointed out the rivers would be busy and finding a mooring alongside at that time of night, not to mention disturbing other boaters (We had Macie dog onboard) could have been somewhat time consuming, so we agreed to pop out of the shed round into Kingfisher quay over in the far corner out of the way of any early returning hirecraft, and there we stayed overnight

Griff

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Shocked? – The gap wasn’t that tight, well I didn’t think so!

Friday 28th Aug  -  Sailed from Richo’s – a nice day it was too, we were bound for Wroxham, then Coltishall with no real hurry to get to either. Lowered the mast for Ludham Bridge as per the norm (Our mast is 10ft 6”) waived to George at LBBy then said a hello to Alex and Lorna onboard ‘Braveheart’ as we passed.  Horning was busy, we would have stopped for an hour or so if a berth had been available but it wasn’t to be.

Just before Salhouse our Beta change note, well part of it did, Hmmm I’m thinking, that’s not quite right, so I had a quick 10 second ponder and came to the conclusion an alternator drive belt was developing a problem, lifted one engine cover and sure enough that is what it was.

Into Salhouse, as we prepared to drop the Mudweight the belt let go entirely, no harm done. 30 mins later new belt fitted and we are underway once more.  The original belt – I had never been quite happy with it – it used to emit a strange noise on start up until it was warmed up.  The replacement one is whisper quiet so it transpires that the original belt had some sort of issue right from day one, it managed around 2’200 x Hrs.  Of course we carry a spare onboard, well we did – I have now used it so a replacement one will be procured this coming weekend.

Into Wroxham, through the bridge without any drama then alongside the Kings Head quay.  The crew went off to Roys as per the norm, I visited ‘Nearest and Dearest’ for some amalgamating tape and prices on mooring ropes of various types / sizes.  It was whilst the crew was using the gardens of the Kings Head that I got stuck in to change the fresh water pump for the second new one in as many weeks.  This version is rated at 45psi.  I soon had it installed and noted that I will have to fully sort out the fittings during a forthcoming maintenance weekend.  I checked the accumulator tank was at the correct air pressure, switched on the pump which soon brought the system up to pressure, no leaks.  It was whilst tidying up the 12v cable that there was a ‘Bang’ within seconds I was soaked through, yes even the ‘skidders’  The flexible pipe on the pressure side of the pump had parted company from the pump outlet, which in turn released 25 x Ltrs of cold water from the accumulator which was pressured to 45psi – It didn’t take long for that lot to empty itsen all over yours truly!

Sigh . . .  more amalgamating tape, re-fixed pipe and all was well, had to dry out the engine bay and wheelhouse of course not to mention a change of dry clothes for moi

 

Griff

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See this is why the 'Robin water system' is all round safer bet as it is under no pressure and requires no electric pump just don;t go too far from a water point ;)

Seriously though had be laughing as can imagine that moment of pride at a good job finished, to then the the torrent of water gushing out over you and everything...Still least we can say the boat has been treated to a fresh water bilge clean.

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‘Eeees Fallen in De Water’

We left Wroxham early evening and toddled off to Coltishall.  On arrival we were in luck, there was a 50ft gap on the common, I brought ‘B.A’ about so we could berth Port side too, fenders deployed, deck crew ready.  A chap from the boat astern of the gap wandered down the bank and kindly got ready to accept our head rope which he duly did.  The bow was about 10ft from the bank, the stern was a good 20ft from the bank, I informed him that I was going to kick the stern in, which required full stbd wheel and a good blip on the throttle.  The man on the bank then got it in his head that he was going to hang onto ‘B.A’s headrope good n proper, what he should have done was to let the rope slip through his hands until I had got the stern in, but no he was standing firm. Now then I’m not sure how much the man weighed or how much horsepower he thought he could muster, but it was no match for 8 x tons and 50hp. Down on his backside he went ala ‘Tug-of-War’ style, did he let go? – did he eckers like which resulted in a very graceful entry straight into the river feet first!  ‘Eeees Fallen in De Water’

He was out in a jiffy assisted by our crew, what was really funny was that he still had a now very soggy bent fag in his mouth.  His first words were  ‘Well that was somewhat refreshing’  No harm done apart from our aching sides laughing with him.  Later on I asked him just what he was thinking of?  - he explained that at first he had no explanation as to why he took it upon himself to try and out pull ‘B.A’ as he knew exactly what I was doing, but he did have an explanation – Too many beers in the afternoon sun = falling in the river

I did offer him the use of ‘B.A’s shower but he declined the offer.

We spent the night there and had a marvellous dinner onboard cooked by Paul T.

Griff

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Saturday 29th Aug

Sailed fairly early but did not go too far, Coltishall lock to be precise, where we berthed up for B’fast under the sunshine. I did a spot of fishing but nothing was doing.  Plenty of canoodlists paddling past, Macie made use of the grassy are to go exploring.  Then a slow meander back to Wroxham – this stretch of the Bure is most definitely my favourite.  We stopped at the former ‘Le Boat’ sheds for water top up, then stern berthed at the Ba 24 x Hr moorings.  Sometime in the afternoon we departed, initially it was to be Ranworth but a txt invite to attend a BBQ at LBBy changed our plans.  It was shortly after passing Wroxham Broad that we came across ‘Broadland Askari’ on the Stbd bank, well the Stbd trees to be precise, the lady crew member was hanging onto the trees, Steve the owner was waving and seem somewhat agitated, so about we came. Stbd fenders deployed and we were soon alongside them.  It turned out the engine has lost its coolant, he turned it off immediately hence them being in the trees so no harm done.  On investigation I discovered that a core plug had been blown out of the block, I found it in the bilge but there was no way that was going to be put back in its hole way too far corroded.  Ok then nowt for it I would have to side tow them back to their base at LBBy which was where we were bound for ourselves.  It's just not in me to abandon fellow boaters in need of help.   Ropes sorted and off we went.

Broadland Askari is a big lump of a boat 40ft by around 11ft and around 7 x tons, only slightly lighter than 'B.A' so they were well matched but we were covering a sizeable area of water between us.   This was going to be interesting, bank holiday weekend, lots of craft on the water and now ‘B.A’ ‘Restricted in her movements’ which means of course that we have right of way over the rag-n-stick brigade for once – but would they know this?

As it turned out we only had one small issue when a boat decided to leave the Ferry Marina moorings stern first without looking over his shoulder, a few blasts from ‘B.A’s horns soon alerted him to our whereabouts and we passed without incident.  We managed a steady 5mph once out of Horning, the Ant proved remarkably easy with oncoming craft giving us the space we needed and we soon had him back at his home berth.  He was very grateful and mightily relieved (Not to mention lucky we were passing him in the first place) Payment was offered and of course turned down – it may be me one day that needs assistance.

 

Note:-  Core plugs for those that don’t know – are designed to ‘Save’ an engine if it freezes up by being pushed out of the block.  The core plug was very badly corroded from the inside out which means of course that the engine did not have strong enough ‘Anti Freeze’ in it.  Engine coolant (Anti-freeze) as well as obviously stopping the water freezing up is also very important in arresting the effects of electrolysis – internal corrosion. It should be used all year round.  My advice to Steve was to remove the remaining core plugs, flush out the cooling system, fit new core plugs then fill with a strong mixture of engine coolant (Anti freeze).  Onboard ‘B.A’ – every two years or 750 x Hrs running I completely drain down the cooling system, remove / inspect / clean the heat exchanger core, the re-fill with engine coolant (The marine friendly stuff). It is good practise.  This should inhibit any internal corrosion from commencing

 

So an evening at LBBy with friends and then overnight, another good day afloat if somewhat eventful once again

 

Griff

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Just a quickie...

If you've wondered what is the 'wrong side' of Haven Bridge in Great Yarmouth, wonder no more - for when Broad Ambition was returning from Beccles after the Wooden Boat show a couple of weeks back, there was insufficient clearance to get under vauxhall Bridge - so Charlie got on the VHF and we headed down towards the sea, to have a look and kill the time before the tide turned and we had clearance to head up the Bure.

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As someone who has had an engine (transit V4) saved by the core plugs popping out in the winter ( just tapped them back into the holes and refilled with antifreeze) I can assure you they work, they are designed to be the weak link (like a fuse) and allow the ice room to expand, rather than cracking the engine block.

Grendel

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Sunday 30th Aug 2015

Sailed sometime during the forenoon from LBBy, destination Malthouse Broad and Ranworth, the staithe was somewhat busy but we managed to get in stbd side to with our stern close the the bow of a boat to the right of the staithe.

There we stayed for the whole day and overnight, had a rather long DTS in the pub, after the previous two days it was pleasantly uneventful, dinner onboard and a DVD

 

Monday 31st Aug 2015

It rained and didn't seem to stop all day.  maybe we should have gone home early but a bad day afloat is better than a good day in the office, so we elected to go off to Potter.  We arrived in the pouring rain with the berths taken up so it was going to be a fair walk or be cheeky and go alongside the Port bank on H.W's private moorings just before the day boat dyke, which is what we did, a quick call into the office and we were welcomed to stay there as long as we liked.

Fishing was out of the question so after the crew returned from La'tharms rain or not, this was a bank holiday and we were dam well going to make the best of it.  So brollies, waterproof coats we set off for The Falgate Inn, Macie dog too who never seems to mind getting wet but prefers swimming to walking in the H2O.  We got there at 1400 only to find a sign saying - 'Open at 1700' - Sod it, about turn, I was now not bothered how bad the reputation was in the 'BroadsHaven' we were going in - only on arrival that was shut too!  two guns  So as it turned all we had achieved was to walk to the Falgate and back in the pouring rain just to see how far it was!  We cast off from a dreary PH in disgust bound for LBBy for the usual pump out on our last day afloat as is the norm

So Potter Heigham on a Bank Holiday Monday 1400 in the afternoon and not one public house open to welcome visitors, day trippers or otherwise - imho it's just not good enough and they are not doing themselves any favours

Lbby - efficient as ever now with George at the helm, we got 'B.A' into the shed proper wet on the upper scupper so we had to squeegee / cloth her dry before we eventually left for home

Griff

Edited by BroadAmbition
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Just had another weekend afloat, all to the good, however yet again not entirely incident free

Friday 11th - A job I was not looking forward to one bit.    The weekend before as we left 'B.A' Bro' decided to just give a short flush to the macerating toilet to re-fresh the water in the bowl, there was a sound of an electric motor / pump struggling and not happy with itself one bit

So here I was, sleeves rolled up, I had to remove the box that contains the motor/pump etc so basically the whole lot apart from the actual porcelain toilet itself.  What a horrible mess inside, and yes a damn wet-wipe was yet again the culprit.  This is the third time in 8 x years this has happened, why can't crews read or understand the spoken word? - I'm sure they think 'Oh it's only the one, it won't do any harm' - YES IT DOES  :norty:  As it turned out it was a blessing in disguise and the inside of the chamber really did need a good clean out, lots of calcium / scale build up, the plastic griddle thing - the holes were  nearly fully blocked up too.  The whole job took me nearly 2 1/2 hours from start to finish.  The w/c is now back to it's normal smooth near silent operation.

So that was Fridays 'Incident' sorted.  We sailed late afternoon in company with 'White Champagne' for overnight at Salhouse.  Saturday morning - Incident number two (No not Brilliants gangplank - that was easily sorted) we ran out of propane gas - it happens, we don't carry or have room for a spare. At least it was a Saturday morning and we were not too far away from civilisation, so off to Wroxham round the back of Barnes/Royals and stern on at the former George Smiths shed, a quick walk round to Norfolk Marine with empty bottle, stagger back with a full one shoulder high. Then through the bridge to pick up guests at Kings Head.  Back through the bridge and orf to Acle Bridge, there were 15 of us for a dinner in the evening and very good it was too - made all the more entertaining by two senior 'Cross Dressers' on an adjacent table -   I have never really understood Cross Dressers, each to their own I suppose, but why anyone should get angry when getting dressed is beyond me!

Sunday back to Wroxham to drop off guests, only snag here was that after getting up river of the bridge it started raining, we had to go back through the bridge in the pouring rain - that meant shifting everything that could be possibly shifted out of the wheelhouse to save it getting wet. Barry on the helm whilst me and MrsG then wiped / dried everything on completion of the bridge.

Stop off at LBBy for the obligatory pump out and back into the shed at base - a good half hour spent with a squeegee / cloths to wipe down 'B.A' (Don't like putting her away wet) and set off for home

Next time out will be our annual 'Lads Week' in October, this year I'm due to be skippering 'B.A'

Griff

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  • 3 weeks later...

It was Wednesday when talking to my dad I decided to put it to him “shall we go up to the boat this weekend?” – his eyes lit up and back came the reply “that would be lovely.”

And so it was that we would go to Norfolk after I’d finished work on the Friday.  As it turned out most of the office seemed to have deserted me, so by 3:30pm I did the same and left the office. I thought this would be an ideal time to depart – missing the rush hour, but of course I had not taken account of my father’s need to pack – Forum, this is a man who takes packing as an art form for first he must do a list (even if he is only to be away for one night) and then he must select the most suitable sized case out of many nestled like Russian Dolls within each other.

By 5:30pm he had compiled his list, packed and ticked each item off but forgot he needed to bring a duvet cover, slip and pillow case – this would mean either crushing them into the case, putting them in another bag or the third most frustrating option – unpack and move up to a medium sized wheeled case to accommodate everything neatly.  The third option was chosen.

Just before 7:00pm we set off for Norfolk heading out of London on the A10 avoiding the M11 but getting thoroughly stuck in a jam just outside Edmonton clearly shown on my phones mapping software was there before we left home (the M11 running freely).  45 minutes later we were moving again with a frustrated Rascal in the passenger seat.

Our next issue was around Postwick some roadwork’s causing us a great deal of bother trying to figure out just where the hell the A47 had gone to and expecting to head out in the direction of Acle to ‘swing up’ to Stalham from the right (so to speak) but taking directional misunderstanding to levels past that which James May can, my dad ignored my advice to use my sat nav and stuck with the cars own system – which often after extended use will crash (the DVD player in the boot that runs the mapping software throws a fit).

Eventually we arrived at Richardson’s Marina in Stalham getting on towards 11:00pm. I got set to preparing the boat and notice the water tanks were on empty – but the water hose had been double threaded by a kind fellow owner some boats down from us and so much messing about was had with an adjustable wrench to get the hose off and attached to a water point near Broad Ambition. 

I then had to make my dad’s bed, unpack his things, put the food and drink in the fridge and give a briefing about the boat, safety and that ‘my word was gospel’ when we left the shed since we would be embarking on a night nav to Barton Broad.  

With water tanks filled and with he and I ready for the off we used head torches to move about the decks (handy present after all – thanks mum) and manually bring Broad Ambition out of her birth.  Once she was straight I could then motor out and into the most amazing scene – crystal clear skies, a full ‘super moon’ and before us a true silver river reflecting the moonlight, it was getting on for Midnight.

My dad on the other hand somehow got his head torch tangled trying to get it off, turned it on and looking at me with it asking “but how do I get the bloody thing off my head” blinded me in the process.

We cruised down the Ant now in a tense silence.

My dad wanted to have a go so with me by the wheel he took over, he was doing really well – so much so I popped out to try and take a photo of the moon, but without a tripod it was hopeless and blurred.  I told him to look out for what would appear to be a ‘dead end’ with trees and turn left (to turn right would head towards Wayford) and very much earlier than I anticipated he duly said “he is the left hand turn” and duly began to turn to port, I immediately was worried just how narrow the river had got with the reeds seemingly very close to us on both sides.  I took the wheel and put Broad Ambitions powerful spot light on for a few seconds whereupon I knew exactly where we were – the cut that leads to Sutton Broad from the ‘Stalham Arm’ of the River Ant.  Not good at all and so we needed to turn right at the end to get us back on course.

It soon became obvious (for still unknown reasons) my dad was most uncomfortable at the idea of mud-weighting on Barton Broad.  Try Paddy’s Lane he said, looking at the map with the use of the ‘red light’ (bicycle LED tail lights I had rigged up in the wheelhouse) and so I pointed Broad Ambitions bow towards the moorings and from the moonlight and light from Cox’s Boatyards flood lights could see the moorings were full.  Even if there had been a space, the fact it was now getting on for 1:00am I certainly did not want to be trying to moor up in a tight space between boats whose crews were sleeping.

Having backed out to the main river we once again were underway just the short distance to the Barton Broad – my dad was once more looking and asking “how about Irstead?” NO, dad we are stopping here now give me a hand to look out for the channel marker posts... We went to the left as you enter the Broad, and noticed several boats ‘at anchor’ and I worked out our swing on the line and that we would avoid anyone else and the channel marker posts too. Engine and all systems off I put the anchor light on – while not a requirement to have such on the Broads, should we mudweight on a Broad over night it is to be used.  

I left him with a rum and I sat out in the aft well, the Broad was still – no wind and you could see Swans and Ducks doing there nocturnal thing, silhouettes of the other boats in the moonlight made you almost have to pinch yourself to know this was real and I was part of the scene.  My first ever mooring overnight on a Broad and it was just perfect.

We pick up with things the following mooring with episode 5 of the River Blogs....

 

 

 

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