Julz

We paid £89 for a 110amp Leisure and Marine type battery from 'Don Amott Leisure supplies' last year for our caravan, and its powerful enough to run the motormover, the bit that turns the wheels to park up the van into tight and awkward spaces. Leisure batteries are designed to supply a lower discharge of power over longer period of time, and are not suitable for the short but powerful burst of charge required to turn an engine over to start it, no matter what amparage rate they are marked up at. For this reason you will find that most motorhomes are fitted with both kinds of batteries, one for the 'domestics' side of the van and a normal car type battery for starting If its just a battery for engine starting you require, then you would probably be better and cheaper to buy a car battery from one of the high street outlets such as Halfords or Kwikfit, which would also run a couple of low wattage lights for the cabin if required whilst underway and being charged up by an alternator Julz

Hi Jonny, maybe the best way of picking a suitable boat is to wait a little while until near the end of the season, then take a trip down to the yard to 'hand pick' a boat for next years hire. We did this last November, and the staff were very friendly and willing to let us have a look onboard any boats we fancied, and indeed it was by a process of elimination that we finally booked 'Supreme' for the week of NBN's May meet Julz

If you take a look at the Brinkcraft lodges, and are prepared to skip the main season July/August dates, then you often get a dayboat included in the hire charge for free, including fuel and insurance for use for your entire stay The boathouse that we last stayed in before buying the caravan last year, cost us around £500 for 11 nights for the 4 berth, but it also had abed settee upstairs so probably would sleep 6 people. they also do a three bedroom version in the same building, along with the sail loft cottages and there various dutch style barns, all of which come with the day boat offer. Julz

If you want cheapness and riverside Jonny, you could always buy a large tent and pitch it down at WRC, and they may allow dogs that way! You can get tents to sleep upto 20, and with all the gear, sleeping bags, beds, cooking gear you probably would still get change out of £1000, and you can use it all again in the future. The good brands to look for are Outwell, Kampa, Gellert and Coleman. Its all good fun when your young and fit enough to put the tent up, which should be no problem to you with so many people in your party to help out Julz

I think that they will all be fairly 'pricey' Jonny at this time of the year, brinkcraft have some fairly large lodges and appartments where dogs are allowed in some, also Herbert Woods have some 6+ berth lodges, but not all of them accept dogs. Julz

We have got a Motor Mover fitter to our caravan, it can be rather amusing to see the look on some peoples faces as it appears the caravan is moving to the command of the owners voice all by itself! As a pair of old fogies lol, we wouldnt be able to manage the tugging and pulling required to hitch up or pitch without one, but as goes for air con, we have to make do with a large fan! Julz

Hi Barry, to make things a bit simpler, members will now just be able to turn up and order of the main restaurant menu, and pay on the night as they order, they are treating the games room as an extention of the restaurant for the night, but just for the use of our members. they have asked for a rough idea of how many will be dining though, to help with their staff and food stock levels Julz

The Birthday Bash will be held on Saturday 18th Sept 2010 at the Sutton Staithe Hotel, starting at 7.30pm This event will now be run along similar lines to last years birthday bash, with a pub night and barfood available for those who want it, ordered and paid for on the night If anyone would like to join us, please sign up below, as we do have to let the pub know of approximate numbers so that they can set up the tables in the games room for us Julz

Brilliant piccies Simon, love the brightly feathered bird, but as for the Wood Pigeon, i hope the Periguine does a good job lol, they are a pain in the rear when it comes to covering everything and everyone with their liquid bombings from the Sky, and often take a liking to my Awning for target practice, grr! Julz

I totally agree regarding those horrible plastic helm chairs Jonny, luckily we were aware of them before the start of our holiday, and took our own comfy folding camp seat to use at the helm. IMHO they are dangerous, sit too far forward on them and they tip you off due to the narrow base and top heavy seat, sit on them for long in warm weather and they cause you to perspire, due to them being covered with Vinyl and totally unbreatheable, and the shape of them at the back is not very supportive for your back, leaving some hirers with aches and pains by the time their holiday was over. Julz

You can buy a 2part mix for delaminated Sandwich construction floors such as those found in caravans, it gets injected in, and expands to fill in any voids if this would be any help to you. Its mostly used on sandwich constructions of ply/polystyrene/ply, but can be used on the monocoque bodyshells where its fibreglass/insulation/ply, so may work for you. Julz

I hope you all have a lovely time Jonny, dont forget to pack those seasickness pills for the fishing trip, and some sunblock for when its Hot Hot Hot! Julz

You better get your wet suit on and go diving for them then Jonny! Rick Stein was once quoted in a national newspaper as saying that the freshest fish you can buy inland is the kind that was caught and frozen at sea! Whilst i agree that some superstore fish looks like its been dead for a week lol, i have never had any probs with our local Sainsburys fish counter. Given the chance though, whenever we go up to Bempton, we always return home with a cool box full of fish and a couple of nice big crabs which were caught on the morning of our departure, still bright eyed and slimey skinned, with nice pink gills, and not looking like a certain superstore begining with A's offerings of fish that look like they are processing their own leather! Julz

Im not sure if they are hand caught as you put it Jonny or farmed, but Scallops are often available fresh from any Sainsbury's wet fish counter Julz

I have voted Yes, as i can see that it would be good to have the 24/7 security of someone staying on site, but im unsure if the residents would feel comfortable having inexperianced hirers manouvering the boat they have just picked up around their homes if they were moored in a hireyard, knowing the problems some members have faced with their own boats whilst moored at Ferry Marina and similar yards where private and hire craft are moored in close proximity, and thinking about the major disturbances and noise of turn-around day, when the fumes alone from so many boats moving in close quarters of a marina can be choking for anyone onboard or standing on the quayside . It would probably be best for all concerned if the residential moorings were kept to within the private moorings yards and dykes help to avoid such problems Julz

Well done in finding a good deal on your sea trip Jonny but please, to save spoiling your day,and possibly the next one as well, pop into your local branch of 'Boots' and pick up a pack of their own brand travel sickness pills, not expensive, and enough in the pack to treat the whole family for the sea trips. Its not just like you chuck up once ot twice with it and thats it, sea sickness can make you feel quite ill for several hours even after you have landed, headaches, dizzyness, feeling totally unwell, for the sake of taking a couple of tiny melt-in-the-mouth type minty pills it simply is not worth the risk I hope you enjoy your trip and catch plenty of big ones! Julz

Lol Jonny, its not like being in the chippy and being able to order the species your fancy for supper! Whatever is hungry enough to take a nibble at your bait will pop up, my very first sea fish i caught off a boat was a Wrasse, a beauty for any nature lover, but when it came to being edible, I was told that even the cat would probably turn its nose up! The most likely and prolific catch is often Mackrell, not normally many of the Cod family around during the summer months due to the waters being slightly warmer, and of course any 'undersize' fish have to be thrown back under the EEC rules, but you just have to wait and see what pops up, if anything, it really is the luck of the draw Julz

Its not cheap Jonny, no matter where you go, they obviously have to cover their costs of running the boat, and having the correct licences and safety certs, even before they consider paying themselves a wage. Expect to pay around £20pp for a 2 hr inshore trip on a shared boat with around 8 other anglers, basic kit and bait provided, although by the time you have got out of the harbour and to the fishing ground mark, you will only have about an hours actual fishing, so probably wont catch much. Better value with most skippers are the 4 and 6 hr trips where they move around to several different marks depending on their fish finders and whats being hooked, Example, 6hrs out of Bridlington was on offer for £45 a few weeks ago when we visited, mainly bottom fishing in the bay, with a min of 4 anglers onboard before he would put to sea. You had to advance book and ring and check the sea states with the skipper the night before. Some pick up points do involve climbing a boarding ladder down the harbour wall, and may not be suitable for the less mobile Some skippers will do wreck fishing trips, but these tend to be more expensive due to the extra kit required and the risk of more snaggings of gear. Julz

Sorry if we woke you up Dave we needed the early start to catch the low tides at Gt Yarmouth, and eventually made Beccles around tea time, just before the marina got really full almost to capacity Julz

Dave and a few dozen others besides Jill, with the look of some peeps we have seen out on the water this weekend, including sadly some small children, with very sore looking sunburn on their skin Despite using a high factor Suncream, of all places i have managed to get burned on my eyelids slightly, not the sort of place you really want to be putting the stuff, and although i have had Reactolite lense specs on, they still havent covered the tender spots around the eyes that burn very easily Julz

Im sure that it want any of our salty bottom members misbehaving out there and scaring the newbies lol To be honest i have had far more challenging crossings of Breydon in the past, and some really scary moments in other parts of the world whilst out saltside, about the worst was a sail off the coast of the Greek island of Aegina several years ago whilst out on a small traditional woodern fishing boat, when we hit the mother of all storms, its the kind of experiance that you remember for the rest of your days Nice to hear that the salty bottoms had a good time out too this weekend, the pictures sure do look like fun was had by all, no doubt helped by the brilliant sunshine we were lucky to have for yet again a fantastic NBN weekend Julz

We also passed and waved to the crew of 'Le Grande Cru' out on the Waveney yesterday, they were heading north towards Breydon, having just past the entrance to Oulton dyke, so may also have had a salty bottom and were in need of a wet wipe lol As usual a few people being a bit silly out on Breydon as we crossed yesterday, it was quite busy with the muddy bottoms trying to cross at slack water, and probably quite a few first time hirers out there who must have been scared stiff by the antics of a large bling salty bottom, (the same design as the boat time share ones) who was taking great pride and laughing at the wake he was causing as he cut infront of several slower boats on overtaking them swamping their bows, he managed to chuck a wave over into our front well, and we were travelling in the same direction Then im sure we spotted Brian's old Bayliner, now renamed, and with a young family onboard, as he approched to go upstream into the Bure, whilst still on the Plain! Some silly muddy bottom stuff too, the usual 'We know better than the yards advice' lot who were standing on the boats roof whilst underway through the bridges, no life Jackets on, or sun hats for that matter, young kids up there with them running around, all looking like a pan of freshly boiled Lobsters! I bet they were suffering from a fair bit of discomfort by the time the sun went down lol, one guy had even taken his sunlounger up there onto the roof of one of Clive's flatties,i hope they remebered to wake him up from his snooze before vauxhal bridge did lol, and whoever hired 'Neptune 1' has managed to leave her high and dry on the mudbanks, abandoned with the canopy still left open and all soft furnishings exposed, and at quite a steep angle over on her side due to the fairly deep keel! On the whole though we find people are quite sensible and friendly whilst afloat, its the old story of just a few spoiling it for the many, and in some cases spoiling it for themselves Julz

A good fishmonger will prepare them for you Jonny if you give him time, just go early in the day, buy and pay for your whole scampi/crayfish/king prawn and arrange to collect them dressed and ready to cook later in the day Their shells are quite tough and sharp to get through, its easy to cut your fingers on them at times I prefare to remove the intestinal vien and give them a good cleaning before cooking, but having said that, i have bought cooked King prawn from Sainsburys in the past, and found the vien still intact Julz

Hi Jonny, crayfish taste very similar to Scampi, only without the breadcrumbs lol, Lobster likewise only larger and some meat in the large claws. crab meat is either the brown body meat, or the white of the claws, which is more fibrous strands of flesh and what the crabsticks try to mimic in their construction, although they are now often more correctly labeled as Sea Sticks, and actually contain no crab at all in the majority of brands. If your not familiar with dressing crabs and lobsters, you may well be better to buy one ready dressed off a fishmonger, as their are some parts that could give you a nasty upset tum if eaten, such as the intestinal vein and the gills, sometimes refered to as 'The Devils fingers' I have never prepared crayfish from raw, but i expect them to be similar to King prawn, where you need to take a sharp Knife and slit down their backs and again remove the intestinal vein, which is ofen quite clearly seen and looks like a tube of fish poo, which of course it is! then cook them through until pink and opaque. Mushrooms are also something best gathered by the people who are sure of what they are actually picking, some that look like they are tasty can indeed be poisionous, but at certain times of the year, it is possible to pick up on nature walks with the experts, some of which include Mushroom and edible fungus gathering, we went on one a few years ago run by the National trust around the grounds of Kedleston Hall To try a fresh dressed crab, pop upto Cromer sometime, theres a little shop near the church who sell them rather like a takeaway, complete with vinegar, bread roll, and a fork to eat it with, that way you get to taste both the body meat and the white claws Edited to add that the Kings Arms at Ludham often have fresh Crab Salad on their menu in the high season, but perhaps an expensive way of trying it, if after a mouthful you decided it wasnt to your liking Julz

That would be a book that i would love to add to my shelf, both Bill and I are very keen wildlife enthusiasts, both land and sea based, and we once owned a living reef tank which was built into the wall of our previous home, separating the lounge from the dining room, and we learned so much from owning that about marine life, and the requirements of living in our oceans I will keep that number safe David, and add it to my Christmas pressie wish list, i already own a couple of books on the subject, but more based on fishkeeping and angling than a comprehensive encyclopaedia of the oceans wildlife We did manage to spot flying fish and pipe fish in the wild, when we last went out saling on on a Catamaran around the tropical islands around Antigua, and a few different species of Whales and dolphins around Madeira and in the bay of Biscay on our return, but more locally, we have seen Basking sharks and Sunfish just off the coast around Padstow whist we were out doing a Rick Stien trip, but one fish i would love to see for real is a pike, which sadly the only one we ever spotted was a small dead one floating in a local canal, which was quite decomposed