FreedomBoatingHols

Taken me a month to catch up on here! Soz. Freedom opens for hire in February. We sent our first day boats out yesterday and four cruisers go our over the next week or so. Until Easter, we limit the fleet to just a few boats according to maintenance workload and demand. At this time, we are limiting the fleet to Four boats: Spirit, Sweet, Song and Tranquil with Fine becoming available towards the end of February. We do limit travel to the Southern Broads only until the start of British Summer Time. Later in the year, boat are definitely available until the end of October and then it's weather dependent in November with the fleet being restricted again so we can begin maintenance. Sorry, but we will not hire at all in December or January.

Thurne Mill at Sunset.

Indeed, we may be able to. The issue with single parent hirers is one of safety. This is always our principal concern and acceptance of a booking for a single parent holiday is not guaranteed by any stretch. We will ask relevant questions about the age of the child, ability to help or distract etc. We have had many single parent hires in the past and will again.

Doubt I will get a lot done tomorrow. Drop me a line. 01603 858453 and leave a message with your number and I will call you.

Yep, pre-fill the filter with diesel. However, the hand primer should work fine. If it's not working well, either your lift pump is damaged or the engine has stopped on the cam activator for the pump which is restricting the travel of the primer lever.

Happening over the next few days. You would be welcome tomorrow if you have time and can ignore creative swearing as two of the glow plugs have snapped in the head. One has been retrieved, the other is being a mother....... Bungalow Lane, NR7 0SH.

I haven't scanned this thread fully, so apologies if this is covered already. Wild Mooring on the Southern Broads is tricky and/or dangerous in many areas. The tidal rise and fall is much larger than up north and many banks look safe at high water but would leave you on a shelf, gabion or worse at low water. Like anywhere, there are safe spots, but as a hire operator, we do not allow our customers to wild moor on the southern rivers to ensure the safety of the vessel. Of course, mudweighting is also more challenging down here too as the only Broads with safe depth are Oulton and Surlingham.

Also, the green line points to a cylinder head bolt, not a glow plug.

Your post was all sound advice, but only to someone who has a clue about engines in the first place. The OP wants their hand holding in an almost literal sense so that they can learn about their engine. The dangers of asking in forums like this is that there are always people prepared to give advice, whether it is sound or not. One thing that came up a couple of times here is that a BMC is a pig to bleed. The 1.8 can be but the 1.5, 2.2 and 2.5 are so simple and easy to bleed, I find it hard to understand how people would suggest otherwise. We are currently converting a sloping BMC1.5 into a straight one for our fleet of hire boats, most of which use BMC engines. We know these things pretty well if you need any advice. Sadly, we can't come over to Beccles though as we are too busy in Thorpe.

Once these things start leaking, they are really on their last legs. Most fixes should be considered to be temporary. Increasing pressure MIGHT produce other leaks, but in truth, if this happens, its only a matter of time before they occured anyway. We all know the damage that water can do in your boat, especially if unnoticed for some time. Perhaps it is time to revisit the plumbing as a whole? There are rarely many joints in a boat to be too much work.

Freedom was initially a business with myself and Darren Lewis as partners with the fleet at Womack. Less than a year into it, the business relationship failed and I bought him out and moved to Horning.

We get this all the time; sadly it is very common and a major detraction to our job which is, essentially, to provide enjoyment to others. It is a real downer when people act like ****holes. Only last Saturday, we had a voicemail from someone who we felt we wouldn't want to deal with from the way he spoke, but called him back anyway. This proved to be a mistake. He wanted a rebuild of a BMC 1.5 and I told him that, sorry, but we were not taking on that kind of work at the moment. He then proceeded to argue with me, swearing and then put the phone down.

The current trend for new boats is to provide fewer berths and more living space and there has always been a need to use space cleverly. In something that is just 12ft wide by, on average, 35ft long, getting everything in that a few humans need to live comfortably together is always a challenge and trade-offs exist everywhere. There hasn't been a 10 berth boat built in years, and whilst it is true there are a few 8-9 berths, the trend is more to produce walk-around beds which seriously impact the amount of space available for other berths. It's slightly cynical to suggest that boatyards put in more berths so that the charge can be increased; demand creates supply and, a large boat with fewer berths but more space will still demand a high hire price anyway. It is also fair to say that in a 44ft x 12ft space, getting 10 people all sleeping and then eating around the same table at the same time is a utopia that few vessels have EVER pulled off. Large capacity boats have been produced for donkeys years though nobody has built a new one that will take over 10 people in at least a decade. It is inaccurate to suggest that older boats have more space than newer boats. Different boat layouts with different designs produced by different people have different amounts of space available. I am currently refitting a 33ft cruiser which was originally a 4 plus 2 berth with two shower/toilet compartments. With a rejig of the saloon/galley area, I can increase the galley space, improve cupboard storage, add new appliances AND put in an additional sofa which doubles as a berth making her a 4 plus three. All this modification is achievable without encroaching on the original floor space of the boat.

If I can comment on some of this. Firstly, a modern diesel engine compared to an old-tech BMC 1.5 is barely any more economical if at all. We have just had a customer back after 6 days on the Southern Broads and they have been pretty-much everywhere. They used about 26 litres of fuel and must have covered about 120 miles. This is on a BMC 1.5 which is known to be a very reliable engine and is used in thousands of Broads boats still. We have modern engines and these too are capable of very low fuel consumption in a similar way to the BMC; the rule is simple, beat the engine and it will beat your wallet. At Freedom, we have invested heavily into improvements across the fleet. All boats have: USB charging points TV & DVD systems Heating Electric Fridges (many full-size under counter units) Uprated charging systems 240v Mains system (except Tranquil which has a plug-in inverter) Current upgrades programmes include: LED lighting across the fleet (most boats have already had this for years) Shore power (including battery charging) Hot water immersion systems on some In the main, these upgrades do not mean that our boats cost more; we are keeping up with advances in technology and customer need and we do this to keep our vessels attractive and competitive. I am unaware that any other fleet has installed USB charging points across all its boats but stand to be corrected. I really take issue with the phrase "better modern cookers". Sadly, many common modern cookers on boats are far from "better" than a solidly build older one. Increasingly, these are made of nasty thin stainless steel (inside the cooking cavities and out), are poorly put together and often badly designed. The hob burners are truly nasty and we have a few "modern" units that I would truly love to rip out and replace because of the lack of resilience these remarkably expensive things offer. They look nice, but often, looks are only skin deep. One of the absolute key points of a Freedom Boating Holiday is the freedom to start and end your holiday on any day. This is unique on the Broads and allows our business to work around the very busy lifestyles that people lead these days.

Yes, we have a 27ft Aft Cockpit (Sweet Freedom) and a 31ft Alpha Aft cockpit (Lady of Freedom) both of which are good solo. We will offer solos additional and longer ropes for mooring also.