Oddfellow

I haven't seen one of those for a while. I might actually have one. As Clive correctly says, this was Darren Lewis though any mention of the operator on the brochure itself seems conspicuous by its absence.

I love the idea that many generators are classed as "silent"...... I am not certain in which language that "silent" translates into "noisy as ***k" :-)

Cheers. I've always been a photographer, but never made much money at it as it's been more a hobby, though I have done it professionally, but in my roles within magazine publishing and website development, so it's always been included in my workload. I did all the photography for every bit of Freedom literature, advert and web sites for 14 years too. Much of my work has always been hidden behind the real product, so to speak. Trying to make it pay now. Early days......

If people are enjoying the videos on YouTube, can I ask that you please click on the LIKE button on YouTube as it really helps the YT algorithm to promote my videos on the platform. Each one of these videos take an enormous amount of time to produce (between 2-3 days on average) with shooting, editing and (in this case) trying to make a good job of the awful audio. Unless you've tried making videos, its really hard to get an idea of just how time consuming it is.

Thank you. Sorry, photography is my livelihood now I have closed the boatyard: I can't go giving things away. I will be offering fine art prints at some stage soon, maybe a book and/or calendar.

All the posts at NYS have rings welded to the top.

The second in my series of "Behind the Broads" videos take us to Breydon Water

I'm waiting for three bus drivers to turn up all at once.....

Woah there. Slippery slope into sexism right there. There aren't that many women taking "men's jobs" in reality. And what is a "man's job" anyway? Builder? Plumber? Software Engineer? Chef? Tailor or Dress Maker? MP or even PM? There's also the problem that the cost of living is pretty high so that in many families, two salaries (and more) are needed to cover the bills. Generalising is far from helpful.

Hard not to make such assumptions when you write this, Griff.

Student loans are there to pay for a student's tuition and living. They are not there to allow them to be lazy and live the life of riley. Have you seen the rental values of student accommodation lately? It's criminal.

I wonder if you're buying into the narrative that this is all the fault of the working classes?

Hospitality, especially at this level, is hammered by taxes, hammered by rent, hammered by rates and hammered if their prices are too high. Oh, and it's profitability is hammered too. In areas like Reedham which is geographically in the **** end of nowhere, it's virtually impossible to sustain THREE pubs with just 1200 residents outside of the times that it's got visitors from boats. I would imagine it's pretty hard even with the boats which are only there for six months of the average year. The "industry" is too full of pub-cos like EI who are really just property management companies creaming every little bit the can off the people that do the really hard work and if there's change to be made, this is really where it needs to start.

I just got the "Posting Machine" badge. James Brown would have some way to go, I fear.

Give me strength.... (is that a badge?)

Just 60 seconds of amazing photos from Thurne the other evening.

I think you just need to re-read what I have said and realise that I am not disagreeing with you.

I didn't say it wasn't possible, but there are reasons why it is difficult to achieve. The rear companionway door position in the moulding will have a lot to do with it if we're talking about island beds in the rear of a vessel. It's much easier to achieve an island bed in the bow cabin as there's no requirement to walk further forward through the cabin. If there's a boat with a raised area and thus no decks, it's certainly possible though in older fit-outs quite unlikley still. Basically, achieving an island bed in a small space at the rear of a vessel where there is a need to gain access though the cabin is a challenge and it is likely that it will be at the compromise of space elsewhere in the boat's layout. Such designs are going to be much easier with a bare shell than with any retrospective refit unless you're prepared to move bulkheads.

Any bed that runs across the beam of a boat more-or-less has to go under the deck of the boat. The external dimensions are 12ft aprox. Take 16-18 inches either side for decks, hull thickness, cabinsides and such and you're left 9 ft of internal space. You can't run corridors and accesses right up close to windows often (depending on the roof profile), so placing an island bed across the beam pretty much means that the foot end needs to be under the deck. Rotating the bed so that it's at an angle in the cabin is a possible solution, but it takes more space. When you only have 9 ft to play with. there have to be some compromises.

Thanks, Simon.

My new series of Broads videos has launched today on YouTube that takes a weekly (hopefully) walk in familiar places that are perhaps only familiar from the river. These walks are based around my photography which is the driving reason for the vids. The first episode sees us take an evening walk down the Potter Heigham and Ludham riverbanks where we find a few great photos. https://youtu.be/rrT2W5ZjAOs

It has always been weedy around Martham Broad to Somerton. I recall comming to a stop in my yacht once about 15 years ago because the weed around my outboard was so bad. Haven't been up there in a while. I hope to borrow a dayboat later in the year to re-explore this area.

A short photo vlog of a journey to Salhouse for the Bluebells

I applaud this move by Co-Op. It would be better, much better, if the Government banned them entirely.

An inverter that's just on and dormant will draw very little from the batteries (unless it's a terrible design) and the load on the DC supply goes up as demand on the 240v end of the system increases. A 61 watt supply is sod all in real terms. I charged my Legion laptop twice during a motorhome trip a week or two back off a 350w pure sinewave inverter and the battery was barely impacted. My only charging was from a 150w Solar Panel. We have about 10 USB sockets installed in the van and these are mostly used at night to charge all the camera equipment and phones. We had zero energy concerns using just one 110AH battery and a 150w solar panel. Indeed, if you use one to run a heater, you're gonna cane the battery bank in no time, but for a laptop charger (and at 61watts, you're gonna need it for only an hour or so), with a decent battery charging system, you should not notice any issues at all. My point about USBc was. can't you install some high-power USB chargers and run on 12v natively? (not sure how these would fayre in honesty)