Oddfellow

I am pretty certain that Hoseasons will be charging a commission on the damage waiver if it's taking the money for it.

Thank you. I got a few banging shots during this walk. More to follow.

Nope, its a misty horizon with a horizon in the mist.

I think Hoseasons is playing a dodgy game in the extreme here. The damage waiver is NOT an extra as there's no mechanism for not paying it. The last Broads hire company I was aware of that actively offered an option of deposit or waiver was Le Boat and they left the area almost a decade ago now.

This is exactly why Freedom never showed such costs. The damage waiver (and fuel deposit) was built into the cost calculation of the boat when any prices were calculated. The process of costing a COMPULSORY charge out and then adding it later after you've been attracted by a HEADLINE price is, in my view, utterly dishonest. We did it the other way: here's the total price and your fuel deposit is payable on arrival and a refund given (if appropriate) before you return home. This made the cost of the holiday on the web site cheaper in that the figure you were presented with at booking had the fuel deposit taken off the initial charges as it was payable on arrival. I would be VERY surprised at this. I think you may be confusing this with cancellation insurance.

You are not making any payment to an insurance company. You are paying for the privilege of not being pursued for any damage caused whilst the boat is signed over to your care. The majority of such terms will also specify that damage caused by malicious or irresponsible / negligent behaviour is not covered.

There were only 7 or 8 Diamond 43s built. The one I had I am pretty sure didn't have a fuel gauge. Only one boat in my fleet had one and that failed (and was not repaired). When it worked, it caused constant problems with people ringing up saying that hadn't moved, was there a problem with it? No, there was about 220 litres of diesel on board and you needed to suck a lot out to make the needle respond. You can't please everybody.

The mists came in slowly at first but thickened and engulfed St Benets, but not before I could capture this and a few others.

Most? The majority of hire boats do not have guages. New builds might but very unusual on an older vessel.

Paint it matt black.

So this is a acquisition by virtue of buying Enterprise Inns (latterly EI group). The group has been buying pub chains like they're going out of fashion (which, to many, they are). EI was an awful operator. Let's hope the new owners are better to work with.

And are they not frowned upon?

About 10 years ago, we has a private boat in for some work that was surging and cutting out. It would run well for a while and then fail. Leave it for a while, rinse and repeat. The fault was eventually tracked to a fuel tap (of the rise and fall gate variety) that was clogged with shavings of mahogany that had been taken off the dip stick over successive dips and made its way into the fuel system. The dip stick was a bad fit for the tank filler and need to go in "just so" else it would snag and more wood came off. That fault took a bit of finding.

It's not rework of anything. This is a Vogue 45/46 (not sure of the length). It's brand new. It was initially thought that Broads Boating Company would operate these (given that it's the same business owner), but that operator has long since gone now. This design has taken quite some time to appear and the initial "artists impressions" were very "strange" but quite reminiscent of the Funnel designs and come from the same designer. I will be keen to see just what this offers in the final fit out which is sure to be quite something knowing James' and Len's eyes for detail. It's good to see new development continuing on the Broads.

Firstly, there's no standard size of tank and the design of some vessels made smaller tanks necessary as there was just no space. Tranquil Freedom had a particularly small tank which would rarely last a week and much less if the boat was stacked out. Secondly, most tanks have no level meter. Thirdly, many yards advise a mid-week pump out which will vastly reduce the likelihood of a call out for "potti training" issues.

The cancer within the BA is well past the radiotherapy stage. It's hard to see how this can conclude without a scalpel if the malignancy does not wither and die of its own accord. Sadly, the cancer lingers in a couple of areas and all instances of it need removing for the public good.

Still so much disinformation being touted by people about Brexit. The figures of just how well we're doing are easily available. No other country has seen fuel queues. No other country is seeing supermarket shelves empty. The cost, per houeshold, for leaving is staggering. Be under no illusion that leaving is a disaster for this country. The only ones who benefited were the ones that told you we could spend £350m a week on our NHS. We haven't taken back control. We've merely handed it to the wealthy right-wing government who will use it against us for their own benefit.

Nanni produces hybrid drive trains and has for a few years. At least one BA launch uses it. In the early days, it was beset with faults. I don't know what the situation is now. But, talking of trains, diesel passenger locomotives don't have a diesel drive train, They have a honking great big diesel generator powering electric motors. I don't pretend to understand the reasoning, just putting it out there. The Barnes hybrids and I think Whisper Emblem use electric motors with diesel generators. As I say, I am not knowledgeable enough to know whether it's more efficient to charge batteries and provide on-demand power with diesel or just have a diesel drive train but both these systems exist already.

The obvious (to my thinking) mid-way point for going Green is hybrid systems with electric propulsion with power derived from a generator or a diesel/electric hybrid power train. This allows complete autonomy. BUT, I don't know nearly enough about the efficiency of these systems. Do you burn more diesel charging the batteries than you would to push the boat along? If it's significantly less, then the there has to be an environmental benefit. if the difference is marginal, there's probably little point.

I keep hearing this argument as to why electric vehicles won't work for people in flats, etc. The issue of charging on the road will be one of the easiest challenges to overcome. Councils will have to install (or allow the installation) of charging points at the kerbside of all residential streets which are controlled by bluetooth or similar identifying technology to charge you to charge your vehicle. There are many other barriers to electric cars that aren't being discussed. Cost being one. They're hardly cheap and we're a generation away from a vibrant used market for these machines too. A subscription to a new Volvo leccy car will set you back £749 a month. That's just under a third of what I paid for my last two cars. Or, I could buy it for about a third of the value of a typical terrace house. These figures are madness themselves. There are plenty of people who are paying £300 or more a month for their cars, I know. I am not now and never will be one of them. How old will an electric car have to be before I can buy it for £2k and get maybe 3 years of motoring out of it?

Heck yes. Electric is an answer, not THE answer with the current tech. It's not just the financial cost of the batteries, its the environmental cost too and, as you point out, the end of life costs.

Lithium Ion Batteries are VERY different from the Wet Cell batteries used in the vast majority of river boats on the Broads. You point about charging is null because currently, the charging circuits are supplied by the very things electrification will remove: the engine. Charging currently, is one wire from an alternator to a diode or other non-return system which is already connected to the battery bank. Lithuim Ion batteries require a proper battery management system to be installed that can monitor each bank of cells (which must be balanced before installation) and deliver the correct amount of charge. Furthermore, storing a such batteries fully charged will damage them The BMS (Battery Management System) will control the battery levels to around 70% charge when the batteries are not in use to prolong their life. Therefore, if you're on a non-powered mooring and use the boat once a month, you'll arrive to batteries that are partially discharged. Also, marinas will have to seriously upgrade their power networks too. It's not just river moorings that this will directly affect; it's boatyards, bank moorings, everywhere. I do not know quite enough to see whether you'd still have propulsion and domestic banks. I suspect you would and the size of these would be hugely different. You'd get away with 300-500 amps for domestic but many times this for propulsion. Solar is barely an option. It would benefiit the domestic systems, but there simply isn't enough surface area to make a dent in propulsion bank charging.

The principal issues with electrifying a hire boat has got to be the charging network which would need charging posts being installed at every mooring. This would be a huge cost at many moorings. Consider Brundall Church Fen. How could you run a large power infrastructure to this location without massive cost both financial and environmental? Massive costs would be felt at almost every mooring location anyway and, it's also fair to ask whether the leases that the BA has for most of these would permit such works and how the BA would have to reinstate the moorings at the end of the leases.

I am not sure you should suggest that the EDP deals in facts..... :-)