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C.Ricko

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Everything posted by C.Ricko

  1. Coburn sliding systems.. Boulters sell them
  2. Thats fantastic trivia... where is the other half?
  3. It actually says 'Sorry no hire craft'! yards know we have space and they pass the information on, also if you read the Broadcaster I'm fairly sure it is in there that we accept hire boats when we have space available, we have never refused a request.
  4. Just edited the prices.. couple of rare big spaces come up at horning this week inc 14’ beam and side on mooring which are a little more than the normal. don’t forget, we give refunds for any unused months hence these two due to boats being sold..
  5. C.Ricko

    Richardsons

    Hi, the Stalham boatbuilding team was made redundant when I left the company only one accepted a vacant position at Richardsons but who now is part of the HPC team, the rest of the ‘core’ team had some time off then joined my project from july to November before the demerge was completed since then some have joined and some have left. I didn’t ‘take’ anyone, they joined me, there were 4 staff at horning at the split, we now have a 17 strong team.
  6. should have booked with me anyway if you wanted the best deal!
  7. Hi All, I'll do a slight deal if anyone wants to hire a boat from Horning Pleasurecraft... message me, depending on duration it will probably be about 5% same as the early loyalty offer we are currently running.. Sorry its not 40% but our prices are low enough already!
  8. I must admit you could be right as I was told this when the previous tests were being carried out,
  9. Hi All, I have a couple of big and small(ish) moorings available at Cove arina Brundall, they are now £72.50 per foot inc VAT. all with finger jetties or side on, we have rubbish disposal and showers/ toilets etc... as it is getting on in the year I will make exception to the ' first come first served' rule so if you want to come in April then Ill invoice and take payment from when you plan to arrive to the end of October but i wont give the usual refund for unused months until the following year.. hope that makes sense as I sometimes have people wanting to come but they have to give 3 months notice and i might not have space in 3 months time.. have a great weekend everyone!
  10. Hi, yes indeed the bulkheads are Varnished! the -8 is so that the ranger can see at a glance how many people the boat is licensed to carry, this is mainly due to the stability characteristics / down flooding height but also the ventilation for the gas appliances . we could have more on the boat but we don't want more than 8 on her so that is the max number allowed. the trial run driver is additional.
  11. Yes, basically the whole thing with the boat building team.
  12. new addition from the Broads leading innovator in hire boat development https://broadshols.co.uk/boats/fleetline/ the pricing and calendar will be on there next week
  13. Phoenix told me Yesterday that they took 1 hire boat through the bridge this year so id say its specifically Wroxham bridge which is the focus when looking to hire a low air draft boat on the Northern broads..
  14. its a bit of a jump as we a re relatively new hire operation and do not have a stream of historic customers waiting to book with us so need plenty of support! we have gone from 3 to 10 boats in the 3 years we have been solo so that's around 300 bookings we need,,.. One of Nigels Boatbuilders came to Horning when they shut and is still with us, looking after the wooden boats and involved in the new build, he is part of a fantastic team we are lucky to have around us..
  15. Thanks, we were made aware of a wording issue last night, nothing major but we appreciate the feedback. Fleetline will be out in hire in October but probably not via the website.
  16. Thanks Kevin, this was our first web booking, let me know if there are any problems, it should all be very smooth 🤞 really appreciate your patience
  17. Discounting encourages late booking, it is very difficult to budget not knowing what your income may be, we as a industry got into discounting in the 90s and it was difficult to get out of but we did, the problem started up again a few years ago but was widely avoided, the booking agents who are involved with caravan hires accept it and encourage it as a last minute boost to the commissions which I feel is derogatory to the loyal customer, there are about 700 hireboats on the broads which is probably about the same amount of caravans in Mundesley or Bacton. I saw a 2 berth boat on sale for a short break last week for less than £300, bearing in mind there is £60 VAT on that I don’t feel the model is sustainable but obviously I don’t know their business. perhaps in the same way the ‘Sun Promotions’ covered the wages this could be doing the same. we have space in October which is still booking but so far we are only about 5% down on last years total which was a bumper year.. we have not discounted and don’t plan to for next year unless it’s an early booking. I was taught by my father a fair bit to do with hirefleets so learned by his mistakes .. desperate times call for desperate measures but I don’t think these are desperate times.
  18. Good Evening all, not sure who noticed or knew, but as of today we are able to take direct bookings via our own website www.broadshols.co.uk We announced it just now on Facebook but I can’t put a link up.. we have parted company with Hoseasons and can pass on some of the savings but as we didn’t discount this year (due to initial fair pricing ) we won’t discount for next year, we do reserve the right to put them up though so book early with confidence that you wouldn’t get it cheaper😀 www.broadshols.co.uk
  19. Vaughn, Agreed but half the names you mention there don’t do weekends and at least a couple of them have decided the next generation isn’t going to continue.. Do Moores operate? obviously we rely on people in the pubs and shops etc to work weekends but in the same way you say find something else to do that is exactly why I would not choose to be a publican, but to say not to have a hire fleet if you don’t want to work weekends is surely increasing numbers of yards not operating fleets.. surely a yard who finds a happy medium where staff, customers and owners are happy should be regarded as a great model?
  20. I wouldn't say its a lack of a bit of effort, Id say its quite an undertaking to grow a hire fleet these days, Its just a personal choice, our fleet is not a chore to run, its a quarter of what we do but it still needs to work for my work /life balance and I don't ask my team to do anything i would not be prepared to do, perhaps this is why so many family operated boatyards don't have the interest from the 'next generation'. I have heard too many people say about working all weekends and holidays and missing their kids grow up, if people want to work Saturdays or have a Saturday as a start day then there are other yards which turn boats round on Saturdays, we don't need to. We pay overtime rates at time +1/2 and double time as well as double time and a day in lieu on bank holidays. I don't think any other yard does this for new starters, BUT it seems to work ok for us as we are busy, we have increased from 3 boats to 9 in 2 years and have a relatively busy season, Things change and I am happy to adapt and change with them as long as it works for me and the team, despite being there every day I don't involve myself with the day to day but I can have the weekends off happy in the knowledge that the team is getting a break too. Fridays and Mondays are the busiest turnaround days so I'll stick to them, historically Saturdays were busy (and sometimes the only option) but alas the game has changed. We were out on the southern rivers at the weekend (we were asked to leave Waters Edge Brammerton) it was lovely down there but I wouldn't start up a new fleet as boats book better on the northern rivers.
  21. I do offer any one of my mooring customers temporary moorings who ask for them in either Brundall or Horning. as for one way cruising people want to plan their holidays and not knowing the start point is a problem in most cases, it would be ok if you could rely on a full season but gaps make it hard, also logistics, it’s easier in Norfolk as nowhere is far by road but the last people to offer it was Leboat between sommerleyton snd Horning and It wasn’t successful the southern yard dealt with about 4 boats and wasn’t set up to deal with the turnaround, finding staff who are willing to travel off site to work is getting harder as is the ability to find good team members. there is no such thing as minimum wage on a boatyard and not many people want to do weekends whatever the overtime rate is.. this is why although we have weekends covered we only turn boats round on Mondays and Fridays..
  22. Think its basically that after 2 years of not being able to go abroad due to restrictions or fear people can now happily jump on a plane, couple that with the unnecessary hike in prices which the canals didn't do so much it has lead to an exodus which has possibly undone all the good fortune which the last two years imposed new customers would have embraced. there are still stag and hen parties, they are just on different boats, in days gone by the agents would take out a half page advert in the red top newspapers and paid travel agents to promote the holidays, these days its repetitive videos on social media and sponsored discount adverts which drive bookings, we were getting weekly requests to join promotions which we don't entertain, we will see what the future holds but being able to take direct bookings will help us out as long as our new agent can fill the gaps but already we are able to hold our already keen prices for next year.
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