goodall_m1

Clive, There was an obvious spam reply to the thread (now deleted by the moderators) the other posts look to be real ones.

"View New Content" seems to get you to the updated threads easily, but is there any easy way of getting to the unread posts on the thread without scrolling through the existing posts? I am thinking of the problem of viewing things like Clive's RC45 thread that went to over 75 pages ....

No spell checker on the new forum then Brian!

It is probably just drifting around in a cloud... A good time to pick a new one. (Mine went adrift as well) The new forum does seem to make it easier to re-size avatar photos though...

The boat revs versus speed chart is usually good at telling you your "speed through the water". Unfortunately the Broads limits are "Speed over the ground", so get a fair bit of tide under you and you can easily exceed the limit. Of course the other side can also occur, when you are pushing tide your speed over the ground is reduced by the tide... There is no easy method of actually judging your speed over the ground with the equipment on most boats. I always take a hand-held GPS with me to show the actual speed (mainly because I have it available). One year, though, I was carefully holding at 5 in a 5 mph section only to suddenly realise that I had left it set to Knots not MPH!

Hi Dean, I have also done a trip from South to North and back in a week, but you do have to pick the correct week as it is very dependent on the tide times being right for passing through Yarmouth both going and coming back. If you do think of doing the round trip remember that you not only have to get through Yarmouth at slack water but you also need to have enough time to get to your desired mooring spot before sunset, and to allow enough time to carry on to an alternate if that spot is full-up when you get there. You also spend at least two days of your trip going up and down the lower stretch of the Bure which is probably one of the most boring sections of the area. On a one week trip I would say stay in the North or South, and pick a boat from a yard in the chosen area. I would say though that I find a lot more reeds fringing the rivers down south and I would go for a higher boat, i.e. a centre-cockpit or fly-bridge model so that who-ever is on the helm can actually see more than just the river and the reeds... I can also remember the busy days of the eighties, when I nicknamed the section of the Bure between the Ant and the Thurne the M25 as there were that many cruisers and day boats going each way, and when double of triple banking was common at places like Reedham. I came back to the Broads a few years ago and was actually pleasantly surprised that there were a lot less boats around. Yes the North does tend to have more hire-boats around but I have done several cruises up there in the school summer holidays in the last few years without too much trouble finding a mooring etc. Some of the very popular spots do fill up quite early, and you may want to go for a plan involving leaving early and then mooring-up early especially when hoping to stop overnight at Ranworth or Horning. (The "cheat" if you want to stop over-night in Horning is to book a table for dinner at the New Inn and reserve one of their moorings at the same time.)

I agree that the designer isn't responsible for the safety of their customers but they do usually consider it, a few simple things can make things safer, and in this case Clive was asking for suggestions. The safety of all the crew is the responsibility of the skipper. And it is the responsibility of the parents (or whichever adult is in charge of them) to assist by keeping their eyes on the kids but it is difficult to do it all the time. Ok so mum is down below keeping her eye on young Ryan and dad is on helm on the fly-bridge with the other kids. Then mum needs to go to the heads... Or dad is on the helm on the fly-bridge with some of the kids behind him when White Moth appears out of Ranworth in front of him... On any boat that I am in charge of the kids do wear their life-jackets if they want to go out of the cabin, (and I always do the same). Will the brochure photos of the new boat show the crew on the fly deck with life-jackets on? Well possibly some of the crew will have them on: (Photo is from Richardson's web-site, I presume that Clive won't object) Nice life-jackets for the kids, were they yard issue? I certainly consider safety seriously when deciding which boat to hire, but do all the other hire skippers think about it as much, probably not. If I was going to take out one of Clive's new-builds with young kids I would probably go for the single level version, as the kids can be out in the front well where I can keep an eye on them from the helm, and they have to climb up if they are going to fall overboard. But the well is outside of the cabin and hence they will have their jackets on.

Clive, are you planning on giving them dual steer positions like Alphacraft's Spitfire (i.e your Bolero class)? On Spitfire I found a slight problem with small children who found it great fun to play with the downstairs wheel when I was steering from the fly-bridge. On Spitfire both wheels are actually active (switching the helm position only switched over the throttle) and the boat can do strange maneuvers when you don't realize that there is now a five year old playing with the other helm! My other worry with the Alpha 44 was that if the kids were on the upper deck there was nothing to stop them slipping off the back of the cabin roof. OK a stern roof rail may not be seen as essential , and may not be that aesthetic, but it on a boat where you are expecting the crew (and especially young kids) to be on the roof then one might be advisable.

We all had to start sometime, and a fair proportion of the hirers in any week will be newbies. Remember that the nervous skippers are the careful ones! The yard's hand over demo should give you enough confidence before you go out on your own, (usually they wont let you go until they are happy that you have got the basics!) Other hire skippers of course will be addicted to boating and the Broads and will have hired many times. (Benefits over the canals, no locks to work through, a large amount of navigable waterways in a fairly small area, and it is easier to find somewhere to turn the boat round...) With just two of you and one child you won't need a big boat, (I normally end up hiring something to take three adults and 5 kids!) and that will make finding a mooring space a bit easier...

Welcome aboard. The gang here are always ready to answer any questions.

The photos give some idea of how she will look, but one simple question... Where will the access points be? Up onto the roof and then down a staircase from there, I presume. But don't you need at least two from a safety point of view.

Without the support that you have, (or even with it) having a woody looks very expensive!

CO needs to be avoided whenever possible. CO2 occurs in lots of guises, e.g. you convert Oxygen into CO2 when you breathe in and out... The bubbles in Fizzy drinks are CO2. DRY-ICE is frozen CO2 CO2 is only dangerous when it replaces ALL (or most of) the Oxygen, lower concentrations will effect you but not actually kill you. Think about the Catalytic Convertor in your car exhaust, one of its main purposes is to convert CO into CO2, but the CO2 is then vented into the atmosphere (which is why they talk about CO2 emission levels when calculating the Car Tax) So using a old hose-pipe from the exhaust into the car isn't as effective a method of suicide these days... Most gas appliances are also engineered not to give off CO (when working properly). I have a "flame effect" gas fire at home but you are supposed to get it red hot before switching on the "flame effect" to prevent CO.

This might make you think about fitting one! (or taking one with you if hiring) http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-21993924

I wonder what date the one was that Barry posted on page 1 of this thread... The peak price was only £12 19s per person then , but had apparently risen to £19 10s per person by 1968 (and as the boat was ony built in 1959, it increased by 50% in 9 years or less)... The Electrolux refrigerator had also apparently become an ice-box and the sailing dinghy supplied on the earlier catalogue must have become an "optional extra"... I also see that by 1968 the gas cylinders had been moved into a gas locker, shades of the BSS to come... I also noticed the Red Ensign flying from the stern in the 1968 photo, these days this is normally a sign of a private boat.

Oops is it time to start thinking about fund-raising ideas then Brian?

Because a vessel going against the tide can maintain steerage at a much slower speed over the ground, whilst one going with the tide HAS to go faster than the tide to maintain steerage. If the boat coming though with the tide tries to stop it will lose control and then probably still be carried into the one coming against the tide.

Basic method, load photo to PC as a file. Start Paint program. Use File /Open to open the photo Use Image / Resize to downsize photo

Armatures, are you trying to wind us up, Brian... or did you mean amateurs?

Good recommendations from both there! On my only winter trip I did a full day's cruising and still had battery trouble that night... The warm air heating may be diesel fuelled but the blowers take a lot of power. Arctic sleeping bags may be worth thinking about, as they stay around you better than duvets.

The Macgregor has been around for a while now, and is a real one-off design... Rather than being suprised about being able to water-ski behind a motor-sailor you might be more suprised by the ways that they have basically got a speedboat to sail... There is no fixed keel and instead they use a retractable centerboard which enables you to beach it if required. The other really strange concept to me is that they use water ballast... You launch the boat and then fill the ballast tanks with water by letting the air out. It makes for a fairly large yacht that it is still light enough to tow on a trailer. I have never tried one out myself butI did come close to hiring one in Portugal at one stage. http://loja.douro.biz/epages/270985.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/270985/Categories The company that Iwas looking at hire motor yachts and sail yachts, but in fact they are all Macgregors, the motor yachts just dont have the mast and sails fitted.

Yikes! I know they say that the Shannon is intended to be recovered onto its carriage AFTER grounding on the beach, but I was expecting a little more gentle approach... I think that the Mersey, that will be replaced by the Shannon, requires the crew to reverse it back onto its trailer in the water, before it can be hauled out. Not something that I would like to do even in a calm sea (too many memories of coming in stern-to with Broads cruisers...) and certainly not with any surf running. The Shannon will be beached, winched onto its carriage, and then turned around on the carriage (which has a built in turntable), ready for the next launch. I presume that these trials were aimed at showing that it could be recovered in rough weather... I don't know about removing barnacles etc, I just wonder about the potential damage to the hull after a few hard landings like that one. I think that they have a GRP hull? Gelcoat damage followed by osmosis....?

I expect that a major amount of dredging would be required before that was possible... Still larger restoration projects have occurred in the past, e.g. on various Canals

Found this on the RYA site today, and think that our members may need a heads-up about it: A URL link to the RYA listing is at the bottom of the post but here is the text: Crewsaver Technical Safety Bulletin no. 40 Survitec Group In keeping with Survitec’s commitment to the highest levels of quality and safety, we are notifying the public of a safety alert for specific Crewsaver 290N manufactured during date June 2011 to October 2012. These Lifejackets may be subject to loosening of the bladder webbing straps which may result in the stability of the jacket being affected. In order to determine if you are impacted, Survitec Group is instructing the return of the Crewfit 290N Advanced Life jacket ONLY for inspection. NO OTHER CREWSAVER PRODUCTS ARE AFFECTED. The serial numbers of the potentially affected jackets are detailed below. These should be returned for inspection, and where appropriate, repair or replacement. Owners of the lifejackets should: Not use them Return them to the nearest Survitec Service Centre or to Survitec Gosport, to have them inspected and tested. Owners of these lifejackets seeking further information on the returns process can call the Survitec Helpline on 023 9252 8621 International……….…+44 (0) 23 9252 8621 Email …………………info@crewsaver.co.uk Website………………http://www.crewsaver.co.uk There are 6 codes of the Crewfit 290N Advanced Life Jacket concerned: 1.Crewfit 290N Advanced Plus N/H, 1290-ADZPLUS 2.Crewfit 290N Advanced Auto N/H, 1290-ADZAUTO 3.Crewfit 290N Advanced Manual N/H, 1290-ADZMAN 4.Crewfit 290N Advanced Plus Harness, 1291-ADZPLUS 5.Crewfit 290N Advanced Auto Harness, 1291-ADZAUTO 6.Crewfit 290N Advanced Manual Harness, 1291-ADZMAN Serial Numbers potentially affected: 1. Crewfit 290N Advanced Plus N/H, 1290-ADZPLUS Serial Numbers: L1106 00561 to L1207 00550 2. Crewfit 290N Advanced Auto N/H, 1290-ADZAUTO Serial Numbers: L1106 00505 to L1207 00550 3. Crewfit 290N Advanced Manual N/H, 1290-ADZMAN Serial Numbers: L1201 00582 to L1202 00518 4. Crewfit 290N Advanced Plus Harness, 1291-ADZPLUS Serial Numbers: L1106 00501 to L1210 00572 5. Crewfit 290N Advanced Auto Harness, 1291-ADZAUTO Serial Numbers: L1106 00511 to L1210 00567 6. Crewfit 290N Advanced Manual Harness, 1291-ADZMAN Serial Numbers: L1201 00535 to L1209 00501 Crewsaver Technical Safety Bulletin no. 40 Survitec Group Text taken from: http://www.rya.org.uk/newsevents/news/Pages/SafetyalertforCrewfit290Nadvancedlifejacket.aspx

At least they had life-jackets, and the time to get them on. As to not leaving the boat until the last minute, it would have been far easier for the boat that rescued them to see the sinking trawler than it would have been to see a couple of heads in the water. I must admit though that when the boat finally sank I was a bit worried about them being sucked down with her. My other thought was that "wasn't there something more usueful that the guy with camera could have done instead of filming it"?