Soundings

Stat is opening - good thought though

These are the checks carried out - - Filters and inlets clear - Impeller is ok - No emulsification on dip stick or in oil filling area. - White smoke present when engine was hot (and water not circulating properly). It only seemed to be in evidence when water was not circulating (circulaton erratic) - Jason will have a look at the pump as that may be knackered. Spoken to Jason, he does not believe in fitting new/reconditioned heads. He believes that on old engines everything wears together and if you replace something central like a head with a new one it just knocks out the bearings! His view is always re-engine and with a new one as you cannot get good recons these days. The cost of that is around £7000!! That is a lot of dosh and whatever happens here I know that eventually I will have to change the engine. Are there reliable rebuilds around? Thanks Colin

Thanks to all for the advice. Found the filter and it is clear but water flow is erratic. Seems like a failed impella to me. Things are getting worse though as I have noticed white smoke coming from the exhaust and everything I have read seems to suggest that this is a cracked head. What do you think? If head is cracked is it worth replacing (the engine is over 20 years old) or should I bite the bullet and re-engine? What would the cost of a re-engine be? I'd probably go for a good recon.

Help please! Coming back from Barton Broad this evening the Perkins 4.108 started to overheat. The first was sign was the warning buzzer at the helm and the temp gauge up around 100 degrees. Dropping back the revs brought the heating under control but we had to limp home on tick-over. What was in evidence was the lack of water being pumped through the engine – it was erratic at best but once we got back to the mooring there was nothing at all. As such the boat is currently out of commission so I need a good guy to fix it for me pdq. It could I guess be either a blocked filter (if I only knew where to look) or a dead pump or something else. I’m no engineer so I need some help/guidance please. All help will be appreciated. Big thanks Colin

I'm not going to pick anything apart other than I know of instances on other waterways where residential boats have been a deterrant to break-ins. True they are not the answer to everything but they help and that must be a plus. I favour the residential element but only if controls are strict - I don't want to see wrecks all over the place (and a ressy wreck moored by me the other day). Equally there is no room for those ressy's who think it is a free ride.

I don't blame the yard owner, I blame the system. Many yards on the canals have a fixed percentage of residential berths. I am not sure how the contract works but I cannot imagine the ressy's have a long security of tenur. What I do know is that the rental of the berth is at a premium rate and that helps with the income/profitability of the boatyard. Quite often berth holders take on certain admin duties such as harbour master and for this they either get a small fee or a reduction in berthing costs. It seems a good model to me and as has been said before makes the yards more secure.

It is always difficult but when people buy an existing boatyard business (or set-up a new one) they do so on the basis that they are providing a service/amenity to the boating fraternity. And it is on that basis that planning was permitted in the first place. The fact that a boatyard is now worth more as a building site does not to my mind mean the owner has the right to sell it as such and it is wrong for the planners to allow it. Account should be taken of the place the business takes in the community and change of use should not be granted if the business is seem as key and workable. If planners do not play the game properly we will end up with an Oulton Broad with no boatyards and then maybe rivers without boatyards.

So Topcraft will be another yard that capitalises on land/development values. I don't blame them but it brings into question planning and change of use. If it carries on like this all yards will become flats and there will be no hire boats.

Does anyone from Richardsons read this forum? If so their input on this would be helpful. Indeed mooring a Broadsedge like I do theRichardsons would seem the ideal place to have the work done. Regards Colin

Not too much coming back on this one and my view now is that the problem would be best remedied by a decent boatyard that know what its doing. Can anybody point me in the right direction? Richardsons are near to me but I do not know if they do private work. Many thanks

Thanks all, I will have to have a look and see what the glass fibre sandwich is comprised of. On my old Freeman the void between the two layers og fibreglass was filled with cavity filler (like that foam used for filling holes - it sets rigid). Where delamination had occurred I just drilled ho;es around the affected area and injected foam. This made for an extremely good fix. Wish I new how the Aquafibre 33's hatches were made-up? REgards Colin

The engine hatch on my Aquafibre 33 is spongy. It is nothing to worry about according to my surveyor but I do find it irritating. I suspect the condition is due to delamination of the fibre-glass sandwich so the question is does anyone known how to fix this - perhaps injecting foam into the cavity will do the trick? Alternatively could I get a new hatch made up somewhere and if so I suppose this could be constructed in either fibre-glass or aluminium? Does anybody out there have thoughts/experience of this? Thanks all Colin

We took Autumn Mist for her first mini cruise. We slipped our mooring at Broadsedge on Friday, 4th June at midday and took up station below Potter Heigham Bridge (opposite Herbert Woods) to enjoy the sun and watch the “rag and sticks†antics in the 3RR. It was a good day and a half during which it was just as much fun watching the handling skills (?) of the Herbert Woods boats arriving back at base. Training/familiarisation of the new hirers was much in evidence so congratulations there Herbert Woods although I do feel that circa 10 minutes is an inadequate length of time, especially so given the size and power of some of the kit now available. It was also chilling to see a boat load of “blokes†who had actually broken out the beer during their training session! Anyway come Sunday 6th we slipped our mooring at Potter and cruised down to St Benet’s where we spent a nice night and enjoyed some beautiful walks with the pooch. One gripe though – when are the Broads Authority going to get to grips with speeding boats? That stretch of river is wide and the boats hammer down there like bats out of Hell. One Le Boat almost washed us up on the bank and we have a 33ft Aquafibre. It really is unfair, dangerous and must damage the banks considerably. Are boats getting too big and powerful I wonder? Had intended to head home on the Monday but with the weather holding we cruised down to Horning and back, stopping at Cockshoot Broad for lunch. What a lovely, indeed magical, spot that is. Then onwards to Ludham Bridge with a stop-off at the boatyard to arrange for some maintenance work. It was now getting late so rather than going on to How Hill as planned we spent the night at Ludham, walking up to The Dog (a dog friendly pub) for a pint after dinner. The pub was all but empty yet the moorings at the bridge were 100% full! Still the service was quick so a quick couple of pints and then back to the boat for a nightcap and some sleep. We have to be back home by Tuesday 8th. All in all this was a very enjoyable re-introduction to Broads cruising. The trip was partly a bit of a recce for the future so we did have a quick look-see at South Walsham, Ranworth, Salhouse and Malthouse broads. Happy cruising Colin

Our Aquafibre 33 is ex hire and I believe it was Richardsons judging by the paintwork's shades of green. All in all the boat is in pretty good nick but a couple of places need touching up. I will try and match the colour (as far as I can) via a colour chart but does anyone know what make of paint Ricko's use? Is is Blakes, International, Masons etc.? Many thanks Colin

The problems recited here are exactly those experienced by the canals except there are many residential moorings available on the canals and these are increasing, I believe. There is also a lot more room for such moorings as there seems to be a new marina cropping up every week! Also it is fair to say that the BWB navigable water extends to 1000s of miles rather than the 100s the Broads has. In general terms I have no objection to residential craft but only if there is room for them. I am probably not so liberal as some and I take the view if there is no formal residential mooring available then that is the end of it. That is not to say I necessarily agree with the withdrawal of faciliities that have been in place for some years be they formal or informal. Just to balance the books, I feel much the same way about housing, people are free to live wherever they wish provided there is accomodation available; I do not believe houses should just be built to accomodate people wishing to move into a fashionable area.

You certainly paint an ideal picture Aquaholic - and it will work if those living on boats in locations where, currently, they shoud not are "up for it". It also places a certain amount of burden on the marina operator, who would probably prefer to rent to those selecting a lifestyle rather than a cheaper alternative to onshore housing.

Fair point, but the water gypsy type tend to suffer from a shortage of funds (or a proprtion of them do). How do you envisiage encouraging/helping them? What do we do if they won't be encouraged or can't afford to pay to moor on a residential mooring.

I was on the canals for 20 odd years as a cruising boat but there are many residential boats acrosss the system. There are those that continually cruise and have no home mooring and there are those on residential moorings. Many of the big marinas on the canals set aside a certain number of berths for residential craft - it makes a lot of sense both in terms of income and marina security. Maybe the Broads should follow this "marina" model - I don't favour the continuous cruising option as the boats clog up temporary moorings and the Broads do not have the infrastructure to cope. Colin