[Woods End Staithe]

Just had a thought (unusual I know); maybe Lord Paul could investigate with his drone.

[Woods End Staithe]

21 hours ago, w-album said:

The one further north in A11L was the one I tried to find in the summer and was the one I paddled down in the late 1960s which I believed to be 'Catfield Dyke' as opposed to the one off Hickling Broad

Sorry, I was rather confused about which one you meant.  On Google Maps the one in A11L (52.744336  1.499050) does show up but the entrance looks rather overgrown, I suspect you may need a chainsaw.

[Pollution]

My son is paying the price for buying diesel, his DPF is blocked and it will cost him nearly £2000 for a replacement which is more than his car is worth.  His commute is about 30miles per day on single carriageway 'A' roads so not high enough speed to regenerate the DPF unless he stays in 2nd gear, he is now looking at a petrol replacement.  Everybody had better hope that the EU and our government don't try and get pollution control on boats at Broads speeds.

[Woods End Staithe]

Love the old maps Tim.  I guess the dotted line on the 1879 OS map is a ferry across to Neatishead or Gays Staithe, because Hamiltons mentions a shoal running from the Neatishead channel towards Catfield.  Looking at Google Maps the moorings at Woods End are very clear.

What it needs is someone with a shallow draught boat equipped with GPS and a depth sounder to explore. don't think I will try with a hire boat as much as I would love to.  Google maps is showing the location to the entrance as 52.738967 1.500352 so it should be easy to find with GPS.

[Woods End Staithe]

Just been looking at my 1978 Hamiltons and thought I would attach a couple of scans.  Interestingly the text indicates that there were public moorings off Barton Broad on the east side "A public staithe with good moorings provided by Broadland Owners Association is also in this section" A10L  A boathouse (B H) is indicated both just north of Pleasure Hill on the east bank in an inlet and, also, somewhat further north in A11L.

[Brinks Encore]

1 hour ago, SwanR said:

I agree about the helmsman(or woman!)'s position. Looks more like it is in Swan Reflection as opposed to Sonnet where you are forward of the opening windows and can't poke your head out to see behind you.

Neither can you stand up if the helm is too far forward.  So far it looks just like the old Opel's (e.g. Gala Girl etc) but with updated electrics (Rolls batteries I see) etc, even the Engine Bay (minus engine) looks identical which probably means that the dip stick will be difficult to reach again unless Nanni have changed the location of it.  Still having hired Gala Girls many times we should be at home (except for the electric cooking).

[Brinks Encore]

Kerry's doing a great job with pics:  https://www.facebook.com/pg/BarnesBrinkcraft/photos/…

 

[Brinks Encore]

15 minutes ago, Jonzo said:

Which is a shame really as a new rear end on those - like Brinks Serenade - might be quite nice.

Agreed it would be very nice.

[Oh Dear... I Need The Geeks Again.]

Gave up on Windows ages ago but I assume you are using Windows own backup software, I know it would mean changing your backup routine but have you thought about using an independent piece of backup software, afraid I can't recommend one because what I use is Mac only.

[Brinks Encore]

14 hours ago, Broads01 said:

Photos of build progress have been posted on Barnes' Facebook page https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=257141633150

Simon, looking forward to some more further into the build.  Good that Kerry is keeping her word and great to have photos of the build.

[Brinks Encore]

15 hours ago, trambo said:

Bryan, you might be interested looking at Silverlines Facebook page which has photographs of their version, Silver Coral under construction, though it has a different cabin plan from Encore in that the bed is arranged like Silver Symphony which I know your not keen on. If you scroll down there are also photos of a private Ensign 286 that they fitted out in 2016.

https://www.facebook.com/silverlinemarine/

Regards

Fred

Fred, thanks for that.  I have already been on Silverline's own web site and Facebook page, the layouts all differ so at the moment I think I will assume that the most likely is Barnes' web site which look virtually identical to Broom's Bolero.  Kerry from Barnes has said she will post photographs at a later date.  I also assume that the electrics will be to Barnes' specification since all the others appear to have gas for cooking.

The hull shape and superstructure look to be the same as the Aquafibre Opals and as has been said elsewhere (and what I have found on the web) Siverline, Brooms & E.H.Y are all using the same mould so I guess one of them bought the Aquafibre plugs.  This pleases me since I have always found that the Aquafibre hulls handle better than the Alpha ones in all lengths.

Once the boat goes in the water I will be contacting Barnes about the cooking facilities since it will the electric, something we have never had before so that I have some idea of what to expect in June.

After our trip in June I will post photos, video and do a review of the boat.

[Brinks Encore]

Generally that is correct, the only boat we have ever hired with pushpit rails has been Gala Girl 3 which was an ex private boat.  We find that they can be a bit of a pain squeezing past them down the side of the boat but useful stern on mooring where my wife has something to hold on to.  I have never bent them by the way.

[Royalls]

21 hours ago, JennyMorgan said:

Tape over cracks is no bad thing as it keeps the 'wound' dry until it's convenient to repair. The downside is that what is a temporary fix can become permanent. I would like to think that had Royalls kept their boats then a proper job would have been made of it.

I think it became permanent since this was April last year and there was a lot of it.

[Brinks Encore]

Since I had been mentioning Brinks Encore on both the 'Royalls' and 'Brinks Serenade' threads and it is a new boat that I have an interest in I thought I ought to start a new thread.

I have just had it confirmed that the Encores are being built by Silverline but I guess to Barnes' specification so they should be quality.  The layout plans on the Hoseasons and Barnes web sites do differ, what will be reality we may not know yet but Hoseasons would have wanted pictures fairly early last year so possibly Barnes are more correct but we will see, the Hoseasons layout appears to be the same as Brinks Sonnet. The other thing is that Encore will not have the after rails that are shown in their pictures.

[Royalls]

5 hours ago, Jonzo said:

I think in general the Royalls fleet were well maintained, but in my opinion they had rested on their laurels a little and not modernised - Really theirs should be a fleet full of the current-gen Alpha models.

Of course that's a tough call for some smaller yards, but for one that is consistently booked solid it shouldn't be. You have to have a replacement programme in place, and build the cost of replacement into any hire fee.

The boats won't need much work to bring up to standard, but hopefully Barnes will replace some of the more garish interior fittings - Have you seen the heads on Solitaire?

You're not wrong about their internal colour scheme, that orange bathroom on Satin put me off every time I went in there.

Although their boats looked superb from the outside (as do Summercraft's) last year I did think that Satin was needing some work when you looked closely, e.g. cracks in the gelcoat had been covered with white self adhesive tape, waste tank gauge not working.

[Royalls]

2 hours ago, quackers said:

Yes, as one of the aforesaid punters, it is disappointing. just as it was disappointing when the original Brinkcraft, from whom we used to hire (Brinkster 2, Brink of Time and Brinkeeta 2), was taken over by Barnes in the early 70s.(Can't tell you exactly when, because Bill Maxted's got all my old Blakes brochures!!). I'm beginning to get a bit paranoid.

I have spoken to a very pleasant girl at BarnesBrinkcarft, who said that everybody who had booked with Royalls for this year will be getting letters from Royalls and Hoseasons fairly shortly.

I enquired after Paul and Steve, and was relieved to learn that they both have jobs with Barnes.

We are also one of the punters and yesterday I emailed and telephoned Barnes as soon as I became aware of the takeover.  Sheila at Barnes was very helpful and we ended up changing from Velvet 2 to Brinks Encore with no admin fee or loss of deposit (but at a much higher cost).  We did this because we had booked Velvet very early last year (for 2017) having had Satin for a couple of years but at the time we didn't appreciate some disadvantages (for us) of Velvet and Encore hadn't been announced, we had been hoping for an updated Aquafibre Opel for some years.  I was told that Barnes were honouring all of Royalls' bookings.

I had seen (on Barnes' Facebook page) that they had taken on Paul & Steve and that Dave had retired, so good news for them.  What annoyed was that Royalls' had stated on their Blog, Facebook and personally that they were continuing until the end of the 2017 season, obviously the offer was too good to delay.  When Royalls stopped updating their Blog, the boats didn't move and came off Facebook I did become rather concerned.

Many years ago we had exactly the same when Brister Craft closed down but then the boat we had booked was bought by Summercraft so we stuck with it.

[Brinks Serenade]

Hi Phil (BarnesPhil)

Good to have a Barnes boatbuilder on here.

Do you intend to put a step infront of the helm seat so that it is possible to stand in front of the seat and see over the top of the boat?

After the announcement this morning that Barnes have taken over Royalls fleet we have just changed our bookings to Encore for this year (see separate post (Royalls)).  I will be very interested to see the final layout of the Encores, I (personally) would like to see the throttle on the left hand side of the wheel so it is easier to see aft over the port side and operate the throttle when reversing into stern mooring.

[Royalls]

Rather disappointed in this since we have/had two holidays booked with Royalls for this year and we were assured by Sara and Nigel that they weren't closing down until the end of the 2017 season, however, if they had a good offer for the yard and boats I am not surprised, that's business and they obviously wanted out and couldn't refuse the offer.  I just hope that Royalls staff (Paul & David?) have not been left 'in the lurch'.

However I think it has done us a favour because having spoken to Barnes we have changed our bookings to their new Encore with no admin fee payable for the change.  It is costing us more but we have never had a brand new boat before and to be honest Royalls boats were starting to look as if they needed attention when you got up close.  We would have considered Encore for this year anyway but it was not announced until well after we booked with Royalls.

I have heard a rumour that the Encores are being built by Silverline, conversely if you look at Broom's Bolero the pictures and layout on Barnes web site seem identical, so are Silverline building for Broom's or are Brooms building for Barnes?

[Brinks Serenade]

57 minutes ago, LondonRascal said:

hybrid drive

Hi Robin

I missed this, is it really hybrid drive?  That would account for the odd looking throttle.

[Brinks Serenade]

37 minutes ago, ranworthbreeze said:

but it may be not good for taller helmsmen

Hi Alan

I am 6ft and never had a problem with the high seating position on the old Diamonds but you do have to bend near double to get onto the seat and the vision to the sides is restricted with the canopies closed, I usually stood up with the canopy open a lot of the time and then you have superb vision all the way round.

45 minutes ago, LondonRascal said:

That took the engine box away from the saloon which I thought ugly, and having seating on top of it was never comfy as you had very limited headroom not to mention the noise of an engine under your backside

Hi Robin

The engine under the helm seat could get a bit noisy especially with the canopies closed but it kept the forward shower/toilet nice and warm, good for drying towels.

48 minutes ago, LondonRascal said:

an electric hob with just two place and a combo-microwave

Not too sure how we would fair without gas since we (2 of us) usually use 2 rings plus the oven for about half an hour every evening, how would the batteries hold up?

[Brinks Serenade]

I have to report that Barnes (Kerry Sharp) has put the following on Facebook "We have listened to the feedback regarding the helm position and will be raising this and including a double helm seat - new photo's to follow when the adaption has been made".

I find this really excellent news and could now be persuaded to consider hiring Serenade.

Good on Barnes for listening to feedback.

[Goodbye Broadscot]

Very sad, although I never met him his presence on this forum always seemed to have a calming influence, he'll be sadly missed.  My condolences to his family.

[Brand New Small 2-3 Berth]

5 hours ago, ZimbiIV said:

Jean,

I have other objections to beds that way on.

Nowhere to put reading glasses or book or a glass of water and for some possibly teeth!

paul

Also the light switch is usually difficult to reach whilst in bed and from a safety point of view there is nowhere to put a torch so it is handy in the night.

[Brand New Small 2-3 Berth]

I will reserve judgement until there are interior pictures available.  I am a bit concerned at the 10ft width, how wide is the bed?

Good that yards are starting to build what I would call 'Broads Boats' and with the width I would hope that Potter Heigham bridge is a definite possibility.

[Brinks Serenade]

20 hours ago, BuffaloBill said:

Looking through those photo's it does seem that you can stick

your head out of the canopy once opened.

an Email with your recommendations as they will want them to go out!

Feed back at an early stage is important and gives them time to 

consider making changes if they agree.

It's nice to see them building their own boats from scratch too 

I think you would need to be 6'6" tall and standing on tip toe to see over the top of the boat when standing in front of the helm seat, with the wheel near the centre of the boat and the throttle on the right hand side of the wheel it will be difficult to see aft along the side of the boat.  Have look at internal pictures of Diamond class boats on which Serenade appears to be based.

I have put my comments on the NBBs Facebook page and Kerry Sharp (from Barnes?) came back with a comment about the bed but nothing about the helm position.

Looking at Hoseasons brochure the layout plan (may be changed during construction) clearly shows a double helm seat, steps out of the port canopy and the bed in a fore/aft orientation.

 

Jean (SwanR)

Yes we have hired Royall Satin with the island bed this way round and I find that I cannot lie on my back with feet pointing upwards, I have to skew round and bend my legs.  I have no objection to hanging my feet out of the bottom of the bed.