andyg

My father was a big fan of Aston boats. I remember when they started building the new GRP boats. They had several hulls sitting on the field by the old office. Like I said a very busy yard back then. I loved the old Thames class I finally got round to hiring one, it was Princess cruises tho not Aston. Shame they disappeared, I always struggle to understand why such popular busy yards dissappear. They seemed to build new boats each year.

We had a very similar situation here along southend seafront. The one that sticks out is the old esplanade pub. They had several attempts at burning that down, they got it in the end lol..

I remember hippersons old yard that was the other side of the bridge. We use to hire kingsway from poolcraft. Hippersons where a little futher along the river towards the bridge if I remember correctly. Hired Aston Songbird from Beccles not long before they closed. Its a real shame not seeing there distinctive boats out on the rivers. There Loddon yard was such a busy place back in the 70s.

Absolutely fantastic fleet of boats. I think they have about 20 odd boats. Amazing what can be done if a fleet is looked after. Enjoy your holiday.

I would regularly order 30k ltr of white derv and 10k ltr of red a week. Our red consumption would go up by 5k a week during warmer/ summer months for obvious reasons. We had many other depots ordering similar amounts. We had two suppliers we were allowed to use one being Texaco.

I think it more then covid that has impacted staffing levels in the UK holiday sector. All hear say I know, but I was told a big norfolk holiday company was unable to hold its annual recruitment drive in Eastern Europe this year, due to the new employment regs. I wouldn't have a clue if that's correct or not, but my own industry has been hit really hard by the same issues. So I can't see why it hasn't in other sectors.

Funnily enough I have seen the current boss in a dinghy cleaning hulls.. I've also witnessed the same at royalls and summercraft. To be fair HW do seem to employ a couple of lads that sole purpose is washing the boats exteriors. Bit of a thankless task to be honest with a fleet that size. Andy I was in charge of fuel at our depot. We had a fleet of 300 vehicles on site all had both white and red derv tanks. So you can imagine how much fuel we used a week. You are 100% correct we never got it cheaper the more we purchased and we had another 14 depots. In recent year my ex company did find a fuel agent who would let us hedge our fuel purchases.

Wow this thread surely has kicked up lots of interesting points and opinions. For me, I've been holidaying on the broads since I was about 5 yes old. The one thing I do know for sure are standards by many operators have dropped I've absolutely no doubt about that. Long gone are the days of boats being properly washed down on turnaround, even things like fenders were cleaned back in the day, it's now very common to see a boat dragging half it's fenders in the water behind it and boats with missing fenders etc. Boats with filthy dirty hulls is common, most yards used to have a lad in a dinghy on a Saturday going round cleaning hulls and these are just the short cuts we can see. Some members here try so hard to defend yards and poor service. The example of the lads week is one in my opinion, there's no way a well maintained boat would of suffered such major malfunctions in such a short space of time, then there's the excuse of, it's been a bizzy season lol. Take yards like silverline or even bridgecraft every season is a busy season, even in bridgecraft case there boats looked better then many a newer boat at the end of last season. I would of thought the average age of there fleet is a good 30yrs old I'd guess. One particular yard in Wroxham operates from a facility that clearly isn't fit for their fleet size. Just to prove a point, take a look at David's photos of herbert woods boats. Spot how many fenders are missing off the boats in his pictures..Standards...

Have to Wholeheartedly agree with this, gas and other consumables should be factored into the individual boat hire tariff. As for fuel being used as a loss leader, I struggle to understand how a small yard could afford to do this. Hire yards can and do basically charge what they want for fuel. It's a captive Market, if they can put 15p on a ltr what choice does the hirer have, very few will understand they can fill the boat up before they return it. I don't think richardsons or herbert wood make many private boat fuel sales and its not a major revenue stream for them. Now 250 + boats returning each week is. 10p mark up on each ltr used will soon mount up. It is what it is, remember boating isn't cheap lol

A sign of the times Vaughan I'm afraid. We've had a couple of months of illness at home with one thing and another and I've recently retired. I thought to myself yesterday that I'm spending way to much time on line. I really need to be more productive with my time. The weather is improving so il get on with finishing my garden. I've often wondered if the spats that happen on here would happen if we were all sitting around a table. It's so easy to miss understand and take out of context what members write/ post. I'm sure nobody intends to be hurtful or rude.

I 100% agree.

Hire a fleet of boats to go camping!!! Different I guess !! Hope they all enjoy themselves.

Great pics thanks for sharing

On a lighter note, I've just watched a rather large convoy of woods largest boats leaving the yard. Packed with youngsters and kayaks/ canoes. Good to see, I always remember as a child seeing large groups sea Scots etc at Easter.

Quite staggering really, with everything that's going wrong in this bonkers world. People fall out over some batteries and a bit of leg pulling. What on earth is wrong with this world. The Internet has never been a kind place so if folk are really that easily offended maybe the Internet isn't for them 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️

Lol...

The amount of technology barnes put into there new builds is quite forward thinking. I'd be shocked if any of them suffered with battery issues. Most definitely not financially viable for an older boat unless you intend to completely gut the shell and rebuild it I would think.

The same as all the other yards do I'd imagine, run the engines 😉

See I do notice somethings lol...

I thought I'd spend 10 mins watching hw webcam this morning. The cam that gives you an excellent insight as to what happens on A section. Ive seen about 6 boats come back in and a few more brought round for prep from the side dyke. Every single one that was fitted with sure power which was most of them got plugged straight into the posts. So a good 5 or 6 hour charge. So they do try to make sure the batteries are fully charged.

Bizzare!!! I've been under that bridge God knows how many times. I've never noticed that windmill before !! My wife often accuses me of walking around with my eyes closed, she may just have a point you know 😏 I'm remember nearly getting caught out at the pub moorings one very windy day. We were on Gainsborough girl the dual steer one, it was like trying to moor a sail...each attempt I got closer and closer to the bridge. Didn't there use to be a big Toby jug sign up at the junction with the new cut advertising the pub ?? Or did I imagine that ??

I have some fantastic photos of our grandchildren enjoying the broads last summer. Not a phone or Ipad insight. They both totally got into the wildlife the surroundings and interacting with other boaters. They absolutely loved it.

Vaughan, I don't think it's hard to work that out. Everyone seems to have some sort of digital device in there hands nowadays. I remember watching a video one of the Thwaite brothers posted ( apologies I don't know his first name ) he was explaining the technologies they were building into there serenade class. Jeez it sounded more like they were building a space shuttle not a boat. The cost must be eye watering, but it seems that's what a large percentage of the paying public want. So fair play to them. I remember our holidays aboard as a child I don't ever remember ever having flat batteries. Boats running there engines on the moorings was far more common as well.

I had a troll through YouTube last night to see what boat reviews I could find. Blimey Robin seems to have started something here, everybody and his dog wants in on the act. Lol. The walk through tour is quite a thing now !! I had no idea. The one thing that jumped out at me, was the sheer amount of electricity these people need to be able to function. One guy has got God knows what plug into the only 240v socket on the boat, and an extension lead. And there lies your problem. People just don't seem to understand the power systems on these old boats are just not up to it. The batteries must take one he'll of a beating. We have grandchildren and I'm always amazed at how much technology they bring when they come over. So I assume a lot of folk that are new to boats assume the heating systems work the same way as at home. It's always difficult to take in all the info given on handover especially when the yards under pressure to get boats out. Like Dan has said we don't know the full story. I did keep an eye out on hw webcam and didn't notice any old CC boats return yesterday. So maybe they've stuck it out. Its due to warm up so let's hope they do stay and enjoy the rest of there holiday.

To be fair and balanced about woods, there's been some considerable investment in recent years into the business. A whole new picnic boat fleet the new compact cruiser classes plus the big dual steer jobs. There's a few million quid there I would guess. The problem they have and it's been like it for years, is the lack of any real refurbishment programme for the older boats. Lots are very tired and worn out boats inside. The external presentation of hire boat doesn't seem to bother more then just woods. I stand by what I've said I'd quite happily hire the boats I have again without hesitation. I don't believe for one minute they are an organisation that should be avoid at all costs, that's utter nonsense.