andyg

Never had to call summercraft out and royalls only once and that turned out to be my sons fault. He'd been switching the heating controls on and off as we had been going along. We weren't aware as it was in the back saloon it mucked up the glow plug. Soon fixed, a nice display of smoke from the heater to prove it lol. Standards I guess, yes things go wrong if it's mechanical it's bound to. But some suffer far more then others...

I've hired the 38ft version, back in the P&H days at Wroxham. They are fantastic boats and still are they just need some investment/ tlc. I quite like the engine noise it reminds me of the old wilds Bermudas etc etc. It would be wrong to fit a silencer to them.

What you never got free fuel ?? I did once. Sue rang the booking through to hoseasons and told them that's free fuel on this hire. I didn't say a word I just walked out and thought result lol..very high standards indeed. Did you know they took up all the floors during winter maintenance and washed the bilges out. Most the boats were covered in tarpaulins during the winter. I guess to protect the superstructure paint work. That wouldn't be cheap having to keep repainting that. Good to see there keeping a couple of boats running. I saw gala girl in Norwich whilst having a beer on the patio at the Nelson. She looked absolutely spotless when she passed by. Standards that have disappeared at most yards

Gentlemen let's not get personal again. Blimey see I was right about it being a Sunday thing. I very much respect everyone's opinions and veiw it can make for a very interesting debate. Taking cheap shots at each other doesn't serve any purpose. On a positive note the weather is meant be a lot warmer so we can all switch off that heating and stop watching the little cheeky dial on the leccy meter wizz around.

We will be with Bridgecraft in a few weeks time, the wife only agreed to go if I stuck to a strict budget. Both yours and Simons positive reviews on the boats and service convinced me to try them. I've spoken with Mark from the yard a couple of times since booking and found him to be a very likable chap. Looking forward to very much.

Oh I miss summercraft, last time I hired Gainsborough girl the engine compartment was cleaner then my house lol. The family next to us noticed the play station wasn't working on there boat. Off Brian went to Roy's to get a new one. Most excellent yard, even allowing for sues sometimes funny ways.

I think you've just proved yourself wrong Simon lol, your spot on there.

Another point that I feel is relevant to this thread is lack of infrastructure!! Now I'm pretty confident in saying most of HW boats and most definitely the old CC boats are equipped with shore power. Why aren't all public moorings equipped with hook up points ?? Ranworth has a completely inadequate number of hook up posts it's a joke. If there's 20 mornings why isn't there 20 plugs ?? Pubs !! Again another potential revenue stream ?? Most yards have them now and could charge an overnight hook up fee. It's ridiculous that boats are equipped with the technology but it can't be used. We're the family in question aware they had this option?? It would solve so many problems in one go. Short sightedness on BA part me thinks.

Absolutely spot on....

We hired both dazzling light and Prince of light last year. I wouldn't hesitate to book either boat again. I had no issues with the service I received. Like sovereign light both are from there elite range. Some of there boats do look rather shabby you can't defend that and one other forum member had a whole host of issues with a boat hired with them last year. I'd use Richardson's fleet to make a comparison and I'd argue that cosmetically Richardson's win that one hands down. Lot of Richardson's older boats have either benefitted from total or partial refits, IE new galleys, showers etc etc and it shows i cant say herbert woods boats have. That said I wouldn't go as far as to warn people to avoid herbert woods that's a bit to strong. Flats batteries and heating not running problems are as old as my grandad false teeth this time of the year it happens year in year out. It won't only be HB experiencing these problems. The boats are coming out of winter storage and little niggles will pop up especially in a cold snap like were having. I do worry that an engineer told them to leave the oven running 🤔 not good in my opinion.

They are, I've been in the yard a few times this winter. They seem to spend a lot of time pressure washing the boats. That's not quite the same as polishing and compounding the boat. I've no idea what's inside the big sheds but I would of thought there's room in them to get at least 6 to 10 boats out at a time for a spruce up. I've always had good service when I've used them but the fleet isn't the best.

Maybe I'm being to simplistic in my search. Il leave it to those who know what there doing lol...still seems fairly busy tho.

I'm not sure what moorings are being offered, I can't see any business barring potential trade. I personally haven't visited the centre in 20 odd years. Always found it a nice pleasant stop over a tad expensive tho.

Probably down to the rack em pack em in covid affect of the last two years.

In the spirit of fairness, I've tried to do a quick comparison. We hired dazzling light last October for a long weekend. Dazzling light is one of herbert woods bigger elite class of boats. We were a group of 4 adults and we paid 1228 including the fuel deposit. I received 145 pounds back from hw from the fuel deposit. Skip forward 2 years and the same weekend is 1268 including the fuel deposit. So roughly a 40 pound increase. Perfectly acceptable increase in my opinion. I will say this about hw on the 3 occasions we used them last year we received a 10% blue light card discount on each invoice and on our 2nd hire we also received a 2nd booking discount. So fair play to herbert woods. Woods were the only yard we asked that actually offered the blue light discount, we did not enquire with all broads yards to be fair.

Excellent post and absolutely spot on in my book. It's 2023 when will really feel the pinch in my opinion

It's being reported in the other place that the WRC will no longer offer moorings to hire craft. Another kick in the b...s for hirer's. Its getting silly now.

Rochford Essex?? Yes ours did as well.

No that's fine everyone's entitled to there take on it and I don't disagree with some of what you have said. But you don't bite the hand that feeds you. Like has been said already it's not just the broads it's the whole UK tourist industry.

I believe kris cruisers on the Thames operates a similar fuel deposit system the broads yards do. I found some examples that aren't a million mile away from tariffs on the broads. I think the price difference is justified considering what the Thames offers that the broads don't.

Just checked again David on Richardson's website. Using tomorrow as a start date for either a 7 or 3 night stay they are showing 10 choices. Weather there is multiple boats in each class available I wouldn't know. If you take siesta with is one class being offered I am aware they have about 6 or 7 in the class. But its still pretty good start considering it isn't Easter officially till next weekend. Herbert woods was pretty much the same.

And there was me thinking Easter was a celebration of Cadburys and all things chocolate. Jeez I got that wrong😉

I just looked at lady analise vs money penny not a huge difference compared to what it was a couple of years ago. I definitely think the gap is closing. We all except prices have gone up on the broads, like everywhere else. But my point stands I believe, when do you reach the point where a boat just isn't value for money anymore ?? The same with caravan Holidays. Holiday operators all over the UK are facing a perfect storm I guess, overseas holidays are making a return and no doubt there will be some aggressive pricing going on there, increased over heads etc etc, there's only so much milking the cow that can be done.

I just looked at hw webcam and it's snowing. Way to cold for me to even think about boating lol..