andyg

I took a look at Google earths satellite image of the boat yard in question.its entire river frontage is one long pontoon, am I right in thinking the whole pontoon broke free taking all the boats and equipment with it. I've absolutely no idea how pontoons are anchored to the river bank but surely its more then just some ropes. What an absolute shame for the yard and all its staff.

I've never watched eastenders and my wife isn't into soaps thank god, but I can imagine. I can remember a few years back in reception at Stalham getting my fuel refund, a rather large tattooed lady was ripping into one of the girls about how crap the on board hair dryer was. Just one look at said lady told the whole story,what a crap way to start your day at work for the poor girl. At the end of the day being civil is free and will in most cases be more fruitful when trying to resolve the issues.

I know of one yard where the owners chucked it in because they'd just had enough of dealing with Jo Public, wilfull damage etc etc, a very successful and busy fleet. What was said in public about the yard closing, wasn't quite the truth.

Just looked at the video again, it's clearly a laps in concentration,rather then someone lost or confused with the markers.I'd also suggest at some speed as well. Maybe the young person you see in the vid was at the wheel while the adult was flying the drone filming the boat at speed.

Would seem to be a far better pilot of his drone then his boat 🤦‍♂️

My mother and father always enjoyed the bridge Hotel at Potter. I remember them arriving home one year after there annual boating holiday quite upset it had gone. My father was convinced it would be re built...

My father and brother were talked out of buying a boat off alpha craft years ago, they were regular customers and Langford snr told my dad to keep his money in his pocket carry on hiring and let them deal with all the agro of looking after the boat. He told my father he'd be a lot better off by just carrying on as he was. He did and he was lol...as a family we have often talk about buying a boat, but sadly we all enjoy our trips to the sun to make it a viable investment. Neither my brother or me are mechanically minded or have any interest in DIY of any form, much to our wife's disappointment lol. So il stick with hiring

Kind of related to this thread, I've seen a report on the BBC that uk holiday companies are experiencing a huge hike in 2021 bookings, some are reporting a 300% increase. With booking being rolled over from 2020 they have real concerns the demand is going to far outstrip supply. So it looks like a busy season on the rivers. I wonder if yards that have withdrawn boats from fleets will re think their plans and put the boats back on hire. We saw a couple of yards do this very thing last summer.

Absolutely, I'm not a fan of lens designs to be honest, but what can't be denied is the fact they are fitted out to a very high standard and the duel steer boats offer fantastic accommodation. Quite a few have been built now so I guess that says all that needs to be said.

I thought it might be, seeing as they have the others, I noticed on the new smaller version they have taken away the steps and hatch leading up to the flybridge from tha saloon.

Could well be Dan and would make sense, but I still think it's the old mould tool re worked as to a completely new mould. I did ask barnes if it had anything to do with their new boat and they wouldn't say lol.

Looks like a re working of the dual steer moulds already at ferry, gracious emblem etc,

Bizarrely the chip shop at long Stratton, on the A140. It became a family tradition to stop and have a break in our journey and as children we knew we were nearly there.

Make my idea of havana even more appealing 😉 I'm off to pack my shorts

All kidding aside,I wonder how much longer Barnes can operate from their current site. They have a new big boat due later this year and they never seem to build just one per class. Turnaround days must be a nightmare but what would be the chances of them getting new land and planning permission to develop a new site, definitely nowhere in the Wroxham area I guess. The old ph site in Wroxham was a decent size facility sadly the bridge put an end to its days as a modern day hire base. The horizon yard at acle again seem to have room for a new basin or two, but I guess the Richardsons would of done that if it was viable. Im told there's no point in having less then 12 boats in a hire fleet if you want to make some money. So where would you go...

Just for fun lol....I'd take my million plus quid jump on a plane to Havana and live the rest of my days out happily. Thus saving myself a life time of stress and visits to see the nice gentleman in white coats. Good luck

Hi Simon, there is a promotional sales video on you tube all about this boat, I've no idea what the model is called. To be fair the canopy does seem very easy to use. Some of the old canopies on models like the ocean 30 and alike were akin to trying to erect a tent all in one go, just sheer hard work. I'm sure neither would be allowed nowadays.

Cheers Clive, I only remember them with the white hulls. How many bv did your dad build? Always seemed to be loads out on hire every time we were on the rivers.

Cheers Dan, exactly how I remember her, the wooden one that is.

The original swiftway was a wooden boat at Richardson, if I remember rightly it had a white Hull with a blue stripe. Simular in design to clives bv...

Very wise Vaughan, I saw an article yesterday that easyjet are reporting, spring, summer booking are up by 250% compared with last year. Madness in my opion, I do believe international travel should be the last thing to come off the travel restriction list. I'm sorry that would have an affect on you personally but its the only logical thing to do. We have tried opening up safe corridors and look what happened. Greek Islands that had no covid infections or very few suddenly overwhelmed by infections it was the same in the canary Islands after re opening to tourists. With all European governments taking different approaches to their vacation programmes I feel we need at least another 12 months to evaluate how affective its been.

Does anyone know why Aston boats closed its doors. It was such a distinctive fleet that seemed so popular, always seemed to add new boats was splitting the fleet over two bases its down full.

Isn't this boat that is currently having or about to have quite a major refit. I wish we had some internal photos of Swiftway I'm quite interested it that one... Nudge nudge clive 😏

The wife and three of her colleagues had their jabs on Thursday. All had the phizer jab and all 4 are now of sick from work with side effects. There are other staff members across the Trust reporting simular symptoms. Personally I believe this is down to them all being so physically run down then a problem with the vaccine. All 4 are reporting exactly the same symptoms and are being monitored by the hospital.

Same thing happened along southend seafront, a famous old pub/venue called the esplanade was finally burnt to the ground after two previous attempts a few years back. Funny that 🤔