Gordon

now look what you have done Lori. You have made me all nostalgic. My sentiments entirely. Like you they bring back special childhood memories. At the moment am moored up atGays staithe barbecue ing steak in the rain and Judith,I think, from the Martham fleet, just visited. That gave me a warm feeling. Would I buy one. No way would I let my heart rule my head at least I know our glass boat isn't going to spring a amk when I am not looking

Hi Primus. Glad you still intend to go. I am sorry your mate did not have as good a time as he should have had As far as the tides are concerned don't get too hung up about them you will be in waters regularly navigated by complete novices perfectly safely. The only time you will need to consult the tables is if you intend to go through Yarmouth to or from Breydon. Plenty advice on that in the hire manual the free broadcaster magazine and of course on this very forum. Heed the mooring advice from the good admiral on the last post. You will be fine. Enjoy. Now the exciting thing. Choosing your boat

Hi, It would seem that your friend either had a very hard time, or is particularly sensitive. Yes of course July school hols is the busy time, but really the issues are not as described. I have been coming to the broads all of my life and owning a boat and not being tied to school holidays can go virtually when I like but I certainly do not shrink from visiting in the busy periods, indeed the buzz of seeing happy people enjoying their holidays and lots of boats out on the water is just one more magic dimentions of the broads rich tapestry. Boat rage? rubbish ! never seen that, might be a bit of a dispute over the last choice mooring at a popular spot and a few carefully chosen words of anglo saxon. You might also hear a few choice words from a private owner when someone is reverse mooring at a speed Donald Campbell would have been proud to have reached in Bluebird and a young family member weilding a very substantial boat hook which they intend to inpale in your boat to aid the mooring process. Just don't get involved, sit back and enjoy the free show. As a country boy I love the scenary, the wildlife, the fish and the seclusion but I also enjoy the holiday atmosphere at peak season. Occaissonally you will read both on here and on NBF posts which I can only believe are intended to either keep the visitors down or an attempt to ruin the Norfolk economy, people write about yob behavior and try to make out its full of drunken yobs, Those sort of post make me cross.Taint so, yes its a popular holiday destination for stag parties, maybe even the odd sweet sherry is consumed before dinner, but by and large it is a case of a few people putting on fancy dress and having a good time, I for one welcome them. What you must remember is we are talking of the same cross section of the population as you see everywhere else, together with the odd pain in the **** who will make a nuisance, just remember if you do come across such a being they will be in your life for a few short hours only, then out of it forever. The buisiness of taking an hour to get out of the marina, I just cannot understand that comment at all. I would go as far as saying that apart from some sort of major incident it would make no sense at all. Couple of minutes at most to slip into the stream. True about the popular mooring, beside pubs etc, yes they will fill up at lunch and tea time, people have this idilic image of mooring outside a pub, well that might work on the canals, but very limited on the broads ask around though if you want a pint or a meal there are a number of good pubs just a short walk away from the quieter moorings. Remember also that although its popular in the summer I believe the number of hire boats is a fraction of the number that there was in the 70 and early 80s, I am guessing 33% ish but I am sure that someone will correct the figure. And it still worked well then! So if you can only come in the holidays don't be put off, I will be there but I will probably be the one who has been moored since 10.30 or 11! . One more thing Please moor close to the next boat on the mooring its so selfish to moor in the middle of a gap that should fit two 40 footers and for someone to take up two spaces.

It is easy to understand why something will pass one year and fail four years later i believe it would be possible for it to fail 4 minutes later Unfortunately however well the regulations are written it still comes down to the interpretation of the inspector some are more thorough than others and some are downright pedantic. I guess this is the case in all walks of life

Put simply carbon monoxide isn't poisonous as such but it readily combines with the haemoglobin in the blood and then we are asphyxiated because oxygen cannot combine. CO2 effects us in the same way as it works in a fire extinguisher ie it displaces the oxygen and either puts the fire out or puts us out

Hi Jonzo. I had Virgin from Summer 2010 till 2012. Certainly was not very good on the Northern rivers. I remember Really struggling at various places. Jenny could make a call or send a text in the right place at How Hill on O2 but I had to climb right up to the road similar situation at fleet dyke. As you say continuous changes are being made to the networks. And the cellular networks behave in funny ways. Best ask around and see who gets the best

So the next question is how do you test the CO monitors. Got mine ready to take to the boat next week. Tried holding over the gas cooker. Tried a bit of charcoal from a hand warmer. And. Then a lighter with an orange flame. How do we know it works?

Hi. Bowmen of Rutland based at Greetham got a field permanently available 24/7 with bosses left out

Some very interesting points have been made here about ventilation, but do a few holes in a grill somewhere in the cabin of a boat really work, are we putting too much faith in them, just because they meet the BSS specification. I know little about the subject, admittedly, perhaps someone could enlighten me. My question is.. CO is only marginally lighter than air, so it is going to mingle around the cabin and mix with the air. Bearing in mind that it only takes a tiny concentration to start to asphixiate us how, unless the ventilation is fan forced can it be sufficiently ventillated with a passive system. There has bene a couple of tragedies with barbies in tents recently, in my experience nothing is more draughty than a tent. My previous post might have suggested a "downer" on gas heaters in boats, I realise thousands have been in use for years without ill effect.its just that I had the worst "hangover" , headache, loss of last meal and lethargy, that I have ever had following an evening sitting in the cabin near a gas heater. (Yes ventilation was up to BSS spec) Without touching a drop of anything stronger than tea and coca cola. Couldn't wait to get rid of the gas heaters in our last boat.

That's interesting Jonzo, when my Virgin contract was up ( Orange+ T Mobile) I switched to Voda because Voda was giving me better coverage on the North rivers. My work mobile on Voda was much more reliable than my own mobile. Sims were tried in a variety of handsets by the way.

Likewise, same thoughts here although I am a recurve and compound man and not an arbalist , yet. In addition to my abhorrance of this vile act I have further concerns. I have long thought that it could only take one event of misuse of such a weapon together with a bit of sensationalist journalism by a half baked un-informed hack to blow things out of proportion. In this nanny state in which we live that could start all sorts of campaigns for regulation licensing etc. Lets hope no such person ever discovers just how powerful these weapons are. Even on these Broads forums we have had the hand wringers advocating licensing,training etc just to drive a 4MPH boat, something that would decimate the broadland econony and indeed the broads and rivers as well. I realise my last comment has the potential to pull this thread off topic, it was used as a pertinent example of knee jerk reaction and potential knock on consequence. Let's remember the thread about low life and swans. Just to re-inforce a comment already made, it is not just an issue of killing the crown's swans, it is illegal, in the uk, to shoot anything, even vermin with an arrow/bolt.

This of course raises the question of how many hire boats have them fitted although I suppose few have those nasty gas heaters any more

Asp? No I meant map

How about mooring at the BA moorings at S WAlsham and walking back towards the river and then right along the bank towards Upton. Maybe stop in the pub White Horse I think then you have a choice of retracing your steps or a round trip via the road. (latter only advisable with asp or mobile phone sat mav)Lovely path and a real wildlife treat

Well said littlesprite. It's good to see them back the only reason that they became rarer was because we polluted the waters and secondly well meaning and totally misguided people released mink into our countryside We should be proud to see the otters back it suggests we have cleaned up our waters and allowed nature to take control. Fish stocks will improve and nature will balance itself out. The otters did not eat all the fish and starve to death over the last few millennia nor will they over the next few if we don't screw the world up. Must have been a special moment for you Clive

Paint that awful faded orange roof cream or white !

Basically the coverage is not great on any network. Just to add my two penneth to the discussion, on expiry of my contract I have just moved from Virgin which uses Orange and T mobile to Vodaphone in the hope of getting better coverage on the boat. My wife has always used O2 on both a Samsung and an apple and has got better coverage in many places than I did with Virgin on both an apple and a blackberry. ( Sounds like the Ronnie Corbett sketch in the greengrocers) My work mobile uses Vodaphone and is at least a match for the phones on O2 The phones do move in mysterious ways My work mobile with the sim in either a Blackberry or basic Nokia often shows a signal when the Iphone says no service (both on Voda) switching airplane mode on and off wakes it up. Possibly due to the following, (just a theory) I cannot believe a SIM can age but there was a theory, or old wives tale, that there were different grades of service for different subscribers. ie if you paid an expensive tarrif you got through when the network was busy whilst those on the cheaper tariff didn't or even had the call drop. No idea if that is still the case but it makes you think when companys like Giff Gaff or Tescos offer you a cheaper deal on O2 than O2 themselves or indeed when there is such a wide tange on each carriers own deal.

Oh yes. To be fair Dan has supplied some info however if you are wondering why I keep driving it in a strange way it's because all of the compass points on the wheel are written in Frog

Hi Jill. The simple answer is probably not could even make it worse just been playing with a proximity card which I guess is similar maybe distance is the answer or bury the card in the middle of your handbag.

But that's how I save up for the pumpouts Clive

You mean you don't just peer down the hole and see how high you think the tide is. Sounds like these gauges could take some of the fun out of boating do the gauges work by measuring the smell? or have I missed the point again ?

Firstly sorry that your holiday was spoilt I however agree with Df that it is not appropriate to name and shame on open forum...yet maybe later From the discussions you see on many forums people forget that this is the worldwide web It often seems to me that particularly on this and other broads forums people think it's just like a group of friends chatting in a Norfolk pub My own course of action would be to write formally to the owner, MD CEO or whatever is top dog of the organisation Your next course of action is to take it up with the agency you booked through Blakes Hoseasons or the local travel agent. Please don't be put off coming again your experience was not the norm. Whilst it might be unfair to recommend one boatyard over another,so I won't directly but a yard was mentioned by DF where you will be made welcome and treated like a valued customer. Need another clue it's at Stalham Remember though if there are any delays it's because they have lots of customers that's got to say something

Hi Jill Thanks for that but I didn't mean the Burmuda in the original post I was referring to the wooden boat in the later post. At the time I was looking at it on my phone and behind the old fence wood cladding her it looked like she might have been a mighty classy boat in her day

Ok anyone know what boat she is/was?

Hi Welcome about and wish you all the best with the new boat . Another source of a manual is here http://www.calcuttboats.com/engines.html There is an operators handbook there as well that gives basic service info rather that full on repair. With regards the oil I suspect some of the stuff quoted in the manuals hasn't been made for decades the last lot I bought was John Deere tractor oil, if you want to be certain go along to Boulters I have had several cans from them