JawsOrca

Thanks David I'll take a look!

Hi Alan, It does need a fabsil actually thanks for reminding me, the canopy chap is meant to be doing that for us, so i'll remind him! Although it's really around the zips and the boats in a very exposed position, where it is so the wind just drives the rain through anywhere and everywhere! the floor also has scuppers so it's indicating that it's intended to be a wet area it's not too bad.. but I fear a carpet would just be ruined It will look ok just painted white with a light non slip additive.

Yup we were gob smacked too.. This is all to keep the engine compartment fire proof for three minutes although surely the resins in the fiberglass would be long burning after 3 minutes?.. Anyways as I said at least we have the bit of paper to say we are safe?!!

Lol we had the same.. The vetus fuel lines were all braided so because they were braided they couldn't read the iso numbers? we didn't expect one... It didn't feel very safe cutting these out and replacing with a suitable hose and hose clip though. But at least we passed...!

Good idea grendel! . Thanks Mark we will certainly look out for you guys Thanks Folks, Dad unfortunately the wheelhouse is a wet area (the canopy leaks like a sieve!) so the carpet would get damaged, we are just going to paint it (once it stops raining) and put some non slip over the top.

Hi David, I'm glad you enjoyed the journey. When we left our yard after the last build after being there for 3 years (We had two projects in there) we almost shed a tear lol I think the projects get so ingrained in your life its strange when they come to an end, I suspect this is a large reason why some projects never end! although as you say it's the start of the next journey and as our friends in the yard said "Boats should be in the water". With this one I can't wait to get it to the broads, not only to enjoy but I miss my weekends lol! We still do have 6 weeks left though and a few bits to sort out so it's not quite over yet Today was pretty much a tidy up day, I went to the tip with a car load of scrap timber which had slowly built up around the boat, Dave was also tidying up inside the boat and sorting through bits. I pretty much left him too and had a relaxing afternoon at home (as I was just getting in the way) and it's been a miserable day! But I've sorted all the boats paperwork out (It's amazing how much paperwork this boat has), I will need to sort out again to work out what bits need to stay on the boat (BSC, Registration Certs, VHF licences etc). I'm also making of list of all the bits we will need to grab for the general "household" bits so one day soon I can go shopping.. Ikea and Wilko here we come lol!

Neil, I use feet and inches.. although if i need a precise measurement I do it in mm... doe's this mean I'm getting old? lol Also I do get why we have high sided boats on the broads, you really do see a different world from a high steering position, we always used to hire smaller boats but after hiring alpha firefly (which is the same as what my folks now have) you really struggle to go back... I saw my first wild deer at how hill that holiday (Yup I was a londoner), It's a big shame Orca is back to looking at reeds but better than nothing (and the hard top again will be good for out of season cruising which we will do a lot of).

Sounds good Steve. The name sounds ok .. bit posh and it's expensive to change it.. I think we all got through about 7 bottles of bubbly on our renaming lol! (and Iain thats bad...!). Thanks about the lane access thats good to hear. We are definitely coming up last weekend of the month so if we find you I'll have a sneak look. Enjoy your time back up hope the weathers good.

and to the forum from me too. Many thanks for the info it's good to know.

Yeah no.. don't like the headlining, it looks rubbish It looks really good Steve, you should be proud of that considering it's probably one of the hardest jobs you can do. When are you putting her back in?

...The real life story of a born again cruiser on the Norfolk Broads... Coming soon! #18thapril

From what I understand, Maffetts have a dedicated tow boat which is paid for by the hire fleets so it's only used for the hireboats (its the primary boat used for "recovering" hireboats from the dry parts of breydon and surrounding areas!) Although as I suspect with many yards they offer ad hoc callout towage service as and when, so as such they don't offer a recovery scheme which is a huge shame as Graham et al at maffetts have been brilliant with the work they've done on my parents boat so I wouldn't hesitate to join such scheme with them.

So unfortunately the last couple of weeks of this blog are going to get a bit dull I suspect! Today though, early start to grab the last bits of timber for the table trims, these are going off to our commodore in the club whos a wizz with the table saw and again wants to help. To the boat for 9.30 and geex it's was a cold day down here! Dave wanted to put the leg back on and test it, Thankfully it sounds much nicer now so it's pretty much finished, it just needs a few spares which we will get ordered. Also it looks like we will need a new propeller as the two we have aren't marked other than a seriel number and google isn't helping but a new one isn't much and it seems a bit stupid cutting the last important corner. Next, we tested the fresh water system, (only one leak on the hot water tank (as usual)), also tested the loo which had a leak on the loos one way valve before, we tightened down the hose clips but it still leaked so dave took it apart and he noticed that the valve itself wasn't actually finished probably so the rubber wasn't cut where it should have been so he fixed that and now all good! Finally we sanded and filled the wheelhouse floor, we was going to put a synthetic teak floor down but basically we ran out of time and money now so it will need to wait till the summer or next winter! We will give that a paint tomorrow hopefully. Oh I also put on the broads registration number on the transom which looks strange to see lol.

Looks a bit like my houseboat..

@Robin if it is P&O Britannia I think you will make it "through" potter heigham bridge.. Apparently the pilot boats get it dead centre and then give it full throttle (it displaces the water and lowers the waterline), so if you can try that I'm sure it will work.. I'll be second through after the dust settles

You have been lucky there Grendal both advents and acers are nothing better than paperweights (in my experience!). Iain it's probably dead to be honest, Asus, samsung, toshiba are some of the better brands. Although I have a asus and it's only lasted about 2 years although it's only a tool to me and gets abused big time, so it will probably ok if you look after them. Certainly try the paintbrush and hoover tips and it may help it for a bit, although don't sit with it on you lap as you may find you are blocking the vents. good luck

Sounds like an acer?

Thanks Mark, not to turn Clive customers away but do you know any yards down south that offer this? We would like a similar service really just for peace of mind. (Clive maybe some room to expand down south? )

All fixed Iain.. I'm not quite sure what happened but I deleted it and uploaded again! (It may have me when I added the new one). It's certainly not just you though! If your fan is making a noise try hoovering it although it may need a new fan

I was getting all excited, until I read the bit about "The boat must have a north river mooring" although we are/will be a southerner (and proud!), so disappointed to be discriminated Can you get a yard down south for us please? please...

Hi Iain, Did you pick the emot from the list? or did you just type p i r a t e? (without spaces?). The test server is completely separate from the live server so whatever we break over there won't affect the live server (hopefully!) lol

Lol you maybe able to see here from the river Iain.. Your emoticon isn't showing up.. how did you add it? are you using taptalk?

Thanks All, I must admit although it feels like we are close, I don't think it will feel really there until it's off the lorry and in the water Alan, we are hoping to take her for a spin on the saturday/sunday, hoping to reach WRC so if you are about please do stop by! (I'd love to take a look around RB too!) Mum and dad are coming up to just in case we need a tow lol (and we need to test the pump out before using!). The lorry should make it there for about lunchtime. Lol Grace, I'm sure it wont be long till we catch up I probably should warn the marina about the boats groupies, although I'll wait till we are there! Wonder if I should get some tshirts made up?

Ok so back on thread lol! Transport is now booked for the 18th April (Hopefully there's no last min changes though!). So everyone please keep this day spare and if the lorry passes you please be ready to wave flags etc! Our berth is also all sorted (We are behind a security gate to keep any pesky OrcaFans at a safe distance!) also today the registration numbers arrived from the BA which seems very strange and certainly now everything feels like it's happening!

Don't give him any ideas MM!! I am amazed though, I've never heard the police actually catch anyone before?!!