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JawsOrca
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Posts posted by JawsOrca
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Hi All,
We are back from a weekend in norfolk (I drunk and ate way too much!!) but my parents boat needs a bit of work. She overheated...(At horning... limped back to brundall... slowly
)Can anyone recommend a good mechanic (or even a yard) who can help them out, The boats an Alpha 29 with a 40 something Nanni. From what we can see it needs a thermostat, and a few hoses and a few sensors maybe more... Unfortunately we would help them but we are too far and they want to use the boat in a couple of weekends!?! Hope someone has good recommendations as I really don't them to give up with it.
Thanks in advance
Best regards, Alan
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Are we there yet?... I haven't been on the broads since July...
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Lol! Only playing..
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ohh sounds erm fun.. maybe you should phone in sick and get down the boat instead lol!
I think I'll take my wet weather gear, their boat has a fly bridge so I'm hoping maybe its too cold for them to sit up there so I'll have to "struggle" on and helm all the way from Horning to Brundall
(funny how I didnt like getting cold and wet on the sailing boat but its different on a motor boat in norfolk lol?!!)try and have a good weekend.. I'll put some pics up just erm gloat..!
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LOL!
You know us too well! I'll have to rip it all out and make it better.
We went to the London Boat show and I went into one and the sales man with a big grin on his face asked "What do you think".. I stopped smiling quickly.. Some of them are really badly fitted out.. Although (and I'm not saying this because Clive on is on here) but the RIchardson r45 was bloody lovely and put some of the big boys to shame!
I'm hoping to have a good look round though, we are going with my mum and shes good at just barging onto boats.
Hopefully its not too cold though...
Have a good one too.. Are you going out on the boat?
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So first week already here at Hoo and this weekend has already proved to be a good move!
Dave has been working for a few hours midweek and It's already a lot less stressful as we can work as and when. Today for example we was able to service my car and go shopping yet still do 8 hours on the boat!!
So couple of bits have been completed this week;
Something told me to remove the timber work around the chain locker up the pointy bit. Dave did this one night and found it was constructed of chipboard... (Note to readers, Please do not use chipboard on a boat.. it turns into compost!) so he bagged that out. It also had a bout 5kg of car body filler which I painfully removed yesterday (my chest is bruised from doing so). I also preped up ready for a rebuilding with nice marine ply.
We also removed loose and flacking paint/old glue from most of the interior of the boat! (Big nasty job). So its ready for the sidelinning.. Although one window is still leaking and needs to come out and have more Abromast behind it.. I blame Dave for not using enough..
I also found another supplier for the foam backed lining. (The customer service from Toomer&Hay is a bit slow so prefer not to use them - This other company replied to me straight away and are posting lots of samples without any problems plus they do canopy material so hopefully I can order lots of material in one go).
Dave also cut out and installed the transom plate for the sonic drive (using the template and assistance which Sillette provided... good chaps!), annoyingly the new engine mounts are 1/4 inch offset from central, he fitted these using the volvo 280 transom plate which was offset by this amount.. the engine still fits but looks a tad off (I noticed!). We had to raise the engine angle irons a bit too as the sonic is a bit higher than the old volvo sterndrive. He bolted the engine down after aligning up (Big milestone actually!). The engine has a plate on the flywheel now with a big chunky rubber thing (I'll take some pictures) and a "Hardy splicer" which will attach to the sonic drive.
The exhaust system (45mm hose, waterlock -> Muffler -> Swanneck) was also planned and started to be installed although we had enough after planning it twice. So work done for today.. Next weekend unfortunatly we wont be working on the boat although we should be doing some bits in the evening. Next weekend we have to go to.... NORFOLK!! Can't wait! 3 days on the broads! We are coming up early saturday, Drive to brundall, Train to Norwich, Taxi to Horning to meet up with my parents who will be at Horning for the Horning boat show, then Sunday, Monday we will motor back down to Brundall. Can't wait we need a weekend in Norfolk!
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We want more... Keep these coming Robin!
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Lol Grace that's so right.. it started when I was 17.. Didn't quite have the extra hundred quid for a holiday to spain.. so decided on the norfolk broads... I dread to think how much money has been spent now!
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Couple of pictures attached ... I found my phone charger!
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Thanks Brian,
Reminds me I need to go to the doctors and see if there's a cure... I keep saying no more projects! We are sure though the investment to move the boat closer to home will ensure its built quicker (plus the ground rent is cheaper!), plus the boat is butted right up against the sea bank so its even more motivation to get in there!
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This weekend again not much happened, we had a lot of tidying up to do and we couldn't really do any big jobs because of the move, we also had a nice day off!
Although the move went really well and Orca is now visible from the kitchen window (although she looks ugly from the back end!). The hiab crane was some piece of machinery and the guy did most of the move himself from a joystick!
The yacht club her are already threatening to put a mast on and a square sail though! But they will soon get used to her here!
Picture attached arriving in Hoo. (I've got hundreads of pictures though so I may attach more tomorrow - When I find my phone charger!).
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Hi Grace,
Shame to hear you didn't have a brilliant time although good to hear you are out and about.. when you get to norfolk again.. breydon will seem like nothing!
The medway can clearly have no comparison for the broads and no where is going to come close to the broads pubs! But certainly keep to the malta inn! (Its a long day from yalding though so drink lots of lucozade!
Best regards, Alan
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Sorry Grace, I've only just spotted this. I hope you are having a good weekend though.
The malta inn is the firm favourite (with everyone!), as you probably know theres a semi waterside one at yalding (which is a bit rough though
), I think there's a restaurant now at wateringbury and the odd pub up the hill. As others mention Maidstone has everything and anything. If you can get to tonbridge I understand there's a few there (we never made it as they has a lock shut when we tried). We have also never been into any pubs up there though except the Malta Inn, so I can't personally recommend any. Next time though come down to Rochester as theres some nice pubs here though (There's even a free secure overnight public pier!. Upnor is worth a visit (by car) there's a really nice pub by the castle. Medway council and EA are useless at providing facilities for boaters, there's now no public facilities for sailboats on the medway! With regards to moorings, just use the landings by the locks, although we aren't ment to moor here, there's no alternative really, just don't stay long or take the whole thing up as other boaters may get rude Ialthough not many cruise about). Take a look at this link too.. the EA do a really good map.. https://www.gov.uk/river-medway-bridges-locks-and-facilities-for-boaters#map-of-the-medway
I'm not sure if you have worked this out already but get a spring line (long mooring line), tie it to the cleat on the bow and bring back down to cockpit (via a midships cleat and the side decks) then whoever is driving can hold the bow in from the cockpit without too much stress (also slowly open the lock gate on the opposite side where the boat is as that holds the bow against the lock... makes it a bit easier to handle too...Also you need gloves for the chains as I suspect you may already have noticed!! We are soo lucky we don't have locks on the broads!
Let us know how you get on though (pictures too!) as its been some years since we were up there by boat and the plan is to be up there for easter next year.
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Thanks Grace.. it was mixed feelings though.. we have had her for so long..so it has hard to walk away! but the plastic boat (I keep telling myself!) is much better for us and being on the broads will be so much more relaxing (etc etc etc lol).... It was strange too she actually sped up when she got closer to the end (despite the tide actually getting stronger and the channel narrowing).. she reached 6kts in the end and for a sailing boat thats fast!.. Anyways onwards to looking forward to the new boat being moved and getting it finished.. this time next year we want to be on the upper medway for "River trials"!
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Thats her Janice. Alpha had two in the hire fleet, Wildcat (And another although they sold the other pretty quickly)..
It was a shame when they sold wildcat as she was a cheap little cruiser but a good little one (we had about 4 seasons on theres).. I notice you have the swimdeck too which makes things easier
..Certainly try alpha, my parents own an alpha 29 flybridge and they have been brilliant helping them with bits this winter.
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Hi Janice, you may want to try beaulieu boat jumble its in a couple of weekends time, you can find anything and everything there. Although if your boat is an alpha hull as silly as it sounds you may want to try them as they have a close affection to their boats and may be able to assist, either by making one up or perhaps they have simular (Is she a "Wildcat" (as alpha used to call her)? if so that was our favourite boat for many years!)
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Back to work today for 9am! as we had a ebayer to come and collect two old tanks.
We were both still tired from the last couple of days so we didn't get a whole lot done. Dave started installing the last timber frame in the cabin roof which will take the ceiling mounted curtain rail. This had to be be glassed in so he did this before it warmed up. He then moved onto cutting down some building acros (Another ebay purchase - £40 for 7!) which needed cutting as they are too big, these will be used as the supports when we move the boat.
After lunch we finished off by replacing the wheelhouse flooring as it's a bit saggy and repairing a hole in the floor where it appears someone had cut to move the engine before. We also had to chop out one floor beam as I brought a new waste holding tank (ebay again but using the money we made selling the other tanks means it only cost £60!) but it didn't fit through the hatch as it had a floorbeam through the middle!
This week we are down the yard from thursday to easter monday.. and the transport is booked for Easter monday to move the boat! . I want to certainly get the inside ready for sidelining and we need to work out how to move the old peugeot engine, plus we need fix the damaged port side (see earlier posts) as it may not be strong enough to lift. So my next post will hopefully show the boat in her new home!
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Although not about orca, Jessica was our previous boat and selling Jessica is core to getting a new boat.. So I want to quickly tell Jessica's last day with us! (Hope everyone is ok with me posting this) The buyer wanted us to deliver her from our hardstanding spot to a mud berth in Queenborough (12 miles down stream). Unfortunately the rise and fall here means that we need two high waters to do this passage and therefore 12 hours at least! (We actually needed 3 tides).
The first plan was to launch her from her hardstanding spot ashore to the clubs scrubbing docks (Last saturday), keep her there overnight and then make the passage over 12 hours on the sunday (we would have floated off at 6am and then entered her berth at 6pm), however as per my last post we gave up as the winds where a bit strong and it looked a bit wet plus we would have to sit at anchor for 10 hours as its only a 2 trip. Second plan was to put her on a club mooring and leave her a couple of weeks for the weather to improve, however right on high tide sunday evening the yacht clubs tender broke down (its a 10 min trip to the deep water moorings so the trot boat is a must) so the club kindly agreed that she can stay there all week! (Thankfully we can see the scrubbing docks from the houseboat!).
The third plan was to float off yesterday night and go onto to deep water berth for the night and then beat the incomming tide this morning to queenborough, arriving into her berth at high water. And thats what happened!
I was a tad worried if she would beat the tide (as they do run fast through the esturary) and we forgot to rig the gib but with her brand new prop and a clean bottom she achieved 6 knots through the tide and we arrived into her berth with no problems...
It's been hard to let her go but having the new boat certainly helps and knowing she will be used more than we did. We had 8 years and only spent 3 weekends on her, but we both agree that the effort and planning to just go 12 miles downriver shows that a river cruiser on the broads would be a better plan as the tides are a nightmare here.. boating needs to be relaxing at the end of the day! (Back to orca tomorrow and we have a long easter too, not to mention orca is being moved over to here too!!)
Some pictures attached.
1. Waiting for the tide on the yacht clubs scrubbing dock,
2 - 5 Pictures of the trip down.
5. Safely at her new home ready for her new owners.
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Quick update..
(Floated Jessica, although I chickened out of the 12 hour delivery trip as the weather was nasty and a good day on the estuary here is like breydon on a bad day.. (We have had 5 feet sweals before) - Shes now neaped (stuck) on the sailing clubs dry dock until next weekend!.. She had no problems herself though.. very impressed considering shes been ashore for 2 years - But plan is now to make the trip next weekend.. another lost weekend
.. I really can't wait to be in norfolk where we really don't have such tidal problems!).Forgot to mention.. Jessica is flying the NBN burgee (I'll get a good picture although its a long way up to the spreader).
Orca is though all booked up and being delivered on easter sunday, we have more timber to support her on and brought a load of "acros" to help support her (and make life easy when the lorry lowers her). In the week a brand new waste tank arrived from ebay too (I love ebay) £100 for 240 litre!
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Our cat Silvester has never been off the pontoon (except in a basket to the vets), we rescued him when the neighbour moved to another boatyard and he was too worried he wouldnt take to bankside mooring (and get run over by a nearby road).
I always understood that cats are a must on (larger) boats as they are meant to keep rats at bay, although here they are probably the size of him plus he would probably would probably just play with them!
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Hi Gracie,
I think one reason the brinks one is there is so owners can keep an eye on the boat. My parents brought their boat last summer from brinks and we was all watching them prepping the the boat (not to mention chasing the surveyor (he was a friend!)) and my mum found it very reassuring. I'd be happy if there was a camera which I could control to keep an eye on the boat. We rarely stay aboard in the marina though as theres lots of lovely places to visit so I wouldn't be concerned in that sense.
(Maybe you wouldn't want on on the medway though as when the rivers in flood you probably want to look away
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Back to work today!
I'm going to give up with the day count..! Keep reading why.
So back to the boat after 3 weeks and we didn't do a whole lot this weekend. Although dave finished filling the hole in the transom for the volvo leg! (big hole though). He also glued up a bit of timber which I'll use to mount the curtain rails. Also we worked on the leg housing, removing the oil seals and an anode. We also tried to work out where the sillette/sonic transom mount should go, although no one is 100% certain so I've sent an email off to sillette asking them.
However we also tidied up as I've booked a lorry to come and take move the boat over to the yacht club now Jessica has sold. This is pencilled in for easter. It's a hiab lorry so its a nice quick easy job (expensive but its worth while). I've had to carefully work out how to prop it this side as we have to do ourselves and we need to be positioned so we can move the boat on the clubs travel hoist.. This is still in progress and will take some thought but Orcas only a light thing.. We both can't wait to get the boat over here as its about 50 meters from home! and we can work 24/7 and the rest of the work will be done before we know it! (hence a day count on the blog would now be impossible - I'll try and do a weekly update though).
Next weekend we are aiming on delivering Jessica so probably no Orca next week...
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Our plan for Orca is to do a week around Easter next year on the Medway (Non tidal) then do two weeks on the Thames (You can motor around which is apparently an amazing trip and well worth doing if you are on the medway - If you are interested I may try and arrange a convoy with a couple of boat you are welcome to join in (we should oxford and back in 2 weeks.. it will feel a bit safer then) then we will take the boat to norfolk for the following year and keep her there. As you say the Medway is brill for weekends but too small for 2 weeks but certainly don't move if you are happy... just move about when you get bored of it.
You can't really moor wildly, the only reason you can semi-safely do on the broads is because alot of boats do it and as such they have identified the safe spots/worn away underwater obstructions over use! You may notice too the bank sides on the medway haven't been worn out because no one does it.. Again no one does it because the medway is poorly maintained (the BA do, do a good job at marking underwater hazards). We hit a submerged tree at wateringbury and only we was only 2 feet water draft - (If you want to do this maybe install a fish finder as this gives you a idea of what the bottom is like) . The banks of the medway are also privately owned so you will see "No mooring" signs everywhere deterring you from doing it. Although there maybe the odd spot so maybe talk to other boaters based up there as they may know.. I think alot of them moor either at their home bases or on the lock landing platforms etc. As I say mooring on the Medway is a big negative. (when we was up there we just went back to the marina each day - We were based at Bow bridge or Yalding).
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Pint certainly on us
.. we can extend the visit to the yacht club (Hoo Ness) although your boat needs to take to the mud which isn't fun with a cruiser. It is well worth a visit pass allington though even if you come as far as Rochester. We had a couple of weekends up there in family boat and I found the locks to be something different and unusual (after being on the broads all the time)..it also braked up the day.. but yes I can't say I'd rather be there instead of the broads though.. the lack of public moorings are a big pain (unless you ignore the rule about mooring by the locks)..but its better than nothing
Are you aiming on relocating the boat up to Norfolk?
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(funny how I didnt like getting cold and wet on the sailing boat but its different on a motor boat in norfolk lol?!!)
Trustworthy Mechanic - Nr Brundall?
in Broads Chat
Posted
Thanks Chaps.
I'm not too sure it will make it to Loddon
, Although we are thinking on running up in couple of weekends to help them out. We certainly wont have time to do a whole lot in a weekend though so thanks for this.. any other local recommendation (Local to Brundall?) would be brilliant too.
Mark it seems to be pumping ok.. Its not brilliant but its pumping. Sensors the other side of the thermostat read cool but its running very hot and blew the header cap off (within seconds of running
.. you can also smell and taste the coolant in the cabin.. Poor boat...