JennyMorgan

A stainless steel erection might be an answer but stern-to mooring could be compromised.

Everything is possible, Brooms or Richardsons perhaps. Got to say that I would leave well alone though.

Singing, what singing? I hear no singing! Perhaps I might if I turned the mute off!

For a kickoff bilge keels are these:

Perhaps a really good Broads sailor, at least down South, would also work the tides, especially in a Wherry!

Many years ago I brought a Silhouette bilge keeler round from Chichester to the Broads, remarkably seaworthy and she handled well enough, albeit slowly. Couldn't swivel her round like a c/b dinghy, either at sea nor on the Broads, but that was no real problem when tacking at sea where once an hour is quite a lot! Where I did find the Silhouette lacking , and various other 'sea' boats, and my Drascombe, was that none of them held the bank at the end of a tack like a Broads keel boat can. A good friend of mine had a Lysander and he loved it, that was about thirty years ago. He didn't ever race it that I know of but we did have some excellent pub crawls even if he did miss the first couple of rounds!!

An unsuitable sailing boat for the Broads would be, in my opinion, be one with a mast that is not in a tabernacle and is not easily lowerable. Next on my list of wouldn't haves are bilge keels, notoriously bad at tacking in rivers plus, if you run aground, if you try heeling the boat in order to reduce the draft you actually increase it! Anything over 4' draft will be disadvantaged.

That certainly wasn't the case when I was involved in the trade although it might be the case today. At one time food was very much the perks for the landlord's wife but over time it has become an integral part of the business. Perhaps not charged as a separate entity but I'm quite certain that it reflects as a hidden charge in the level of both ground rent and product prices.

With that in mind may I suggest that castration is used in such situations.

I'm quite certain that food sales are reflected in the rents.

Fisherman's hat off! I have attended EA consultations on this subject and scientific opinion from various worldwide sources suggests that mud itself just being stirred up does not cause the problem so sailing boats are off the hook! What appears to be the problem, or part of it, is dredging when penetrating the crust of established mud banks.

So long as it doesn't repeat itself too often!

Put it on back to front then!

It doesn't work for me either, wholly unattractive, as would be burgers & chips Wroxham style. Curried fish, the thought of it, and the associated smell, urghhh! Enhance fresh fish, don't destroy it. Make mouths water rather than stomachs heave!

Call me a foody Luddite if you must but good, fresh fish does not need messing around with. Indeed why camouflage or hide a good, natural flavour? Lowestoft & Southwold both have quality fish available. Neither outlet is that far away.

Got to justify their existence!

https://www.edp24.co.uk/business/buck-inn-norwich-being-sold-1-6051864

https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/politics/broads-health-and-safety-incidents-report-1-6052195

Curried haddock?

A flag flying exercise if ever there was!

https://www.greatyarmouthmercury.co.uk/news/haydn-thirtle-deselected-from-broads-authority-1-6049372

That would explain the extended periods when she's been moored up at Goodchilds and out of service.

A gear box, or a cooked engine, can easily be replaced, fact of life! John, surely the point is that the SOB's very existence and expense was justified by the perceived need for the Authority to provide a facility that could respond to calls from the Coastguard. That 'need' is well documented. That being the case then why has heaven and earth not been moved in order to make her available? I would suggest that perhaps the need has proven not quite as pressing as we were misleadingly lead to believe!

Perhaps if the Authority were to explain the reasoning & need behind their requests then perhaps people would be more understanding. In the case of BA and many other boats the name is clear and proudly displayed on the bow, it's what we do on boats. Perhaps the Authority's computer system could allow for names and numbers. If I take my 21' boat as an example, the name is on the bow followed by the number. All quite legal, the number is within two meters of the bow, about 25% of the boat's l.o.a. back from the stemhead. In a trot it would be hard to see, but it is still legal. Proportionally my number is further back than BA's. Perhaps we should all have standard lengthed boats!

Very true, I accept that but why then the demand that numbers be on the transom rather than the aft cabin wall? Numbers on the transom of a stern on moored boat are obscured by the bank. For good reason boatyards elected to put the numbers up high, that makes perfect sense too.