vanessan

I find I have to use this symbol yet again!

It might not be 'beautiful' but I think there is something rather stylish about it.

Welcome CaptainPugRush. If you slightly double-back from Richardson's, you could go to the Sutton Staithe Hotel/Inn. Very dog friendly and the food is good too. Also a nice bit of grass by the moorings for Murphy to bounce around on. Fingers crossed the weather is good for your long weekend, I believe you could be lucky...............!

Andy, thank you for explaining about M733, it is good of you to do so especially after my criticism. Having seen some of the crews on board and the way they treat the boat, I am not surprised it is in need of some tlc. On this forum we have discussed at some length the trials and tribulations of a hire yard and I think most of us are supportive of the yards, particularly the independents. I still recommend the book 'A Broad Experience' by Robin Godber, it's a fascinating insight into hire yard ownership and I know quite a few forum members have read it.

You're right, they do still seem to be going. I thought they had ceased hiring holiday cruisers at the end of last year - obviously not. M733 was one of Freedom's but I don't think it is now as it is no longer in Freedom's livery and is certainly not as well cared for as their boats usually are. We have seen it a number of times this year, always with a different crew so I assume it is still being hired out.

I have just looked at Barnes webcam and I see at least 3 boats having their decks and hulls wiped down by the staff. I don't think I have ever seen a mucky Barnes boat, or Faircraft or Ferry Marina for that matter. Probably because those boatyards have mainly newer boats and are therefore easier to keep pristine. I have moored many times at Loddon and seen the staff at Pacific cleaning down their boats on a Friday or Saturday, they have older boats but really look after them. Does anyone know what happened to the boats from City Boats when they ceased last year? I have seen some of them recently, particularly M733 which has no name, and they still seem to be out for hire.

And a lot of them were stuffed in a little cubby hole beneath the helmseat, you ended up with a stiff neck and a squint!

What jokers we have on this forum! I'm quite surprised nobody has warned me of sharp knitting needles.

Having read all these posts, I have decided that boating is an extremely dangerous pastime and I am now going to take up knitting!

I think we should go back to oil lamps and coal fires! (And Lady Grantham said electricity would never catch on - in a very early episode.) Nothing to do with electricity but when I was very young (aeons ago) I got hit by a golf ball. It wasn't landing, had only just been hit. I remember it hurt dreadfully and although it knocked me down, it didn't knock me out much to the amazement of the folk with me. Could have been nasty but probably explains my lack of sanity sometimes!!

"We maybe have 20 people on the forum who object to it and another 9,980 boats owners/users who may not have an issue. I can see it being a pain very late or very early, but it has never bothered me. I try not to do it unless its necessary and then for a short period of time." I think that sums it up rather nicely............

When on the boat, I love listening to Wally just after the 6am news on Radio Norfolk. He gives high and low water times for the local areas and sometimes (not often) gets himself in a bit of a pickle with low water at GYYS. He does try and give the right times for boats to cross Breydon although I have a suspicion one or two newbies might be a tad confused after listening to him. He is always a pleasure to listen to however and being a keen boater makes any Broads news interesting. To me he is the sound of being in my favourite place!

I think that's the problem, from what I gather the hire companies actually advise their clients to make sure they run the engine for at least 3 hours each day. It also seems that many of the older hire boat batteries are not quite up to scratch so don't hold the charge too well. As private boat owners, we know what the state of our engines and batteries is (well, hopefully we do!) but hirers of course have little idea and have to rely on the advice they are given.

Got it, thank you.

We have a 12v cool box that I sometimes use to supplement the fridge. It can run from the mains as well and we have found it doesn't seem to use much juice at all. It has been used a number of times on BA electric posts and is very efficient so I am rather surprised at the comments on high consumption.

I think maybe some clarification is needed here. My understanding of the OP was that the interested party was looking for a boat to to purchase to use for a few weeks at a time not a few weeks each year. That would surely make a difference when deciding between outright ownership or shared ownership? Was it Mustang that was trapped under Thorpe bridge?

Certainly a good suggestion for a private boater but what about the hirer who doesn't want to go too far? How many batteries would 'plenty' be?

I have started this new thread (I hope I will be forgiven for doing so) because the subject of running engines at moorings has many different viewpoints. It has been said, and it is widely agreed, that an engine needs to be run for 3 maybe 4 hours daily in order to keep the batteries fully charged - particularly on some hire boats where the batteries may be naff. On some boats it may be considerably less. For many this is no problem, certainly most hirers will want to get as much cruising in per day as possible. Equally, there will be many private owners that have limited time on their boats each year and again will want to spend time cruising. But there are many retired boaters on the Broads who are able to spend long periods afloat and may not want to go too far at some point, maybe only a half hour down the river. There are also hirers who have done the rushing about bit and now want to spend time exploring the delights ashore and that may mean not going too far either. That's ok if shore power is available (and the private/hire boat is able to use it) but it may not be, what then? The only option is to run the engine when moored. It is of course possible to wild moor on one's own for some considerable time then running an engine doesn't affect anyone else to any great extent but wild mooring is not always an option for one reason or another. It's a conundrum! There appear to be forum members who are totally against running engines at moorings so my question is 'what do people do if they need to charge batteries'? It is surely unreasonable to expect folk to keep cruising round when they want to stop. I know this will bring on the usual arguments about fumes/noise etc but is there an acceptable answer??

As someone who spends 'a few weeks at a time' on the Broads, I would suggest it has to be outright ownership. I would also suggest it is a boat built for the Broads and the low bridges, that means that the whole network is open for cruising. When we started looking, we were looking at something around 30 feet but eventually settled for a 35ft bathtub and I am so glad we did for these reasons: All bridges negotiable at suitable states of the tide. The extra room (there are only 2 of us and 2 small dogs) allows us to carry everything we need for the duration of our trip including spares that might come in handy. The bathtub style is one level and as we are getting older and less agile this makes life easier for us both inside and out. The front well has a canopy and that virtually makes an extra area when moored up. Useful for dog drying and hanging up wet coats etc. I hope these thoughts help, boat buying and owning is expensive and needs to be thoroughly thought through. Good luck to your friends Eric, I hope they find what they want and can soon join the Broads Brigade on a more permanent basis.

When our eberspacher heating system was installed, the vent to the outside was sited behind one of our fenders. We were unaware of this until there was a nasty burning smell the first time we ran the heating! Just shows how easy it is to get caught out, as chameleon has just experienced.

Happy Anniversary!

And before anybody mentions it, yes I know open windows can let in fumes etc from outside. As I understand it, the boat in which the poor people perished had no ventilation whatsoever.

I have never understood the need to block all forms of ventilation. Even when it is cold, wet and windy I still have to have windows open to an extent, especially at night. (There is nothing quite like snuggling down in a warm bed but your nose tingles in cool air!) We do have a CO alarm on board but always have fresh air circulating too.

There is something else to think about here too. This boat was moored on the Wroxham spit where there is space for only one boat. A lovely spot. BUT, had it been on a mooring with other boats, they may have had a slightly better chance of survival. Presumably the engine was running until it ran out of petrol which I assume may have been a while. Other boaters may well have sensed a problem and been able to do something although I appreciate the fumes would have taken hold quickly. Who knows. But this does add to the whole circumstances here being unusual.