eddybear

On my last boat I had the same wheel as you which was varnished, I used to clean the brassware with a brass cleaner warding and a quick buff with a cotton duster time taken probably 10 minutes, the trouble is with putting any sort of coating lacquer etc on brass it will still tarnish in time and then you have to clean the lacquer off before clearing the brass, so in my opinion ( clean Buff enjoy ) and do again when it starts to tarnish but it will only take you about 10 minutes

Hi Jeff and Steve, nice to see you back cooking again be it only Cabbage I'm definitely going to try and do it your way it's got to be better than the soggy mess I normally end up with, Oh and a Happy New Year to you both, regards Ted

Village life still exists but obviously not as it used to, I grew up in a village called Little Bentley in Essex one pub one church and back then one post office, still has a church where the vicar looks after three others in the district amazingly the pub is still there God knows how, the post office went years ago but the important thing is the community spirit is still there On the first Wednesday of every month they have a coffee and cake morning in the little village hall by the Church, this also attracts people from some of the outlying villages. Let's say you've just moved to the village and need to meet people If you're that way inclined there is the church the pub and as mentioned the little get together once a month, if you're not that sociable or interested in other people then it's probably best you don't pick a village to live in, the one thing a small village is no good for is older folk with no transport to get to shops doctors etc however quaint the place may look.

Although we now get a brilliant signal on are very minimal aerial, we don't really watch that much television I always like to watch the local news while I'm having my evening meal, but then I have pre-recorded films and interesting programmes on my little USB keys which means I have endless entertainment without the fear of crap reception in some places, So basically nothing to spoil my enjoyment

After spending a small fortune on various omnidirectional aerials we finally ended up with the one shown above, which if you look at the majority of hire craft now seem to have them, and they work fine now that the digital signal has been boosted to a satisfactory strength, yes you will still get places where there is no signal, the same places your mobile phone Won't work,life is like that :-)

Such a true statement, I personally haven't reached that stage yet where I can't manage without help but when that time comes I to will consider things like bow thrusters, as said before would you want a car without power steering, if you love your house and where you live would you want to move into a bungalow? Or in the house you know and love and put a stairlift in your existing property, Boats are the same no point in making life difficult for yourselves If there is an improvement you can make that enables you to continue your enjoyment, do it.

No, but I'll start saving anyway :-)

Hi Frank and welcome to the forum, I assume You must be on the southern rivers to have that much fall in water level bad luck not a good start just remember that with boats you never know what's going to happen next so have a separate savings account just for that and you can't go far wrong.

Anyone know if Hamptons did an enamel badge and if so anybody got one willing to sell? I would be surprised if they didn't as they built and hired so many boats.

Another vote here for Tim Waters, We have used him for our last 2 boats and yes there were things which needed sorting and quite rightly so, but he doesn't make a meal of it and is fair and understanding and you know when you get the certificate it does really mean your boat is safe, and let's face it that's the important thing, Regards Ted

Okay found the pictures, I think it was August 1974 I remember the boat had a Morris Petrol engine including Morris 8 starting handle which was definitely needed as the batteries weren't that great.

I remember seeing one of the sanderlings but lady Ursula was the cheapest they had and we'd only just got married, and I remember they'd forgotten to empty the holding tank so the boat was nose heavy and difficult to steer so after the first day we had to have her pumped out, other than that we had a great holiday ,somewhere I've got a picture of us on the boat if I can find it I'll post it on here. Sent from the Norfolk Broads Network mobile app

Thanks, Griff and Vaughan for that information, We hired Lady Ursula in the early 70s, I note there Our five lady class I always assumed there was only three, so I find this very interesting never realised that Sanderson's had built that many, again many thanks.

Just a thought Griff, you wouldn't happen to have Lady Ursula from Sanderson marine in that catalogue, would you?

Hi and welcome to the forum, as previously mentioned the Ouse being on the doorstep of Brandon so to speak would probably be your best bet, not sure about their rules on residential moorings but probably as restrictive as the Broads, how far have you gone towards the purchase of this boat, can you hold off buying until you have secured a mooring ? Anyway, good luck and hope you find what you are looking for.