SwanR

Welcome along Fishermandave. My hubby likes to fish on the Broads if we hire at the right time and I will let him know about your FB group. :)

Having just caught up with this thread I agree with a lot of the grammatical points raised. But as someone who has now lived in Essex for many years, married to an Essex man and with an Essex family, I never find this funny. One could, if one felt so inclined, liken it to many other forms of generalisation that are unfounded and can cause offence.

It’s very interesting to read your write up Alan. You seem to do so much for the boat and the syndicate, always popping here and there on your holiday and in and out of your home mooring. Hope you enjoyed having the fine weather.

Do come back. I miss seeing your posts. Hope that you and yours are doing well. It’s certainly a summer to remember. :)

Facebook is great for the immediacy of sharing things or getting help, advice and information. But I don’t get a feeling of knowing anyone the way that I do on the forum. That may sound strange given that most people here have usernames whereas on FB most go under their real name. Perhaps our names here are more unique and therefore more memorable in some cases. My tendency is to post less on the FB group other than “liking” some of the photos. My concern is more that the reputation of our forum is linked to the behaviour of FB group members who post in a very different way sometimes than we would want to see here.

Beautiful day here on the east coast. Been over to the Broads as well. Very breezy but lovely and fresh and still warm in the sunshine. A very nice 23 degrees according to my weather app.

For me this highlights two things. Any helms person can make an honest mistake, experienced or inexperienced, hirer or private owner. Maybe this could therefore end the never ending debate of hirer versus owner. It also highlights the difference between this forum and Facebook. Both are under the same brand but over on our FB page you can read all about this with the boat also being named. It’s hard to grasp why that is acceptable in one place and not the other. Apologies for bringing two controversial subjects into this thread. But for me it’s a prime example of both!

Some rain and lots of lightning here on the coast at Lowestoft. Went for a walk and watched lots of flashes out over the sea. Sat in the caravan now listening to the rain on the roof.

It's sad how many tales like this you hear. The number of experiences recounted by members from what amounts to a random group of people widely spread geographically, shows that it probably happens more than one might think. A London borough somehow got our address linked to the wrong person and we did have the bailiffs on the doorstep ... no-one was in and fortunately they didn't force entry. Got it sorted out eventually. A friend of mine also had someone claim that his car had been involved in an accident with them. It took him lots of time and legal process, including having to get evidence from work of what he was doing that day, before it was eventually dropped. But it put no end of stress on him for well over a year.

My day at present consists of ... Drive from home to work with AC on in car. Park car in underground car park. Work in air conditioned office in summer clothes - we've ditched formal office wear! Get into car which is nice and cool from being underground all day. Drive home with AC on. Step out from car into home. Enjoying the evening once it cools down a little bit and I like to walk round our garden and look at all the flowers, see how they're faring, fill up the bird bath etc. So it's just sleeping at night that's a problem ... hence looking forward to getting up to the caravan again at the weekend and being on the coast for a couple of days. :)

Wilko's has some very good stuff. We often shop there when we're in Lowestoft.

We've been enjoying getting up to Lowestoft at the weekends as it's much cooler than here in Essex where it is stiflingly hot! Fortunately I work in an air conditioned office where my car is parked in an underground car park!

You are making sweeping generalisations that I don’t feel are justified so enjoy your time on the rivers but I will respectfully leave your tale.

Never judge a helms person by whether they are in command of a hire boat or a private boat! Both can be equally experienced or inexperienced or caught out by circumstance!

Beautiful! We’ve arrived in Lowestoft this morning (by car!) and it’s hot and sunny. :)

Sounds like a plan. Hubby likes to fish if he gets the chance! :)

What a wonderful write up, thank you so much for sharing your tale with us. Great to get such a good recommendation for a yard and in fact I don't think that I have ever heard a bad word said about them. The weather has certainly been amazing ... the first year since 2012 that we hadn't got a boat booked! Maybe that's why!! And to finish ... like you I have wondered about the tide along the New Cut ... I'm sure there must be an answer somewhere. ;)

Morning Phil ... and welcome to the forum. I'm always interested in people's choices ... what boat have you gone for?

Hello David. We had absolutely no problems with using anything electrical onboard. In fact being all electric you don't have to think about gas supplies. And there is no inverter to turn on and off with Sonnet, the 240v supply is on all the time as I recall. The only time we needed to start the engine while moored up was while we used the microwave for a few minutes as it is recommended to do that. Having the lead to hook up to shore power is just a nice extra in case you are somewhere where you can get hooked up and want to take the opportunity to ensure that the batteries get a full charge. But if you're not using much electricity i.e. longer daylight hours, not running the heating, not doing much cooking, then you would be ok as long as you get a decent cruise. If you want to cruise for less time then hooking up to shore power is a nice thing to be able to do. If access is an issue then using stern on moorings is great and really easy and there are quite a few places to stern-on moor on the northern rivers. Remember that as a hirer you can also moor in other boatyards overnight and many of those will have stern-on moorings. If none of that suits, or if you felt that the boat would be too small inside, then you would probably find the same with many boats. Some of the newer models have more space in the cabin and the bathroom but they tend to be the more expensive ones. And if you don't want to be cruising for more than an hour or two each day then you may have an issue with keeping the batteries topped up no matter what boat you're on. Perhaps boating just isn't right for your circumstances. I'm sorry that you seem to have gone through a difficult time with bookings and finding the right information so that you could make informed choices. Perhaps the self-catering option in a riverside property will be more for you.

I have only read this briefly this evening to catch up on the updates. Whilst Barnes Brinkcraft may not be my first choice just because I like starting from places other than Wroxham sometimes, and choosing different boats, I have to say that I have never had any issues with the yard and that our experiences hiring Sonnet were fine. Yes, it's not the newest boat but it's far from the oldest either. And that style of boat is the best that you will get if mobility is an issue.

We have had Sonnet twice. No problems with the electrics at all. We cruise around 3 hours a day but all hire yards recommend that kind of cruising time. I think you get the cable so you can use electric hook up if you want to. Just buy some cards and ask about how to use the electric posts when you get your handover if you’re not sure. But I wouldn’t worry just because it’s all electric. Just need to run the engine if you use the microwave. Sonnet is a good little boat.

Essex is certainly living up to its desert-like self at the moment. Our car went in for a service on Monday - we hadn't washed it for a while because we knew they would! You get used to being careful with water when out on a boat because you've only got what it is the tank. Now we're being careful with water at home as well ... in case it runs out!!

I thought it was going to be cooler but it still felt as warm as ever upstairs.The only downside to backing onto the railway is the freight trains at 3am if you leave the windows open!! No rain here in Essex yet but the BBC forecast seems to think that there might be some on Friday.

Speedtriple I know what you mean. Essex has had no rain in a very long time. Everywhere is parched and brown. The garden is only getting minimal watering for the plants that really need it and the car's not getting washed either! It is hard when you've still got to work every day and sleeping is difficult - I'm the same. Usually I would happily walk into work a couple of times a week but now it's the bus if I haven't got the car. Also wearing usual clothes to work means you swelter whenever you're outside - we should have declared every day a "dress down" day ages ago but that is never going to happen where I work. It would be ok if the aircon worked efficiently in the office but ... it doesn't! Getting up to Lowestoft at the weekends has been my saviour. Still parched and brown everywhere but often as much as ten degrees cooler on the east coast there than it has been at home. If only it was close enough to commute, I would be living there right now.

Welcome Karen! I think everyone has pretty much covered the answer to your question. Whilst we enjoy the cruise into Wroxham if we have hired from a yard elsewhere, we rarely try to moor there. There are other easier places to stop and pick up a bit of shopping if you need it. And we prefer quieter moorings away from the roads. Is there something particular that you wanted to stop in Wroxham for or is it just one of those places that so many people talk about and you wanted to see?