Vaughan

Actually the future is in your hands along with all other toll payers. You are enjoying what the foresight and persistence of my father's generation, has brought to the Broads.

I don't think I have been slagging off the Blofeld family (if you are referring to me) but I am prepared to post scans of several letters between Blakes, my father and the then Mr Blofeld, from 1962, which might alter your opinion on that.

"Si vis pacem, para bellum".

You have shouted at us to shut up and suggested that we consider new members who must be wondering what we are on about. Funny that this assertive reaction is to a post from a new member who only joined 3 months ago. Here I take personal exception as this ongoing argument has been pursued by two generations so far - that is to say by the likes of PW and myself, and by our fathers when they were in positions of influence on the Broads. A third generation (our children) are now taking up the torch. There has always been strong resistance to this political threat to the unique nature of navigation in a place which cannot be compared to any other inland waterway in Europe. Our success in this ongoing argument has, I suggest, been largely responsible for the continued status of navigation as an agreed priority, that all toll payers may still enjoy. That includes you.

Sounds good to me!

Bury your head in the sand, do you mean?

One thing is clear : If the engine is overheating and there is a reduced flow of raw water from the exhaust, that problem is separate from the calorifier. Possibly a blocked weed filter or, as you say, a failed pump impellor. In that case don't forget to clear out the bits from the old impellor, which will probably be blocking the pipe leading to the heat exchanger! As to the engine staying hot with the immersion on, I have never heard of that one before! I suppose it is possible, by the simple principle of convection. I assume you are only using the immersion when needed and not leaving it on for long periods?

Sorry Peter, that won't play for me but I certainly take your point!!

I was going to suggest looking at the rev counters but they are not necessarily set correctly either. Trouble is, when you adjust them you don't know which of them was reading correctly! Many times I have got on a dual steer boat to find that the rev counter in the saloon is not reading the same as the one on the flybridge. One thing you could check is that the cables on both engines are attached to the same hole on the speed lever of the injector pump. There are normally 3 holes to choose from. That way both cables will have the same distance to travel.

Ah, yes. You mean a .22 rifle?

I thought that was what I suggested earlier?

What is actually happening is that the thrust of the propeller is coming up the shaft and being taken up by the output shaft (and its bearings) in the gearbox! This is why ideally, a prop shaft should have a Plummer block in between the stern gland and the engine, to take up the forward thrust. So many boats do not have these. If you want a photo of one, I know that Griff on Broad Ambition has one fitted. Luckily, your PRM gearbox has a thrust bearing on the rear of the output shaft, and can accept the forward thrust. Your problem, if the engine is actually moving forwards and backwards when you change gear, is that the output shaft is splined on the end, where the flange coupling fits over it, and this movement will wear the splines away. So one day, you will go astern, the shaft will move back and slip into the worn area on the splines. All of a sudden, no astern gear! And a gearbox strip down, to repair the problem. So it is important to look at your engine mountings to try and reduce or prevent any longitudinal movement. The flexible couplings are there to take up engine vibration. They are not there to let the engine wander about on its beds! Something to talk about with a boatyard, I suggest.

River pilot, he was . . . Anyway, we all know there is no Great Estuary any more since King Canute (a.k.a. Knutcase) sat in a chair on the bank at St Benets Abbey and told it to go away. History is fascinating, when told through the eyes of the local people . . .

You may be able to claim a descendany from Swene Forktooth of the Lincolnshire fens but I will have you know that my family can trace its roots in the navigation of the Great Estuary, right back to when Pontious was a pilot!

Best results I've seen were from a Thunderflash, tied to a brick . . . .

I quote "From Russia with love" at 18 minutes into the film. It's there, on Youtube.

Dangle the bottle over the side on a length of string. Even James Bond (Sean Connery) did that and he seemed to have success in his amorous intentions!

Especially as that junction over the bridge is on the only slight bend in the whole of the Acle Straight, so there is also a lack of vision. Add to that, that the whole marsh is in a "frost hollow" which will cause black ice and it is not a good place to be, in the early hours of a January morning!

We haven't seen photos of the engine mounting, or the propellor end, where I assume the shaft is running in a cutless bearing, supported by a P bracket or a skeg. I also assume that this boat has a short shaft, with no Plummer block to support it. This is a good example of why what we call the "inboard bearing" is not a bearing at all, but a water seal, known as a "stern gland". The shaft is not designed to "run" in the stern gland. Which means it is always vital that the engine is properly aligned to the shaft. In a GRP boat, this alignment should always be done when the boat is floating, and not out in a boatshed. By the way, that looks like a most excellent braized repair to a casting which may not be available any more!

Sorry to be over a year late replying, but it seems they had over a page to themselves, in Hoseasons brochure of 1971.

That doesn't say the half of it! Back in the late 60s when the pub was heaving, if you wanted to turn right across the traffic, on the Acle straight, at night, to enter that pub on your way from Yarmouth, you were almost literally taking your life into your own hands!

I hope that (in particular your last line) does not refer to me? In which case I suggest you read my posts on this thread again. Anyway, this is a forum, where we all respect and have the right, to our own opinions. So what is yours? Are you saying that anyone on a boat from now on, should be obliged to wear a lifejacket? By Law? And does that include a photo we have seen posted on another thread today, of a paddle board being towed across Salhouse Broad behind a large (and obviously private) open launch, with one man at the helm and another man standing on the board? Where neither of the two appear to be wearing anything but swimming trunks?

Depends who you are listening to. BBC Look East, when reporting on the recent tragedy in GYYS, said that this was the first death on the Broads from a boating accident in the last 4 years. I don't know how accurate that is or what was their source, but that is what they said. Exactly! And that sort of bad press has caused this effect before, on the Broads.

And if you had been there (as I was) to see the amount of safety kit, voluntary rescue squads, specialised offroad vehicles, RIBs, marshalls in yellow jackets, BA ranger's launches and a police launch, resulting in the effective closure of the navigation to other users, you would see some of what I mean by a Nanny State.

With respect, that is not a fair analogy. I am not advocating suicide as an adjunct to the simple choice of not wearing a lifejacket. If a load of supposedly otherwise responsible adults can go swimming around in the navigation towing orange party balloons, between Burgh St Peter and Beccles and there seems to be no law against it, then I don't feel the need to wear a lifejacket on the same river in a boat. Statistics will always show (without my help) how safe the Broads have been for decades. The imposition of yet another law to tell us how to be safe is all part of a creeping malaise, otherwise known as a Nanny State. We either resist that where it is sensible to do so, or we end up just being herded around like the sheep that we have become.