Vaughan

Lovely. I wonder what she would have looked like under sail? I can imagine her rigged as a brigantine. I also notice the small davit turned out over the bows ready to "cat" the anchor when it is weighed.

What they clearly state is that no angler is to fish within 15 metres of any other angler. 15 metres? Where did that figure come from? I thought "social distancing" was supposed to be 2 metres? The boating fraternity on the Broads will also be expecting lockdown restrictions to be relaxed in the near future for exactly the same reasons of public health and well-being that are being put forward by the anglers. But boaters will not have the same amount of mooring available in future, with pubs and boatyards closed. So to maintain this figure of 15 metres distance, there is no question that the BA should allow fishing from the bank to be done on their 24 hr public moorings. Otherwise, the anglers will be preventing boat owners from mooring in places which have been financed by their river tolls, but not by the anglers.

Unfortunately, it's all rather true to life! I especially noticed this :

Royal Navy Engineering Manual : B.R. 16 (50). Precautions before entering un-ventilated compartments.

Looks like Boulters Lock, on the Thames at Maidenhead?

I have!

I think that was later and a different system. The Jenners one was a very early system which required a GPO licence and was the same as that in Police cars. The radio in the office was a simple landline that went to the old Post Office on Prince of Wales Rd, which is now the Anglia TV complex. The signal itself was sent from one of the old Wartime radar masts at Stoke Holy Cross. This meant you got good reception on the southern rivers, but not a great deal if you were north of Wroxham! Exactly the same as the local police radios, which wouldn't work in north Norfolk unless you were on top of a hill. The Vans had a Pye radio in them and they could hear and talk to the controller but could not hear or talk to each other.

That is very true, and is called plate sulphation. I don't know whether this will still happen to modern batteries such as AGM. If the boat has been built to EC regulations, Cat. D or C, then the only thing allowed to bypass the master switches is the bilge pump, as the master switches are there - by regulation - for use in fire fighting. The bilge pump is normally wired to the engine battery, on the principle that it is normally fully charged at all times, just as it would be in a car. A good way to avoid plate sulphation is with a small (even portable) solar panel as this will provide a constant trickle charge. For protection, the batteries don't have to be "fully" charged - they just have to be "on charge".

12V electric fridges will cut off when the voltage gets below about 11.5 volts, in order to protect their motor.

This is an EDP article of July 1968. The Jenner Group was in its 2nd year of operation at that time. The main photo is taken in the Yard of A.G. Ward & Son, whose premises along with Thorpe Old Hall, became the main base for the Jenners operation. This site has now become the Old Hall Close housing development. Before I tell some stories of Jenners radio breakdown vans and some of the breakdowns they covered, I wanted to mention the two people in the photos : The "man in a van" is Tony Thrower, who went on to be the chief engineer at Hearts Cruisers after Jenners closed down. He and I became very good friends over the years, as we both shared the same dreadful sense of humour. You needed that, when you worked for Jenners! He was still working at Hearts until the late 90s, when he sadly died of a sudden heart attack, after diving on a wreck off the north Norfolk coast. The controller in the office is Pat Moss, who was chief engineer at Jenners and whose father Billy had been foreman at Wards for many years. When Jenners closed, Billy became the foreman at Hearts where he continued until his "retirement" after 51 years as a Broads boatbuilder. In fact he never retired, as he also owned the boatyard and moorings on the other side of the railway crossing which leads to the Frostbite Sailing Club in Thorpe. He was still at work until the day he died, one winter Sunday morning when he went down to the yard to put a quick coat of varnish on a boat, but didn't come back for his lunch. They found him sitting with a mug of tea, in front of the "pot belly" stove in his boatsheds. The yard was taken over by his son Pat but I don't know who has it now. Hopefully, it is still in the same family. Billy's yard was the original premises of Stephen Field, a wherry builder and hirer of skiffs and half-deckers, who moved there from the Wensum in Norwich, near Cow Tower, in the early 1800s, where he had been a neighbour of John Loynes. He passed his business to John Hart, who was then landlord of the "Three Tuns". This pub later had several names, including "Thorpe Gardens" and is now "The Rushcutters". Sometime in the mid 1800s he transferred the business (and his home) over to the island which had recently been created by the railway, and which passed down the family as G.Hart & sons. My parents bought the business just after the War and re-named it Hearts Cruisers, although the boats already had their "Heart" names. So one way or another, there is a lot of old history in the boatyards of Thorpe!

Actually her nickname, even in the days of Martin Broom, was "Mendlesham"!

The bridge of the main road from Adge to Marseillan, just before the écluse de Prades, where the Canal du Midi enters the Herault river. If not, it looks very much like it! Not sure about the houses behind but they have cut down a lot of plane trees on the canal recently, and that changes the aspect a bit!

We are looking at what is now the Hotel Wroxham. The pilots' quay, at far left, appears to be the same.

We were talking about boat insurance somewhere the other day. It has reminded me of a story which is sometimes told when boatyard folk get together in a pub and for all I know, it may be true! It concerns a customer who brought his boat back to the yard on the Saturday morning and announced that he had lost an expensive watch over the side during the week. Before he claimed on his insurance, he wondered if the yard had any equipment, for searching on the bottom to see if they could find it. "Do you know where you were moored, when you lost it ,sir?" "Oh yes, I know exactly where I dropped it. I made a pencil mark on the side of the boat."

Me too! Actually I was also involved in those boats you mention, although they were called Cavalier at the time, not Condor. In principle, you build a hire boat : you hire it for 10 years before you make a profit on the investment : after 15 years you re-fit it to keep it going for a bit : and then you sell it. Doing extensive and total reconstructions such as these is just not economical.

I think it is worth mentioning Goldfinch at this time, as my old and dear friends, Brian and Jill Thwaites, parents of Matthew and Daniel (of Barnes Brinkcraft), lived on her (as liveaboards) when they were first married, and Brian had recently been "de-mobbed" from RAF Air-Sea Rescue. She was then moored on the Island in Thorpe, as Jill is a member of the original Jenner family. Her house is still called Goldfinch and whenever the family have their own private boat, it is called Goldfinch. I simply say this as an example of how all that family tradition is at risk, in these awful times.

From Blakes catalogue of 1916.

You would be surprised how many hirers, in times of urgency, were looking for brake and clutch pedals on the floor!

There is always an exception, that proves the rule! Palace was built on the lines of the original yacht from the 19th century, which was hired with a skipper and crew, who occupied the berths in the forepeak!

My brother in law (not that one, the other one!) owns Silver Arrow and she is a big boat to handle. More like a small wherry yacht!

I shall remember in future to leave my replies to your posts until the time for "editing" has run out.

A very important point which also applies to most private farmland.

JM has already linked their report on the Acle BNP thread in "speakers corner". Page 3, I think.

No problem, I am glad to discuss it. I might also refer you to page 4 of the Acle BNP thread, where I discussed the RSPB report.

Do you remember "Gelcoat Damage", Neil? That was the nickname of the bloke who used to come and do our Fibreglass repairs in Staines!