Vaughan

Sorry, but this, to me, explains exactly why the local population and Broads related businesses were so strongly against the idea of a flood barrier, "back in the 70s" and voted it out. And sure enough, now what have we got? The "unforeseen consequences" of a whole lot of experts and their extensive consultation. Which I take to mean "working with collaborative partners". "Kirk to Enterprise - one to beam up"!

Very interesting. So my silly question is : If they saw the need to keep drag lines on stand by for drainage purposes in the 70s, why aren't they still there now and why aren't they dredging? What is different between now and the 70s? Apart from all the water lying trapped all over Potter Heigham and Wroxham, of course. . . .

Pressure relief valve. And yes, you can use PTFE but pipework in a boat is normally done with compression fittings, using a copper or brass olive to make the seal. In that case you do not put any other sealant, tape or compound in the fitting, but rely on the olive to do what it is supposed to do.

Thanks for that Colin, and a very Happy New Year to all residents and friends on the island. Looks like a typical winter spring tide in Thorpe, from my memory. By the way, what happened to Thorpe Council's great ideas for letting out that part of the Green in front of the church, as private moorings? Don't seem to have had any takers?

So do I. Over the years I have found that a lot of this boils downs to "Who owns the rivers, then? You on your boat or me, with my rights to fish where I please?". Someone has also posed the question "Who pays for the navigation?" Fishermen pay for a licence (to some quango or another) but does this pay for the maintenance of the waterway in which they fish? By the way, a little question of definition : These long poles that we are talking about are called "Perch poles". Does this mean they are specially adapted for the catching of Perch - which are (or at least were) common on the Broads - or does it refer to the French word "perche" which means to reach out over a distance, especially when referring to a crane jib or a derrick?

I have just been reminded, by PM, of the previous history behind this news. I have wonderful childhood memories of the Beauchamp Arms in the days when it was owned by Wolff and Andrée Chater who were great friends of my parents and who, I believe, had come to Norfolk after being displaced from their homeland during WW 11. Gilbert Wright was the local landowner and farmer and his son Paul started up the boatyard and became very well known as a builder of racing dinghies. He was also the founder of the Buckenham Sailing Club, of which my parents were original members. It is in this spirit that I wish all the best to a venture that may promote leisure boating on a very important cruising location on the south rivers. It seems that the new owners did not make a success of their previous venture on the Broads. Let us hope, all the same, that this new effort will be a benefit to all who cruise the south rivers and wish to see better facilities there.

I agree but all the same this is not a spring tide. We are on neap tides at the moment.

Very good news! All best wishes for the future.

Let's get back to the start of this discussion, which was MM's questions about the safety of his new heating system. Before I retired I was technical director for a company running over 450 Broads type hire boats on European waterways, for over 20 years. In all that time, how many of our customers were killed or otherwise suffered symptoms which could in any way be related to noxious fumes given off by a diesel or gas fired blown air heating system? Answer : Zero.

I can certainly agree with that, but not with the rest of your post. Which is exactly what turbo charging is all about. Have you considered what "compression ignition" basically means? Well, in my years of stripping down heaters and servicing them I have never found this problem. The burner units are usually clean. This may be why Webasto (diesel) and Trumatic (gas) heaters are now factory sealed and cannot be "got into" for cleaning or maintenance as there is no need. What you may be confusing, is the need for modern appliances to be room sealed. That is, that they draw their combustion air from outside the boat and exhaust their fumes outside as well, usually from a flue pipe which has inner and outer pipes. The centre one for the exhaust and the outer for the admission air - which has the effect of cooling the exhaust at the same time. This is just what you will find in your house, if you have gas or oil fired central heating. Please don't let's get into a flap about blown air heaters - either gas or diesel. If they are installed properly as a room sealed unit, they are not going to "creep up on you" in the night. The possible effect of their exhaust on other boats, moored together stern on, is maybe another matter!

I was thinking that as well, as I can't place a competitive cruiser with a varnished hull. I have been thinking of No 4, Swallow, then owned by Ken Lord and previously by Tom Percival. She was kept on a buoy on Wroxham Broad and although quite small was a very handy racing boat.

I am afraid I can only answer your question by asking questions! Was this an older wooden boat or a new one with a Fibre-glass hull? Was she gaff rigged, with a topsail, or Bermuda rigged? All registered River Cruisers have a sail number. Do you remember it? Was the boat kept on Wroxham Broad? If so was she moored on a buoy?

It is a bit of a "dark art", isn't it?

The Lord Roberts was purchased back in the 70s when I was active in the Wherry Trust and we had the same old discussions about what to do with her! The deeds of the Trust stipulate the preserving of "one or more examples" of a trading wherry "in sailing condition". In other words, not just a static museum piece. The whole idea of the Trust (in my view) is to ensure that all of us who love the Broads can still see that great black sail coming in over the trees at sunset, or gliding across the marshes. To me it is not only the boat herself, but her iconic image and history. At least now, with the Maud and her own trust, we have "one or more examples" sailing the Broads. Looking back I am glad we never tried to restore her at that time. It was clear that the Trust could not afford it and at least Albion is now in the safest hands that she possibly could be.

Such as the present depth of the river Yare . . . I heard even the Albion has run aground in recent years, on her way to Norwich.

Fred was the photographer for A.E.Coe and sons, who had a premises on Castle Meadow, which I think is now part of Boots shop, which goes through to London St. on two floors. That is if Boots, like so many other well known outlets, have not deserted Norwich and left it to the cyclists and the coffee shops. He was very well known in Norfolk in the 50s, not only for his work in the EDP but as the photographer for all the "society" weddings in the county. Here is another of his photos : I believe this one was his as well. Taken from the scaffolding on the old tall spire of Thorpe church, when it was being demolished in (I think) 1954.

Yes, that is just what I was taught. You dunk them down and then as you lift them you spread your arms, which turns them round and they end up sitting on the quay between your legs, looking rather surprised! In fact, especially with heavy people, I have found it best, as Smoggy says, to turn them first. Crossing your arms and communicating is good, unless the person is already in a bit of a panic.

This is very good advice and it works! I have used this often, when getting people out on the quay after they have fallen in. It is a method that I was taught, somewhere. It may have been the St John Ambulance.

This is a most salutary story for all of us and I can only breathe a sigh of relief that it all ended well. It is something to "bring you up with a round turn" as they say. I am afraid I have always been rather lax about life jackets - perhaps too familiar with the water? - although I have spent my working days telling hirers they ought to be wearing them! One thing I always do though, whenever I go boating, is to take a full change of clothes in a holdall bag. If I don't need them, someone else might. Thank you for posting this story and we should all be reflecting on it!

I agree with that as I too am a lover of Broads history, which I find fascinating. All the same, perhaps we can accept that things change with "common usage" over the years? For instance is it Candle Dyke, or Kendall Dyke, as many historians including Roy Clark and Robert Maltster, would have it?

Launching the Ace of Hearts, in about 1953. I think the Blakes emblems on the bows came in around 1955. She is sitting on one of the "greasy ways" that Marshman talks about and the rope tackle pinned through the "snore hole" in the stem is to stop her charging off down the slip before they are ready! This is the critical moment before she tips back onto the slipway. Just in front of Ted Dean, on the right, you can see the winch wire running down the floor and out to a "dead man" pulley in the water beyond the slip. This runs back to the aft snore hole, at the end of the keel skeg. The wire ran up the shed to the winch and could be guided in any direction by snatch blocks, so that boats could be positioned exactly where we wanted them. Changing direction was done by placing a strong block under the middle of the way, hauling the boat over it, waiting until she balances and then one man could simply push on the stem and push her round. So all the "angles" had to be thought out beforehand. One of those un-written arts that is now passing into history. The Ace was kept up at the top of the shed by the railway line and to get her down the shed and into the water would take four men most of a day. And here she comes! Another photo by Fred Low for a similar EDP article about the coming of spring on the Broads. The photo is heavily posed for the camera, as we never launched boats on a low tide! To the left is the King of Hearts, built in 1952. I am posting this, from about 1948, as behind the houseboat it shows the bungalow that generations of the Hart family lived in, for around a hundred years. The houseboat Misty Morn is where my parents (and I) lived for about 18 months while the gunboat was being converted into a houseboat. The netting around the cabin top was to stop me, at less than a year old, from taking an early bath! Misty Morn was later moored further up the quay, opposite the church, with her own private garden, where she gave happy holidays to a lot of people for many years. The launch moored alongside was built by Wrights of Ipswich and was powered by the starter motor off a Morris Navigator, coupled to 4 Nife cell batteries. These were enough to get back and forth over the river for about a month, before they were changed and re-charged in the engineers' shop. Interestingly, Roger Wood still crosses the river with an electric launch and lives on the same site that the Hart Family occupied for a hundred years before him. So Thorpe Council, with all their access issues, can stick that in their "Funk and Wagnell"!

More like the early 70s as I remember. It was a gradual decline, as more and more manufacturing industries closed down in Norwich, as well as the coal fired power station. There was also a lot of industry downstream of Carrow bridge, such as Archie King's, the Colmans Mustard factory and the large works of Lawrence, Scott and Electromotors. It was finally ended forever by the building of the southern bypass fly-over at Postwick Grove.

Up at the turning point close to the current cinema and bars. The much larger colliers which served the power station were too long to get up into the port but they could turn in Trowse Eye, at the junction of the Yare and Wensum.

That will be Old Wussername, doing a trial run from Jenners. He dew git about, yer know!

It's nice and peaceful on the forum before dawn. Makes me tempted to say things I otherwise shouldn't but I notice we usually have a well known mod who can't sleep either!