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Great information here, thanks. Didn't know that existed

Thanks everyone. Will continue with plan A, have plan B, then C in reserve and if all else fails fight for places on the Northern Broad.

Going out will be easy, as there's plenty of daylight and going earlier just improves that. Coming back low water is showing at 7:49am and sun rise at 6:03, so that just about works. Its just that the info I have seen says arrive @ Yarmouth YS 1 1/4hr after low water. Is it OK just to go by the low water times rather than slack water times?

Hi all, I'm returning to the Broads next Easter for the first time in 8 years. I'm a bit of a planner (nothing I can do about that). When We've been in the past we've mainly stuck to the Northern Broads, apart from a trip across to Oulton broads, as one year, we were there for a power boat race. I just remember it being a little stressful with bridge heights etc. My daughter is a school teacher so I am limited to dates I am able to visit the broads, have settled for the Easter break. Looking at various videos, it does look as though it will be quieter on the Southern side, and Haven't seen much of that anyway. I fully understand and have looked up Slack Water passage times, for the week we are there. The question I have is with passage times vs Sun Rise/Sun Set, as these are quite close during the week I am there. W/C 8th April. Would the following work:- OUT - Tuesday 9th April, pass through Yarmouth YS @ 6pm(would sooner pass earlier if possible?), with Over night @ Burgh Castle. Yarmouth Slack Water 6:30pm BST RETURN Saturday 13th April, Leave Reedham @ 6:45am, which would put us at Yarmouth around 8:30, which is 40 minutes after Slack water on the day. I don't mind leaving earlier, just not sure about sun rise. Cruiser height when prepared for passage under bridges: 8ft 8in (2.64m) Thanks in advance, Nige

During the Holiday last week I had a Garmin Virb Camera mounted on the top of the boat for the entire week. I had this on time laps for most of the journeys. This camera overlays all kinds of GPS data onto the footage including distance and speed. I have now had chance to go through the footage and one interesting thing showed up as follows. On the Friday morning we left our overnight mooring at Paddy’s Lane and cruised to Ranworth for Lunch at the Malsters and then on to The Ferry Inn at Horning for our overnight stay before returning the boat to Wroxham on Saturday. On the Friday I purposely tried to be as economical as possible and the total distance was 10.5 miles and other than a very short time when I had to get heavier on the throttle to avoid a couple of sailing boats Rhapsody managed the whole journey on Electric with still 30% battery showing at the end. I do believe that if you were to plug into shore power this would also charge the main battery as well (I may be wrong but when I collected the boat it had been plugged in and was showing 100% on both battery systems). So considering the above and also keeping in mind that you have pretty much all the electrical power you need for cooking etc., I think it makes perfect sense. Nige

Hi again, didn't look to see what Brinks charge per litre. But like I said I'm sure if you don't get heavy handed with the throttle you would get through a lot less fuel. Also I did use the heating a fair bit and I'm sure during the summer not using the heating would decrease use of fuel even more. After getting across Brendon water the following day we did cruise all the way to Beccles, also very much into a very strong head wind. I can honestly say the more I think about it I was surprised we didn't use more fuel. Brinks do take a £200 fuel deposit on this boat so was quite happy to get so much back. nige

Just thought I would share my experience after just getting back from a weeks cruising the Broads aboard Brinks Rhapsody 2 this Easter (2016). Collected the boat from Brinks on Saturday afternoon. I would just like to say how pleased with the boat I was. It was perfectly clean and turned out, a credit to the team at Brinks. I turned up a little early and was able to see first hand the amount of work they have on a Saturday trying to turn around so many boats in such a short time. I am going to write a short blog elsewhere on the Holiday but for now would just like to comment on the overall experience and differences between Rhapsody 1 & 2. Control system- This is quite different from the system seen in Robin’s video. The speed is now motor related and not GPS as on R1. So this means you’re back to an estimated speed rather than actual. I had an app called SpeedTracker on my Iphone (a free app that does give you a speed to an accuracy of 0.1 miles an hour, which is very useful at the low speeds involved). In clam winds and low river flow rates the speed reported back by R2 was extremely accurate. But On the lower control you now have a choice of running Electric, Hybrid or constant generated power. I ran most of There is an over complicated way of transferring control from lower-upper deck that on the face of it seemed easy but still took a day or so to perfect. I would suggest that anyone hiring the boat should practice this moored up rather than on the move as we did. This involves making sure both controllers are in neutral and then pressing a control button on the control required. The thing that throw us at first is that the upper controller has a foreign language and was obviously designed for a dual engine set up and there are 2 stops that act as neutral and only one of these allow control to be transferred. Fuel usage £124- Overall I was happy with the amount of fuel we used for the week, but I know if the weather on the first couple of days had been better this would have improved considerably. Also used the heating quite a bit which I understand also uses diesel. We had planned to stay at Great Yarmouth on the Sunday night and leave for the Southern Broads early Monday morning as tides dictated, but after arriving at Great Yarmouth YS at about 3:30pm on Sunday the guy in the office said that due to the expected storm they doubted whether they would be allowing anyone over Monday morning so advised me to set off across there and then. Big mistake! As we set off the wind and rain came. So heading over breydon water we were struggling against quite a fierce wind. So I had the throttle at full which was drawing 125 Amps showing 7ish MPH but in fact we were barley doing 3. So to cut a long story short that one journey used about a quarter of a tank of fuel. In electric mode if you run at over say 50 amps the diesel will cut in when the drive battery falls to roughly 70% however if you are happy to cruise at no more than 4mph the motor only draws 25 amps and on one day a managed well over 2 hours of cruising on electric only. Not sure on the total mileage for the week but we went as far as Beccles and Oulton Broad on the Northern Broads and pretty much covered the main routes on the Southern. We didn’t use any shore power and as Robin has said the generator never needed to cut in when moored up even when using oven, kettle etc. I think this is the main reason for hiring this boat along with the pleasure of near silent cruising (most of the time) TV- Only real gripe on the boat. R2 has the standard TV Ariel which for one thing really spoils the overall look of the boat and also a pain in the **** to get a reliable picture. Found ourselves looking with jealously at the futuristic looking 360 domes on the front of many other boats. Haven’t got a clue as to weather they result in a more reliable picture. `Have also booked Rhapsody 3 for a week in July so will report back any further differences if any. Nige

Hi all again, Just a couple of days left till I'm there. I know the forecast isn't to great but still looking forward to a great holiday.

Wir sehen uns dort

Hi JennyMorgan, (male of female who knows, good to have a bit of mystery, a bit like Robin's mystery switches he so loves). Had thought about flying, especially as my step sister works for Flybe, but I don’t mind driving and me and my boy are going to stop off in Coventry on the Friday as he’s car mad and I’ll take him to the Transport museum. Booked a hotel in Coventry that night and then take a leisurely drive to Wroxham on the Saturday. For our July trip I’m bringing our Dog Poppy along so Flying is not an option. Nige

Thanks again, Have just booked a mooring at the yacht station, very friendly and helpful Lady on the phone. Thought she would laugh at me for booking so far in advance. Can decide on the day whether to stay or start to head back, but at least I know I've got a mooring to watch the action from.

Thanks, sounds like a plan

Hi All , Thanks for all of your welcome messages. I don’t know if this is the place to ask but I have a bit of a plan for the last 2 days of the holiday in July. I see there is power boat racing at Oulton Broad on Thursday 21st July. Questions as follows. Are you able to moor at on Oulton Broad that night (racing at 6pm)? If We did stay at Oulton Broads that night I would need to be around the Horning area on Friday night so I can return the boat back to Wroxham by 9am. I’m quite happy with spending the whole day Friday Cruising (seems to be about 8hrs). The only problem is according to the tide time table Low tide at Yarmouth is 06:13 on Friday. Rhapsody has an air draft of 8’ 3”. So how long after low tide would I be able to pass through Yarmouth? I don’t mind getting up extra early (do plenty of that in my job and Wifey will stay in bed). Bearing in mind that Rhapsody can cruise on electric so is extra quite and sun rise is 04:01, realistically what time can I set off? I think that’s enough to be getting on with. Got plenty of other questions if that’s OK? Nige

hi Grace, Thanks for the welcome. I have hired Brinks Rhapsody 2 for Easter and if it's ready in time Rhapsody 3 for the July trip. If 3 isn't ready it reverts back to 1. Nige

Maybe I could write some kind of diary. I could call it the Admirals Blog of something like that. what do you think ? Seriously though, I am very much looking forward to my week away.