tjg1677

hello again branden, I didn't twig on to the fact you had two batteries, now I have, it is easy. Simply use your low output battery as the engine, starter, fit an isolator between the engine and battery, bingo, problem sorted and the engine will charge up the battery to save you having to take it home to charge. Simples! trev

I agree, either type of battery will do if it for stand on its own just for the engine, in fact a car starter battery may be cheaper as you will only need something like a similar type to a small engines fiesta etc. however, that said, how do you propose to charge the dp battery that you already have on board, as if you connect a stand alone battery for the engine, the dp battery will not be in the charging circuit, hence what Viking says makes sense by putting in a dual isolator and gives total flexibility, I appreciate it adds to the cost but suspect it will pay off in the long run. if you really don't want to fit a dual isolator, an alternative is to fit another dp battery of the same capacity, wire it in parallel to the existing dp battery and fit isolators between them, when the engine is running it charges both, when you shut the engine down, isolate the second battery, that way you always have the means to start the engine yet charge both. trev

Generally I have my mobile on Virgin ( EE in reality ) and laptop dongle on Three. Both are diabolical in the ferry marina moorings at horning and are totally hit and miss, seemingly dependant on atmospheric conditions. As I run my own business and have to be in touch when on board, I now have a vodafone PAYG mobile which was recommended to me by the guy who used to run the chippy at Ferry before they closed it. So far Vodafone has been 100 percent and has never let me down trev

Hi Branden, the Honda BF15 is a great engine and a wise purchase. To answer your questions, the best practice is to provide a seperate starter battery and connect it to that via an isolator, no inline fuse required. Less good practice but possible and workable is to connect to the dual purpose battery via its own isolator. This has pros and cons. The cons are that if you flatten your DP battery then you cannot start the engine electrically, although it is possible still to hand start. Pros - saves the space taken up by a second starter battery and will also charge up your DP battery whilst the engine is running, cheaper installation cost and is generally neater. Just to complicate things further, it is possible to fit a two way battery isolator, where you can switch between one set of batteries or another or even have both in the circuit, gives more flexibility for battery usage and re charging. hope this helps trev

I was but a spotty youth being dragged up in liverpool, when my elder brother announced that he was going on holiday with some mates to a place called the norfolk broads. This was back in 1971 and frankly i was not impressed, for a start what was a broad and secondly where in earth was norfolk, never heard of it! when he started to describe this new fangled holiday in a place hitherto unheard of, i started to show a bit of interest.....what you mean you actually get given a boat and you can drive it yourself and drive it anywhere and stop where you want and sleep on it and cook bacon butties on it......all rather naïve questions of an eleven year old who had never been on a boat but had frequently crossed the mersey by ferry. Needless to say when he returned from the broads my questioning was incessant, where did you go , why, when, did you crash it, what sort of engine did it have ( yes even back then i was fascinated by all things mechanical and was an avid user of meccano ), what did you eat, where did you moor, what are the broads like, what was the boat like.........i must have got on his nerves but he always took the time to tell me in great detail everything i wanted to know. It never dawned on me till years later that he was a broads addict from day one and it was apparently his favourite subject lol. To cut a rather lengthy tale into digestible chunks, he went every year from then on, sometimes twice a year, always toward the end of the season and always with aston boats. Then the greatest thing happened, it was july 1975 and he uttered those immortal words, guess what trev, off on the broads in october, great thought i, you lucky git! Then the bombshell......he was taking me with him. i was so excited i nearly fell off the shed roof ( cant remember why i was on the shed roof but for some reason i was..). So began the countdown to october and getting the aston cairn for a week from Loddon, i religiously read the hoseasons brochure every day for the entire three months, just in case there was some detail about the boat i had missed or a bit from the holiday hints and tips section i had overlooked. That was the excitement it caused to me as a teenager, since then i have always had an affinity for that place we call the broads and became a regular hirer once i had left the royal navy, never thinking for one moment that one day i would have my own boat there. Ok i had a twenty odd years absence as i had a boat on the canals but i came back and brought a new breed of broads lovers with me, in fact my friends cant get enough and are always planning and plotting the odd week here and there. So, thats how an ignorant pre teenager first found out about the broads and eventually had a dream come true. Happy boating all Trev

I often do instruction on how to use fire extinguishers etc. You will be astounded how many people : a. dont know where the fire extinguishers are b. dont know how to use them c. use fire extinguishers to prop fire doors open d. ignore appliances that are obviously defective, i.e hose split ( this happens because those that use them as door stops always seem to carry them by the hose !!! ), pressure gauge in the red, safety pin missing. All quite worrying stuff if you dwell on it. As Paul says, never uncover an extinguished chip pan / fryer until it is cold. Also in my experience the best thing to extinguish such a fire is a wet towel, some fire blankets as deployed are quite ineffecient as they dont seal properly due to the stiff nature of the material they are made from, let a lot of air back in and dont always smother the flames straight away, whereas a thick wet towel will do it instantly. Another thing when using an extinguisher is to remember to aim the discharge at the base of the flames ( again as Paul rightly points out ) but remember to sweep it from side to side for maximum effect. Hope some of this was useful info. stay safe out there Trev.

HMS Wooton paid off for the last time in 1983, I was on her, most of the crew transferred onto HMS Upton at Rosyth dockyard. Wooton was then laid up for a couple of years before going for scrap in belgium. Reason she was de commissioned was that the solid oak stem post was rotted through beyond economical repair, this led to her being referred to as the rotten wooton ! Cant remember though how long her paying off pennant was...... trev

And I thought it was only me that found life on the broads boring. Its an absolutely dreadful place when you think about it - waking up whilst swinging round the mudweight on a picturesque broad, the sunlight casting glittering reflections on the cabin roof as it is reflected off the gently rippling water. Watching the world go by in general, having no sense that you have to be rushing around anywhere, no being herded like cattle through check ins, and the ultimate in boringness - watching sailing boats and wherries being skilfully and gracefully handled in a head breeze................terrible, terrible stuff, i really dont know how we tolerate it at all long may it continue to bore me senseless trev

Nice one Griff, glad Ryan will be joining us, look forward to that. I dont think you need to apologise, as it has already been pointed out, who cares what they are called or indeed referred as. The demise of Horizon left a big gap at Acle and as an ex hirer from Horizon I am chuffed to little mint balls that the yard is getting a new lease of life from a guy who sounds passionate about what he wants to do with it. I wish him and the company every success and I hope the venture grows and grows. Trev

Likewise Helen, welcome to a mad crazy but incredibly friendly world, I am sure you will love it on here. trev

Having no intention of diverting this thread elsewhere subject matter wise, I thought it best to post this here. A quote from Vaughan, copied from the closed thread: Quote -I missed all this yesterday evening - just as well by the look of it. I am sorry I wandered off about antifouling but then, I was asked. - Unquote Indeed he was asked and I was the one that asked as I found it potentially very interesting. I do apologise if it had an undesired effect and indeed apologise too to Norfolk Nog as the OP, I had no intention of redirecting nor hijacking your thread. Indeed this is the friendly forum and thats why I joined it - long may it continue to be so. There, enough said, now back to the original thread and heres to the longevity of NBN. Trev

Vaughan, you mentioned yesterday about anti fouling and that you were going to elaborate on it later. I am very interested to hear more so please could you write a bit more about it, it sounds really interesting. trev

Put me down please Vaughan, I am hoping to be there, kicking off a two week holiday. trev

On my boat i have benefitted from the famous barnes brinkcraft innovative thinking. My webasto and fridge are both 24 volts, which in turn is charged via a seperate engine alternator or the shore power charger. The system works superbly well and touch wood, have never had battery issues overnight. Trev

If i have grasped this right, but i may be wrong and if so apologise in advance, i think you refer to what is called a desmo fitting. Try in google " desmo table leg" the results will be self explanatory and you will see a lot of options. Hope this may help Trev

Sadly too late for the old Lusty, she was towed off to Turkey just before christmas for " recycling " . All rather tragic really as she was our last carrier !!

Normans are great little boats, my first boat was norman 23, it was about twenty five years old when i bought her and was still solid, these little boats are pretty bombproof and i think will serve you well. Had a yamaha 9.9 fourstroke on mine and it was happy doing canal speeds, but on the trent, went like stink!! Incredibly reliable and economical engine it was too. and long may you have fun with your new playground Trev

Chin up Tim, just read this as i was away for the weekend. So sorry to hear about uncle albert, would loved have met him. From one ex killick stoker to a now departed one, i offer a salute with a wheelspanner, the highest accolade i can think of for one of our brotherhood! Trev

hello all, just a quick update on what is happening. Sent a few e mails out but only had one reply so far, the price was a bit staggering, to have a six leg pulpit rail, was quoted 1400 quid!! . So its either wait for more quotes to come in or go back to the drawing board and rethink !! bye for now and a very happy new year to all, I hope you have a peaceful, sunny and warm one. trev

Just logged on and seen this. I am deeply shocked, all the more for being a gentleman I never met, wished i had and now never will. So sad, bless you Iain .

Got mine today thank you. Very impressed indeed. A total and utter well done to everybody who was involved, no mean feat given the timescale. Brilliant , you should be proud of yourselves!!! Trev

A very jolly Christmas to all from me. I look forward to meeting some of you out and about next season. May you all have a happy and healthy 2017. Trev ( Giddy Kipper )

An empty action man box, apparently it was a special edition - the deserter!

yahoo, does that mean the nights now start to draw out again...?? let the countdown to the new season begin !!

here is a pic of the boat, it illustrates what I mean about the distance from the bow to the cabin top......