tjg1677

The first properly commissioned purpose built RN warships to have bowthrusters fitted were the Hunt class minehunters built entirely out of GRP. The first one commissioned was HMS Brecon in 1980 I think it was. I dont know if subsequent major warships have them i.e. frigates and destroyers but the modern sandown class multi role minesweepers have them too. trev

Just had one fitted to mine and frankly it has been a godsend, I do not advocate using one for the sake of it just because you have one but having handled ships with them fitted I do advocate using them to help moor / get underway safely. My mooring is quite tight to get out of and pre bowthruster , probably required 15-20 gentle ahead and astern movements to get off the berth and get her head round to go up and out of the cutting onto the river and even more so when returning to the mooring. With the BT i can now do this on about 5-6 ahead stern movements and a few gentle nudges from the thruster - great !. Just look at it this way, it is taking a lot of wear and tear off my final drive, gearbox and clutches. In truth, I do try to refrain from using a bt as I enjoy boat handling but it dont half give peace of mind to know they are there. Trev

Must definitely be a brinks thing then but i have to admit, it does work incredibly well.

Hello marina, Yes it would be lovely to meet sometime, we will have to keep a weather eye out for each other, likewise all other forumites. I am heading south next may/june for a few days so watch this space. Bye for now Trev

how very true, you would think something would have been done with that by now, its a real horror show but could be made into something great.

The BA missed a trick there, they could have demanded a licence / permit..............

Thanks for the replies everyone. Yes it was very scary and in fact nearly put me off the broads for life, i was shaking quite badly afterwards. I now have a very wary respect for gyys and probably do subconsciously avoid mooring there, certainly overnight. Trev

Hello Marina, Nice looking boat by the way. Kept the name she had when i bought her as i am a superstitious ex seafarer and she is called Giddy Kipper. Have to admit i hated it at first but the reaction you get when passing other boats is priceless, with everyone pointing and smiling at the name, so it is growing on me a bit. She is moored at ferry marina horning. Nice to make your acquaintance. Bye for now Trev

Abserloooootely brilliant griff, please please keep em coming. That one had all the makings of a good channel night!! There is no doubt that you are a master dit teller and we are not worthy

I used craftinsure.com I have been with them for about 9 years now and they are great, the new premium for the new boat was very reasonable at under 300 quid. trev

Lolololol. enough said!!!!

Aha that kind of makes sense as mine is ex brinks and i have never hired a brinks boat, so just possibly it was a brinks thing. That said the system works very well and two days of the fridge running off them only saw a voltage drop of 0.2 volts so i was happy with that. ps remind me to visit norwich boat jumble

This is very true indeed, have come across 24v systems many times, particularly on older coastal ships bût never seen it on a broads boat nor indeed any inland river or canal craft. Trev

This is not a recent happening but i thought it was worth a mention. I had a long absence from the broads, nearly 20 years, booked my first return visit in sept 2013 on the pacific princess. The people at pacific are lovely and their boats well turned out, i assured the owners that i was a fairly proficient handler and all should be ok - those words were deemed to return and bite me hard....... We were returning south on about the fifth night, low water was about 6-7am the following day, so we overnighted at yarmouth ys. the chaps in charge moored us up and warned us to keep the ropes slack as it was a full moon and high spring tide. This we duly did. about twoish the next morning i was awoken by a crash, then promptly fell out of bed. Apparently the tide was well above prediction, in fact afterwards many said it was the highest seen for a long time. You have probably guessed by now what happened, the boat had risen well above quay level and the rather thick stbd rubbing strake had hung up on the wooden facings fitted to the bank piles. The boat was over by about 30 or so degrees, much further and it could have been nasty. It was all a bit circumstancial why it happened i.e. extrodinarily high tide, plus a wind had picked up pinning us to the bank but happen it did. All i can remember was panicking, shouting in a very loud voice for everyone to get out whilst legging it at top speed ashore. Now heres the scary bit, apparently and dont ask me how, as she was stuck fast, I managed to push her off the pilings and nearly followed in the process. One almighty splash later and she is bobbing back in the water. My brother had made it up top by this time and saw what happened, he was at a loss to explain how i managed to move a firmly wedged heavy boat on my own but i did and dont even remember doing it, was the boat ready to go of its own accord or was it panic fuelled adrenalin, we will never know. Its not the first time something like this has happened, when in the forces and covering the firemans strike in 1979, we were called to an rta and found someone underneath the car trapped and bleeding badly. Again i dont remember doing it but i am told i lifted the back of the car up about 18 ins and the guy was dragged out. Ooops i digress, back to yarmouth. Well in the process of getting her off the pilings, about 12_18 ins of the wooden rubbing strake was ripped off just leaving bits of steel facing and a couple of bolts just hanging in the void. We sailed as planned, got over breydon, and moored at st olaves. You can imagine how sheepish and embarrased i felt when i rang pacific when they opened and explained that the boat was damaged and how badly so. The yard came out and after a couple of hours hacking, sawing and removing loose debris, we were underway again, shocked, shaken and much wiser. We moored for the night in beccles and the tide was so high none of us could get aboard on returning from ashore, it was too high! So it must have been fairly bad. Like i said, not a holiday blog but an incident that i thought and hope you found interesting. Has anything like this happened to anyone else? i have seen boats hung up by overly tight ropes a few times but not a part of the hull fast on something. Trev

Nice boat, that is immaculate.

Yes, please keep it coming, its fantastic, just one thing, very minor point, the jewels forgot special sea dutymen and hootrotdcotudcasdas

That was sheer class griff, bit like a banyan but in a pub ! Oh the days of a good run ashore!!! can't wait to hear the rest - bravo zulu. Trev

I looked at a AC 42 centre cockpit and have to admit, it is a lovely boat, quite clever as it Is cent. Cockpit yet all one level floor , genius really, lovely layout too. In the end i opted for mine for various reasons. Mine is one of the sisters to swan rapide. The original owner was barnes and they fitted her out. Her layout is totally different to any others i have seen and has fantastically spacious saloon and galley. Barnes did some weird things, e.g. the boat has a 24 volt system that runs the fridge and webasto, never come across a 24v system on an inland pleasure craft before, commercial yes, but certainly not on a broads boat, but hey it works well so who am i to judge? I can imagine you were sad when the royale was sold, she looks a nice boat.

I believe you, I believe you, honest Iain..............

Good to hear that there are other owners out there who love their boats. When I bought mine it was a bit of a compromise as is everything really, I dont think my perfect boat exists. There are are a few things that annoy me about her but most of that can be put right in time. I am getting to love her now and cant imagine having another kind somehow. Gracie - not beleive it or not, no pics,I have been that busy with the boat I didnt get round to taking any, but I will do - I promise. trev.

hopefully that is my plan too, heres to a mild autumn and winter. Have a great week wonderwall, hope it stays fine for you. Trev

Thanks Alan

Just been idly flicking through the forum topics and stumbled across this section about your boat etc. Much to my surprise there was nothing under Alphacraft, so I thought I would start the ball rolling - does anyone else own one, what do you think, pros / cons, likes / dislikes, foibles, problems etc etc. Cant beleive I am the only alphacraft owner on the forum - if I am then I own up and admit to having one.... lol. For the record, mine is a 42 Lowliner, not the most popular of boats I know and not that many in private hands. So come on AC owners, please 'fess up and be counted . Trev

Just to play devils advocate and I am sure that many may disagree with me here, I had a long long absence from the broads between about 1994 and 2012 due to owning a narrowboat on the canal system. When I came back to the broads again ( Pacific cruisers Pacific Princess ) in the late summer of 2012, one thing that struck me was how many more public 24 hour moorings there were. I could be wrong here and my memory playing tricks but as I recall the last time in 1994, we had to search high and low for " proper moorings " the alternatives being wild moored on rond anchors, mudweighted or moored outside various pubs that seemed to charge anywhere between a fiver to a tenner per night if you didnt eat there. Please do correct me if I am wrong, and there is a chance that I may be coz the memory aint wot it used to be,,,to quote a song title. trev.

PS sorry - typo, meant to say the 15th October !