tjg1677

Admittedly my boat is a big one at 42 feet couple that with the most expensive moorings in Norfolk and my running costs do look horrendous. Most sensible people would have a 37 footer max and moor it somewhere with sensible charges. Trev

Wasn't it invented for / by the aero industry and called plexiglass? Or is that another totally unuseful nugget of inaccurate trivia that seems to haunt my cerebral regions these days?

Mine is 3200 moorings, 250 insurance, 575 tolls. Then add in gas, diesel, shore electrics, maintenance etc. I figure that is about 400 per month. Or to look at it another way 2 weeks hire peak season for a premium boat or about 8 weeks hire for an economy range boat. Do the figures stack up? If you ask an accountant it is probably a resounding no. If you ask a boat enthusiast or broads lover, then probably Yes, well it works for me anyway as I don't holiday anywhere else so arguably a big family holiday abroad would be about the same as a years running costs. Horses for courses..........or that's what I tell myself every time I sneak guilty out of a Chandler with some new purchase . Cheers Trev

Nah. Not at all accurate. It is only fivers being thrown out, in real life it is twenties...............

Welcome and a sublime first post. We like detail on here and never get bored. Cheers Trev.

I hired magic gem 6 a couple of years ago, in fact it heralded my return to the broads after an absence of several years. I didn't quite know what to expect as it was my first time on a bathtub as I had always had either c.p or dual steer in the past. Have to say I loved magic gem, great layout, very easy to handle, economical nanni engine, comfortable, roomy etc Probably the only criticism would be the after cabin bathroom being a complete nightmare to use if you are over 12 years old but that is all. Superb value boats, well presented and if I am honest in my opinions are unbeatable though I feel sure that many would beg to differ.

Once again bang on the nail vaughan. What you have described i have seen many times on canals. It is akin to hydraulic theory the boat is the piston, the canal the cylinder and the water the fluid. You have almost the same effect too in shallow water. The movement of the boat creates a low pressure zone under the hull and actually drags the boat downwards slightly, the more revs you put on, the slowesr you go.!! As a slight aside when a displacement hull is in deep water it requires approx 4 times the power to double the speed. E.g.. if you are doing 2mph and using 10 horsepower, to do 4 mph you will need 40 up. I am not saying this is what power you need, it is just an illustration. So just think how much fuel you save when you only do 5mph in that 6 mph zone, answer - loads!! Dead interesting stuff this and I reckon Vaughan should get the member of the month award for bringing it all up.!!! :-) Cheers Trev

Usually in a twin screw set up the props rotate outboard I.e. port goes anti clockwise and stbd goes clockwise. Doing it that way makes max efficiency of the props .Also in board rotation tends to increase cavitation.

Spot on but other factors come into play too in very shallow water. In some instances it is possible to get a sort of suction effect between the boat bottom and the riverbed. When that happens the boat don't go nowhere. I once had a small tanker run aground on the humber on a Mudbank, no problem thought I, the next incoming tide will refloat it- wrong!!. The ship was stuck fast in the mud and the suction would not let go, we watched the tide rise and cover the draft marks then decided it was time to panic as the engine had no effect. In the end we had to get a tug to haul her off and when the suction broke she shot up by 6 inches like a cork. I guess the moral of this is that things that float have a total mind of their own in shallow water and normal handling simply doesn't happen. Cheers Trev

Nice on Charlie, long may you reign......... cheers trev

Brilliant post Vaughan, most informative. There is also something called ground wheel effect, which in essence is something you only ever come across in shallower water i.e. around a foot to 18 ins below the prop. This is where the pressure differential caused by the centrifugal throwout of the prop, causes the prop to act like a driven wheel on a car and can really slew the stern over. Best method to counter act this is by using slow, short bursts of power. Do that and the ground wheel effect will be minimised in shallower water. cheers trev.

Hence the caveat "almost".......

Great device, effective but more importantly, very safe to use. When I taught firefighting techniques, I used to demonstrate what happened when a pan of oil was sprayed with water - very spectacular and scary. I think these devices are a no brainer and almost idiot proof!

Can't make this one as much as I would love to after the may meet, will be working, oh the joys of being your own boss and containers arriving from China!

Yes the thin copper tubes appear to be the thermocouple to each burner for the flame failure device. It looks like it had electronic spark ignition fitted in the past but has been removed, hence the hole in the middle between the burner knobs where the button was sited.

Modern thin tent material is not very UV resistant and very quickly becomes brittle enough to put your fingers through it easily, as I once found out much my embarrassment at a camping centres outdoor display.

some very good advice given, best bit is check your meter to make sure it is set to DC and test it on a known source. If it still reads the same then meter is duff. Systematically go through the boat starting at the battery, if the readings are reversed at the battery and the battery terminals are on the right way, then I am baffled. if starting point reads ok, from the battery work along every circuit in turn to eliminate the crossover if there is one. A favourite is where circuits are split via terminal blocks, it is not uncommon to find wires swapped over here. You didnt say where you took the original measurement from, that may help as if it was a 12v outlet, they are very easy to get wrong, I have done it myself by reversing the spade connectors on the back of them. 12v incandescent lighting will work on any polarity but led and flourescent lights are polarity sensitive. Motors will run in reverse and electronic equipment will fry. hth trev

Just amazing. I have mentioned on this forum before somewhere about the 1979 fireman strike when I was in a RN green goddess crew in Edinburgh. The traumas these wonderful people witness day in day out is enough to drive you to the brink of sanity. I have long maintained that they deserve far more in the way of respect and salary than they get, I think what they do is awesome having experienced it myself albeit for a short time. The emergency services - I proudly salute you and bless you all!!! There was nothing political about the original post... just absolute fact and it should firmly remain here for all to read. Trev

Thanks Vaughan seems I have got you there lol. So little on the internet about them hence the request here. Ray - Yes Aston were a good yard my brother would not hire from anyone else. I believe most of their more modern fleet were seamaster hulls and mouldings fitted out by themselves in their distinctive way. I wasn't aware of the prior connection, I did a fair bit of time at priors shipyard in lowestoft when I worked for cam shipping in Grimsby, priors did a few conversions from trawlers to North sea standby vessels owned by cam. Small world........

Hello again. As promised from the conniseur thread, I would dearly love to know all about the above Boatyard. Aston was my first ever venture on the broads and ( I believe ) we were the last ones to hire Emerald from Newsons before she was sold. Somewhere at home I still have the wooden nameplate off her transom. The yard manager at the time Richard I think he was called, an ex SPG man, or so rumour has it, was a good friend of my father in law who captained a ship out of lowrstoft and knew a lot of the oulton crowd via the Commodore and the 147 snooker club if I recall correctly. Anyone who can shed any ditties, history or general tale, I will be forever grateful. Thanks in advance Vaughan lol... Trev.

Love wild mooring and watching the boats go by. Love the kids and adults alike pointing at the boat name and laughing and waving. Love waking up in the morning swinging round the mudweight on a broad with the sun reflecting off the water on the cabin deckhead. Love watching a sailie as it tacks gracefully past us. Don't love day boats for a number of reasons. Going back home and pump outs...............

Good boats Normans, I had a 23 years ago and they are quite well laid up and built.

What do the two blonde's bring? one very memorable night...............................................................

If you have an inboard engine then it is best to fit a proper calorifier heated from the engines cooling system. If you have an outboard naturally you can't heat water from it and this is where one of these would seem logical. Trouble is an outboard has a very low output charging system and would not give enough current to operate one. If you had 3 x 100 watts solar panels then it would be different but 3 panels take up a lot of space. I think these gadgets are more designed as a dummy load for wind turbines to prevent alternator damage when turning fast but on a light load. We used to have a similar thing at sea for putting a 300 amp dummy load on the generator if it was running at light load, particularly if the engine was a two stroke diesel. Trev

Thank goodness for that........he is back in harness, really didn't like the PC timbo, entertainment value restored. Good on yer Tim. Trev