Malanka

Much more fun to sneak up quietly. Then say Boo.... No ok I'll get my coat .. yes we can sneak along with 11 tons too. The horn is embarrassing strangled moose noise.... just won't do you know.

Just as a quick aside Mal has two toilets and neither uses clean water to flush into the holding tank. Both use a river feed which saves our clean water for showers and drinking. Both are Jabsco manual pump ones both new and both work brilliantly. When we had moon discovery the leccy toilets were fine but the water tank needed filling every day. On Mal we can go much longer than that even with two showers per day. M

That would depend on what's on the barbe mate. Prawns or steak.... M

Hi Griff you can have minimal mate. Sails and everything if you wish. We we will be out then too arriving late on the 30th. It's our shakedown weekend. She's at Phils place upside down by the houseboats.. Phil has the oars and sails etc. She's not a basic rowing boat as she sails really well. At 12ft 6 she may be too big for what you want but you are welcome to her. She has been tolled so no worries there... M

When we get a hot summer and I mean a scorcher Fiona insists we just cruise with the top in place and sides rolled up. Flexibility built in 1953 woodie style. Only issue is you end up with a trucker tan I.e. Left arm only ... your Brolley idea would work well on the bank but we use a full sun sail thing we attach to the boat and lounge about under. The German word for it is a Sonnensegel It works against rain too.

CO fills a room from the top down so by the time is get to you in bed you're already gone. We had a fire and didn't have a CO alarm now of course we do. The odious thing about CO is that it binds irreversibly to your haemoglobin molecules and only high O2 and hyperbaric treatment will save you if you've had too much. I know what that feels like as the fire showed me. In high CO you take three breaths and you are down . If the alarm is going off get out immediately and only then re-enter without breathing to open windows etc. Don't take a chance it's not worth it. We learned this the hard way... M

Must admit we have mud weighted many times in Rockland Broad but never with Mal. Historically with silver jubilees and Juliette's. I agree it's magical watching the sun go down and we never had an issue with weed or lilies or anything. Had an issue with mossies though. OMG rockland is mossie central at night...

We use propane but don't forget you can use Flowgas which is a mixture of the two. We have two bottles permanently connected and an auto switch set up. Works really well. Big jobs mind none of your namby little bottles. Flow rates are higher with propane so the BTU per volume doesn't add up as equal as like for like Butane has more energy but a quick check will reveal that propane regulators have a much higher flow rate than butane ones. Propane tanks and butane cookers will melt the pan stands ( I jest not) the jet in the cooker is important too. MM as you winter cruise too I would go propane.... every day of the week ...

In response to Maurice I zoomed. Big mistake, huge, gigantic. It was the glistening that just did for me .... M

Oh forgot to say you bring the prossecco we will take car of ice and bucket ... M

Hi Tim, if if you need somewhere to lay your heads then Mal only has the two of us onboard so that leaves a bunk for the two of you if you need it. Charlie by the way team is our guardian angel for Malanka as she pops in to say hi to her from us and yes we are all bonkers .... M+F

Fiona just reminded me that NBD used to do a naked i.e. Naturist trip boat which was halted due to complaints . About what I can't imagine... anyone leaving a mooring early in the morning has probably seen more things than they care to remember. I know I have and that was in the bathroom mirror. I don't mean ours.... my retinas burned for hours

Yes credit goes to Charlie (Dolphin) for the photos. She took many more but I didn't want to bore everyone to death with broken boat pics.

I did say she was huge out of the water didn't I... see what I mean... M

We would love to be there but unfortunately we (me , Mrs and first born) will be on our way back from an 8 day work trip (for me) and shopping trip cum holiday (for them) to San Diego in invariably sunny Southern California.. Our three woofers love their Tierheim / Hunde Hotel or as you put it dog prison. They go there with huge enthusiasm and simply love the folks there. They have a huge run to themselves and the kennel is huge too and they get to bark as much as they want. They never smell when they come home and last time the owners bathed scooby's feet as they saw that they were sore. Bless em they are great.

If you are at all freaked out by that picture here are a few more from 2014 when some more extensive work was required. So as you can see the few this time are not really in the same league as before but the poor lady keeps having photographs of her bare bottom. No decorum these girls from the 50"s you know....

OK for all you gore fans here is Malanka with some of her bottom missing. This is from Phil as a progress update. Not sure he knows it makes us cry...

We now know where your fantasies lie Tim. Oh err missus..

I would have thought that generalizing as one does, that boaters of all people should have not would have ( there's that perception thing again) learned not to judge a book by its cover or the dirtiness of it nor the pile of stinking rubbish discarded by the side of it . Some of that says volumes for someone's hygiene and community awareness but not much about them as people we might perhaps meet in the street. The pervading odour of sweat mixed with diesel and rotting veg may give a hint though. Living aboard a boat doesn't indicate that any of the mentioned stereotypes applies to anyone. That tends to be in my own experience a judgement made with visual and olfactory input. There are are societal norms which we may disagree with . Nobody should be judged on that fact alone far more important is how that rebellion (if that's what it is) is manifested in every day life.

Quick question who is very happy ? Strange name I must say ...

In the 70s bikini ( tops) were entirely optional attire fairly frequently on the navigation. Was a fun time .. for a teenage boy that is ..

Yes we will visit the shop as we always do. Aprons and T shirts so far. As well as the obligatory ice cream. Or or was I supposed to post something about live aboards ??

Tempted many times. That ocaision was to prevent it ending up floating away.

Fiona and I have plans on the Norfolk property front but there's a little matter of waiting to retire to overcome. Lots of water under many bridges before that joyous day comes. M

Maybe the big floaty ones, you know the ones we can float down the river on?? Remember Matt?