Davydine

Thanks, the beds look like typical boat beds to me! I think sometimes people have unrealistic expectations about how much you can squeeze in to a limited space!

There will be 5 of us, which will be my wife and me, my mum and our 2 children, so 3 generations. This layout appeals because it gives everyone their own cabin. i noticed the difference in reviews but couldn't really see why, I think it is just people being subjective.

Hi all, We are looking at booking either Silver Illusion or Silver Reflection for a week, early next year. From the Hoseasons And Silverline web sites, these two boats look to be identical. Does anyone have any experience of them both and is there anything to choose between the two? Many thanks, David

It might sound silly, but it's probably worth looking at a distance calculator and just planning a rough itinerary for the week, so that you don't end up with a long day cruising.

Ah, yes, my mistake! Been a long time since I hired on the southern broads. Good to know.

The Broom Skipper has a canvas roof and fold down sides, the Broom 30 is the same boat but with a fixed roof and some dual steering as oldgregg rightly says, this version will be more limited for getting under bridges.

I think it depends how long your children will be happy to sit on the boat before they want to get off and burn off some energy. If you are staying on the Southern Broads You may want to include: Norwich, lots to entertain such as shops, cinema, cathedral, castle. Mooring in the yacht station is charged. Loddon, pretty little village, selection of pubs and take aways free mooring. Beccles, nice little town, shops, pubs, play areas. Mooring at the yacht station is payable. Oulton Broad, play area and entertainment. Train to Lowestoft for a day at the beach. Sommerlayton. Walk up to the hall and let the children get lost in the maze. Rockland Broad, moorings outside the New Inn Brammerton, moorings by the Woods End pub With our kids, we always insist on life jackets when out on deck and we always wear our life jackets to set the example. Enjoy your holiday.

Good point, hadn't considered that.

Just had a look at the Richardsons Boat Sales page, it looks like they are selling a lot of boats at the moment. I would be interested to know how much Broadland Breeze will cost. A Bourne 35 I think? I like that layout and the sliding roof. Whenever I have hired from Richardsons they always seem well looked after and the older boats have often been refitted with a new engine and new flooring and upholstery.

Yeah but my coffee cup is huge!

Thanks everyone, some interesting answers. We are looking at an early season holiday and I think we might be the first hire of the season. I have occasionally popped in to a boatyard if I am driving past and noticed that there is almost always a boat sitting with the engine running and it got me wondering.

Everyone will have a different view if perfect, but personally I like a centre cockpit as I like sitting up high and I think it is easier to steer from the middle of the boat. I would look at a Broom skipper. I Think it ticks most of your boxes. This one on ebay is on the Lancaster canal. It looks a bit ”original” but is a good price and Given your budget it would leave some money for improvements... https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Broom-30-Skipper-Wide-Beam-Boat-/324215093316?&_trksid=p2056016.l4276 In good condition they go for quite a lot more, so ticks the “holds its value” box... https://www.boatshed.com/dosearch.php?bq={}&q=Broom Skipper Good luck with finding the right boat!

I know that different yards do things in different ways, when my parents used to hire from Brooms, they would fill the fuel tank as part of the handover, so you know it is full before you leave the yard. My experience of hiring from other yards is that they top the tank up when you get back to the yard, so they know how much fuel you have used and charge you accordingly. This is fine in high season when boats will be turned round and out the same day, but out of season, the boat could have been moved around the yard several times and left with the engine running to boost the batteries, so in that case, how do you know the tank is full? Am I overthinking this? thanks, David

The large passenger boat, moored on the left, could it be either Princess Elizabeth or Princess Victoria? I remember them always moored near Norwich Yacht station, but I can't find any pictures or history.

I was going to suggest Wilks but someone beat me too it.

I will keep my eyes open!

These were from 1985, here are the pictures of skipper and matelot from the brochure, but they have used a picture of L110 for both... Interestingly they have used a different picture for Cadet which looks like N692 although cadet and skipper look identical to me...

We have just started clearing out some of my dads stuff and he collected lots of old brochures from holidays on the broads. I thought you all might be interested... If people are interested I will post more as I find them!

The only time I have been scammed was when someone used my PayPal account to order a very expensive watch from Saks Fifth Avenue. Fortunately I got an email notification and managed to cancel the order before it was shipped. PayPal were useless, didn't want to know, must be my fault for giving someone my password. As a result I don't save my card details anywhere online, Happy to type in the numbers when I want to place an order, and I avoid Paypal as much as possible. In defence of Amazon, lots of small high street shops also sell through Amazon. We bought a guitar for my son recently from a fantastic independent high street music shop. They sell lots of instruments through Amazon and it enables them to reach a much larger customer base than they would through their high street shop, so not all bad.

The HW promotions for November and February are quite tempting and I can see the point of out of season offers to keep the cash flow ticking over. We may now hire in February half term. I have mixed feelings about discounting, I imagine that a significant % of a yards turnover is earned between May and September, if they price too high they can always offer a discount, but if they price too low they could find themselves fully booked but barely covering their overheads. Difficult balance to get right.

Yes, to my eye, this is a classic Broads cruiser. I may be biased by memories of holidays on Brooms Skipper with my dad and my best friend. I would imagine that if the timber is epoxied it is relatively low maintenance.

NYA had a lovely looking Ernest Collins replica for sale recently, built on a Sheereline hull I think. I know it is half wood, so not perfect for the OP, but one wonders why builders aren't building more like this. Does @expilot think it would have fitted through? https://www.nya.co.uk/boats-for-sale/ernest-collins-35/

Answered my own question, the Broom was Sea Lord and it was sold to a private buyer, not Richardsons, but Great Gem was a similar boat, Aquafibre Saxon 40

How's this for a coincidence, just saw an advert for “Great Gem” on ebay... would this fit under the bridge? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/broads-boat-/193006090961?&_trksid=p2056016.l4276 Didn't Richardsons have an ex broom boat that was a larger version of a skipper?

Just back from a camping weekend in Chertsey, whilst there I had a little paddle on the Thames and saw this boat. I think it may have been Brinks Beryl in a previous life, what do you think?