socrates

kBTW, I would keep it the same but look at increasing the tolls for the massive battle cruisers which are clearly not designed for the Broads. You know the sort? The one's that are designed to go to sea but just cruise the Yare at great speed and look down at everyone else from their oversized fly bridges. The skipper usually wears strawberry coloured trousers.

I wrote to the Broads Authority asking if they would consider reducing the tolls on vintage Broads boats in the same way the DVLA reduce the road tax for vintage cars. After all, it was the BA person who compared Broads Tolls to the Car Tax. I was told in no uncertain terms that they would not even entertain such an idea. Was worth a try.

"Tampax Towers", not heard that one for a good few years, not sure if we would get away with calling it that these days.

Today was a hard day trying to get the port side beam shelf out. For a start it was cold and to add to the misery I had made a school boy error. In my haste to leave for a few beers and curry, I forgot to put the batteries on charge. So on return this morning I was confronted with barely usable drill and saw batteries. Next problem was that the Grand Geometrician had decreed that we did not have quite enough mahogany for the sliding roof and the cabin sides. There is a huge issue with mobile phone signals at Somerleyton, so Madam Captain was despatched to the top of the road in order to telephone our usual supplier. On return, I was informed that the supplier would not know if her had the wood because he was out of the office. Not a problem, we will phone later. No, it was a problem. Madam Captain returned to Beccles in order to arrange the wood and some other supplies. I continued to fight with the beam shelf. In fact, it took all day to pull out the shelf, if anyone has ever attempted this task be warned Screws fail to screw, or just turn, or simply can't be found - all issues anyone who has ever worked on a wooden boat will know only too well. Our usual wood supplier had no more mahogany in stock, he informed us that we had bought all he had. Could he not order some for us? Not a chance, as rare as hen's teeth. I mean, who needs 22 foot lengths of African mahogany? Apart from lunatic wooden boat owners, it seems there is not a great deal of demand. More phone calls resulted in cryptic Norfolk conversations, you know the sort? One conversation went something like this: "Have you got any African Mahogany?", "How much do you want?","22 foot.", sucking of teeth heard down phone, "Might have, just the thing.", "So you have Mahogany?", "I didn't say I had Mahogany.", "Oh.", "I said I had just the thing, and just the thing is different from Mahogany, you aint listening boy.", "Sorry.", "Sorry for what?", "For not listening." "No need to be sorry boy., just that I don't have Mahogany," Back in the shed, somewhat frustrated trying to find the wood, I was talking to a friend who also has a wooden boat. Over a coffee and vape, I related the wood situation to him. It turned out he had purchased the other half of the tree we had purchased, and yes, he could sell us a couple of boards for the same price. Moral of the story, when you are looking for your spectacles, the first place to look is the end of your nose.

I think you misunderstand: I meant that I don't name the people who work on our boat, , and only trust very few to carry out the skilled work involved. Thus, we can be assured that we get quality. My experience on the Broads, has shown me that there are a lot of "self-promoters" who claim knowledge they do not have and that they can do all sorts of "alchemy" with regard to boats. However, close examination reveals that the claims are, like those of the fishermen, somewhat prone to exaggeration. One need only moor a wooden boat at Beccles to find the armchair admirals and "boat builders" crawling out from under their piles of sawdust. Some of these people have worked on BG, and we are currently sorting out the mess left by a navy of well-meaning amateur "shipwrights" With regard to your comment, the people who work on our boat are actually time served, qualified and experienced. They do not need to broadcast their skills and have asked me not to share their names on social media. I am simply honouring the requests of other human beings. It is not difficult to find people with the right skills, one only needs to look at boats, listen and ask the right questions. Then again, some people are too busy making a noise to look and listen. I was always taught to keep my eyes and years open, and my mouth shut. My late granny used to say: empty vessels make the most noise.

Some people don't need to shout about their skill, talents and experiences on their profiles. As wooden boat owners, we don't look at the list of "wizards" and self-proclaimed "experts" when we need someone to work on BG. We go by word of mouth and looking at their work. Hence, apart from ourselves, only three unnamed people ever do work on BG.

My day yesterday - took wife to crematorium, got 4 new tyres for car, collected ashes from funeral director.

Whilst the required number and type of extinguisher will satisfy a Boat Safety inspector, I would reiterate what people are saying about them only being suitable for hastening one's escape. In anything but the smallest of fires, evacuation is best and probably only option. Get out, shut the doors/hatches, call for help and stay out! The smoke is likely to get you before you can put the fire out. Whilst you may love your boat, your life and that of your crew mates is far more important. Even fixed fire fighting equipment such as halon, argon, CO2 etc are simply a means for you to delay the distinct possibility of abandoning your vessel. You are on a big boat but by no means big enough to survive anything other than a relatively sized fire. Any fire in your engine room also carries a distinct risk of explosion, not to mention radiated heat throughout the boat to other areas of combustion. Just think of all the various combustibles you have on a boat .Perhaps surprisingly, heat travels through cables and starts fires in other areas of the boat, before you know it you have fires in other places. And, whilst this is happening the boat is rapidly filling up with deadly noxious smoke By the way, I speak from personal experience!

Wait til you see the pics of the carling! (not the lager)

Back in the day most boats such as Broadland Grebe would have been completely varnished, what we have to remember is that these boats are now pushing 60 years old, and the past 60 years have taken their toll. As far as Grebe is concerned previous owners have poured copious amounts of filler, Dulux house paint and garden furniture paint into the hull. As much as we would have liked to have stripped the hull back and varnished it, the task was close to impossible. Photographs of Ripplecrafts do a show a white hull with a blue stripe, this is what we opted for. Today was another cold day in the shed, but there is always plenty on the to do list. Bilge painting continued at a rapid pace. The rapid pace was more due to the cold than any work ethic. This being completed, the remaining rubbers were sanded prior to masking. The real fun began with the commencement of the removal of the port beam shelf. We have always known the port side was worse than the starboard, this was mainly attributed to the poor maintenance and the fact that the boat was moored port side to under trees throughout the time she was with her previous owners.

We hope to be back in the water mid-May. This is what we usually aim for and achieve. This year we have a lot more work and are now going to replace the sliding roof sides in addition to the planned work of painting new cabin sides, decks and hatches. We sort of plan to make the May meeting of the NBN, Hopefully we will get an escort across as we will still be taking up.

Indeed, we wanted to varnish the whole hull like Polly. We also got the same sound advice. Dambolin would be a one coat answer but some of the old wood needed a bit of treatment just to be safe.

Just showing that I replaced the mallet that grew legs and walked!

Looks like we have our own celebrity boaters on the Broads, who needs Tim Spall, Tim West and the beloved Pru? Perhaps the media might be interested in the story. London man buys big boat, gathers a group of friends together and sails big boat to Norfolk Broads in February. I am sure a TV company might be interested in the dramas and excitement that took place before, during and after the passage.

So here we are another day in Suffolk, and another day in the freezing shed. The boatyard this morning looked (and felt) like something from former Soviet Union. I recall in a previous life, studying pictures of various installations in what was behind the "Iron curtain", Somerleyton, at 08.30 on a February morning would be an ideal location to recreate one of those installations. Mud and the remains of yesterday's snow combined with a general air of desolation and abandonment. First things first things first was to find some water for a soul restoring coffee and contemplation of the work ahead. Madam Captain was back in Beccles, this time she had a hair appointment, coffee with a friend, and somewhere in the middle of this socialising , some non-boat work. Looking at Grebe on blocks in the shed, makes me realise how big she actually is. I know that she is dwarfed by certain other boats on the Broads, but or a 1950's Broads Cruiser she is actually rather large. Well, if you had to sand the rest of the sides down you would soon find out that for one man with sander she is a big boat. To warm up I completed the sanding of both sides. After another coffee, i was time to get out the filler and fill the dowel holes etc in the sides. (see pictures). Whist the filler was hardening into the bilge for a good old clean in preparation for painting later. Yet more cleaning of the new decks took lace in order to prepare for the eventual fitting of the cabin sides etc. The decks on the port side are now fully covered in 3/4 marine ply, they will be covered with scrim and then painted cream. The rear deck was also finished with a bit of a clean and very light sanding. By the afternoon I was able to give the bare wood a coat of primer. Meanwhile, back in the bilge, I coated the bare wood with plenty of preserver in preparation for the later painting. I was able to inspect the steering gear in what I call the Tiller Flat, but is really a little cupboard under the rear steps which contains the rudder head and steering gear Incidentally, the Ripplecraft steering gear was originally from World War 2 vintage military vehicles purchased after the conflict. As far as I am aware, Grebe's steering gear is original, although I have attacked it with a large hammer in order for it to get past the new woodwork we put in last year. Having drawn out the shape of the cabin sides on the mahogany boards, the boards were trimmed prior to being machined. More of this later as it is a story in itself. Note the contrast of the starboard deck toward the front of the boat with the photograph in a previous post, you can see how the rot has now been removed and new wood put in and shaped. An interesting point was that the previous owner had replaced some of the deck, and for reasons best known to them angled the deck so water gathered in this corner!

Thanks Polly, would have posted more but ended up having an impromptu meeting with Madam Captain about the nature of the new windows. I have to add that while I was freezing in the shed, Madam Captain was chasing up supplies of wood preserver, window rubbers and such like.

Today was a day to pray to the Grand Geometrician of the Universe. The problem being this: can we get two cabin sides from one board of mahogany? A considerable amount of deliberation and calculation, with a similar amount of sucking teeth and examining our mahogany boards resulted in the answer. The Grand Geometrician of the Universe did not favor his mortal subjects. Alas, we can only get one side from a board. This means we may not have enough wood for the sliding roof and the sides. We wanted to ensure the wood was from the same tree and the sides were not jointed. In that way, there would be uniformity of grain along the whole length of the boat. The old side was placed on the board and drawn round. For those who like to know such things, our cabin sides will be made from African Mahogany. Other jobs completed was the finishing of the sanding of the sides. Messy and dusty, so when the snow started to fall it was a case of calling it a day.

This is good news for all. Hope they sell fuel and do pump outs, sometimes the pump at Brooms gets crowded with big boats who take ages to fill up. Another fuel retailer would make life easier and provided competition for lower prices. (maybe)

Yes, in Wroxham. Get all our timber fro the same place.

Not posted for a while because we have been busy. S here we are ensconced in Beccles and thawing out after a day in the famous Somerleyton shed. Things have moved a bit since the last post, so I will attempt to provide some updates during what is turning out to be a busy week. As usual, we have a plan, and as usual the plan will fall apart. Plans tend to do that. We replaced some of the rotten wood on the starboard side and treated the rest with a well-known wood preserver and paint. This has now been covered with 18mm marine ply. The old cabin sides have been temporarily put back with clamps so we can get the shape of the decks right. Tomorrow these will be removed in order to draw round them and prepare to cut the new sides. We hope we can get this done in one piece using magic! We have enlisted the help of a good friend who has worked on another Ripplecraft, he, will provide up-dates if he so wishes to do so. Following a lengthy discussion, we have decided to have lifting rather than original sliding hatches. This decision was not taken lightly because we want to restore BG to as near original as we can. However, we agreed that sliding hatches provide too many spaces for water to gather and the dreaded rot to set in. A further meeting agreed to replace the windows with new ones which look as near to the originals as possible. From the pictures, you will be able to see the starboard decks, aft cabin sides and aft decks starting to take shape Tomorrow, will see us drawing the patterns for the new cabin sides, continuing to sand and prepare the hull for painting.

I wold also suggest that Ricardo is invited by the "powers that be" to be a moderator, at least there would then be a different side to the prevailing opinions of this group.

I am also uncomfortable, with the way the forum is moving. Can we please understand that not everyone shares the same opinion? Ricardo was merely asking a question, and making suggestions, whilst these suggestions and questions may be different from the received wisdom of the "inner sanctum" of this group, they are perfectly reasonable questions and opinions.

Whatever happened to allowing someone to express their opinion, or make a comment?

And me.

Witherspoons? What about two Trees, London Bar, Diamond Lil's then BEBOB?