socrates

We are always interested, and somewhat amused by the variety of flags flown by vessels on the Broads. Along with the ubiquitous, and perhaps obligatory Jolly Rodger adorning the (mostly) hire boats, we notice there are plenty of boats flying county flags, football flags, regimental flags, and the flags of various home nations. An observer will notice we are flying the Pride flag in the photo, this was because we were having a Pride party on BG when the picture was taken Do the regulations for flags on vessels apply to the Broads? We would not want to fall foul of the authorities for flying the wrong flag, but I am sure the said authorities have better things to do than police flags on Broads cruisers.

Just like the end of an episode of Scooby Doo (for those of us old enough to remember such things)

So there you are folks, our boat wizard and good friend is none other than Ricardo.

Only if you are buying the beer.

The fact being the previous owners attempted to convince us that the hatch had been built by a "qualified and experienced boat builder", they paid a lot of money for the said hatch. Further more they were told by the said boat builder to place wet towels over the hatch in order to stop it warping in the sun! Now that is what I call expert advice.( OR MAYBE THEY WERE RIPPED OFF?) My comment was an attempt at humour which has clearly annoyed Vaughan and those he represents. It was not intended to do so. People who have seen the old hatch will know exactly what I was hinting at. For the sake of harmony, I have attempted to remove that part of the OP, but I am unable to do so. Perhaps we can close this matter before it gets silly?

Vaughan - you seem to take this personally for some reason. I note that you use the "We" rather than "I". I am not making generalisations about anyone., it is a mere observation. Perhaps it was a bit too much of my Scouse humour which you misunderstood. Like I said, we are all comedians and football experts here. It is best I say nothing further.

Well, you should think about a wooden boat as there are some around at a decent price. We had a boat budget and decided that rather than spend it all on a boat we would buy a project and use the money we had saved for restoration. In our view, this gives us a win win situation, we enjoy the cruising in the summer and the restoration in the winter. Also, it is a chance to learn new skills, discover history and get enormous satisfaction from seeing the results. BTW you never own a wooden boat, you are just the custodian for a while!

You will probably notice that there is still work to do on the hatches, they will be finished with hardwood quadrants to create a neat seal with the decks and then sanded, painted and varnished. We will return after Easter to finish the hatches and cabin sides. There is also the massive task of making the new sliding roof as well as painting and varnishing. Despite the prophets of doom, we fully intend to be in the water by 14th May and cruising a few days later. Optimistic? We love a challenge.

The original hatch on a Ripplecraft was on runners, on BG these had long since gone to be replaced by the wooden monstrosity as previously mentioned. Again we opted for a lifting hatch which will allow ventilation into the front cabin when cruising on hot summer days. In the evening when it is hot, the hatch can remain open and if need be we can fit a bug screen to prevent the ingress of critters. Personally, I think it is unnecessary for a boat such as BG to be fitted with air-conditioning, again a personal choice because it is the Broads not the Everglades. I now some might disagree. for security and to prevent unwanted critters, we are fitting two securing bolts on the inside of the hatch. These will remain unlocked when the boat is occupied in order to facilitate escape in the event of emergency or emergencies.

The front cabin of BG (other wise known as the adults playroom) is a rather comfortable place marred only by a leaking hatch, and a few other things to be dealt with later. If you look at the phot of BG you will see a rather fetching blue cover has been fitted over the hatch, well there is not really a hatch under there, rather the remains of what was once a hatch. Entering Somerleyton marina last summer, we were surprised by a loud bang. I know we shouldn't really be surprised by bang coming from BG, there has been a fair few over the years we have owned the boat, but this was a loud bang. What had happened was the wind caught the fibreglass cover of the rotten front hatch and ripped it clean off. The cover was doing a pretty good impersonation of a kite as it sailed through the air missing the mast of a sailing boat by inches and then plunging into the marina some 100 metres away. Before we could launch a recovery operation it sank to the bottom leaving only a floating bit of rotten wood as evidence of its existence. The rest of the summer was spent with just the cover and nothing underneath. Clearly, there was a need for a new hatch. The previous owners had scavenged a hatch from a different type of boat, possibly a scrapped Hull trawler given the weight and construction of the hatch. It simply did not fit properly and had seen better days protecting fishermen from Icelandic gales. We didn't really have a proper pattern from which to work on a new hatch. But our hatch wizard came up with a simple solution - design and build from scratch. Again he/she had constructed a hatch on another Ripplecraft so knew the difficulties involved. Once again, this task was beyond my own skills. We used the same ply as for the aft hatches and a similar construction. The rotten wood was cleaned out and replaced (see photo), the surround of the hatch or hatch combing was built up to form a base for the new lifting hatch.

I can't take the credit (except for holding and carrying), but the person certainly knows what he/she is doing.

A couple of photos showing where the hatch fits.

From the photos you will be able to see the complexities of the aft hatch. The hatch wizard may wish to comment further if he/she wishes to reveal himself!

If you visit Liverpool you will soon encounter someone who is an expert on football or a comedian. In the same way, a visit to the Broads will result in encounters with people who have a similar expertise about boats. They are more than happy to tell you all about the time they crossed Breydon Water in a force 10, or how they were planking wooden boats when they were five years old. Like the football pundits of Liverpool, the boating experts of Norfolk tend to be short on knowledge and big on talk. It must have been one such Norfolk "boat builder" who convinced the previous owners of BG that he could make a hatch that actually fitted the boat. The result was something that resembled my granny's bedside table being plonked on the rear of BG and held down with a combination of gravity and luck. Every time it rained the rear of BG would get wet, to the extent we could have a shower in the aft cabin. We sort of resolved the issue by fitting a better cover but this was only ever going to be temporary and the time had come to make a new hatch. Our guests (and we tend to have rather a lot of them) had had just about enough of trips on BG where they went to bed in oilskins on the back bunk. I believe some people like that sort of thing, but it was not the ambience we wanted to promote on BG. The issue with the aft hatch on Ripplecrafts is the angles involved, it is rather complicated because the hatch sits off centre and is curved in several directions. (see illustrations). We asked for advice from two well-known boat builders who had been recommended to us. As usual, both had different opinions and, after the usual teeth sucking, very different solutions. Neither could actually do the job because they were too busy. This left us with the prospect of leaving the hatch until next year which was hardly an ideal situation. With new cabin sides and a good deal of work having been done internally, a leaking hatch would be a potential disaster. By chance, a good friend looked at the job and with no fuss whatsoever decided that he could do the job. He had worked on another Riplecraft and was available to carry out the work. Making the new hatch was well beyond my own skills, so I acted as coffee maker and general "go for", while our friend (who became our very own hatch wizard) did the technical stuff. We decided on making the hatches from high quality 18mm marine ply Whilst this is heavy, it will be durable and robust enough to withstand the weather and even being stood on. Instead of a sliding hatch we opted for a lifting hatch The issue being with the sliding hatch was that it tended to trap water and cause rot and, whilst not original, a lifting hatch would be easier to maintain. We have to remember to lower it under some of the bridges! Several different designs were discussed over a beer in Brundall , drawn on a beer mat an a plan decided. A slight modification made in that the weight of the hatch would be too much for gas struts so we opted for manual struts and bolts. The old hatch surround was well rotted and removed. This was replaced with iroko screwed to the roof beams and deck beams. The wood was treated with wood preserver and reinstated to make a secure basis for the seal. Two pieces of ply were cut to size for each hatch and then glued together in order that they could be bent to shape. (see photos).

Having given some consideration to the matter, I have decided to resume posting updates on BG. Despite the prophets of doom saying otherwise, We managed to find a planer large enough to accommodate the cabin sides without having to cut and joint them. I think that is pretty good. Anyway, off to Cushions in Great Yarmouth went our cabin sides, they returned two weeks later having been delayed by the Beast from the East. Having taken the old sides off in one piece, it was relatively simple to use them as a rough template. The rough template was then cut out and positioned on the boat. This allowed for marking out the details before returning to the bench for a further cut. It was decided to do the final shaping of the cabin sides in situ, this meant carefully lifting the cut sides onto the boat and clamping it in position. Not an easy task which involved three people supporting the side and another positioning the clamps. Once in place, the final cuts were made and the side planed to fit the roof and the deck. Screw holes were then able to be drilled to the side to the boat. The window holes were routed out in order to accommodate the rubber seal we had opted for. We had discussions about using an alternative style of window but stuck with windows as close to the original as we could. I know some people prefer opening windows, tinted windows, double glazed windows, metal surrounds and all sorts of fancy things, but we opted for the original., The side was screwed and glued in place , and once dried the holes were plugged. With the sides in position, it was now time to give a final shape using a chisel and plane to ensure the side fitted perfectly. Looking at what I have just written it does not seem much. After all, we had survived the apocalyptic predictions of various prophets of doom who claimed we could not get the sides on in one piece, wouldn't find a plane large enough this side of Murmansk and that the side would split when we tried to fix it to the boat. The prophets of doom continue to predict, they changed their sermon as they turned their attention to the hatches.

I once asked the same question, and got a different answer from each person I asked. I am varnishing BG's wheel just now with 50/50 International varnish and white spirit for the first coat, then a light sand, clean with white spirit and then two coats of International varnish. Of course, I am doing it wrong according to 99% of people asked. It seems everyone has a different method, so I am no help either. It might be of interest to go on YouTube and watch lots of American dudes varnishing - might not be informative but it is amusing.

You will get water coming in via the spill pipe and down into the cable locker. Generally, the cable locker should be pumped dry, but goffers will tend to cause water to come in via the spill pipe when at sea. The cable locker is checked on a regular basis and pumped out using a bilge pump. I have spent many a happy hour in cable lockers on various vessels and can vouch for them being nasty, dark places. It is essential to make sure that the cable is at the lowest point and that when taking in the anchor someone ensures the chain is not kinked. Another happy job from a previous life. Make sure your cable locker is painted and kept as clean as possible. If you are on the Broads on a cruiser, as opposed to a frigate or destroyer at sea, you would be as well to use a mud weight.

So sorry you feel this way, but I fully understand the reasons for your departure. I would give the similar reasons for not posting anything on here about BG's restoration. After all, those who need to know what is going on can find out either by talking with me personally because they are friends (of course, I count you as one of them), or by means of other social media. Sadly, the responses on some threads are less than amicable with sarcasm thinly camouflaged by an attempt at humour. Again, I experienced this on the thread related to the May meeting. I will miss your wisdom and sometimes countering of the prevailing, and all too often accepted,wisdom of armchair admirals and bedroom boat builders. As with myself, most people here know nothing of your experience, their comments are based upon assumptions and at times, a degree of prejudice. Of course, I will be in contact with you by other means so this is not goodbye from me.

Far too many "experts" and armchair admirals on this forum for my liking. Hence the reason why I have stopped posting about our restoration of BG, and will not be participating in the Forum after this post. Perhaps people are suffering from a degree of "cabin fever" because they can't get out on their boats at this time of year? Every time some one posts something they are bombarded by a plethora of sometimes thinly veiled sarcasm and unnecessary criticism. Robin, like us, has embarked on a journey which is, perhaps, somewhat unconventional for some of the people on here. I would not have done many of the things he and his crew have done, and I am sure they would not have done what we have done with BG. Indeed, I would never consider putting a boat that size on the Broads, in the same way Robin would probably never consider purchasing a wreck of a vintage Broads boat from a Broads Arthur Daley (which is essentially what we did), let alone taking the said boat to the prestigious Wooden Boat Show for all the armchair experts to see. Boating is multi faceted, that is part of the pleasure, it comprises of cruising but also poking around in chandlery shops, browsing the internet and enjoying "boat porn" and chewing the fat with other people who have an interest in boats. But at the end of the day when the sun goes down and you have a glass in your hand, that boat is your boat and you have made your decisions. I don't think you can purchase that sort of pleasure. People go on their own journey and if they choose to share that journey and their dreams with you, accept it as a privilege to be part of that journey, so tread carefully on their dreams. You may want to offer advice because you think you know best, but before you do remember you need to walk a mile in a person's shoes to really understand them. I was listening to a song the other day, and I suddenly realised that the lyrics are very applicable to anyone who is embarking on a boat project such as this, the song is Fearless by Pink Floyd: You say the hill's too steep to climb Chiding You say you'd like to see me try Climbing You pick the place and I'll choose the time And I'll climb The hill in my own way Just wait a while, for the right day And as I rise above the treeline and the clouds I look down hearing the sound of the things you said today Fearlessly the idiot faced the crowd, smiling Merciless, the magistrate turns 'round, frowning And who's the fool who wears the crown Go down in your own way And everyday is the right day And as you rise above the fear lines in his brown You look down Hear the sound of the faces in the crowd Robin, I wish you well and if you see BG you might want to look down on us from your lofty perch and say "hello". I may think you are doing things the "wrong way", and your boat is far too big for the Broads, but like you, we are climbing the hill in our own way.

Seriously, would it not be wise to consider the environmental factors when deciding your choice of cleaning product? With respect to the experts on cleaning, perhaps elbow grease and some eco product might be your safest option. Lemmon juice and diluted vinegar are often the products of choice for the celebrity cleaning people.

Kim and Aggie?

I hardly think my reaction can be described as "touchy", when we were insulted by people at a previous meeting. It is only now that we have decided we are in a position to socialise with other boaters. In addition to this, two people suggested reasons why we were not included on the list. Given that there were others who were unable to confirm days they would be attending were accepted on the list, it was hardly surprising that I suspected something was afoot. " Just because you are paranoid doses not mean they are not our to get you." springs to mind. I don't need your "spot", and you certainly don't need to squeeze anywhere on our account. But, thanks for the offer it was kind of you.

Would rather not go than have to be "squeezed" in any where. Don't want to put anyone out. So will not be going. I refer viewers to the original post and to the comments I have heard regarding our boat. See you on the Rivers.

FYI

Is there a reason why we have been omitted from the list? Someone mentioned some possible reasons,please can the person in charge of this event PM me to let me know the actual reason Broadland Grebe has been excluded? I requested to be included back in December.