Cockatoo

This has got to be gone this weekend. I will take the best offer made by midnight Saturday. You can offer for the hull only, hull plus rigging or complete with engine. Alternatively I would be willing to donate the hull and rigging to a scout troop, school or similar but she must be collected this weekend. Steve Sent from the Norfolk Broads Network mobile app

Another onlooker, a 50-year-old housewife who did not want to be named, said: "It was chaos. The road was really blocked. I thought it was something major." No wonder she didn't want to be named. I wonder what she does consider "something major" Sent from the Norfolk Broads Network mobile app

Another vote for Brian Wards here. Always helpful and, indeed, gave me some tech advice on my Victron Centaur charger and I don't know where that was bought, it was on Cockatoo when I got her. You need to be careful with Amazon and Ebay though, we tend to assume they will be cheaper and they aren't always. Can you imagine an Ebay dealer advising about a product that may have been bought from a competitor?

The problem with postcodes Clive is that in rural areas they can cover a huge area. This shows the postcode EN9 2DH.(I think there are two exceptions). Getting an ambulance to my workshop by postcode would have been a right mission. https://goo.gl/maps/CcE925LEx6DpaJR7A This is the W3W location https://w3w.co/along.grants.voters

Those sets of words are for adjacent squares. That will be down to GPS accuracy :) (oops see this had been answered.

Clive the issue is that not many people have access to Memory Map or other similar apps that cost money. The free mapping apps make it hard to get lat/long or an OS grid reference. Postcodes, especially in rural areas can cover a huge area. W3W addresses cover a 3m square. Sent from the Norfolk Broads Network mobile app

Not only different berths, if the boat is over 3m long the bow and stern will have different w3w addresses. I completely agree with everyone that open source would be better but we still use GPS* and that isn't open source, Uncle Sam can turn that off whenever he wants! We also rely a lot on postcodes that are neither open source nor accurate. DCS has also been mentioned but how many Broads boaters have a DCS equipped radio compared to how many have a mobile phone. Also getting lat/long from a phone based mapping app can be a right faff. @Jayfire interesting that you guys carry maps as well, do you (or anyone else) know if ambulances do? Sent from the Norfolk Broads Network mobile app

Looking at the videos on YouTube de-coking is quite an easy job for any handy d.i.y.er. You can set the tolerance yourself. Mine is set to 1.5°C. You can also adjust the pump/fan speed settings to avoid running too rich (anyone got a boiler exhaust gas analyser?) which should stop the coking up. They are cheap enough to keep a spare unit in the locker anyway so if something does go wrong I'll have a replacement running in 30 minutes so I won't freeze :) As you can see from the picture I've still got to make the loom a little bit shorter to tidy up but I am thinking of making a new loom out of proper wire, not the Chinese stuf. Sent from the Norfolk Broads Network mobile app

The problem with that is some don't know how to read a map. Sent from the Norfolk Broads Network mobile app

I can't argue with any of that other than ask how many fire engines or ambulances carry paper maps these days? I deliberately didn't mention the police then because they probably won't have anyone to send anyway! Sent from the Norfolk Broads Network mobile app

Just an update on the Afterburner: Out of the box these heaters run in either temperature mode or Hz mode. Temperature mode means the heater runs flat out until it reaches the target temp and then switches to tickover until the temp drops. Then it's back to flat out again. Hz mode means you run the unit at a set speed. The Afterburner introduces Linear Hz mode, you set the target temp and once reached the pump delivery and fan speed are adjusted to maintain the temp. There are also 14 timers available that you can set. It's nice to come home from work at 07.00 to a nice toasty boat :) I also have a timer set to turn it off when I leave at night in case I forget. There is a very active group on Facebook about developing the firmware further (it's an open source project) run by the inventor and full instructions and firmware are available to anyone wanting to build their own. To be honest a lot of the discussion on the group goes right over my head but they don't seem to mind answering my sometimes stupid questions :) Sent from the Norfolk Broads Network mobile app

Nice to see that Broads Beat are promoting What 3 Words. This is a fantastic way of letting others know your location but it does rely on the recipient knowing what the w3w mean. See https://what3words.com and spread the word :) Sent from the Norfolk Broads Network mobile app

Believe me, when you see the others on this boat, things like screws into the hull, the fact that every item I take apart has the wrong screws fitted and dont get me started on the rotten floor it is very definitely a bodge. I'm just greatful the engines were looked after by a guy with a good reputation!

I've posted about this in the members section but I thought it might be worthwhile mentioning here as well. I've just replaced the knackered Webasto on Cockatoo with one of the cheap Chinese heaters. It was a really easy installation using the fuel feed, mounting bracket and exhaust from the Webasto set up but was complicated by the rotten hot air ducting. This has now been replaced with aluminium ducting clad in the original Webasto insulation sleeve, saving about £100 over using Webasto ducting. Some of the bodges that were present can be seen below. The Y piece shown is 60 odd mm instead of 75. Now it's all good and yesterday I swapped the heater for a new one that I ordered as a spare to make sure it worked ok so I now have a spare. I also installed an "Afterburner" Bluetooth and WiFi enabled controller which gives better temp control and loads of other stuff I haven't discovered yet, I must RTFM :) Total cost of everything has been less than £300 which is better than the annual servicing cost of the Webasto, and I have a spare. TBH even if I had to replace the unit every year I would be quids in. Link to Afterburner http://www.mrjones.id.au/afterburner/ Sent from the Norfolk Broads Network mobile app

The Moonlight Shadow share is now £1750.

No rush MM :) Sent from the Norfolk Broads Network mobile app

We've stopped there to give the dogs a nice run ashore. If there is no one else there it's great as they can go off the lead. Last time we were there though the BCE managed to miss the island completely when he launched their ball from the thrower. All that grass and he found the water lol Sent from the Norfolk Broads Network mobile app

A pet Eagle might work Sent from the Norfolk Broads Network mobile app

I really don't see how a national ranger service would work. Surely the needs and requirements for all the National Parks, let alone the Broads, are too diverse to allow any sort of common working? Sent from the Norfolk Broads Network mobile app

Here's my Guidepost laminated map (link above) now 4 years old and going strong. It's been rained on, left out in the morning dew and even had a tea spilt on it, more than once. Well worth the money. The red dots are dog friendly pubs :) Sent from the Norfolk Broads Network mobile app

It sounds to me like you might be a perfect candidate for oil analysis, send a sample away and they will tell you exactly where in the engine any particles come from. That way you will know exactly where you stand.

Is this the end of seeing "No same sex parties" on hire company websites?

Due to buying Cockatoo we are looking to sell our shares in Moonlight Shadow and Thunder and also to sell Freya. 8% Moonlight Shadow, £2000 Details here https://www.bcbm.co.uk/boats/broads-cruisers-page-127.html 8% Thunder £4500 Details Here https://www.bcbm.co.uk/boats/broads-cruisers-page-129.html Freya II is a 19ft Seawych that I bought as a project. Currently the mast and sails are not fitted and some small fittings are needed to complete. She has a 5hp Honda outboard and is currently moored in Horning (moorings paid until November). Broads toll is paid until the new year in April. I am looking to either sell her or swap for a dinghy I can use as a tender to Cockatoo. Steve Please note that the prices above are dependent on the purchaser coming to me direct, not available through BCBM although they will be dealing with the paperwork :)

When I was a kid we used to drink a pint of "Duckhams" A pint of Abbott with a Coke top! It had that distinctive swirly appearance of the oil :) Sent from the Norfolk Broads Network mobile app

If the people of Norwich are hunting eyesores maybe they should be looking at Castle Mall