oldgregg

Hi Tony We're waiting for a third-party company to fix a bug with the component that makes the App work... Until that's been done we can't switch the app back on. Hopefully it won't be too much longer... For now, though, you can of course use the forum on your mobile device and set a bookmark on your home screen....

Sure are. It's always amusing going into Norwich Airport for an early flight, where gate 3 is 'KLM to Amsterdam' and the other destinations are ConocoPhillips, Shell Expro etc...

I'd disagree with that, having formerly worked in the insurance industry. Any insurance policy which is being 'chucked in' as a value-add with something is usually pretty worthless and will have a list of limits and conditions as long as your arm. Those 'monthly fee' bank accounts are a nice little earner for the ailing retail banking sector, and they don't achieve that by providing good quality cover, just something that looks like it is a benefit. When you consider what the bank will be paying the insurer for the policy after they've taken their commission, you can see why it just cannot stack up. Remember the PPI scandal? They had to stop selling that to anyone and everyone so needed to switch to something else... With any insurance, I'd say always do a bit of research and go to a reputable and recommended provider and then make sure you read carefully what the policy covers. It won't be as cheap (how could it), but it might actually cover you should you need to claim.

I don't think a car makes any difference?

Yeah, it does and it kind of is. Calendars should be wrapped up by July really in order to get a good sales run.

Cheers for that! Yeah. there are a number of reasons not to fit them for sure. The thought occured to me last week and it struck me that really it needs to be factored into the design of the hull so that the whole thing is relatively protected within the shape of the keel. There's always jet drives i guess but those have been tried on the Broads I think and don't particularly suit our weedy, muddy waters nor the low revs that Broads cruisers operate at.

Props are definitely dangerous and anything which can be done to improve safety there has to be a good thing. People don't necessarily appreciate the danger the prop poses and I think while logically they should be into neutral and switching off, in reality panic will set in and the opposite is likely to happen. I don't know what the answer is. A propeller guard seems like a good idea but on the Broads how practical is that? I would imagine it would get choked up with weeds in precisely no time and need the boat lifting out regularly for checking.

They'd say they didn't know.... That's the problem.

It'll still have value, have a look on eBay...

Indeed, but vessel size ties in with it. You can't have a hire boat that's too big for the corners of the system.

This is the problem with allowing hire boats outside of the 'max' dimensions. They are going to go where they're not supposed to. Partly because people don't know any better. On top of the list of things a new hirer has to remember, are they going to have the schedule of limits in front of them at all times? Not going to happen.

We're talking about why the limits are in place. You can't have hire boats that don't fit the system otherwise there'll be problems. But yes, a bigger boat has more displacement and is therefore generally more stable. The old MK1 Fair Entrepreneurs have the handling and agility of a small housing estate, though.

It does, though, because you can't moor two 14' beam boats (with fenders) in Neatishead staithe and get a third down the middle, nor can you sensibly turn a boat of more than 46' at Dilham when the moorings are in use. Equally, two Broom Explorers meeting each other on the twisty part of the Chet could be interesting...

In part 2 of the schedule of size restrictions, you'll note that the same restrictions also apply to boats which are longer than 46 feet. https://www.broads-authority.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0021/180633/Vessel_Dimensions_Byelaws-1.pdf

Most definitely. Especially if it's O gauge!

Actually, for some mad reason there isn't technically a maximum size for hireboats. But any boat first registered with the BA after 1992 and which exceeds 46' x 12'6" has restrictions upon where it is allowed to go. Older hire boats (and there aren't many now) which exceed those dimensions are therefore technically still allowed to go anywhere. The AF48 CC Brinks Emperors are the obvious examples. But for newer boats outside of those dimensions technically the Chet, Ant and a few other places are off limits. For that reason, hire firms don't build boats bigger than those dimensions as it limits their appeal. Broom have some fairly new boats bigger than that (which are from a cancelled order) but their cruising range is limited. They've been seen at Loddon, though....

There are definitely advantages to DCC, but I just find that it takes so much maintenance that it takes the fun out of things. I've converted various things to DCC, but almost always using the standard (ish) 8 pin socket on a loom so that the loco can easily be switched back to DC operation by unplugging the decoder and fitting a blanking plug. One of the big advantages of DCC is that if you can run several things on the same track (or in opposite directions for demos) and adjust the speed independently so that they don't run into each other. It makes double-heading work more smoothly. The only way to really achieve that with DC is to have a resistor inline on a loco that runs too fast, or to mess with the gearing, so that's definitely a plus. So I'm told

DC is definitely a lot more reliable. DCC simplifies the wiring of a layout in that you just have to ensure every bit of track has constant power and that polarity is correct and it doesn't require lots of switches to isolate things. But DCC requires lots of pickups on locos, that joints between pieces of track are soldered, that the track and loco wheels are always spotlessly clean and even then you really need a 'keep alive' module (a capacitor) on each loco chip to ensure power and data comms aren't lost even for a fraction of a second as it causes issues. Also, if stock isn't used for a period of time, it can forget the ID it had so you end up having to reprogram the chip again when you come to use it. The idea is sound, but I think DCC is a really crap implementation of it and they should have waited for better wireless technology. I'd bin it and start again. Give power to the rails, and do everything else over wireless ethernet. Also, the decoders for locos are ludicrously expensive when you consider how insanely primitive they are. Manufacturers get away with it because most people don't realise just how simple the electronics are. DC is more complicated to wire, but it just works.

I mean I wouldn't know about such things, naturally, but I hear there's a FB group called British Railway Modelling.... So I'm told.

Never (ever ever ever, ever) run electric heating on an inverter... I have had to explain this to so many syndicate owners!

I had hoped that boat was the first of many to be built by Haines for Ferry but sadly it wasn't to be. Since the demise of the likes of Brister Craft (who built boats for many yards), there's sadly not really been many yards doing hire-spec fitouts for others which unfortunately means that some yards which don't really have the talent are trying to do things themselves and the results are rarely awesome. There's always Silverline, though. They build tons of stuff (usually it doesn't have their name on it) for others.

The oil rads are good and usually have a safety switch which shuts off the power if they tip over. Most electric radiant heaters don't have that so probably aren't safe on boats.

Zircon was built by Haines and they did all of the work to redesign the moulding and make it more appealing. It's not a boat I'll ever desire to own, but the aft cabin and shower room do appeal.

It didn't. The app is built by a third party and supports lots of different types of forum software so it's not quite the same experience as using the forum software here and doesn't support a lot of the forum features. At some stage there will be a completely new App, but that's a way off yet.

I'd say that's pretty unlikely - But of course you can visit forum.norfolkbroadsnetwork.com on your mobile and you'll find this latest version works even better on it. And of course you could always hotspot off your phone and use laptop / tablet etc.