oldgregg

The trouble with that is you never know how many engine hours she did the previous week. I think like me you tend to do a fair few miles in a week so don't tend to have battery issues, but it's always good to make sure. I have had an issue (not on the Broads) with a boat that clearly hadn't done enough running the week before and it took a good couple of days of cruising to stop the fridge shutting off every night.

I'd say Clive's being realistic. A boat built to go under Potter is fantastically flexible in terms of where you can go, but in terms of hire very few people go up there any more (and that will only reduce) and so you're compromising the design of the boat in terms of headroom and interior space. Having been a syndicate owner on a Diamond 43, that is a clever bit of design in some ways but equally it suffers from its low airdraft in that for its size there's not actually as much interior space as you'd think. Compare the way that the original Alpha 35 centre cockpit is packaged, there's an enormous amount of space for the size and they'll still pass under Wroxham Bridge. The other comparison for the Diamond 43 is the Aquafibre Crystal 37 - Considerably shorter but a dual steer with 8ft air draft and there is a lot less wasted space and actually not that much of a difference in terms of room inside. I think one of the key things here is that 80's designs were very spacious but still looked decent. A nicely-fitted Alpha 35 still looks classy, and a Crystal 37 is still an impressive-looking boat although I don't think they got the rear end quite right visually - Stick an integrated bathing platform (with steps) on the back and make it 40 feet and you have a much better proposition, though.

I think the problem that we always have with them is that they could have been made to look better. I totally get that boxy boats have lots of interior space, like we used to have back in the 80's. They don't need to be ugly, though, that's just laziness and is why the world and his dog aren't asking for a set of mouldings like they are with the RC45. Even the reworked version that Haines did was a big improvement.

Actually, it's an Aquafibre Sapphire 32 and is specifically NOT a Broom 32. That is a Broom build, but it's still a Sapphire 32. The Broom 32 is the production Broom model which had the seagoing hull, and had a different fitout. Great boats, though, yeah. We seem to have lost the art of packaging that we had in the 80's. Look how much accommodation we used to be able to fit into 32 feet....

He did say 'nice' pub though

That's one way of putting it! I remember hiring Magnifique for the day (yes, really) back in the mid 90's and I've not seen an interior quite like it.

Yeah, I think she'll reappear on the website later in the year. A lot of work was done and while obviously it would have made no sense to complete her and put into the fleet for this year, I assume she'll be ready for the start of next season.

While that's true to an extent, the likes of Broom (when it was actually Broom) and their sister company Aquafibre who did the actual moulding very much had a focus on quality. Several other yards also built their boats well and with the intention of keeping them in the fleet for a long time.

I think Andy is referring to the fact that some Alpha builds have had horrendous issues with osmosis. There are good ones and bad ones of course. I think that's why people tend to consider Aquafibre moulds a safer bet, as they have a thicker layup and being such a large scale operation they had more consistent quality control.

Of course, if you made Ludham Bridge less of an obstacle then you'd end up with more river traffic congesting the top of the Ant. Plenty of moorings at Ricko's during the week, though.

I guess so. Actually I think Ludham Bridge is a prime candidate for getting the 'Acle Bridge' treatment. Those 1950's concrete bridges (Wayford being another) create an unneccessary bottleneck on the system and we'd benefit from something closer to the new Acle bridge. If the bridge were wider we wouldn't have one-way river traffic there and that would make a big difference. Naturally, it should be a bit taller, too.

It's a tricky one, but I would assume if in doubt people would just call Ricko's before booking? The reason the gauges are like they are is because there are plenty of idiots turning up in the likes of Broom Explorer and assuming that they can probably chance it and get through.

This There are plenty of boats at Stalham which people worry won't fit through Ludham, and all of them do.

I haven't seen one of those for a while! I remember hiring a boat on the Caledonian Canal a while back that had one. The handover guy joked that it'd be quicker to get someone to take a gulp of Whisky and breathe on your hair.

Quite right. When I was in syndicate ownership I wasted countless hours trying to explain to people with no knowledge of electrics that inverters are essentially a device for flattening batteries quickly and that no inverter or battery regardless of how modern or expensive will change the laws of physics. A 650W microwave is rated on the output power, but may consume more like 1000W. However you're only going to be using that for a few minutes at a time, and most people seem to realise that should only be done when the engine is running. A 700W iron, however, is going to empty one boat battery to 50% (any more and the battery will be damaged) in not much more than an hour. You can't make 'mains' power out of 12V batteries and expect it to last long, and people just don't do enough hours' running to put the charge back into the batteries.

Yeah, I wouldn't wait around too long if you are looking for one of the boats from Ricko's. An ex-hire won't ever be perfect but often they're in a better state than private sellers like to think theirs are (other than maybe some minor cosmetic stuff). Interior refits are expensive to do yourself, so to my mind a boat which has been in hire and had the work done to keep it decent is always a plus. The bed and shower room are a really good size on a Calypso, hence the suggestion. A Safari 25 is not for people over 6ft!

If you're thinking about bathtub types but also a similar sort of external size to a MK3 Hampton, what about a Calypso? They're huge inside for their size. Richardson's are selling a Serene Gem here - it's the only one with a price on it. The photos on the sales website are a bit broken, so take a look on the hire listing.

A centre cockpit is the ideal boat for the Broads really, but remember a dual steer Broom Skipper will have a fixed roof so you lose the benefits of being able to get under bridges.

Build quality; people have far fewer problems with the layup of Aquafibre mouldings than Alphas. Obviously there are good Alphas and bad Aquafibres, though.

That looks like it has a better chance of floating

But are their boats really that great? I couldn't honestly say that I think they are - And I have been inside most of them.

There will be WiFi on most boats but remember it will only work where there is mobile coverage. The Broads is essentially a National Park (please can any pedants not comment) so the mobile towers are mainly around the edge of the area as they're not allowed to be right in the middle. Coverage is fairly decent nowadays (much better than it used to be) but there are still places where phones don't work. If you're looking for a decent boat, I'd go with Richardsons, Norfolk Broads Direct or Silverline. I'd give Herbert Woods a miss personally as there's too much pot luck with their fleet. With Richardson's, remember that their cheapest boat will not be as nice or spacious as their most expensive (although it will be spotlessly clean inside and usually the cheapest boat you can hire) so it depends what you're after.

One of the main ways it's achieved on the Diamond 43 is by having a very shallow rear end - If you've had the floorboards up at the rear you realise just how little distance there is between the river and the carpet. That helps smooth the wash out and is the same trick some of the old woodies used.

Ramjet was a legend on here in the early days and it was generally considered that he was indeed someone's alter-ego. The story went that he was from Croydon and ran a restaurant with his family, but server logs showed us a slightly different tale. I don't know how long it has been since he left us, but clearly it's a while as a lot of prolific posters don't remember him. I still sometimes find myself jokingly calling other early forumites a 'large old cheeking Charles' which was one of Ramjet's favourite phrases. And yes, JillR was a fantastic person and sorely missed. She loved the Broads (and NBN) and was often a calming and sensible influence on the mod team. Ironically, I was on a boat on the Broads when I got the message from one of Jill's daughters to say that she'd died.

My initial thoughts are that it's a Leisure battery, which is not designed for engine starting.