oldgregg

There's quite a few older models missing - The 38/42 centre cockpits and as you say the Bourne 35's. I can think of others. I suspect they'd retired those models by the time that chart was produced, potentially because the mould tools were tired and weren't worth replacing?

Love it! I used to have one of those and binned it years ago before a house move... Wish I hadn't though!

Makes sense, they do look to have a proper hull and the entry point is unlike anything else in hire. I was always a fan of them but I know they're a very Marmite design. The 40 probably looks sleeker as it's narrower too (I think they just scaled the design for the 45) but the 45's look good and are absolutely cavernous inside.

Ah, that makes sense. It did look quite new. We went in early June and it was a challenge then - We did think it would probably be absolute chaos in the summer. Cool waterway, though, and the flow from the bypasses on the locks makes lining the boat up a lot more challenging than on other canals.

You're not kidding! That last bit is one-way and the part where you go round the back of the houses into the actual basin you're just scraping along the bottom of the canal for much of it. The basin itself is quite decent, bizzarely.

That's a great shot - The first pic really shows just how perilously close it is for boaters. In all seriousness, I'm surprised people are allowed to use it given how H&S mad this country is.

Yeah. Been there, done that. It's an oddity really because if you slip, trip over a rope etc there is absolutely nothing to stop you going down the 150ft drop and obviously because the trough is so narrow, the boat is right against the edge the whole way across.

I'd imagine their website is probably fine (autoscaling makes load issues a thing of the past unless it's built by numpties) but I wouldn't be surprised if the stock control system in the background and / or the middle tier were never designed for the transactional volume they're currently seeing.

Absolutely. Getting in the car for any reason other than to buy essentials isn't an essential journey. As Griff says, rocket science it is not!

Yes I think that's a Caprice. The longer version (Elegance) has different windows at the front end.

Something similar was done with some old Aquafibre centre cockpits I think and some Connoisseurs over on the other side of what became LeBoat. Some are still in hire.

Great story, thanks for sharing! If ever anyone thinks hiring is expensive, this is why... Boats do get wrecked!

I think in general if it raises the profile of the syndicate then it's probably not a bad thing...

Ah... Two's Country! I used to love that series back in the day. Tim Grundy is sadly long gone now...

Some frantic Googling shows Ranworth Hall burnt down in June 1984, not sure if it was rebuilt?

http://www.broadlandmemories.co.uk/documents/adverts/1969_pub_adverts.pdf I see both Ranworth Hall and The Cringles were in the 'Broads Book' way back in 1969...

And then there was Ranworth Hall which I believe was a sort of country club / pub of sorts back in the 70's and early 80's.. No idea what the place is now, though...

To give it some balance, we were booked into a Hotel at the NEC on Saturday. As usual we went for the cheaper option and were expecting to lose the cost of the booking, but they've cancelled it for nothing so that's a bit of a result.

Yeah working for me now

Nor I, unfortunately...

I've seen a few boats over the years with outlets from the central heating positioned near the bottom of the windscreen (but suitably placed so as not to get full of condensate) and they seemed to work well.

Fine on Silver Cloud, though - The Diamond 35 has the engine under the helm seat.

I don't believe so, no. I wonder if you may be thinking of the Wingline 34 which looks similar?

I've only just seen this thread, very sad to see it. Having met Alan a few times over the years and enjoyed his posts in various places I can say the world is definitely a poorer place without him. Condolences to his family.

It has to be this, surely?