oldgregg

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Well, here it is, the rather excellent choice of broadlands finest images taken by some very gifted photographers for you all to browse through and select your favourites for our 2019 calendar. There is no limit to how many pictures you can like so feel free to pick as many or as few as you wish. Voting ends at midnight 7 days, yes that's seven days from when this thread goes live giving everyone plenty of time to take part. Our calendar order hot line (lol) will be live in the next few days - well as soon as Grendel gets over the lads week and does the necessary, so keep a look out for your opportunity to place your orders soon. And, before I go, a massive thank you for supporting this year's calendar, which, in turn, ensures the forum continues by contributing to it's running costs. Every little helps, as I am sure you are aware, and our calendar is a fun way of helping the NBN. Time to vote..... enjoy JanetAnne

I know this was covered on another thread, but the Alpha 35 superstructure is actually a pretty clever design in a number of ways - The aft saloon does prevent drafts getting in and while the centre cockpit is limited on seating it does position the helm nice and high up while also allowing a cabin to be underneath. They're spacious boats for the amount of mooring they take up. It would be nice to see a retro design that 'borrows from' some of the ideas and retains the more angular lines that give such interior space yet still look elegant.

That's really good news. Sent from the Norfolk Broads Network mobile app

Swings and roundabouts, indeed. They go for a LOT less than £500, though and are available in a range of colours. Sent from the Norfolk Broads Network mobile app

It's worth looking at a used DJI Spark (or even a new one) which seems to be the unloved member of the family because it only shoots 1080p and has a two-axis gimbal. The video limitation is deliberate of course to protect sales of the higher spec models in the range, but it means that a used Spark in the Fly More combo with extra battery and the (essential) Controller is a bargain on eBay. You can see the quality of the footage on YouTube, people do a lot with them... Stills are also really pretty good. Not to mention the fact that they're tiny and the DJI app is the best there is. Sent from the Norfolk Broads Network mobile app

Quite a bit has happened in fairness... The brand has been repositioned to appeal to a broader audience and they have been busy building the new bottling plant. Sent from the Norfolk Broads Network mobile app

In reality, all one has to do is run it badly for a few years in order to 'prove' to the dim-witted folks at the council that it's not a viable site for a business... Costs a few quid initially, but the benefit of playing the long game is huge. There are targets to be met in terms of providing more houses, and more houses equals more council tax payers.. Not hard to see how these things get planning permission.

Not surprised, but seems inevitable. I don't think the management of that business have much interest in boats.

Sadly that part of Brundall is not the prettiest... Lots of boats to look at, but Brooms' yard does need tidying up. The last thing it needs is to be replaced with houses, though. Nice pics though David!

Er.... Well done you spotted the deliberate mistake Well it was one of those long fishy things anyway

It wasn't huge, but we think it had gone into the strenthruster tunnel when it was in use and the resistance on that hydraulic motor had caused the engine to stall. Whether it was the prop or the thruster, there we two halves of a pike floating in the dyke afterwards...

We chopped one up with Commodore 1 a few years back at Neatishead... Managed to stall the engine doing it!

There seem to be a few names floating about for those but they are indeed Alphas. I hadn't realised that class was split between Opals and Alphas, most unusual. I'm not a big fan of Alpha but I think in that instance it may be slightly more spacious than the Opal?

I've found canal boats do handle quite differently from Broads cruisers, generally not as well. You have to use full lock and plenty of throttle sometimes to get anything to happen, and often a bit of 'sawing' at the tiller is required when manouvering. Threading a 65ft canal boat round a tight bend, under a bridge and into a lock is a bit brown-trousers at times. Oh, and bow thrusters really do seem to be seen as 'girlie buttons' on the Canals and few boats have them.

With narrowboats, it seems that Black Prince or ABC (Alvechurch) are the operators who have a range of good and consistent boats - Not necessarily the cheapest but not crazy either and they also have a range of bases.

For users on the app, here goes...

As I understand it, they need to get a cherry-picker on site in order for the the contractor to have access to fix the camera and because we're still very much in-season they have not yet been able to clear the yard of cars etc.

Quite right.