oldgregg

I think you're looking at about £15-20K. The 9.9hp equivalent is about three grand, though. Not going to get you on the plane and not going to power a 6 tonne boat, but for a Shetland or something like that it's a viable option given how quiet they are. And no more messing about with petrol and having to have the stuff aboard.

They do a 50KW (roughly 67hp) outboard and inboards up to 100KW (134hp). Not cheap, but if you want silent boating and have got solar then they're not as bad as people think.

Indeed. Unfortunately I don't think it's the first time it has been targetted. It's a popular spot and the moorings are very good value (with a really long waiting list) but unfortunately there is not much in the way of facilities or security and it is fairly isolated.

Was that on their network or Openreach's?

Probably quite an effective scam too - It's not like they're asking for £100, so lots of people could be taken in by it. But lots of people x £3 will add up quite nicely.

@Vaughan is the best man to tell you about the MC42, but certainly if it's not losing fluids, has good compression and is generally running well then there's probably not much need to overhaul. There is a perception that old=bad when it comes to marine diesels. The thing to remember is that they are very unlike car engines. Sure the principles of an internal combustion engine are there, but the sort of engines which usually get fitted to Broads cruisers don't have timing belts or chains to fail. The valvegear is gear-driven, and in some engines it's still pushrod rather than overhead cam. That's how car engines used to be decades ago. I think people have got conditioned into expecting sudden engine failure because of the absolute junk being produced by european car manufacturers over the last couple of decades in order to meet ever-tighter emissions legislation. Now of course marine diesels can go pop if not looked after, but the newer ones are at least as likely to do so. I've heard of numerous Nannis letting go, but there are many boats on the Broads with BMC and Perkins lumps which are decades old.

Don't forget that the MC42 can be rebuilt. You'll struggle to find a boatyard on the Broads that wants to do the job as swapping the unit out is much simpler, but there are some diesel specialists with the right skills to do so. A lot of components are replaced, so it's not a bad option. You can see what an overhaul kit includes https://www.parts4engines.com/perkins-perama-mc42-engine-overhaul-kit/ and it's not insignificant. Does a Nanni N4.50 give better throttle response? Yes it does, but the MC42 is a torquey engine and there isn't likely to be a lot in it with fuel economy either...

The modern inverter / chargers fitted to more recent boats tend to blur the lines a bit here as you'd potentially only have one set of 240v sockets, with the magic blue box handling where the power is coming from (batteries or shore power). It's great in terms of simplicity, but bad in terms of helping users understand where the power is currently coming from and the need to manage usage - If an applicance is plugged into an 'inverter' socket then there's some realisation that there's a 12v battery on the other end and capacity is finite.

Most definitely. And it's just a real shame that the options for hiring on the South are now pretty much just Pacific or NYA. Nothing wrong with either of those yards, of course, but Silverline were slightly more mainstream and a sort of middle ground between the two. There's Broom I suppose, but...... meh.

It's at the upper end for dayboats from Wroxham, but you do get a decent boat by the looks of it. I hired a traditional dayboat from Ricko's a few weeks back and it was £130 for most of the day. I wouldn't have paid double that really given that it was just my dad and I aboard, but if there was a group of perhaps 8 then it's not so bad. It's not a bad looking boat actually, kind of a larger take on the Loynes launch. I guess that's not surprising. Not sure what it looks like in three-quarter view (which is how you're supposed to photograph boats really) so fingers crossed. I do wish the guy who did the antifouling and the guy who did the lower rubbing strake had communicated, though. It looks a bit awkward, currently.

I've heard a number of chemicals suggested as being ideal for that purpose. The environmentalists won't be happy if I list them here, though.

I should think it will mean confusion, though....

Indeed. Lovely boats they run, though they are a bit pricey compared to a traditional Broads launch and not as hard-wearing I suspect.

This won't be the first test. They'll have done integration testing with the networks and then done tests with a specific group of users (ie internal people) to have a decent level of confidence in the technology. You don't just do a full broadcast to everyone without being fairly sure it's going to work. That would be a massive PR own goal for all concerned.

Indeed. Fairly predictable that Three would be the one that failed, though.....

Ah, you upgraded.... I've been eyeing the Mini 3 Pro too. There's quite a few useful differences from the standard model and for the price (even with the DJI RC) it really is impressive. I haven't owned a drone for a while now and the features, price and size (particularly compared with my old Mavic Pro) are really impressive.

The classic AF centre cockpit boats do have quite a high sheerline so they probably are that little bit taller given that the superstructure is not as sleek as some. 7'2" sounds about right from last time I hired one from the Stalham emporium.

They'd just set up a similar service to what you're proposing, surely? Sure it's a bit of effort, but it then yields a nice passive income and without explicit bank details printed there it's much harder for the rozzers to track.

It's a fair point, although people could do it with a QR code too. It's a bit more sophisticated an act, but if they're printing a sticker they're printing a sticker....

Yeah, I believe Bill is still about. I think in reality the task of ripping those out and refitting to the standard he was talking about was probably a bit ambitious for his level of physical fitness and so the boats have sat there for a long time now.

I think it was the perfect storm of circumstances really. Personally I think a dual steer should always have 'internal' access to the flybridge like on Aquafibre dual steers, Richardson's RF45 and the Alpha Highliners. Having to go via the stern steps has never struck me as very safe either for the people moving around or for the wellbeing of children, pets etc inside the boat.

In fairness I did send them over to Clive and said to use as they wished.... I think I was more excited that they'd used them to be honest.

A mixture... They've added a few of their own subsequently. The year after launch they used the majority of them for the Hoseason's brochure so I've kept a copy. Not exactly 'published photographer' but I'll take it as it's the closest I'll ever get. A 14mm? Would you be an MFT shooter by any chance? I used to love that system. That's beginning to sound like a Jim'll Paint It artwork.

It basically is, yeah. I looked around the Commander that they took to London Boat Show a while back and she had the scissor berths as per Monaco but was otherwise the same as a Commodore. It just gives a bit more flexibility with the layout as she could sleep 5/6 lads with the two sets of twin/double convertibles. I see they have used some of my photos for the Commander listing on the website - Many from the Commodore listing are mine as she was finished within 12 hours of going on the first hire and they hadn't had chance to take her out, so we snapped a load and sent to Clive.

Yeah, funnily enough my first thought was that you may have hired an RF45. Nice boat, we were the third hire on Commodore 1 and everyone thought it was a private boat