Smoggy

Weather wise watch for wind going opposite direction to the tidal stream as will make it a good deal harsher for the same wind speed, wind with tide smooths it, wind agaist makes it short and sharp, and check for the weather window home before leaving. At 9'6" you should get under haven bridge LW +- 2.5 hours, I like 9' and rarely get close at LW +- 3 hours. Fuel is the biggy to consider, when did the boat last go to sea and have the tanks been checked, diesel bug can go un-noticed for years on the rivers but a bit of a chop can kick up lots of crud and block filters very quickly and even the best conditions are normally choppy on the way in and out, tidal rivers interact with tidal streams and the water gets confused, add to that the fact that most boats have been under used for the last 18 months due to covid means lots of tanks are harbouring old fuel and sludge, when people say about a rough crossing on breydon they are normally meaning a slight ripple in comparison to what you may find. If you can cruise at 15-18 knots southwold is an easy 1 1/4 hour run from the mouth at yarmouth and accessible at all tides in a mobo but call first to make sure they have space, don't be tempted to coast hug get out there into the bouyed channels and it will be easier and safer, stay half a mile out and approach at 310 degrees and you will miss all the sandbanks, once in through the piers hug the north side past the lifeboat shed and drift back to the middle of the river after. Cruise with carers (sorry I mean "in company") takes a lot of the achievement away compared to planning properly yourself and going for it. Did I metion fuel? Yes it needs more than just the one thought and is probably one of the biggest lifeboat callout causes. windguru.cz is a superb site for wind forecasts and can be homed in to lowestoft. Check the vhf well and remember a radio check with humber coastguard isn't the best test as they have masts all over the place so will hear a dodgy setup most of the time, let yarmouth radio know once under haven and call again by the lifeboat shed before proceeding, the lights will be traight ahead of you at that point, and call in before you enter from sea as well. Yarmouth and southwold are on CH12, lowestoft are on CH14. And don't forget to check the fuel........ You will use a lot more at sea speed. Did I mention fuel issues? It really is the most likley cause of problems. Now get out there and enjoy it.

Check all 3 banks voltage then plug in (without any running) re-check voltage and you will know what it's charging.

Bin it and buy the compressor fridge, gas fridges do work but live in the past. BUT.... They are not cheap and if a quick fix keeps you boating go for a quick fix.

And if you carry on past the playing field there's a nice dog walk down past the Ted Ellis nature reserve, it will take you to surlingham eventually but that's a fair trek as I found out before. The playground has been recently refurbed I believe.

I paid £160 on a twin diesel boat in july, that included a travelling cost as I had a guy from cambs. do it as he has done the previous ones.

MM the red house has been the reedcutters for a good few years now, do keep up old chap.

If a tv comes with a cigar lighter lead for 12v the chances are voltage control is done within the tv as well as the basic 240v/12v in the power brick. Most of the internal electricery is likely to run at 5v anyway.

My fridge has an added smart controller that makes it run harder when on charging voltage and much lower lever when the volts drop making it quieter, as Regulo says 3 days is pushing it at the best of times on batteries without any extra top up. If I am plugged in with battery charger going my solar controller display indicates charging in the dead of night as it's going by the voltage at the battery side rather than what the panel is producing so it may well say charging if the engine is running without the charger plugged in. What type of fridge and what age? If it gets cold it's probably fine.

I have a victron 30A 3 output which works well but only when plugged in obviously, I don't have shore power at my mooring so now have a solar panel as well which seems to keep things topped up so far but not had it over a winter yet. I also have a portable panel that I can plug in to the same controller which has helped out a lot over the last couple of weeks.

Don't keep them too busy, I have some gelcoat repairs needing done when an insurance company gives the go ahead....

They flew over us about an hour ago in st.neots, sounded great.

White horse at chedgrave is holding another comedy night on 24th september, I got my tickets. It will be in the garden under a marquee so may need to wrap up well if cold, landlord does give out blankets when needed. The one we did before was superb, see pubs website for details.

Oh yes I see, a quick glance made it look like they were tied out of the way for chocking but I see the wrapping now, I suppose once they wrap the mechanical leverage is huge without massive load on the engines.

OOooh! Expensively big ouch. I assume insured against underwater impact. And that has a bit of keel, I dread to think what mine would look like in a similar incident, do you know what it hit and how fast?

Sorry, we finished it.

What more can I say... It was bloody lovely! £3.60 pint.

You should be able to get all the info needed as theres a few on here that watched it being built....

I have a 24" sharp TV that came with a 12v lead, it does all the smart bits and with a usb/sata lead and a ssd on the you can save stuff at home and watch in places where the signal is crap. When not on the boat it's the bedroom TV.

By not giving him any booze you are doing him a favour, but I doubt he'll see it that way.

It's good to hear you are happy to share, it's a good trait to have and I salute you. What rum have you got? Don't invite him aboard again, it's no loss.

Bloody productive ticks strokes a gin. Definitely pakefield, I'm not that energetic.

Mermaid it is, walked past it earlier.

Can't say false advertising....

The first lock we ever negotiated ourselves was brownhill on the gt.ouse and the lockie at hermitage has warned us it was running a bit fast, confused by how a lock can run fast we found out when it was well over both gates, if it wasn't for wire fences we could have just gone around it. Yes erith was about a mile wide with picnic benches poking out of the water, Easter 2001 I think it was.

Had a nice brekkie at no.142 cafe, dogs in garden but lots of undercover with heaters (a bit over the top for august). Spent the night in the bitch in the ditch. Took train to lowestoft and currently sat outside the jolly sailor at wakefield, dog found a fellow Romanian on the beach to run about with so needs a rest....