Cal

We had the neighbours from hell in our last house and endured them for 12 years. Loud noise, banging on walls, threats over the hedge. She even accused me of assaulting her and I had the police turn up where I work to question me. Now this is the mentality of the idiots, the alleged assault took place when we were not even in the same city, we were away on holiday and could prove that! We went down the formal complaint route with the local council and that lead nowhere. In the end we just moved house to get away from them and get away from the area. Best thing we have done.

No we have separate units which we are happy with. if either breaks we replace that one part rather than both.

We love winter cruising on our own boat but it is set up properly for it unlike some of the draughty hire boat designs. Would we hire in November? I guess we would but we would choose the boat design carefully and avoid one with sliding roof or canopies.

Agreed.

Depends how the boats are wired up. If that is how it is supposed to work on that boat then something else is very amiss. I know with our boat we have to check before we switch the inverter on that we have switched off the battery charger!!

Just thought about this further. If you had the inverter switched on and the battery charger switched on then depending on how the boat was wired it could well have been trying to charge the batteries from themselves which would explain why the alternator couldn't charge the batteries quickly enough and why they were flat even after cruising. If that is the case then the boat isn't really set up for novice hirers who would not understand the boats electrical systems!

Sounds like an alternator problem in that case.

Batteries are not meant to charge via the inverter! The inverter changes 12v power from the batteries to 240v power. You can not charge the batteries via the inverter as that is just taking power from the batteries not adding it!!

I like how they have filmed it on a nice calm day. Not once have we been over that bar and it has been that calm The channel looks to have straightened out a lot since we last visitied.

People thought we were mad leaving our berth this evening in the wind. But we were wind off from our mooring and snatching on the ropes which would not have made for a comfortable evening. So we upped sticks and travelled the half hour to the next village which is much more sheltered. Still not calm by any stretch of the imagination but with the wind on the nose it will be far more comfortable.

The yards must come across this all the time. I know we have cocked up before when we hired from Barnes and decided to moor the "wrong" side of the bridge for our last evening rather than in the yard. Of course come 8am when we set off to take the boat back the bridge gauge said no! Rang the yard up and they sent a lad down on his bike to have a look if we could in fact get back. He drove the boat (Joy) up to the bridge and then disappeared out of the front door. It was very close. So close that the lad and the OH walked it through rather than driving it.

I think it is safe to say that Christmas won't be "normal" this year. There certainly will not be any large family gatherings allowed. We have resigned ourselves to Chrismas this year being just us two and the dog. I'm sure we will make it special anyway.

I'm intrigued as to why an older and therefore generally considered wiser old person was in McDonalds to start with. Surely by now you have realised the food is rubbish

We are lucky on that score. Our mooring is one of the last to freeze over in the marina and the first to thaw.

I know we shouldn't but we always feel smug when we are out in the rain on the river here snug, wamr and dry under the canvas and we pass narrowboaters gimacing against the wind and rain stood on the back of their boats at the tiller

We find that the water lapping on the hull sends us to sleep!

We have boated in all weathers over the years. Rain really doesn't bother us in the slightest nor the cold, you can get wrapped up warm and stick the heating on. Having a small, lightweight boat it is the wind that is the worst weather for us. But we are stupid enough to head out in that as well. We are out on the boat for a couple of weeks as of tomorrow evening and will be packing clothing for all eventualities. We love boating at this time of year but the weather can be a proper mixed bag so we go prepared for anything.

Sorry she is not for sale now. We have decided to keep her for a little while longer.

We have almost done it ourselves heading back to Yarmouth! The sun was at an angle where you couldn't tell the colour of the posts easily and we were not really concentrating as we should have been and we almost merrily followed a hire boat onto the mud. It was only at the last minute we took note and realised the error and were able to change course to avoid going aground!

I'm surprised just how many fatal boat accidents there are on that list from 2019 and 2020. Certainly not all of them make the headlines.

It would have to be a very small water tank to need refilling every day! Ours is small and we can do three days without needing a refill. We tend to hire 4-6 berth boats when we do hire on the Broads rather than take our own boat and the toilet holding tank always lasts for the full weeks hire.

It shouldn't be too much of a problem for the pubs. They are only catering for smaller groups at the moment anyway.

Our boat is a nightmare on the Broads, but we love it so we still come to visit. It is a little planing hull. On a good day in tickover it can do the lowest 3mph speed limit, just, and at that speed it will be making barely a ripple on the water. Yet get it to 6mph on the stretches where this is allowed and the wash it makes is far too much and isn't acceptable. We have to slow down.

We have used the Cadac quite a few times now and find it really easy to clean as it is. The only issue we have with it every time is that we forget how the thing packs away in it's bag so we spend ages trying to figure it out

Irstead surely?