Cal

They may touch your ropes when stern mooring and sharing mooring posts. They may touch your boat if a mooring goes slightly wrong. They may touch your rope if they help you moor up. There are many times someone not onboard your boat may touch it. You can't avoid that. Avoiding double mooring just seems daft especially at Yarmouth when there are very few alternatives within reasonable distance for hire boats.

If they are allowing stern mooring at their sites again then I am not sure why they are not allowing double mooring. The boats will be the same distance apart.

https://www.tingdeneboatsales.net/boat-spec.php?BoatID=7484566 https://www.tingdeneboatsales.net/boat-spec.php?BoatID=7451005 https://www.tingdeneboatsales.net/boat-spec.php?BoatID=7454250 https://www.tingdeneboatsales.net/boat-spec.php?BoatID=7467354

This looks good value for money. https://www.broadlandyachtbrokers.co.uk/boats/782

That looks to be a good boat for the money.

I always liked these and that does look nice and tidy inside.

No the Breakaway we hired from the same yard had a similarly low rating when they were hiring it as a holiday cruiser rather than a day boat, in fact I think at one point it had a no star rating, and that was an alright budget boat. In fact it got us into boating so it can't have been that bad! NBS also have for sale a Hardy/Barnes ex hire boat which if you like the sedan style boat is a good boat for the money. Again this has hung around unsold for a while. It just depends what people are looking to buy at the time.

It has been in the fleet a long while but certainly every time we have seen it out and about it has looked as well turned out as any other boat from that yard. I'm fairly certain there is a deal to be done on that boat that would bring it under the OP's budget and it has the makings of a lovely little boat with a bit of cleaning and tidying up. It is perhaps being overlooked because people are buying bigger older boats for a similar price. You have to be in the market for a smaller boat for it to appeal.

Have you considered something like this one: https://www.norfolkboatsales.co.uk/used-boats/sheerline-24-brink-of-peace-2-608.asp It has been for sale for a long while now so I strongly suspect that you would get it within budget and it will hold it's money well. No bow well but it does have good stern access.

We opted for an aft cockpit cruiser with canvas so that we could remove the hoods in good weather and be in the fresh air and fold the arch to achieve a low air draft of 6'6" for inland use. The covers also provide good shelter in wet weather and with the diesel heating on can be used even in cold weather although the air draft of 8'6" with the hoods up does mean that we occasionally have to get wet when we need to get under a low bridge As someone else has already pointed out what is right for one person is not right for another.

You don't have to limit your visit to the southern Broads with a weeks break. There is plenty of time to do the north and the south in that time. There is plenty for the kids to do in Great Yarmouth for example.

Having hired boats with BMC's, Perkins, Barrus and Nanni, I can say that the one we much prefer is the Nanni. It is quieter and smoother and runs on fresh air.

I wouldn't discount the Alpha 35 purely on size. When we hired Viscount from Richardsons we found it to be very easy to handle with the two of us. Viscount had the saloon at the rear and the second bedroom in the middle which I think would be my preferred layout over the bedroom at the rear. As I said previously the ideal boat just doesn't exist. We have had Naughty-Cal for 13 years now and while she ticks the boxes in a lot of ways there are downsides as well.

Of the boats that Richardsons have for sale at the moment I think the Alpha 35 centre cockpit would be my choice. They offer a huge amount of accommodation for the size of the boat and the raised cockpit and driving position gives better views over the reeds but still low enough air draft to get under the bridges. No price on it yet though so not sure if it will be in your budget. These boats are popular and do hold their money well. As for the perfect boat there is no such thing, they are all a compromise.

Sometimes it is best not to have people calling out "guidance" More often than not it is not the right advice

The smaller commercials on the canal cause more disturbance. Not necessarily big waves or wake but a very messy short chop for a long while after they have gone.

So long as you turn into it and hit it bow on it isn't too bad.

The Sumatra is about the same size as our boat The big commercial stuff has life boats bigger than our boat.............

Our mooring is opposite a busy "floating" restaurant so we have gotten used to mooring with an audience. You just learn to ignore them.

Do not prod other boats with a boat hook!! That will cause more damage then just lying alongside them. If you are going slowly into your berth and end up lying alongside the adjacent boat it is not a problem provided you do everything slowly. We moor so that the prevailing wind blows us onto our pontoon. On the odd occasion it blows the opposite way we just aim to lie alongside the adjacent boat and then pull the boat across into our own berth on ropes. No damage done and easier than trying to beat nature and aim for our own berth.

We still have the pleasure of mixing with commercial vessels where we cruise on the Trent, Ouse and Humber and commercial traffic is returning to the Aire and Calder. We love mixing it with the big stuff

That's black pudding not Haggis!

We use one of these on the boat. https://www.jmldirect.com/kitchen/pots-and-pans/copper-stone-pans-28cm-griddle-pan They are brilliant. No oil required and nothing sticks to them. And you can fit lots of square sausage in there! We also have a copperstone frying pan so we can have guilt free "fried" eggs without any oil.

No the toast is for the egg yolk if you are having fried eggs.

You just need to practice. As others have said the more you do it the more confident you will feel. Your boat will walk one way or the other in reverse. This is called prop walk. You need to find out which way your boat goes and use this to your advantage. If the prop walk is the wrong way for your mooring you will be better off mooring in bow first. You also need to take account of any wind or tide as this will affect how the boat handles as well. Don't worry about it. The more you worry and get wound up the worse it will become. Do everything slowly and if the worst does happen you won't cause any damage. The absolute worst thing you can do if you are going to hit another boat is panic and grab a fist full of throttle as this will make matters much worse. A light nudge with no throttle is unlikely to cause any damage. You can't buy experience. The only way to get it is to go out and gain it.