Cal

You can tell when autumn arrives and winter is on its way because the slow cooker makes its way back into Naughty-cal. We have limitedcpoking facilities onboard with two gas rings and grill so the slow cooker opens up more options. In the last few weeks We have rustled up slow cooked minted lamb shoulder with root veg mash and vegetables, slow cooked beef shin in Guinness gravy with dumplings, bbq brisket, hot and spicy chicken and chorizo casserole served with wild rice and home made garlic bread. And for dinner tomorrow we will be having pulled pork and vegetables. You can't beat cruising down river with the smells wafting up into the canopies then sitting down to a warm meal at the end of the day.

Grandma named it. It was her car first.

Glad it isn't just me that names cars. So far I have had Nellie, 1991 Nissan Sunny. Phylis, a 1979 Mk1 Fiesta Dinky, a 1984 Mk1 Sierra XR4i (still got this one) A 2005 Nissan Almera that is just called The Datsun (still got this one) And the latest addition to the fleet a bright yellow Mini One D called Peril.

We inherited the name on ours Naughty-cal but it seemed quite fitting so we kept it. She had originally been called I Dunno. The owner then went on and named his next boat Still Dunno.

Ah! Forgot to set this to record!

Certainly when we were looking at the Alpha 35 centre cockpits we found that there was no price difference between the 35's and the 42's. We steered away from the 42's as we really don't need a third bedroom but also as has been mentioned that finding a 42ft mooring on visitor moorings where we are would soon become a bind whereas with the 35ft boat we would have more of a chance, although it would still be very much more difficult then squeezing our current little 23ft boat into Twit gaps.

I am pretty sure that if I was retested now I would in all likelihood fail to pass a driving test! Not because I am a bad driver of course but being taught to pass a test and then learning to drive are two different things completely.

The company that made the screens didn't keep the patterns. A boat the same as ours smashed one front screen which is curved and the insurance bill came to £10k. It isn't even a big piece of glass! Not worth the risk smashing one.

We had a pretty lengthy discussion with the bridge pilot this summer about if our boat would get through the bridge. It was going to be close but the pilot reckoned he could get her through. In the end we decided that it was not worth the risk of breaking a screen (not at £10k a side!) so we ended up hiring one of their day boats for half a day instead. It is a shame we didn't get our own boat through as it is now the only bridge she has not been through.

Perhaps the post was missing so they thought they would share the post with the car in front. (Clearly an idea that will never catch on it the boating fraternity)

No they are clearly a very considerate boater as they have moored their car close to the car in front and have not left any Twit gaps.

We hired one last year and found the helm to be just right for us two. Although neither of us is very tall. Was nice to see over the reeds rather then at them as we do from our boat and the previous forward steer tubs we have hired. In fact that was part of the reason we decided to hire a flybridge model next time.

I do like the look of those wooden boats. Not sure that they would be the sort of thing that we would hire though. Don't think we are traditional enough for that.

We did meet some this year who I do think would have paid for a winter mooring. Contrary to popular belief not all of the liveaboard continuous cruisers on the Broads live on ramshackle ready to sink wrecks. We met some very nice people on some very nice boats.

We always used to book with Barnes. Used them for six or seven years in a row. We then bought our own boat so had a break from hiring for ten years until last year when we decided to hire again out of season for a week. Barnes didn't have the type of boat we wanted to try so we booked with Richardsons and had a great week onboard Viscount. We have booked again with Richardsons for next year. Looking forward to a week on Swan Ranger next October. But before that we have hired a boat in Belguim at Easter with Le Boat. Sadly our last experience with Le Boat last month in Brittany wasn't quite what we expected with the boat not being to the standard we were accustomed too in the UK

Offer winter moorings to those who liveaboard?

Interesting you say that but we are wanting to purchase an Alphacraft 35 Highliner in the not too distant future. Finding one for sale will be the tricky bit. We have no intention of keeping it on the Broads mind and it will be ideally suited for getting on and off where we moor.

On its way.

Sorry. Only just spotted this!! Will send it now! Where do you want me to send it?

We have hired Swan Ranger next October for a week and it will be the first time we have had a boat with radiator heating. Our own boat and every other boat we have hired have all had blown air heating which depending on the layout of the ducting and the size of the heater have usually been very good at warming the boats up. Is radiator heating as effective as warm air on a boat?

What boat were you in that couldn't get under Ludham bridge at 8'2"? We have hired one of the flybridge Alphacraft 35's from Richardsons next year and even that only claims to be 7'9" https://www.richardsonsboatingholidays.co.uk/boats/swan-ranger/ Be a tight squeeze if the bridge was reading 8'2" granted but it would go through!

Fair enough. As for the draughty sliding roof. We had the same from the last boat we hired from Barnes, Brink of Joy which was based on the same hull as Sonnet and Velvet. I think that is just an attribute to the design with the sliding roof being over the saloon area. We remedied it with some pipe lagging in the end which worked a treat. Interestingly we hired an Alpha 35 centre cockpit last time and as the sliding roof was over the galley and helm we didn't notice any drafts as we were sat in the saloon of an evening even though the sliding roof was gappy.

Would Brinks Sonnet have been much more money? Seems to be a better fitted out and specced version of the same hull.

I'm not quite sure how Yarmouth stops people visiting. Certainly for us Lowestoft is the better entry anyway.

When we had ours done, which admittedly was ten years ago now, they did a short river trial prior to the boat being lifted.