[Non-slip Painting]

I put kiln dried sand into boat paint to make a rougher surface

[Fishermen Without Boats Fishing On BA Moorings.]

I tell you what has changed over the years, is the amount of gear used.

I used to go out with my Shakespeare seat box, rod and landing net. If I had to move, it was quick and no hassle.

Now I see stuff that requires a borrow, that needs a path, that needs access, that needs space, that needs a flat area to lay it out.

24hour mooring perhaps?

On Thursday I notice a couple of very considerate anglers at Irstead, one at each end of the staithe and the BA bit, plenty of room. But these guys had match gear, keep nets and the like and I did wonder how long would it take to get that all in if anther 2 boats arrived?

[Flooding]

3 hours ago, CambridgeCabby said:

Whilst I fully agree with your sentiments , it is ridiculous that “those in power” fail to grasp that maintenance is far more cost effective than repairing when broken .

Results, my friend, results!

Politically, everyone expects maintenance, its not sexy or noteworthy and its expensive. repair when broken looks the part and you can say your doing your bit. looks good on the books too.

Every night, large sections of the motorways are closed down between 11 and around 4 in the morning. Hundreds swarm over the road space, repairing and replacing.

By the morning they fade away. You wont notice the lights changed, vegetation trimmed, white lines, patches and cameras serviced.

But you still get someone complain the roads are falling to pieces and no one actually does anything and what about the miles of cones with no one in them?

Fact is, cutting office staff wont save much. The days of cheap labour have gone and the cost of materials have at least doubled or trebled and most government agencies need to lobby for more funds to do maintenance work that the current government wont get an once of credit for

[Flooding]

The fact is, and yes I was JCB driver who ditched for a living, all these works are very, very expensive. And getting more so because of the skills shortage.

Take the roads for example, I can tell you the list for upgrades, pot hole repair and maintenance is scary but the budget is shrinking made worse due to the cost of labour and importing materials that we just don't make here.

So much like The Broads, we deal in emergencies, a little planed work for safety. The big stuff has to be okayed by the government who funds that

This country is now in recession and folks, how much does the country want to pay? not a lot

[Mooring Help]

Beccles yacht station? The area towards the sea cadets

[Richardsons]

Whatever the arguments, The Broads must not be preserved like some sort of exhibit.

As the hire fleet slowly retires, these and their hire tolls need to be housed. Marinas need to be built, facilities need providing.

Otherwise costs will rise as market forces take effect, long term mooring prices will rise by demand, less boats on the water, tolls will have to rise to take up the slack.

The Broads could well become an elitist playground as viewed by the public, the same public that is needed to fund future flood defenses.

[Possible Tidal Surge 21st Dec]

or more scarily, is it worth it?

London's economy is worth trillions, Great Yarmouth, multi millions.

The Broads as we know them? 

Would the country as a whole and with all its problems, care? Think of coastal erosion.

The spin is, its climate change, its only returning the land to nature, only boaters effected and how many houses effected?

 

[Possible Tidal Surge 21st Dec]

4 hours ago, Wussername said:

Stop moaning. Norfolk is windy. Boggy. Floods. Stuck out in the middle of the North Sea like carbuncle. Wherever you live draw a circle, in that circle identify a radius. Within that radius, just a few miles is the sea and it is the sea that determines where we live and the life we live. Has been so for many generations.

Climate change. Climate changes. Now and again people in Norfolk dig up an elephant. They do, an elephant or a woolly  mammoth. A bit of a sabre tooth tiger.  

What caused their demise. Could it have been climate change?

What caused that climate change?

Not my diesel car, not my central heating, my coal fire, my wood burner, my holiday in the Costa Plenty. 

 

True. Not just you but several billion yous just might. 
Climate change don’t care if you believe in it or not

[Possible Tidal Surge 21st Dec]

When do these “problems “ become a trend and the trend to the norm?

[Dredging - Lowe Bure - Lack Of Maintenance]

I work for a similar semi government agency and I can tell you they know exactly what is needed but also what is obtainable with the current funds and that is rub. 

[Dredging - Lowe Bure - Lack Of Maintenance]

What we need is data rather than memory. 
someone, somewhere must have recorded highs and depth and if not why not?

I suspect that the Broads is storing more water than before for longer because I’ve simply seen tides that never happened the water level largely staying the same  

I feel if it is found that the levels are rising faster than thought then the spotlight is going to zero on the fact that there isn’t much you can do about it unless you find out why.

The easiest answer is dredging and I hope that is the answer because no way will the country pay for barriers at Yarmouth or extensive canalisation away from large centres of civilisation  

 

[Flood Planning]

Oh the government are doing something about it. Telling you it’s climate change, in fact everybody is telling everybody it’s climate change. So much so that the public are going say well that’s climate change. What yer going to do?

They will let it go and blame climate change because they said that’s exactly what is going to happen. And it will 

[Flooding]

People hear that the average sea level rising or that the average temperatures is increasing and it doesn’t sound a lot. 
on our scale it isn’t. 
if the sea levels rise a quarter of an inch, how many trillions of gallons is that in global scale, and that water has weight and inertia. 
How much power does it take to rise global temperatures? That heat is just another form of energy that has to go somewhere, usually powering the weather cycles a bit like an accelerator on an engine. 
 whatever the cause or what you believe, the climate doesn’t care but, if you believe the projections, this going to happen more and more as the world reclaims the low lands and the cost of protecting The Broads is going to get very expensive 

[Winterising Again]

As an observation, and for those who's sinks drain overboard, why do we have a trap in the drain pipe?

 

[Winterising Again]

I’ve got hold of a 25ltr container which has anti freeze mix in it. Whip off raw water filter cover as the admiral starts the engine and keep pouring until the mix exits. 
I need a fair amount and a decent rate of pour because as I found out, it also cools the hydraulic oil. 
This also allows the boat to be quickly recommissioned. 
If you have shore power then I’d use a dehumidifier draining into a sink

[Boater's Interest Organisation]

Sometimes I see the boiling frog syndrome at work. 
Me? since the early 90’s I’ve zoned in and out of the Broads and can see the changes especially as the tide of hirers goes out and the different practices of private owners effect the surrounding areas

we can’t be united because we all want something a little different and we all use the Broads in a different manner. 
take me for instance, an owner who never eats at a pub, brings his own food and diesel. Mainly to keep costs down but because I can’t guarantee mooring near big centres. At least up north. 
so my push would be for more moorings and off the wall ways to achieve this. 
Others do the exact opposite and are happy as is

i feel once we start to feel the water boiling it will be too late to effect anything 

[Broads Authority Mooring Fees]

The difference here regarding Travellers permanent sites is that the Travellers have history of well, being travellers, not homeless.

And how welcome are Travellers made when they rock up to the local green?

You cant just turn  up anywhere and decide to live there, everything in this land is owned or regulated by someone.

Set aside areas for residential moorings?

So what happens when these areas are full?

You cant really say "No more" because the exact same arguments still applies because the only limit that can be fairly applied is when the Broads is full.

If you allow limited residential then the price will go up until the point that only the rich can afford to stay there and back to the beginning we go.

This is the classic thin edge of the wedge argument.

 

[Broads Authority Mooring Fees]

I'm going to appear heartless but what the hell. Also, just to add to the mix, I was reprocessed in the 90's.

A saying I like "Their circus and we are their monkeys" fits because this isn't a free for all.

The BA has not got to solve the live aboard issue, the rules are there, many follow them (and i have met them especially on The Chet) some don't.

The rest is a government issue, that's what we vote for. That is the bigger social problem for them to sort not the BA.

You cant pick and choose what rules and laws you follow as was quoted to me many times during lock down and the same still applies

so until the rules change then we dance to the same old tune.

[Good Or Bad Year?]

Hiring a boat is no great value for money, as has been said. When I first hired, about 1996, the boat was still heated by gas and only had one battery.

But I expected that. I hoped one day to hire a connoisseur.

It was a cheapish holiday and we loved it.

Now you pay more, way more. The boats in itself are great, way more packed in them but, The Broads experience is lacking. You cant really moor where you like, you could back in the day because  of the greater number of hire yards to moor at within limits.

And that's the main point i get at the river bank. You spend fortunes on a boat only to cruise for a couple of hours and then spend a worrying amount of time finding a suitable mooring that is nowhere near any kind of shops.

Once you have been a couple of times, you learn the ways and can adjust but a first timer may struggle

[Paddle Boarders]

My experience is that they are highly unpredictable. Unlike a cycle on the highway which has to keep to a defined set of rules.

They pop out between moored boats, cut corners and cruise on the wrong side. And in one case on The Ant, at night

once again, the water is seen as a safe environment where as the highway is seen as a killer 

it’s all about context, when you think you’re safe, that’s when trouble starts 

[Emission From Boats]

17 hours ago, dom said:

Zero emissions seems like a non-starter to me, given the large numbers of sea going boats in recreational waters. I'd imagine it's probably far more likely we'll see Euro 5 style regulations and may also have to start retro-fitting catalysers and DPFs or similar.

As an aside, I'l love to know how electric car range would translate if the same hardware went into boats. Tesla motors and batteries are becoming readily available now and not too crazy prices. The thought of being able to trickle around silently, then turn up the voltage crossing Breydon is quite appealing. 300-400 miles on a charge would be great, but I'm guessing it'd be far less in reality?

Picking up more and more electric cars now with flat batteries. When we do move them its like dealing with a live bomb, stick them in service mode, disconnect the battery.

As for a crashed one......that is a thermic bomb!

Unless you go around with a meaty generator which defeats the idea.

The battery really does way a tonne and I still don't like the idea of that mixing with bilge water

[Assume Makes An Ass Out Of U And Me]

So Saturday afternoon we arrive at the boat as a sort of pre-holiday warm up.

You know that boat smell? Ours is a kind of distant engine, background diesel and locked up tent kind of smell.

This time I could smell, well wet kind of smell.

As we enter straight in the bedroom there is a small gap along side the port end of the bed that is really too small to walk but makes an ideal place to store odds and ends, tools and in my case, work cloths.

Under the window there was a small puddle of yellowish water.

First thought, leaking window or leaking holding tank. Copious amounts of blue roll later and the leak grows visibly while we watch.

OK leaking water pipe? Nope, the pump is not running.

The only thing I had really to mop this mess up was a big syringe that puts oil into gearboxes. With the help of Mrs Cheese, I removed 4 gallons of water that was actively running in as I sucked it up.

Needing more investigation, I left the better half battling on, and I went to the engine hatch on the stern.

Now I own a Bermuda 35, a flattie which has an engine room in the back in its own section with a drain to the prop tunnel which is home to the bilge pump.

A thing about this design is that rain water drips its way around the engine room hatch into the engine room floor and eventually, drains into the lower bilge. As a bonus, the front well also drains rain into the prop tunnel and from here, auto bilge pump does its thing.

Upon opening the hatch, I saw at least 2 inches of water covering the floor and due to full tanks on the port side of the boat the water had sloshed, when added to our weight, to lap against the bulkhead and found its way in to the cabin.

This was my first mistake as I, due to my blue water sailing experience and fear, I leaped to the conclusion that my duel raw water intakes or through hulls had leaked or split letting in the river Ant.

I called out to the Enemy to show her and with great intelligence, she got in touch with Mr P Richardson who offered the boatyards pumps but first of all, Have I checked the bilge pump?

Nope, the pump was not running but why would it? The trouble was in the back.

As She Who Must Be Obeyed started making arrangements with Paul (yard boss) I lifted the mattress and bed bottom more to see if the water was under the bed which it wasn't.

While I was there, I decided to lift the hatch that covers the prop tunnel and the lower bilges.

It was full up, the water was that deep.

Realization began to dawn on me as I made my way to the bilge switch.

We will pause here to describe this bilge switch. Its a push/pull switch, either off or on with about 5 mm movement. It sits on the right hand of the helm with its twin the water pump switch. Up is on.

It was off.

As soon as I turned it on water started to exit, and it did for the next 15 minutes.

The flood waters receded, the engine room drained and the bedroom was saved.

My mistake?

I assumed that the leak was in the engine room.

I assumed that the bilge pump was on.

The last time I used the boat in anger was at least 8 weeks ago and I’m guessing its rained a lot since then and its not beyond imagination that I accidentally turned off the pump.

The boat had filled from the front, then flooded the engine room and then onto the cabin.

Lessons.

This boat needs to handle rain water 24/7. Not a problem on shore power but its tendency is to fill.

So its fail-safe state is fail, its built in.

The switch needs “safeing” Now its unable to be turned off accidentally by a bright yellow cable tie around its stem. Will be changed to an on/auto switch. Note, no off.

High water alarm will be fitted.

Another bilge pump with pipe to hand to be available in emergency with jump leads to battery.

Better means of mopping up water. Bailing scoop?

Big thank you to Richardson's.

[A Bargain?]

I remember in the early eighties at Christmas the advert with the music “messing around on the water” advertising The Broads. The only time I can remember the Broads selling itself. 
As has been said, I work on the Essex borders and hardly anyone has heard of the Broads 

[A Bargain?]

Looking at things objectively, I’m afraid the shore side facilities are surely lacking. Pay great sums of cash in order to cruise for four hours and moor no where you want to be. 
That’s the biggest complaint i heard on the heading last year. 
If you know what’s what no problem but for first timers, no so

[Battery Condition]

When I had a sail boat on the Medway, I considered 12.1 as flat. These were two 110 amp deep cycle batteries  They recovered well because of victron smart charger I had installed