Cheesey69

Hi, Just witnessed two hire boats playing bumper boat while going down The Bure and to add to the horror, Children was crossing one boat to the other while under full power. mindless.

All about visibility. I once had some nut job swim out from a pumping station on the Ant, lost in the glare from the sun on the water, coming from behind a moored boat while I was abreast another boat coming from the other direction. Total luck I didn’t hit them. Only knew about it as I went past.

They take a lot of maintenance. I know because I look after the ones in the Dartford tunnel approaches. Anything from spiders to dirt block the sensor. Even a physical barrier don’t do it due to some always think your lying about the height.

Which direction do most get stuck? I could be over thinking it but if your up north nearly all of the actual Broads the navigation buoys mean little. Barton Broad you can cruise outside of the posts with little pain. could the novice just think nothing much will happen?

Totally agree. There are large sections of the commercial Broads I just can’t moor at. I end up bringing my own food and fuel.

Congratulations! You have won the internet with that one. Great couple of lines right there.

Spot cleaning? 3m brake cleaner. Evaporates.

Bmc 1.5. 35foot 9 miles to the gallon using gps, distance charts and even a measuring stick

I give up. I was just trying to make a point of know your engine, know your craft and know what bits do what. it does not matter where it’s made but if a throttle cable comes off, hose clip disappears and you ain’t got two on each end just looking at it won’t help.

Spot on. It’s the good old BMC 1.5 on hydraulic drive. Fact remains though to get know your engine at least on talking terms. For instance, a socket set needs to be imperial. The one I had was metric.

Possibly but mine wasn’t. Custom dash panel. They used trailer connection plugs for the electrical connections to the engine so swapping out a defective unit was a lot easier. This I was told is what they did back in the day. Better than trying to work on the engine in situ if a major fault was suspected. I again was told, that a swap could be done in under an hour Indeed, thanks to Paul and the lads, that’s what they did when my motor gave out just after buying it. I guess they made note of the hour meter reading

Having an ex hire myself here’s a few thoughts. join a breakdown service and get yourself a boat toolkit ignore the hour meters age to your engine. It probably won’t relate to your engine. Mine has had its engine replaced several times. Have a can of the proper oil in the engine bay. And I mean the proper spec oil relatable to when the engine was made. I find a dab of silicone grease on the weed filter gasket helps in the undoing. replace the ropes with some good grip ones that is well over specced. I like braided 20mm. Buy extra rope for more mooring options poke around the dark corners of the boat to find all the basics. Water pump, bilge pump, heater and heater pipes and get to know where all your through hulls are and how to close them. find the stern gland greaser and see if it needs topping up. keep in mind the BSS and make a mental list for compliance. Our outside warning signs have faded. and enjoy 😊

I’ve been told a similar thing happened in Cornwall way back when. A parish beach in a cove that had no shops but was very popular in summer. A small patch of land becomes available that suits a small car park. The parish council proposed buying it but the locals are against it. After all, what do they get out of it? They can walk to the beach, no shops depend on the summer trade and they have off street parking. Most really don’t want people walking around spoiling the area. Being noisy.

Question is, what do the locals get out of it? As it stands nothing but expense. Bet the space gets converted into parish moorings.

There is a limiting factor here. Available mooring near places to eat and drink. Bridge inn at Acle has a load of mooring around it and easy access by road. Other places, especially in the north are very restricted so how much trade do they get from the river? We don’t eat out in most areas in the northern broads because simply I can’t moor anywhere near them. Horning, Wayford, potter and wroxham no chance.

Argh but the smaller staithe can host a lot of paddle boarders, kayaks and canoes without the pesky boaters needs being met.

Diesels liked to be worked hard and if not generally glaze ( fill in) the micro valleys and ridges of the piston bore that help form an oil seal on the piston rings. Once glazed smoke, oil consumption and harder starting follows. Can’t fix it without a head off glaze busting. so an engine on the smaller side working hard is better than one this having it easy.

I’m thinking it’s to give the impression that this boat is a private boat.

This is the essence of learning by mistakes and accidents. you inch forward by others misfortunes.

good point, never thought of that.

Hi all, Back from a 7 day break and this point came up. Cruising into potter, boat in front turns and moors, I came straight in and moor. The crew disembarks with the power hook up in hand and walks up to the power point just as the bloke from the other boat approaches the pole. He is empty handed and looks at crew and says " I suppose your going to plug into there now" There was only one spare socket. we did The question is then, is it first come first served? Do you need plug in hand?

Just to add that by far the biggest hurdle to all these training ideas is "experience" You cant learn to drive from a book just as you cant helm from a book. And there is no way any hand over is going to teach you all the tricks and remain viable. You learn over time, each and every moment adds to the total. Windy weather, rain and nutters on paddle boards. Its all about the mistakes and how to make these mistakes not end in disaster. Now, as others have said, its all about the design of the boat to make it easy to use. Duel helm lock outs with no fail areas. Rope hooks for the mooring lines, rails and handles and doors that don't open out to an unprotected deck. Mirrors even to cover those spots. Design out as much as you can and what's left should not end a life

I work in live lane motorway situations and one of top lessons I live with is that complacency kills. I see too many people treat water as friendly when it’s a very good con artist. water is not our natural element and avoiding it our goal. I think we sell our past time as peaceful and relaxing and it is most off the time. Except when it isn’t

how about inconsistency? A lot of the Broads you can venture outside of the markers with no trouble at all. EG, Barton Broad. Or even roam all over most Broads, Wroxham. Suppose some may see breydon as the same and try to cut corners? But mostly I see boats flat out, the helm not paying attention, running close to the post, sudden over correction, boat weaves around doing the classic snake pattern.

My company uses electric 4x4's. You be surprised how much range you lose in winter running heating, battery warmers and lights. This might be an issue with our boats. The batteries suffer badly near freezing conditions. so it might not be a case of leave the boat over winter without a power source