Alkemist

Something like a Silver Melody looks perfect!

Hahaha...had to google Brazo’s...Texas would be a tad too far. thank you!

Clearly didn’t pack his Seven Oceans biscuits!

My partner and I have just googled the NB and blimey what a lucky bunch you are to boat around there! It’s stunning! love the shape of the waterways, the flowers on the banks and the windmills. Jo is half Dutch and she commented on how parts remind her of Holland. So she doesn’t know I’m asking this but should a miracle happen and we get shot of the littluns for a weekend, where would you suggest we head for please? I don’t think we would want anywhere hugely busy/commercial but a spot that’s pretty and romantic (with a good pub!) Place with the most suggestions goes on my bucket list. Oh and obviously our boat isn’t up to it right now so any recommendations for a hire firm that can sort out a humble little 2 berth would be appreciated. Thank you Alk

Thank you Polly. I’ll get on that and fit it before I make the the pontentially perilous voyage!

Hi John, Thank you for taking the time to help. I was hoping the sole floor wouldn’t cause me too much trouble. I’ve got to go and shut the chickens up now before the fox has ‘em but would like to know more if you are happy to try and answer some other questions I might have please? Alk

Bilge pump is manual (hand) which isn’t ideal. Been looking at an automatic Whale ‘Sub... something or other’. They seem to have good reviews. Perhaps I ought to order it now! So I was hopeful about keeping it in a yard on the estate I work on until I was told that 2 other staff had a caravan and camper here at one time. One night some kids from the town torched the caravan and it almost set fire to a nearby barn which housed the combine. Since then, the NFU have stipulated no staff property kept on site of that nature. ‘Yoof of today huh?’ Alk

She is currently on Sonning near reading and mooring is on K&A canal near Newbury (you’ve no idea how long this took us to find!) The mooring is private and although secure..is just a pin. So my next move was to get her to the mooring just by myself which will likely take a whole day. If anything goes wrong I am a confident swimmer and will take my life preserver. In the meantime, I am asking around for somewhere ‘hard’ to put her which isn’t easy around these parts. If we are lucky and find somewhere, it will mean getting her to Newbury Marina slipway and hiring a trailer for a day then blocking her on the hard over winter then take a good look without the worry of cutting through anything that may spring a leak! ? If if we can’t find anywhere soon then she will end up staying moored on K&A and we may get a cover for her to stop anymore rain getting in. Lj’s for kids yes, already planned. So was a day on the canal during half term ? I will post a pic of the hole/ballast area when I get a chance. I work in farming so it’s difficult to find time to get up to where she is during daylight! Determined to get that £2 coin too! Alk

Hi everyone. Thank you for your input. Regulo - no survey. We looked at it twice and both times I looked for squishy floor/bad motor/general neglect etc and took a bimble down the river at full chat both times. People seemed legit, floor felt hard (but was laminated flooring over fresh ply and now I know why!) outboard is a Honda four and the overall feeling about her was good. The only thing I didn’t like was that the steering felt loose and I was having to adjust almost constantly to go in a straight line but having ridden jet ski’s before that were wobbly at low speed I wasn’t hugely concerned and she did stabilise a tad at top speed. She only cost us 2750 and we didn’t feel we were taking too much of a risk for that money despite the fact that it is a big chunk of our savings. We are a young(ish) family with young children and initially set off down the caravan route as holidaying abroad has become prohibitive finanacially. Even Butlins et all is 2k plus. After seeing so many boats along the beautiful canal near our house we knew it was for us! Now, the kids are keen to have a ride but safety is paramount so I won’t even begin to entertain that until I know it’s safe. it’s hard disappointing them especially as they have been in it once already. Anyway, we knew it was a fixer upper (at least in terms of new window seals, furnishings and general updating including some electrics etc) and making it our own was part of the attraction but never expected a full on project. I made the classic newbie mistake of assuming a fibreglass hull boat will always be fine. I am a DIYer and knew f/g is tough/waterproof stuff that doesn’t rot. Stringers though I have only just learned about...especially the fact that they rot and affect the integrity of the hull. Jenny...my gut feeling matches yours and I hope this is all I have to do. Some other posters online suggest boats of this year and size only used wood to glass over and give shape which is where the hull strength really comes from. I’ve looked online for specs/info on Westons hull design etc but there is very little info. And no Weston owners groups I’m afraid. I did come across this though which led me to you guys. It even shows ‘Supe’ in her former glory... http://www.broads.org.uk/wiki/index.php5?title=Boat_Details&BoatId=7333&BoatHistory=12252 oh and another reason I thought 670’s were popular up there on the Broads was because most of them for sale seem to be your neck of the erm...waters. ( I did have some colourful search results come up when searching for ‘uk cruisers forums’ ? thanks again all and cheers Polly! Alk

Hello Regulo No it’s a ply floor (that’s been saturated and is completely rotten) topped with grp that has cracked. Alk

Oh and thanks Polly...she seems to only be taking on rainwater thank goodness...

Hi All. Thank you all for such a warm welcome...yes photos, of course. Didn’t intend to do this here but ok hold on a sec.... Ok that seems to be uploading. It’s taken midship(?) and has around a cm or so of water underneath. There is mushy compost in there (rotten ply?) and I fished out a flake of what looks like fibreglass but with a wood grain pattern and a notch on one side. Perhaps this is a thin coating of glass to the underside of the ply? I hope so rather than the hull flaking ?. Am scared to poke finger down too hard incase it goes through the hull! Toward the stern I uncovered a hole (post production) about tennis ball size through the sole which then goes through a thinnish (3-4mm) layer of fibreglass) into what I now understand to be ballast (concrete/stones/pebbles) The hole in the ballast is 2 inches deep and filled with brownish water, a washer and a £2 coin (which I can’t bloody reach ?) I’ve managed to manually (whale) pump out this water twice over two days (1/2 bucket day one, 1/4 bucket day two) The boat has an ‘aftermarket’ hard top with an attempt at ply doors rather than canvas and although the roof seems dry, the gaps in the doors aren’t. She also suffers from condensation and a number of other bits that allow rainwater in (we bought her during the heatwave and she seemed dry as a bone, of course) Rumpunch - Currently on Sonning (Thames) but hoping to move her nearer to home (Avon and Kennet) erm...in light of the above disclosure, am I still allowed to be on here?? kind regards Alk

Hi everyone. So right off the bat I’m going to be totally transparent about why initially came here. I need help. Not mentally (although some may beg to differ) but with a cruiser we’ve just bought...(yes we are new at this) and the reason I’ve chosen this forum is because it’s a Weston 670 and I gather they were/are popular on the broads? Anyway is has a crack in the cockpit sole which is terrifying and I can’t find out much info on the build/specs etc so need someone I who knows a bit about floors/hulls/stringers. We have gone from super excited at our first boat to despair after uncovering it. I will obviously post in the right section when I get more time but in the meantime can I just say that I was thrilled to have a good look around the forum last night and see so many subjects covered that we have questions about and so this is now more than just needing help. I hope it’s also about making some new friends/meeting like minded people. Looking forward to getting to know some of you. Bye for now