PaulN

Thank you everyone for your contributions. Much appreciated. Such a shame there are no public moorings before the bridge. Our boat will fit under the bridge some times, but more often than not there has been insufficient clearance for our air draft over the last couple of years.

When we can't get under the bridge at Wroxham, is there anywhere to moor a private boat apart from Hotel Wroxham? When we moored at at Oulton Broad a few weeks ago, the person next to us said they go into NBD Faircraft Loynes, however when I enquired there a couple of years ago they said they couldn't accept private craft due to insurance. Does anyone have an answer please?

Ludham has the thumbs up for me, love the range of their shop made sausages. The wife can go to the butshers while I can order a pint and a gin and tonic at the Kings Arms almost opposite to save time!

I can't see electric powered engines in boats being an option in my lifetime and the availability of Diesel should be ok for the foreseeable future, as I can't see HGV 1's being able to economically carry enough batteries for long haul any time soon. I have had a number of diesel cars for mileage economy and my latest has two tanks one for diesel and one for AdBlu, the additive which pretty much neutralises the pollutants. I know little about the technology and although our engines and exhausts are water cooled, is it possible to use catalytic converters and AdBlu to reduce our carbon footprint on our boats, for engines designed in the future. I'm sure we have engine techies out there who can advise.

Hi Simon. Just read the specification online for Sheer Elegance aka Pipedream, absolutely fabulous Should be the cleanest boat on the broads with wet shed mooring and full winter cover. I remember earlier this year helping you out of the corner berth at Ranworth with an onshore wind, no problem now with bow and stern thrusters like us! Look forward to seeing her.

Hi Bikertov, welcome to the forum. NW London is not as far away as many members of this forum, our journey is 117 miles and we soon got use to it. Keep a good eye on at least the two main sales sites (below) It doesn't need to be a big shiny newish boat to really enjoy yourself on the broads. This is not a dress rehearsal, so why not go for it, if it's where your heart lies. https://www.nya.co.uk/boats-for-sale/ https://www.norfolkboatsales.co.uk/inventory/

I have had boats nearly all my life and am now in my 70's. I have moored in many marinas and whilst I have had several broads holidays (nearly all Rico boats), the boat I have now is my first broads cruiser, which I purchased in 2018. Looking for somewhere to berth her, I managed by luck to get a marina berth in Horning. I have been very happy there and have found Clive the most friendly and helpful proprietor I have come across in my boating experience. The de-merging of businesses has nothing to do with me, I just want to enjoy my boating as it is.

I've sailed in Dragon's many times and yes can be very wet on the sea. Still a very popular boat, below is the fleet at this years Gold Cup in Sweden

I'm obviously out of step with everyone else. I personally wont miss stag and hen boats! Have you ever been on a pleasant quiet mooring like Womack when one or two of these pull in for the evening. I'm also confident that Paul and Clive are far more knowledgeable about running boating businesses that most of us.

At Beccles, you can keep the power and use it next time. Hang onto the card and before you leave press the red button on the meter and hold it in, put the card back in, you should hear it click. Remove the card and release the red button. You can now use it next time, (just don't accumulate the cards on board, as they like them back). The instructions are actually on the meter. I didn't spot this, my wife did. As you know, it's the girls that read the instructions when you get something new, they ruin all the fun of spending the odd hour figuring out how something works.

I would definitely tell them to take the charge off, especially as my experience of service there has been pretty indifferent this year. I find it impertinent to add a charge for service regardless. Let me be the judge of that. I tip regularly for good service, but always try to do this after paying the bill and in cash, handing it to the person who served me and letting them know how pleased I was. They can share it with their colleagues by all means, but at least I know it hasn't gone directly to the company bank account. Surprising how you get remembered and looked after, next time you go there. Years ago I had an elderly, rather wealthy friend and if we went out for the evening, would give a tip before he sat down and told the person there would be more at the end if his guests were well looked after. He told me long ago, "Why leave service to chance" He was always proved right.

Thank you Grendel, good advice as usual

I was with Navigators and General, but when I wanted to increase the value of the boat considerably, because of the way the used boat market has gone, I found I needed to change insurers and went to Alan Boswell of Norwich. Alan Boswell had no problem with the value I wanted, T&C's were the same and the premium a little less than the previous year. amazingly both brokers use the same underwriters for the policy: Zurich.

We moor in Horning and I usually buy the cards from Tidings shop which is near the Staithe.. More often than not there is sufficient left by the previous person who moored wherever we are. The most we use on a 24 hour mooring is about 65p when staying overnight.

Thanks for this information, I had only been aware of racing on the Monday. I plan to be there both days to watch