[Advice Sought From Inexperienced Boaters On How Not To Be A Nuisance]

8 hours ago, BroadAmbition said:

They state to use the pilot when we took them through - However it was October, the pilots had ceased to operate until the spring.  I got clearance of H.W's prior to the Lads week commencing to take them through without a pilot

Griff

Reading my post again, it looks as if I was accusing you of doing something naughty.

I assure you that wasn't the intention - I was just commenting on what their web site says now for the Beam of Light.

[Advice Sought From Inexperienced Boaters On How Not To Be A Nuisance]

1 minute ago, oldgregg said:

That's odd then. Surely even Woods aren't stupid enough to have put a fixed helm chair on the beams?

 

I'm not very well up on such things, but from the photo on their web site there seems to be a metal hinge-y thing on the seat...

[Advice Sought From Inexperienced Boaters On How Not To Be A Nuisance]

19 minutes ago, oldgregg said:

Yes Noble Captain is basically a Broom Ocean 38, fitted out by Haines as are most of Manor House's boats. A very nice spacious boat, one of my favourite of the Broom designs.

We couldn't find much to fault it. Larger windows in the front cabin would be nice. I don't know how there was quite so much space inside.

19 minutes ago, oldgregg said:

Incidentally, we were held up on our handover because all the engineers had to rush off in a RIB to stop one of the Noble Captains sinking as the hirer had holed it on rocks at the top end of the Lough. It came back strung alongside the RIB with big pumps running and they craned it out straight away to start repairs.

We managed not to do that. Must have put a pretty abrupt end to their holiday.

I must confess there were occasions we cheated a bit with GPS on my phone to find out where we actually were so we didn't hit the rocks.

And there was an occasion where the entrance to a lough did a very good impression of being a curve in the river and carried on looking quite convincing until it started to get full of reeds.

19 minutes ago, oldgregg said:

We hired Noble Chief 3, a Haines Charter 360. Very spacious inside, but I think a Captain would have handled a lot better.

Looks a nice one too.

The Captain handled a lot better than the day boat we hired for a week on our first go at a boating holiday. (Ex sea boat that had seen better days).

23 minutes ago, Spider said:

Hire boats' advertised airdrafts are, in my experience, rarely accurate and understandably tend to err on the cautious side.

Can't blame them for playing safe, I suppose.

22 minutes ago, WherryNice said:

Ludham isn't a maybe with a 7'2" air draft, it's a definite yes! (quoted clearance is 8'6")

Yes - I have been wondering why they list Ludham as "subject to weather and tide conditions" given the rather large difference between quoted air draft and bridge clearance.

22 minutes ago, BroadAmbition said:

7ft 2" - Wroxham is a definite yes on most days too

I piloted Jewel of Lights through Wroxham bridge a couple of years ago now on our annual Lads week, no problem at all and I seem to remember they needed 7ft 2" also

Griff

They quote 7 ft for Jewel of Lights.

They require you to use a pilot for Wroxham. (Bridge pilots are a new concept to me).

 

[Co Alarm Upgrade Surprise]

44 minutes ago, ZimbiIV said:

Well done on changing your CO detector, they are not fit and forget and need changing every 3 to 5 years no matter what the makers say.

paul

When I hired a boat a few years ago (not on the Broads) we had to sign something to say we'd had a handover and would follow the rules, and there was something there about the CO detector (I don't recall why).

So I asked where it was, to be told that there wasn't one, but they could fetch one if I liked.

I did like.

It never went off but better safe than sorry.

 

[Advice Sought From Inexperienced Boaters On How Not To Be A Nuisance]

23 hours ago, oldgregg said:

A Diamond 43! Speedtriple and I are very familiar with those. Ours needs 6' 10" at Wroxham with the light mast folded down and obviously a hireboat won't have that so you can shave a couple of inches off.

Interesting - they say it's 7 ft 2 inches...

23 hours ago, oldgregg said:

Beam of Ligh probably isn't allowed under Potter Heigham, but Beccles will be no problem as long as you keep an eye on the tides. I was down there two weeks ago on one....

You're right about Potter Heigham. They say it won't do Beccles Old bridge either.

23 hours ago, oldgregg said:

Yes I remember not knowing the air draft with the Manor House boat and a particular bridge I wasn't sure if I'd get under. Which boat did you hire?

A "Noble Captain". I believe it's a Haines 38. We were very impressed with it - not that any of us had set foot on a cruiser before let alone stayed on one. Excellent for families - a completely enclosed flydeck which was set back from the sides of the boat.

It felt a lot larger on the inside than we'd expected.

A bit on the tall side for the broads, I think.

I hope we enjoy the Beam of Light as much.

23 hours ago, oldgregg said:

Ours had the turbocharged 5-cylinder Nanni and did a lot more than 6 knots.

It must have had an engine. When we turned the key something started making a noise and let us move the boat about. But I have no idea what it was - it was well hidden away and we weren't expected to do anything technical like make sure water was coming out of the back of the boat when it started let alone check oil levels.

It went fast enough for us.

Which boat did you have?

23 hours ago, oldgregg said:

Lough Erne is indeed massive and gets quite lumpy!

Yes - fun in the way we could pretend to be at sea, but a little worrying. We spent quite a bit of time heading in the wrong direction because every time we tried to turn we started to take the waves broadside and it got too scary. We had to get nearly to the other side before we felt comfortable turning round. There were almost no other boats around and there was probably a good reason for that.

I picked a very bad time to serve tomato soup.

[Advice Sought From Inexperienced Boaters On How Not To Be A Nuisance]

11 hours ago, oldgregg said:

Speed limits are also very much a thing on the Broads whereas on the Shannon / Erne system they really didn't care.

I remember trying to be a good boy on the handover in order to get it done quickly, and the guy just told me to give it some beans so my handover was a quick ten-minute run flat out. It's not like that here!

If I recall correctly it was 5 knots in "built-up" areas and no limit elsewhere. Once we got past the end of speed limit signs we could really push our hire boat up to nearly 6 knots...

We were with Manor House too. The boat handling part of the handover was somewhat brief - I don't think we had ten minutes to run flat out or otherwise.

I quite enjoyed the having-to-navigate part of the holiday. And the broad lough was...interesting on a breezy day.

It would have been useful if they'd told us what the air draft of the boat was though. Bridges weren't generally a problem but there was one route we didn't try because we didn't know if we'd get under a bridge or not.

11 hours ago, SPEEDTRIPLE said:

I forgot to ask, What boat have you hired, if it`s a high top, you will NOT be able to go further than Wroxham bridge, Wayford bridge, and Beccles Old bridge, where some of the prettiest and quieter less used parts of the Broads can be found.

It's a "Beam of Light" (an Aquafibre Diamond 43?) - 7 ft 2 inches air draft.

They say it won't do Potter Heigham (what does?), Beccles Old or Wayford.
Ludham and Wroxham are maybes.

I reckon there will be enough to see with where we can go, and it had the features we wanted unlike some that were a bit lower.

[Advice Sought From Inexperienced Boaters On How Not To Be A Nuisance]

36 minutes ago, SwanR said:

The holiday tales forum may give you some great ideas for possible routes and places to go. I'm guessing from your post that you're hiring from one of the boatyards on the northern side?

Yes - Herbert Woods.

Definitely planning on heading to the Southern Broads though.

The information on the internet makes crossing Breydon Water sound quite daunting, but I expect we'll manage it. Dealing with tides will be a new experience.

[Advice Sought From Inexperienced Boaters On How Not To Be A Nuisance]

10 minutes ago, w-album said:

Plenty of hullabaloos tonight on the river. Buy the dvd of Swallows and Amazon's for ever which was the BBC series for the two books. Horning heavily featured!

Ah that's a brilliant idea. I remember watching them when they came out...which was a while ago. I think the dog that played William ended up in Eastenders.

 

[Advice Sought From Inexperienced Boaters On How Not To Be A Nuisance]

11 minutes ago, vanessan said:

There are still coots around but I think August is not really the month for nesting so you’ll be ok. There are hullabaloos too, you’ll have no problem spotting them! 

Oh we had a little fleet of them on Lough Erne travelling round together - one night moored next to them was enough and after that we gave them a wide berth when looking for a mooring for the night. 

[Advice Sought From Inexperienced Boaters On How Not To Be A Nuisance]

This is my first posting, and I hope I've put this in the right place...

I have a 2 week family holiday planned in August in a hire boat on the Broads.

None of us have been there before - all we know is from Arthur Ransome.

Our boating experience is somewhat limited - a week of day boat trips on the upper Shannon, and a week in a cruiser on the Lough Erne.

We had a fantastic time on both occasions, found (almost) everyone very friendly, and managed not to get into any trouble.

I think that - at least on the Northern Broads - it will be a bit busier in August than Ireland was though.

I'd be interested in advice people here have that might not be obvious on how to enjoy ourselves without being a nuisance to those who know what they're doing and have to put up with hordes of beginners in hire boats...

We're not planning on mooring over any coots' nests.