750XL

Engine, heating and lights worked fine without issue (lovely well fitted out LED strip lighting may I add!). Assume bilge pump was fine also as we didn’t sink :) Shower box, toilet, plug sockets, fridge, kettle, toaster, microwave, oven and hob not so okay without shore power!

That’s what I was told, but I could be wrong. I’m sure someone will correct me if so.

There was certainly a small amount of charge going back into the batteries, just nothing to sustain more than 2 minutes of cooking. Was led to believe there’s 14 batteries fitted to the boat, and a dead cell etc in one of them could’ve goosed the whole system. Engine and heating started like a dream every morning, so assume it was on a different battery system . It’ll be a lovely boat once the issues are sorted and it’s given a bit of TLC of the winter. Though interestingly I see it’s no longer bookable

This was the placard at the helm. Vogue Marine, I assume!

‘Loddon Pizza and Kebab House - www.loddonkebab.co.uk Admittedly probably not everybody's cup of tea whilst on a Broads holiday, but for a cheap and cheerful takeaway meal the food was great! We put in the postcode for the Staithe along with a comment explaining we were on a boat and within 30 minutes the delivery man had found our boat and delivered our food. Can’t complain really as we had no working galley at the time, so it was either that or the pub opposite.

For those uneducated amateurs amongst us (ie me!), what does the ‘quay assistant’ do? We didn’t stop there, but did cruise past last week and the moorings didn’t seem that different to anything else we’d seen north or south, with the exception of Yarmouth... which I wouldn’t have fancied staying at with the speed of the current that took us out towards Breydon!

We did ask if it was okay to leave on overnight, and was told it’s fine to do so. Noticed a few other boats had theirs running overnight and we didn’t burn to death so I guess that’s a good thing :)

We’ve just got back from a week on the Broads and were somewhat surprised by the lack of moorings on the North anywhere near villages or pubs. Thankfully we much prefer mudweighting and wild mooring so it wasn’t an issue for us, but had we needed (or wanted) to eat ashore for the evening it would’ve been a struggle I think! Even both sides of Acle were full at approx 4pm. We even struggled to find water on a few occasions, which was a pain. The Southern Broads were a different story though, plenty of room everywhere (except Loddon). Even managed to get a takeaway delivered to our boat at Rockland St Mary’s.

Just out of curiosity, what’s the warm air heating arrangements usually like on hire craft? We had Brinks Duet the other year and I assumed it was electric warm air heating which could only be used for short periods else the battery would drain. It was very effective and warmed the boat quickly in the mornings etc. Just had Pegasus from Waveney River Centre and assumed it would be the same, but the friendly chap doing the handover said it was a diesel heater (Webasto?) which allowed us to leave it on overnight - not the most powerful heater but did a good job at keeping the chill out of the air overnight which was great.

Had the prices been a bit more attractive I’m sure I could’ve persuaded the other half a week of extra layers and a sleeping bag was worth it - but it’s quite hard to justify when March/April were almost the same cost. Either way, gives the boys and girls at Richardson’s some more time to give their fleet some TLC!

We did think about going back on the Broads in November as we enjoyed our week just gone, but thought the cold, short days and long nights was probably a bit too much - especially considering the prices aren’t much lower than September etc.

Seems I replied as you were typing your reply, so see my above comment which may be of interest to you. We were definitely configured correctly (inverter ON, battery charger OFF) but the batteries just wouldn't charge other than from shore power for some reason. Still awaiting a response to my email from WRC

The boat worked well and as it should do on shore power, as the gentleman at Brooms kindly let us plug in for 30 minutes whilst we topped up with water which allowed us to cook a breakfast on one of the days. However, attempting to use anything off battery power (even with engine running at high RPM) from day 3 onwards just switched all the electric off after a minute or so. Eventually after a few attempts, the batteries were drained completely. I suspect the batteries were fully charged off shore power when we picked up the boat and eventually ran flat on day 3/4. We tried getting power at Rockland St Marys but the post was inoperative, and the day after when we reached Beccles the office was closed for their electricity cards. Either way, I don't think reliance on shore power for such an expensive boat (considering over 6 hours cruising a day was done) is acceptable. Photo attached for anyone interested (not showing anything on the LCD display, as it was dead). Inverter would also flash 'Low Battery' even though we'd cruised 8 hours from North to South When cruising: Inverter > ON - Battery Charger > OFF On Shore Power: Inverter > OFF - Battery Charger > ON

My apologies, my technical knowledge isn’t that good (as you can tell). Either way, the batteries wouldn’t charge despite cruising with the engine 6+ hours a day

I can understand the reason they opted for electric, and the first few days were great and if everything had worked properly, it would’ve been a perfect boat. But to lose all electric, fridge, cooker, hob, oven, microwave, kettle, the lot... gulp!

Yes we did, also took the boat into the yard as the toilet stopped working for the last 2 days - which they assumed was linked to the batteries. Unfortunately no luck getting either problem sorted despite the guys best efforts in the boatyard. Who, may I add, are an absolute credit to Waveney River Centre and tried their best for us in the time we were there but shy of pulling the boat apart couldn’t fix it. Connecting to shore power was the ‘fix’ but finding a space anywhere with shore power proved impossible.

We’ll certainly be back in the near future, but next time I think we’ll be very wary of booking a boat that doesn’t have gas for cooking (or one with better reviews!).

I’ll hold out on a full review until Waveney River Centre have responded to my email. But in short, the batteries wouldn’t charge properly via the inverter which meant we couldn’t use the oven/hob/microwave/kettle/toaster for almost half the holiday - presumably the point where the shore power charged batteries finally went flat. Disappointing for a £900 boat, along with the additional costs of having to eat out + half a fridge of wasted food. Looking at previous reviews of this boat dating back to August on Hoseasons, it doesn’t seem like an isolated one off issue like we were led to believe...! Disappointing.

We've just returned from our week on board Pegasus and unfortunately came home feeling quite disappointed. The all electric galley/appliances proved to be a nightmare with the batteries as some had predicted on here. Still awaiting a reply to my email from WRC so I'll hold off posting a full and honest boat review until then, as it's only fair they're given the opportunity to 'put things right' imo!

Well, we survived our week afloat and despite worrying about the swing bridges and Breydon, that turned out to be the easiest bit of the holiday and we comfortably made it through Yarmouth in both directions. As we headed South, the boys on Broad Ambition passed us underneath Vauxhall bridge heading North. Thanks for all the kind advice given on the forum to assist with our holiday. Didn't make it under Ludham as the waters were still high, and although the boat was 8ft 4inches the've stuck a TV antenna on the roof making it almost 9ft Unfortunately we came home feeling a bit disappointed after numerous issues with the boat but it's only fair I wait for a reply from WRC before posting a full boat review.

We've just returned from a full weeks hire of 'Pegasus' from WRC, a holiday we'd been looking forward to for quite some time. Quite pricey (£900 for the week) considering it's only a 2 berth boat but we figured it'd be worth the extra money to treat ourselves to a 'Hoseasons Starboard Collection' boat. Unfortunately, we came home rather disappointed after various issues through the week. However, I'm still awaiting a response to my email from WRC and I feel it's only fair to give them the opportunity to 'put things right' before posting a full boat review - which I will do here in due course. The location of WRC didn't put us off and we didn't find road access an issue at all. Yes, it's a small country lane with limited passing places, but it's hardly a traffic heavy road? We only had to travel up/down it twice, so wasn't a problem at all. We ended up cruising a lot more than expected, not for any particular reason, other than we really enjoyed visiting new places. It's a long old cruise from South to North but we did enjoy it and ended up seeing almost all of the navigable Broads (excluding bits under bridges we couldn't pass, including Ludham). Whilst we did enjoy the Southern Broads, we didn't feel like there was a whole lot there and it's a fair old cruise in between destinations with not much to see except wide open rivers and high reed beds. It may not be everyone's cup of tea, but we much prefer the North. We didn't stop off in many places during our week afloat and didn't visit any pubs/cafes etc. However, we did note the majority of the ones we passed on the Southern Broads seemed closed and there wasn't many boats around at all. In fact, we were the only boat moored at Rockland St Marys (where the electric post is inoperable, may I add). Up until last week all the boats at WRC were showing on the Hoseasons website, and we noticed they dropped off there the other day and aren't bookable through Hoseasons. They are still showing on WRC website, though. The staff at WRC had told us they struggled to rent any of their cruisers out last year, but this year post lockdown had been good for obvious reasons. Looking at availability on their site for next year, their forward bookings aren't very strong. WRC is a long way from anything and I can't see it being a very attractive location for 3-4 day boat hire. Even on a weeks hire, it's still probably a bit far from everything for most people. Not sure whether we'd hire a cruiser from WRC again or not, but I'll post a full honest review of the boat and boatyard in the next few weeks

If anybody is passing through over the next few days and has the chance to post the latest heights it'd be much appreciated We need 8ft 6" (ish) on Sunday or Monday

Thank you all for the helpful replies as ever, much appreciated. @CambridgeCabby, from what I saw on social media the heights haven't got above 7ft 6" ish. Was there really an extra ft (making it 8ft 6") today? If so, we're going to try and make it this weekend

Sorry to resurrect this post from the archives, but didn't think it was necessary to create a new topic. We go down to the Broads in a few days for our week away, and can't wait. Understand water levels are high so we've (probably) scrapped the idea of getting an 8ft 6" (ish) air draft through Ludham Bridge up the River Ant, but we'd still like to go North if possible. Can anyone advise whether the higher than normal water levels effect the bridges at Yarmouth too? Will we get an 8ft 6" under them at slack water? Thank you!

It does surprise me that in this day any age there aren’t any digital water level monitors installed on the river, with bridge clearance heights/water levels displayed online.