dom

I think if you compare prices of the 29ST and things like aft cockpit Sheerlines, the price is probably just fair market value, with a slight premium for the Broom name. I think it's probably more a case that the HT is often good value, the price possibly having been pulled down by ex-hire boats, nearly 3 times as many on the Broads and the two tone superstructure and/or pilot rails on some, which are a bit marmite. My dad's best mate had a 29ft sedan with a Perkins 6.354 in it when I was young, so I've always had a love for big, multi-cylinder diesels. A 29ST with a Nanni 5 cylinder would be heaven for me, but it's beyond my budget at the moment unfortunately. I'm currently holding out to see what turns up on the market in the hope of finding something which'll pass under Wroxham in normal conditions. At the same time, I'm also looking around the Great Ouse and might consider something like a Fairline Mirage there if the right boat comes along. I suspect the ideal thing might be an aft-cockpit Mirage soft top with a big single diesel, as i could keep it locally on the Ouse, move it to the Broads later and still be able to get under Wroxham - but they're few and far between.

By quite a long margin unfortunately. Even in ideal conditions Wroxham is only 7ft 3in. Potter's way lower around 6ft 6in. You'd struggle with Ludham at times in current conditions, but hopefully you mean next season, so all should be back to normal by then.

PRM/Newage gearboxes are pretty common on Broads boats. The Aquafibre I nearly bought recently also had one. Just keep an eye on oil, as Karizma says - and give it a second in neutral before shifting to reverse to reduce load and it should last forever. I don't know about Brooms and whether their hire fleet was built alongside regular production, but on smaller yards, major components often weren't held in stock, so you'd end up fitting whatever the local chandler happened to have in stock at the time. You'd also find that when you built the first model, you'd find something a nightmare to fit or work with, so you'd fit something different on following craft. The same goes when things fail. You can't wait around for an exact replacement to turn up when it's someone's holiday, so engineers have to just find a way to fit whatever's available to get the hirer back off on their way. A fleet of half a dozen boats might all start out the same, but be significantly different after a few seasons on hire.

That's a result. I did wonder if Nanni had switched to a common block on later "Mk.2" models and just detuned the smaller ones, but better for you that it's the 220HE model. Jones' have sold an Ocean 29ST after yours where I'm sure the same applies too. It was only looking at that which made me realise that the 29ST is probably my ideal boat, as it'll go under Wroxham bridge. Too pricey at the moment though unfortunately. I did think about going over to Jones' earlier to have a look at the Fairline Mirage 29 they've got on brokerage, but never quite got around to it. They seem a ridiculously popular boat around here. Only thing which puts me off is the outdrive. The one at Jones' is the less common aft cabin model which has twins on shaft, but it's the 3 cylinder Volvo which must be pretty unrefined. I also think the aft cockpit's a really good looking boat for its age, but the aft cabin model is less so.

@Lulu has posted this one earlier in the thread, but I've just stumbled across it whilst browsing YouTube. It actually made me feel a bit teary seeing the old Broad Tours boats, the old Roys store pre fire and Bridge Newsagent in Hoveton (I went to school with the daughter of the owners). Looking at the colour of the grass in places, I wonder if it was 1976. I also wonder if I was amongst the kids by the river at Caen Meadow, as we lived nearby back then. What really struck me though was the view from Ranworth church around 2:35. Are they moored 7 or 8 abreast on the staithe? That's a new one on me if so!

Just after 5 mins in, the barge "Anjodi" is the one Rick Stein took out on his French Odyssey series. Had to laugh at the "Premium" wine tasting being €9. If that was on the Broads you can bet the price'd be triple that.

I put a 10'x8' one of them up on a windy allotment single-handed. I've no idea how I managed to do it without losing a finger or two! On the plus side, that was probably a good 10 years ago and it's only just starting to show signs of rust, so inside a boatshed, that one'll probably last forever.

From what I can remember, Horning main street has 2 tea rooms, 2 pubs, a restaurant, a "cafe deli" and a takeaway doing hot and cold drinks. That's leaving aside the old dairy and ferry marina. I lived just above the staithe for a while in the early 80s, when the holiday business was very busy, but from what I can recall, I don't think there was anything more than the 2 pubs back then (but there was still a supermarket, butchers, tackle shop, etc). It's not the BA to blame for the failure of these businesses, it's the banks and business owners failing to understand demand, footfall and market saturation. The last time I was there, it was peak summer and a gloriously sunny day but, apart from coachloads being ferried directly to the Southern Comfort, the number of people around was extremely low. There simply aren't the numbers of people around to sustain these businesses. I'm sure these people look at places like Wells, Blakeney or Burnham and think "Oh, I could do the same in Horning", completely failing to comprehend that, whilst people head to the coast all year round, the Broads are like a ghost town in winter. To survive somewhere like Horning, you need to draft a business plan, then add a good 50% more to the summer income needed in order to survive winter.

It's remarkably close to my paternal grandfather, who joined Middlesex Regiment at the same time as all his cousins, several of whom didn't make it back. One was involved in the first wave of the Somme and fatally injured, but at least made it home to his parents before passing away at the age of 26. The most poignant one is my maternal great uncle though, who was injured on the Western Front and passed away on the 13th of November 1918 aged 22. I can't even begin to comprehend how hard that must have been for his parents, coming 2 days after Armistice Day.

Probably only an hour or two's work if the pipework/tank is reasonably accessible. The worst bit is not being able to do it unless she's out of the water. It's annoying that you can't get these things done during a survey, when it'd have taken a matter of minutes to fit a sea cock. I think I'd probably rather the expense of fitting a bypass than having to resort to an Elsan though! I'm surprised Jones don't have a pumpout, given it's 60-90 minutes to the nearest ones. I guess the fact the land floods around there may be an issue, but I'm sure there's a pumping station just up the road.

Reed beds are often used in off-grid water treatment. I'd imagine the huge expanses of reeds on the broads are a lot more effective than a free flowing river.

I'd started to take that view independently of the actual legislative/licensing situation. Nitrate runoff levels throughout the whole of East Anglia must be massively higher than the entire boating fleet could ever produce. There are quite a lot of treated water outfalls, but I get the impression the lower density population means there are fewer extreme events when untreated waste escapes than in other parts of the country. I know for a fact there's one particularly bad waste plant at Coton, which regularly dumps raw waste into Bin Brook, but that probably only affects the Cam - the effect has probably diminished by the time it reaches the Ouse.

Loads of really useful info there. Worth adding to the above, where possible, loop a rope around the outdrive(s) and secure to a deck cleat or similar, so the drive doesn't drop if the rams fail or lose pressure, especially when using smaller trailers. There have been instances of drives dropping, coming into contact with the road surface and grinding half the gear casing away. Aside of very expensive damage to the outdrive itself, I'd imagine there's also a significant risk of transom damage in cases like this. Just for reference, what's a ballpark figure for shifting a 30ft boat from, say, St.Ives, Cambridgeshire to Wayford Bridge, Norfolk? A few of us on here have mentioned possible moves along these lines lately.

Just happened to notice this earlier. Looks like she used to live at West View in Earith. I was actually looking at the site trying to work out the deal with pumpouts on the Great Ouse. I'd planned to buy a boat on the broads, but am actually now open-minded to the prospect of buying something locally and possibly moving later. It seems that the EA provide pumpout facilities, but I can't see how this works in terms of charging - or whether it's actually free as part of the license?

I hate to think how many times I visited Felbrigg as a kid. Had some great days fishing the lake there, but probably caught very little. If you're visiting by car, it's worth driving down through nearby "Lion's Mouth". It's beautiful in the summer, but also stunning in autumn when all the leaves start to change colour. At one time, you used to be able to go from Holt Road, down through Lion's Mouth and enter the Felbrigg estate via the back entrance, but last time I tried, there was a closed gate in front of the house, so seems they're discouraging that now. We used to visit my great uncle's shop in Holt on occasion and often stopped off at the county park there, which is also worth a visit for a walk on a sunny day out. Holt itself seems to be getting more like Burnham Market as time passes.

https://www.peachment.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/User-Manual-4.200HE-4.220HE-5.280HE.pdf Ident plate location is shown on page 11. My money is definitely on the 220. The heat exchanger is the same and the lifting eye/injector position looks the same too. Good if so, as it suggests that you may have the same issue Mouldy mentioned with prop size, rather than an aging engine. 6000hrs is significant, but like cars and motorway miles, heavy use and regular servicing is often better than infrequent use. Modern diesels ought to cope with 10k hours+ and potentially a lot more if oil is changed regularly.

https://www.peachment.co.uk/discontinued/4-150he/ https://www.peachment.co.uk/discontinued/4-220he/ Longer heat exchanger with 4 bolts down the side shown in your image looks more like the 4.220 to me?

There's a video of Cadet 1 on Youtube, when she sold at Summercraft. I presume from the condition that Summercraft's owners had her for while (they used to be my dad's best friends, but sadly I've lost touch with them over the years). The engine in her was listed as a 50hp Nanni 4.220HE by NYA. You'd think they'd get it right, having a site next door to the main Nanni distributor. If Cadet 1 has the 220, you'd think the later Cadets would too? It looks visually very similar to your image too.

A lot of narrowboat vloggers annoy me, but I love Danni and Joe. I found it funny their questioning what a Norfolk accent sounds like, when I think south west accents have a lot in common and they're both broad south-western (quite possibly part of what I like about them). I think there are at least two distinct Norfolk accents. I'm assuming the bloke from Le Boat doing the handover was a broadlander, which is quite a different accent to north or west Norfolk to my ears.

I can remember one winter in particular which must have been around the late 80s, when Horning Ferry was especially bad. BrundallNavy's photos above seem to appear worse than it was that year. Have the BA started the planned dredging at the Bure mouth yet? When I saw the notice, I did wonder how much the downstream restriction is affecting ebbing tides on the northern rivers.

Have you checked your throttle opening? With the engine off and the morse control set to full throttle, see if there's any extra movement available on the throttle lever at the fuel pump. With an ex-hire, it's quite likely that the maximum throttle opening has been restricted to limit the trouble hirers can get themselves into. You may be able to squeeze some more hp just by shortening the cable a fraction. Once you know you can get full throttle opening, I'd also see how easily you can hit max rpm (looks like 3k rpm?). If you can hit it very easily, it may be under-propped for similar reasons. Obviously not much point having huge amounts of speed available, but I'd always prefer to have a bit in reserve, especially if you do make it over to the Broads - and Breydon in particular.

Levels have gone down sharply at Earith, so I presume the EA have opened the sluices wide to try and shift some water ahead of the incoming storm, in the hope of keeping the road open at Earith bridge (probably at the expense of Welney). I suspect levels will go up again just as quickly in the coming days. I've never been out on the Great Ouse when it's in full flood, but I'd imagine it could be quite an experience. The washes from Earith to Holywell get pretty wide and it must be pretty difficult to discern the proper channel at times.

I notice both these are still sitting at Reedham and listed on Topsail. https://www.topsail.co.uk/exhire.php Has anyone had a closer look at them? Both obviously need substantial amounts of work and updating. I notice Sandstorm has been coppercoated from new, so might even be osmosis free. The hard cockpit sides look awful, but it looks like you could get glass screens made up to match the style on Sandswift. If you did that, you'd end up with a decent size aft cockpit boat which'll go under most, if not all the low bridges. I'm half tempted to come up and have a look, but the thing which puts me off is the state of the engine bay/bilge. They've been sat for a couple of years, but from the amount of dirt and oil, they were obviously quite neglected long before coming off hire. Can't help but wonder how low a bid they might accept though.

Another easy angle to exploit in advertising. Target young families on the basis that you can drive up and step straight onto a boat, rather than having to drag young kids through check in, wait around, amuse them on a flight, etc. The TV ad virtually writes itself - A/B comparison of two families. Family A relaxed and cruising down the river pointing out wildlife to the kids, dad driving, mum with prosecco in hand - whilst family B's kid chucks a tantrum on the plane and other passengers look on disapprovingly. Has a double benefit - winning the initial booking, plus the kids will probably love it and use pester power to come back again in following years.

I've still got the broker's details with some other images. There's no build panel on the lower right helm, but it's possible it might have been relocated on the left in the companionway down from the cockpit - possibly to allow fitting of the bow thruster control. I think your spotting skills may be on point again oldgregg. Does look remarkably like a Cadet. It has the same Broom branded engine panel as Cadet 1, which sold at Summercraft a couple of years ago.