Mowjo

This might help clear a few things up! it seems it's not just the original owner that has been conned,, Frank,,,, Edited by Alan Video link removed by request. Edited by Alan

This place will make up any colour you want and even match your existing if you have an example, if it's on any colour chart they can make it, the only downside is they are based in Oulton Broad and you will have to go in to order it and to pick it up, they usually only take a couple of days, the best bit is they are the cheapest place I know for marine paint, Jenny Morgan and I both use them, I've tried their paints and varnish and they are the best I've used so far, I can't fault them, http://www.withamgroup.co.uk/woco/helpful-hints/ Frank,,,,

The last time I got involved with a Christmas Carol, was at a works party and it ended in a divorce, not mine I might add I was single and didn't know she was married,,, Frank,,

Mmmm! seems I have a smart a**e Wife! Judi read this post over my shoulder her comment was! "You should do that job, your always in the s**t" but don't panic boys I got my own back, I replied "You should know! your the one with the shovel" while we are on the subject quite often I hear my grandkids and their friends complaining that their lives are s**t, my reply is get used to it, lifes full of it only the depth varies, Frank,,,,,

The last Mobile Pump out I remember was back in the mid 80's, he was water borne, based at Wayford and charged £5, Never knew his real name but everyone called him Pongo, when he was going to retire my Niece nearly bought the whole set up from him, when she looked into insurance, waste licences, disposal and the running cost, it would have run at a loss, I think Pongo stopped working around 1987/8, I think he only serviced a couple of Marinas and the houseboats at Wayford, we all missed him, but back then you could discharge waste straight into the Broads and not that many boats had holding tanks,, Frank,,,

Baz! would I do something like that? OK! yes I would! I went on once many years ago but it was caused by someone trying to help, it was my first boat a little Shetland, we could only moor bow on in Wayford because of the low bank and the outboard motor, I'd done it hundreds of times, I'd cut the engine and drift into my mooring, while drifting in I'd go to the bow and as I got near I'd jump off over the pullpit onto the bank, this day came in as usual, I'm ready on the bow, just as I started my jump a guy appears from no-where in front of me on the bank, in an effort to not to land right on top of him I did a mid air swerve and landed right in the water, as I climbed up the bank black from head to foot from the silt, I heard applause and as I looked over to the old Caravan office, there was the owner Mike his wife Janet and my brother the manager all standing looking through the office window laughing their heads off and holding up score cards, I did manage an 8.5 and they never let me live it down for years, perhaps that explains the look of panic I get when anyone gets too near when I'm trying to moor up,, Frank,,,,

Jonzo! as I said I used Red Lodge Cafe a lot back then, it was a a den of dodgy, whatever you wanted someone had it or knew someone that could get it for you off the back of a lorry, and all genuine stuff not fake, booze and fags were always there, I bought most of my power tools there all Milwakee, mega expensive stuff and pretty rare in the UK, but none cost me over £5, one Christmas I came away with a Escort van full of Turkeys, Geese and Booze, good Christmas for me I made a small fortune, it was always hush hush! but once the truck drivers got to know you, you couldn't go in without someone offering you something to buy for silly money, in the main car park you would often see vans being loaded from the trucks, I once saw four brand new Ford engines being loaded into a Transit from a Ford truck, when the truck driver came back in ho just nodded at me and said thats my holiday sorted, and I know for fact that the odd copper bought and sold stuff in there, but it was a different age back then, nearly everyone I knew had some sort of fiddle going on, some people will tut tut! but it was going on everywhere, yes it was a crime but no-one was getting hurt it was just the black market at work, one guy summed it up when he said, "If it's not nailed down we will have it, but we never steal from our own" unlike todays crime where they will steal from anyone and don't care if they hurt someone,,, Frank,,,,

All my memories of the A11 surround Red Lodge Cafe, on the way up from London it was always stop for a full English and on the way back it was stop for a full English, unless it was full up we would always sit in the train carriage, the lady that ran the counter knew both the wifes and my order and our names but in the twenty years I used the place I didn't know hers, I think I must have met every truck drivers that used the cafe at some point, and even had a few dodgy deals with some of them, if Jude was on a night out with the girls I'd often drive up to Red Lodge just for a bacon sarnie, cup of tea and a chat, when they did the by-pass it was never the same so I didn't use it as much, the last time was around five years ago or more on the way back home from London and the same Lady was still at the counter, back when I used it, it was always brimming with people, the last time there were about four people in there, the by-pass killed it but I think they are still going,,, Frank,,,,

Maurice! in my case it's a woman thing, Me! I'd stick them up with masking tape or bits of string Frank,,,,

Andy! I stain and varnish the dowels, and when Judi does her clean up she gives them a wipe over with a bit of silicone polish on a cloth, keeps them moving nicely, at this point I must mention they are the only bit of the boat silicone polish is allowed anywhere near, get it on your other varnish work and you'll get problems if you ever want to varnish it again, in the worst case you might have to strip it right back or best case spend ages cleaning every bit of the polish off, I use the chrome pipe clamps that stand about two inches off the windows, the reason being that when you have the curtains open and have all the pleats at the top the curtain is a little way off the window so it stays dry, I've lost count of the nice boats I've looked at when buying one, only to find all the curtains water stained, Frank,,,,

Steve! so far I've replaced the ceilings on all of my boats using the varnished ply, I've never had any problems with it, you can get a bit of very light condensation when cooking, but thats it! we have never noticed it making the boat any colder and we use ours all year, on my son in laws boat when I did that for him I managed to fit 1inch polystyrene foam between the roof bearers as he wanted it, I didn't like the idea as it can't breath to dry out, some even fit that shinny radiator foil for the bit extra insulation, all I did on mine as I had no roof bearers, was when I fitted some to the ceiling I left a 1 inch gap in each one near the front and back so the air could circulate a little bit, I wouldn't think that the 1/8inch foam on the vinyl would make in any warmer than I have on mine now, personally I find Vinyl holds the cold more than wood or at least it feels like it to me, the whole inside of the new/old boat was covered with cream foam back vinyl about a week after getting it the weather turned and when we got to the boat the ceiling was dripping with water, but I think part of that was because there were no vents in the boat,, Frank,,,,

Steve! all I can say is on my new/old boat which had the foam backed one, all the foam has degraded and had turned to powder, personally I hate both as neither let the boat breath and any water that gets behind it stays trapped and causes mould or accelerates rot, I know it's used on many boats so it's my personal taste but the first thing I did when I got my new/old boat was rip it all out and replace it with varnished ply, Frank,,,,

Thank you all! if I have something in good condition that I think someone can make use of they are welcome to it, if it's something I wouldn't use myself it ends up at the tip, I know what stuff can cost with a boat so I'd sooner see it go to a good home, Frank,,,

Just thought of something else! in a few weeks I'll be replacing the cooker and oven with a new one, so the old one will be up for grabs if anyone wants it's, the problem is it's off a Birchwood and the sink/drainer and cooker rings are all in one unit and the oven is a seperate unit I don't have a picture of the oven unit but it is just an oven and looks in very good condition, the sink unit is pretty good and the rings look like they havn't been used much, again if anyone wants them let me know!,, Frank,,,,

Sometime in the New Year when the boat comes out for a polish I will be replacing all the fenders, I think there are eight medium sausage fenders, a bow fender, two small pear fenders and a bigger stern fender, I havn't checked them that closely but they look like they just need a good clean, if anyone wants them they are welcome to them, but as I say it won't be till probably March next year,, Frank,,,,

Their yours! Poppy you can have the Sony if thats ok with you, just looked at the connector plugs and you can pick them up for under £5, Trevor can have the Pioneer, As I said they are both fairly new and I know they both work, I replaced both because I like my music and got fed up with CD's everywhere so both were replaced with new USB/ Bluetooth type, Now, we just have to sort out picking them up or if you want me to hold onto them until you can pick them up, there's no rush on my part, but as I'm working on the boat I'm at Broadsedge most weekends and will be most of the winter, Radios now gone to Poppy and Trevor. Frank,,,

Poor old Coypu! depending who you believe they may have actully kept the Broads open and free flowing, seems even the experts couldn't agree if they did damage or not,, http://www.edp24.co.uk/lifestyle/when_the_coypu_was_public_enemy_no_1_in_norfolk_1_3794896 http://www.edp24.co.uk/lifestyle/how_war_was_declared_on_east_anglia_invaders_1_3803172 Frank,,,,

Alan if you find them cheap let me know I've been looking everywhere and none of them are cheap, I've now gone to plan C and will be making my own from dowling and pipe clamps and using curtain rings to hang the curtains I'm not tight I'm just not paying those sort of prices,, Frank,,,,

Ok! boys and girls I have a couple of freebies for you, but if you want one it's first come and you will have to pick it up from Broadsedge as I'm too busy to drop them off, or I can hold it until you get down to pick it up from there, I have two nearly new Car/Boat CD/Radios one is a Pioneer the other is a Sony, the Sony one has the rear plug missing as I accidently threw it away but Halfords sell them, just post here if you want one and then we can sort out picking it up,, Frank,,

Peter! your not alone, I moor up single handed as Jude can't swim so I don't allow her off until i'm tied up, the looks on some peoples faces when I do my Cowboy impression often gives me a chuckle, I still can't get the hang of the second reverse loop so I just tend to do two or three loops just to hold the bow of the boat and stand on the end while I tie the stern, we had a good laugh when we moored at St Benetts earlier this year, a rather large yacht came in to moor up, they looked well seasoned and came in perfectly even though the wind was blowing them off the bank, both him and her jumped off, rope each and him tied the stern, her tied the bow, because of the shape the stern was too far out, her unties bow, him tightens up stern, now bow sticking out too far, him slackens stern, her tightens bow, stern now to far out again, this went on for a good half hour and no word of a lie when they eventually moored up it was exactly the same as when they first moored up, but it didn't end there, Oh no! out came the springers, I honestly don't think I've ever seen as much rope, there was enough to moor a boat in a Hurricane, in total it took them over an hour to moor up, the worst bit was a hire boat moored up either end of them with the usuall lets see how much rope we can get on this post, so in the morning it took them another hour to get untied, with action like this how can anyone ever say the Broads are boring, just watching other gives me a lot of fun every time were out,, Frank,,,,

Eric! this is boat number seven now, I've re-furbished everyone and I'm still learning on every one, but I have a habit of doing something then a few months on decide on something better so I end up doing jobs twice and worse still it ends up costing me double, so now I always have a plan A B C D and E just in case, I'm a week thinking about it and half a day doing it now,,, Alan! apart from the ceiling there's not a lot to show at the moment, most of the other stuff is hidden wiring and battery stuff, I'll be trying to do before and after pics as I go, hopefully some of it may help others if they are thinking of doing something similar, as I said i'm in a thinking stage of trying to do stuff so it looks like it should be that way and not just an after thought, Jude says i'm too much of a perfectionist, but for me if something dosn't look right then it isn't,, Frank,,,,

Ceiling all finished just have one infill panel to make now, lights are in and one vent, one still to do, what a lot of faff cutting the hole in the roof, fitted new battery's, battery boxes, cables and master switch, when looking at the instrument panel I noticed a bit of bad wiring and a few iffy additions to the panel, so ripped it out and now have a new one to fit, did a quick check on the wiring but didn't like the look of some of it, in a couple of places they used cable clips but managed to nick the cable so I've gone through the whole boat and ripped the lot out, fitted a new fuse box and have most of the new cables in place just have to connect them all, the best news of all is I've managed to cure all the leaky windows so the only leak left is on one of the side nav lights where it's badly fitted, have new lights all round to go on so I'll fix that when I put the new ones on, everything is going well but I have a couple of tricky bits to sort out, every time I think of a way to do them I get home then think of another way, I've given up doing things and not being happy with it! because I rip it out and do it again, it must be my age because now I'm thinking first, I should have it all done for the start of the new season but I need the boat out to polish it all up,, Frank,,,,

I just realised that I do a clove hitch with a couple of loop throughs, so don't let me near your boats, I can't even get the names right,,,

I have knot OCD, so always re-tie them, not really OCD (notice knot joke) but I've tied my boat the same way since I started boating, I'm not even sure it's a proper knot it's two half hitches with a couple of loop throughs but it works, it's easy to untie and so far has never let me down, if I'm helping someone i'll usually just hold the rope and let them tie it, but on the occasion I do tie it, I just do two half hitches and tell them to re-tie it, Frank,,,,

Not so sure about the Duck Peter, but that sounds more like me if I killed her duck, even a bad remark about it from me brings on the death stare,, Frank,,,,