Mowjo

All I see is a group of mainly business people who most of us have never heard of trying to line their own pockets, I think forums like this and many of the people we have on them do more to promote the Broads as a tourist spot,,, Frank,,,

I did tell them to take a couple of Mud Weights but they didn't listen!, one thing that gave me a chuckle was in an interview someone questioned the technology being ten years old and outdated, the techie replied that the old technology was better built and more stable than todays, all the proof I needed to convince me we now live in disposable society, and is why everything I own breaks one day after the warranty runs out,,, Frank,,,,,

When I was much younger, lived in London and drank mainly Youngs beer, I once went out on a Friday evening and woke up Saturday in Newquay Cornwall, only about 250 miles but as to this day I still have no idea how I got there does that count?? Frank,,,,

Same here Jonathan! I've been using it for years after I saw it on Ideal world, but I still wash the car first, I use it on the car and boat, it's not as long lasting as proper polish I reckon on a couple of weeks, the boat dosn't seem to get all that grit on it so I just polish it every few weeks, takes me about five minutes to do topsides of my 25 footer,, if you want an end of season polish I'd use proper polish as it will last much longer,, Frank,,,

Chris! we are about four boats down from there and I nomally park just by the slipway, perhaps she's on the lookout for Judi, as much as I like Mickey I wouldn't be too happy with her on my boat, she normally comes down from what I call the finger end, I bet there are a few messy boats there now,, Frank,,,,

Peter! I could never eat anything i'm on first name terms with, your right about the mess though, thats why I shoo her away from the back of the boat and won't let her get on, we missed a couple of days on the boat and Jude said I wonder how Micky is? I jokingly said probably dead, big mistake she called me everything and never spoke to me most of the day, so some good did come from it, if I actually deaded her I think it wouldn't only be the Duck that was stuffed,, Frank,,,,,

I think Mickey is lonely, yesterday when we got there she saw us arrive and actually flew to the back of the boat, Jude fed her and she's even bought a little food bowl for her just so if it rains she can bring it in and the food won't get wet, I had the saws and plane out again but she wasn't worried and sat about two feet from me, now Mickey even knows when we are leaving and follows us to the car, it's quite sad as she just stands there and watches us drive off, I'm no duck expert but I'm sure Mickey has feelings, she looks happy when she see's us and if I talk to her she whitters back at me, and when we leave her head go's down a bit almost as if she's sad to see us go, as I said I'm pretty sure she was someones pet and even more sure now I know she can fly, so why she ended up at Broadsedge I don't know, even when we get home Jude worries about her and is always saying I wonder how Mickey is? I find it all very odd as Judi dosn't normally like anything that flie's, she got a phobia when she was young after watching Hitchcocks Birds, but say anything bad about her ducks or Mickey and your in trouble,,, Frank,,,,,,

Kathleen! most people just Winterise their boats if they arn't going to use them, it's not a hard job but if your not sure just get your yard to do it, or creep around a friendly neighbour and they will help you, some of us don't do anything as we use our boats all year, Winter on the Broads can be one of the most beautiful times out and about but may need a little bit of pre planing because of the lack of facility's,, Frank,,,,

Just an Addy but I believe if you fit a truck version on a boat you invalidate the Warranty if it goes wrong, I believe one of the main differences with the marine one is fan speeds, the marine is designed for longer runs so has a higher fan speed, where the truck one is for shortr runs which in turn means it might not have enough puff to heat a boat, looking at prices the heater will cost a third of what you paid for the boat, so you need to work out if the cost will be worth it for the odd weekend here and there, we winter cruise a lot and have never really used heating, we just wrap up warm and wear thermals when we are out plus the kettle is always on and that warms the boat up,, Frank,,,

Very good advice there Jaws, and I totally agree with Alan about the lagging, they never did it when it was installed on Crackers, the boat was only 25ft with three outlets, but the one in the toilet and rear cabin were worse than useless and by the time the air had got to them it was cold, in total from the heater to the rear cabin outlet it was only around 12ft, I intended to lag them but it would have meant dismantling half the boat to get to them, so as Alan suggest do it while your fitting it, I'm in the process of taking the heating out of the new boat, it's the original pre propex type and you can't get any parts for it now, plus I don't like gas heating anyway, I won't be replacing it as we never used the heating on Crackers, plus by the time you buy the unit, thermostat and timer it starts to get a bit expensive, Frank,,,

Ooooh! you've gone and done it now, Jude is making a list of names and Baz your top of the list, if you'd have been there last year when someone scared her Daisy duck and the baby's you'll know to stay well clear of her, it wasn't pretty and she had swear words even I'd never heard before, he tends to give her a very wide berth when he see's her now, Iain! Jon spys on me here anyway, and I think we have an informer because Jon mentioned it would be a different boat in six months and he dosn't know me that well, like it says at the bottom! it was only a small bit of rot! but I might as well re-build the whole boat, Here's an odd thing! to me ducks are just ducks and normally I can take them or leave them, but every year Jude has adopted a Duck gives them names and they even come to her when she calls them, Daisy and the baby's last year were great, because Jude had fed her a few times then she turned up with six little ducklets that were only a few days old, unfortunatly she lost one but the other five stayed with us all year and found us even when we moved around the marina, it was nice watching them grow into full blown Ducks, they were all girls but they disappeared about a month ago and we havn't seen them since, so perhaps they flew south, as I said ducks are just ducks to me, but I've fallen for Mickey, I can't believe she sat just two feet away from me when I had electric saws and planes going full pelt, everytime I stopped I spoke to her and she whittled back at me, so I'm hoping Mickey sticks around for a while,,, Frank,,,,

Mark! whats a mask? I've since given it a couple of spays with HG mould spray dam stuff stinks, the reason it worries me is because Judi has mild asthma and I have an allergy to it if i'm in contact for too long so the last thing I need is it on the boat as we spend more time on that than we do at home, as you say ours is not bad I believe the American one can be very toxic, it seems odd there is only one small vent in the loo on this boat, so i'm putting in two new solar ones one sucking and one blowing, plus i'll be adding louvre vents under the bunks and anywhere else I think I'll need them,,, Frank,,,,

Folks! I'd like you all to meet Judi's new friend Mickey! He/She has been hanging around Broadsedge for the last week or two, this morning when we got to the boat Mickey was sitting two boats down, and the duck lady decided she would feed Him/Her, I'll call it a her now as she's so cute, I think she must be someones pet as she's very friendly, all day while working outside she sat just a couple of feet away, anyway we got chatting as you do with ducks and when you talk to her she talks back, she sort of whitters at you, everytime I went back on the boat she sat at the back, so duck lady fed her again, we were sitting having a cup of tea and when I looked up she was sitting on the stern as you can see, Jude has named her Mickey and been to the pet shop and bought loads of duck food, I'm keeping the camera handy tomorrow because I'm sure she will be on the boat, I told Jude that as it's her duck if she C**ps on the boat she clears it up, I think someone must be missing a cute pet,,, Frank,,,,,

A little bit more progress, Ceiling all battened out, glued using Tek7 and screwed, I made the ceiling in eight panels so that if I need to get to any wiring in the roof I just need to remove one or two and not the whole ceiling, it's all had three full coats of Withams varnish, I have to say I'm well impressed with the varnish and it's now my favorite, I'm halfway through cutting all the trim so at the moment the whole lot is held up with screws and penny washers, stupid name that! I think they were 10p each, this time I must remember to number all the trim as last time I forgot and it took me longer to work out where they went than it did for me to make them, it seems to be taking ages but thats because nothing is straight forward on this boat, I've done six before but this is definatly the most trick one, even something as simple as fitting a curtain track has had me swearing, we've had four plans how we wanted to do it, but they either won't work or will look wrong, I now have a plan E that will work, but thats a little way off at the moment so could still change, Frank,,,,,

I'll think of you tomorrow Baz when i'm sitting on the boat drinking tea, I mean working,,, Frank,,,,,

Glad to help Bill! Frank,,,,

Peter! just a little update on the Withams Varnish, took the new roof panels home to varnish them, three straight coats on new ply! no thinning and I now have to say the Varnish is as good! in fact better than most of the varnishes I've ever used the only one that came close is Le Tonkinois, but it's £21 a litre and needed six coats to get the same results, Withams was £22 for 2.1/2 litres, It seems like it's a hard varnish as I knocked it a couple of times and it never scratched, I know what one I'll be using from now on,, it's a shame you can only pick it up from Withams as I'd think they could do a good trade on the Broads,, Frank,,,,,

Matt! did you look at the price they are asking for that tiny bit of plastic?? I thought the first two I gave were cheap compared to the others varying from £60 to £72, you be better off buying a second hand one from Flea/bay, spares for those fridges are no joke, £115 for a new thermostat, talk about being ripped off,, Frank,,,

Bill! just found this one as well it looks the same as yours,and it's only £20 http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ref-21F-Dometic-Fridge-DOOR-CATCH-complete-RM2210-2280-GM65H-Caravan-/191392075469?pt=UK_Campervan_Caravan_Accessories&hash=item2c8fdb4ecd Frank,,,,,

Erm Baz! you've only used 2 litres of diesel in the last five years, last time you bought any it was 50p a gallon,, Frank,,,,

Bill! sit down I found you one, I still had it marked after mine broke,, http://www.leisureshopdirect.com/caravan/cooling/product_31027/travel_catch_for_dometic.aspx http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CARAVAN-MOTORHOME-BOAT-FRIDGE-LOCK-PIN-FOR-FRIDGE-DOOR-/290327873890?pt=UK_Campervan_Caravan_Accessories&hash=item4398e3c962 In the end I fitted this one, a bit cheaper and it did the job,, http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/American-Motorhome-RV-Refrigerator-Lock-Pin-/181471889919?pt=UK_Campervan_Caravan_Accessories&hash=item2a409149ff Frank,,,,,

To be honest Mark I've managed the last thirty years without it so I'm not that bothered, I used to check my speed with an old E/trek but it died, someone said that you can use a cheap gps cycle computer thing as well, but I'm never in a rush anyway so mainly watch my wash,, Frank,,,,

What about the fruit salads Alan?? those were the days, Spanish Wood, that Coconut tobacco, 1/4lb of sweets 4d, I think you can still get the Blackjacks in the cake and sweet shop in Lathams, but I think they are about 10p each now,, Frank,,,

Mark! it was just a general comment as Apple was mentioned, mention anything new to my daughter or grandkids and if it says Apple they have to have it, I'm not saying they are no good because I know they are, I just don't like the way nearly everything on the IPods/Pads has to go through Apple, I like the Freedom my Samsung gives me, Chris! I was just curious to why anyone would need GPS, the boat I've just bought has a Raymarine thing that gives depth and speed, havn't a clue how it works all I know is the speed thing must be gunked up as it won't show speed, for both units it says you have to calibrate it, and that the paddle wheel can be changed in situ, be just my luck to get the top off and the blanking cap won't go on and I'll sink the boat. I'll have a look when the boat comes out for a polish, I doub't even I can sink on dry land,, Frank,,,,

Oh Dear what have I started??? next it will be Spangles and Palm Toffee, pack of four Domono's 6d anyone,, Frank,,,