Mowjo

As I said I moor there and as far as I can remember there are four or five water points but apart from the one near the pump out you have to provide your own hose, something to do with H&S, there is a mechanic on site and they do general boat work like painting and anti fouling thats why David won't let others on site, for most other things like screens and canopies he is fine as long as you let him know and don't just presume it's Ok, the reason for letting him know is because of insurance purposes, and note that most of the negative views so far are from people that have never moored there, most people there are very friendly and if one has problems we try to help each other out, but like anywhere there will be one or two that no matter how hard you try you won't get on with them, aslo if your a fisherman you don't even need to go out the fishing in the marina is brilliant and we have a good few big pike in there, I've moored at the Stalham/Wayford end of the Ant for the last thirty years and never tire of the run to the main rivers, apart from the run from Wroxham to Coltishall it's one of the most beatiful parts of the Broads, quite often even on a week out we never make as far as the main rivers, even if you travel it a few times a day, every time is different, Alan! don't let me or anyone esle persuade you to moor there or not moor there, take a look around when your down and have a chat with anyone you meet who moors there, remember no matter where you moor there will always be a few that do nothing but moan about the place, it will be a bit quite there now as lots have shut up for the winter, but when you get there ask David if Frank and Judi are down and pop over for a Cuppa, I'm working on the boat so will be there most days,,,,, Frank,,,,

I'm hoping it was the grab rails causing the leaks, I'm sure the previous owner/owners must have had shares in a mastic company, it is everywhere and it's not even a tidy job, sorry if your a previous owner but if you must use the stuff mask everything up and do it properly, I spent half a day just removing the excess mastic, luckily they never cleaned the surfaces properly so most of it just peeled off, anyway the next few days should tell if I've cured them all, there's no point in me starting any woodwork until I've cured them, there's no vents in the boat apart from one in the loo, so two new shiny solar vents on order, can't believe the price of them,one will be sucking, the other blowing( keep it clean) LED lights on order as well, all the supporting battens for the roof and side was rotten so the next job is fit new stuff but this time i'll treat it with wood preserver first, Frank,,,,

Well Boils and Grillers! it's time for me to bore the pants off everyone, as most know I have a new/old boat, it's a Birchwood 25 Executive, Oooh! don't that sound posh??? the first job I did was put in 240v shorepower, I won't go into details as it's one of those jobs that if you don't know what your doing can kill you,, now anyone than knows Birchwoods will know everything is covered in Vinyl, walls, ceilings, cockpit it's everywhere, mine was all cream but on looking closer it was originally light cream but it has all been painted in a darker cream, they did a nice job but there is just far too much of it, anyway we had a few leaks around the front windows and from the amount of mastic on the inside and outside I think it's been a long term problem, I cleaned all the mastic from around the glass, masked it all up and re-sealed it inside and out with my new friend TEC7, sticks and seals everything and even sets under water, went to the boat yesterday and still had leaks, but looking at the water stains it looked like it was the frames leaking, and the only way to get to the frame is to remove the vinyl around the front windows, but it had to be done so made a few small cuts, peeled a bit back and it was thick with black mould, so mask on and remove the rest and the whole front section was covered in the black stuff, so plenty of bleach and a wash down and it was all gone, at this point I thought about taking the windows out and re-bedding them, but discovered they were all riveted in, b****r that I thought, so cleaned and raked out all the old mastic masked it all up and out came my clear TEC7, job done, get to the boat today and it had been raining, whoopee! just a very small puddle each side but not where the front windows were, it was about a foot back, very odd! then I notice someone had made a small repair to the vinyl near the back door and it was peeling off, so I pulled it back a bit more so I could re-stick it and behind it was more thick black mould, Judi makes a cup of tea and I'm sitting in the pointy bit when water drips on my head from the roof lining, so I push it up a bit and more water comes out, now I'm thinking the leak isn't from the windows it the roof, after finding this black mould and knowing how dangerous it is I decided to remove every bit of vinyl in the boat and every bit even the GRP was covered in the black stuff, my theory is any water getting in gets trapped behing the vinyl and as it can't breath it just turns to mould, I take out all the cabin sides first, then start on the ceiling and found pools of water around every fitting where the grab rails were, what had been happening was the water from these leaks was running down the roof lining to the front of the boat and running out at the seams above the windows, so tightend every one up and sealed them with TEC7 a good hose down on the roof and windows and so far no leaks showing, so far today I have got through three bottles of bleach, ruined and new T-shirt and have white patches all over my jeans, but no more mould all gone, I forgot to take any pictures of the mould but here's a couple with the before and after result, now I just have to re-build everything, you'll also be glad to know any further post will be much shorter but I'll try and add pictures as things progress,, Frank,,,,,

Trevor! I had Jabsco's on a few boats now never had any problems, the only thing was they were river fed, and if you left the boat for a few days, on your first few pumps the water wouls stink, and I mean stink, I think it's where the water lays in the flush pipes, Jabsco do a de-odouriser kit for about £40, personally If I ever fit a new one I'll have a seperate fresh water tank for flushing,,, Frank,,,,,

I don't know! I go to the boat to do a bit of work and when I get back, I start reading about silly questions and Maurice goes right off topic, and I always thought he was Captain Sensible, you lot are trying to do me out of a job!! a silly question to me is when you trotting along with all your fishing gear and some bright spark says! are you going fishing then? No you twonk! i'm going to a Cricket match, I have had many examples of silly questions like that, but when someone is asking advice there's no such thing as a silly question, Frank,, PS I don't know how much longer I can keep this being sensible up, it's only been a few hours and I'm really struggling,,,

Steve! I don't know how the others feel, but I would rather go without a centre cleat than cut a hole in my boat to fit a recessed one, you have to cut quite a big hole to fit one, and it's just another place for water to get in, the foldown one looks like an option, I'd fit a normal cleat, as Strow says! how often will you be runnning around the decks, if you do what Maurice says and have the bow ones 1.1/2 the boat length and one down each side, plus your two stern ropes, it's very easy to grab them for single handed mooring, you'll probably never need to set foot on the decks,, Frank,,,,

Alan! I have to disagree about crimped connectors, they are all fine it's the people using the wrong tools that are the problem, the cheap crimp tools is worse than useless as they only crimp in one spot and just a little too much pressure and you can cut right through the connector, the only one I would ever use is the rachet type as they give a proper crimp and you can get them on E/bay now for under a tenner, I always leave a bit of extra cable so I can use straight connectors and just cut them off if I need to remove or replace stuff, but I've actually started using the Bullet connectors more and more, but now with all my crimps I use adhesive heat shrink tubing, I was working on the electric and found some of the crimps had water in now they are all watertight, as an extra I even use heatshrink on the ends of my ropes now, it stops them fraying and makes a nice neat end,,, Frank,,,,

Grendel! ASAP are pretty cheap for cable, You'll only need 1mm2 cable for lights unless they are more than 16amps, http://www.asap-supplies.com/marine/single-core-thin-wall-cables/single-core-primary-thin-wall-electrical-cable-1-mm, you'll have to decide if you want to run it in single or twin cable, if the lights have built in switches the twin is ok, if you have seperate switches like wall switches then singles are better, some say only use the tinned cable, I never use it and have never had a problem, as for connectors, you can use the chocolate box ones for connecting the cable to the light but I don't use them they have a habit of corroding and failing, your better off using crimp terminals like this kit, http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Toolzone-101Pc-Crimping-Plier-Tool-Kit-And-Terminal-Connector-Wire-Stripper-NEW-/140829406228?pt=UK_Computing_Other_Computing_Networking&hash=item20ca163414, you can use the straight connectors, or if you need to take the light off at anytime you can use bullet conectors, the only thing with those kits is you have to be a bit careful with the crimping pliers, too much pressure and you can cut right through the connector, you can get a pro version of the crimpers for around £25 but if your only going to use it once in a while the kit one will do the job Ok Frank,,,

Steve! what with finding the fridgem next you'll be telling us it has and Engine,, Frank,,,,,

Mmmmm! looks like it's just you then Jeff,,,

Clive! Judi says I have Sometimers, sometimes I remember, other times I don't, the memory isn't the issue. it's the time lapse, someone could mention a person to me and not know his name, then three weeks later, I'll be working on the boat or something and it'll come to me out of the blue, or I'll be working on the boat doing something then remember the job I was supposed to be doing, I always had a thing that when doing something and it was going wrong, walk away and do something else, now the more jobs I have going at one time the better I feel, I've always got bored very easily but could usually last a job out, now it's an hour on this job, then an hour on something else, the only good thing is that the boat or whatever I'm doing will look like c**p for months, then suddenly in a couple of days it all comes together and it'll be finished, Frank,,,,

Alan! Others will know better as I've been at Broadsedge for years, but I think you may find it pretty difficult to find moorings that you pay quarterly or half yearly, I'm not 100% sure but I think Jon at Wayford might but Wayford is a working yard and from your post I couldn't see you mooring there, perhaps you should start a new thread asking about quarterly or half year pay moorings,,, Frank,,,,,

Please check back and for once you will notice that it wasn't me that went off topic this time, Strow also mentions later, and once I find the "active" one, with the most relevant content, I focus on that, Strow I have news for you! a Relevant is a big large grey thing with a trunk and big ears, and how would anyone know if it incontinent??? Now for the bad news! Mr Flappy has passed away, well murdered by the Mods, I sent out Photo fit pictures, but then recieved a ranson note, being tight I refused to pay so they sent me this,,,, the good news is I have a new pet, he's called Cedric, I won't go into details in case the Mods get him, but he has eight legs and is the biggest one I've seen this year, and I mean BIG,,,,,

Alls well today Baz! 240v shorepower finished, now I'm setting about ripping it apart, Flipping Cream Vinyl everywhere inside and I hate it, so it will be wood, wood and more wood, plus a bit of carpet, got a few leaks in the windows to sort out and the vinyl has made it worse as the water has been getting trapped behing the vinyl, ripped one bit out and there and it was about four feet thick with black mould, Vinyl may look nice but in my opinion it's C**p, was going to have the windows out but I'm hoping I don't have to, the idiots that built the boat have rivited the windows in, so I'm trying to aviod removing them, and what sort of idiots builds a boat with no roof vents in? don't get me wrong It's a nice boat but the build quality of Birchwoods is C**p, so much for a boat that just needed tidying up, I can see a re-fit coming,,,, Frank,,,,

Thank Baz! I just typed all that info and while I was typing it you replied, I told Alan to watch out for you,,,, Frank,, By the way Baz! we are back in our berth with the new/old boat, if your down pop over so Jude can slap you,,,

I've been at Broadsedge forever and wouldn't moor anywhere else, now let me see what I can tell you! It's very safe and secure, we now have coded security gates, only heard of one theft in all the years we have been there, plus it has loads of Lawned areas, plus all the Leccie post have lights on, so it's pretty well lit, Three car parks, but depending where your mooring is it can get a bit full, but you just unload your car and park in one of the others, Everyone is quite decent and mostly helpful there apart from Baz, rules no worse than any marina, but no outside contractors allowed on site without Davids permission, Access 24/7 all year, Several water points, Pump out, Showers and Loos cleaned every day, Stalham Shops and big Tesco's within walking distance, unless your lazy like me, on the toilets and showers, they are in the process of building a new workshop, plus toilets and showers in the new section, and I believe the old toilets and showers near the office are being re-built early next year, People, come and go every year in every marina, some sell their boats, or just look for cheaper moorings on the south side of the Broads, Yes you can get Iced in, but I've never heard of any boat being damaged by it, and when it is that Icy you never see many people at the marina apart from idiots like me working on my boat, Most Moorings are Pontoon with a few side on, and never known it to flood though the water level is about 6inches higher this week,, Most moorings are on electric, my advice is pay the extra, very handy for charging battery's, watch the box, having a heater, and anything else you would need Leccie for, plus next year if you want one with power they may have all gone, Moorings are yearly paid, upfront, and if you move there now you'll just pay up till April, Yes it's quite a big marine but it's all in sections, I think there are three main ones plus a few Dykes, Google Earth it,,, Best Advice when your down take a look around Broadsedge, and Clives is only next door, Frank,,,,,,

Timbo! there is so much Moss in my window channels I thought I had window boxes, do people never think to clean them once in a while, Iain! I was posh my School was Government Approved, Ooooh! KIng Edward, I know all about him he's the bloke that invented Potato's.

How did my RCD get here?? I left it in another thread! typical, find my RCD that I don't need now because my brain went on holiday, but can anyone find my Fish, no! I know Flappy is around here somewhere, I'll just have to check every thread untill I find him, John! don't mention Sun, the one day I wanted it to rain so I could find all the leaks in my windows the dam Sun comes out,, :angry: Frank,,,

Iain! tell them to get back on topic! they are doing me out of a job! Frank,,,,

Erm! how can you loose or miss a fridge Steve??? I bet you were like a pig in poop cruising along, there's nothing like that feeling of I own this boat, Debs will be doing a Judi soon, when you get a snotty hire boat ignoring you when you wave at them, Debs will say to you at least we own this boat! I wanted to put a Calorifier on our new boat, but to my surprise Judi said don't bother I'll just boil a kettle, I've gone backwards, no hot water, no heating, I think the fridge is steam driven, petrol engine and hardtop, but it's all good fun as you'll both find out, Frank,,,,,

As some of you know I'm fitting 240v shorepower on my boat, normally it's a job I can easily do in half a day, but I think my brain died and didn't tell me! so far it's taken three days and it will be finished tomorrow, I'm normally one track! start a job and finish it before starting another job, for some odd reason I'm all over the place, I drill a couple of holes, put a bit of cable in then stop and do something else, so far I have about six jobs on the go, today I had all the 240 sorted, tested it and everything was fine, plugged a small light in and it tripped, tried a few times and it tripped every time, I went through all the circuits testing them! all fine, got my test plug out, three lights on every socket, so should work, re-wired the fusebox, everything checked Ok but it kept tripping, can't find any problems so it must be a duff RCD, strip the cables out remove duff RCD, all this took me four hours so I started sealing the windows, on the way home pop into Screwfix get new RCD for £20, great tomorrow it will be fixed, about an hour ago I'm sitting here working out my next job when I get a brain f**t, I suddenly realised why the 240 won't work, instead of connecting the neutral cable to the RCD I'd connected it to the busbar, how I missed it I have no idea! how I suddenly thought of it while I was thinking of something else I have no idea! it's just been a very strange week in my brain, no 240v yet but I did get lot of little unimportant jobs done, even though I keep loosing things, like screwdrivers and my electric drill, I do find them after turning the boat upside down, I lost my Stanley knife today, I looked everywhere only for Judi to say it's in your hand, Oh well! tomorrows another day hopefully my brain will be back from it's holiday,, Frank,,,,

This thread is getting right on my nerves now, first my Fish goes missing and now your all expecting me to be nice, personally I think the Mods, Modded my Fish, life will never be the same for me without Flappy, and you lot are all being nice to each other, I don't believe it! I'm done with being nice and you'll all suffer now,,,, Frank,,

No need to worry about that stuff Marshman! if things start to get a bit sticky I take them right off thread, by the time I'm finished they have forgotton what the original post was, you have a valid point though, but the one thing I have noticed is the people that belong to both forums can be a bit Jeckle and Hyde, in that in a post over there they can get a bit heated but in a similar post here they seen to be a lot calmer, perhaps we don't bite as easily here or just respect each other views, I've never worked it out and I've been a member of both forums for ages now! Frank,,,,,

What a good Idea Jill! we are all quick to moan about first timers, hirers, and private owners but you don't see much to try and help them, as we have seen for a lot of people forums like this are their first port of call for information and advice, I'm sure between us we can come up with some help for them and maybe even learn a few things ourselves, I'll start and let who ever move to where ever, when ever! Broads Authority Better Boating Guides,,, http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDF989BF329086862

The real problem is us! no matter how much information out there, if we have been on courses or like me been boating on the Broads for thirty years, we all have our own way of doings things and if it works for us we do it until something goes wrong, when it comes to tides, winds, currents I'm clueless I just know what works for me, I suppose after thirty years I do some things without even thinking about them, but that dosn't mean I'm doing it the right way it means I'm doing it the way thats always worked for me, if you show me a better way and it works I'll use it, but in the main we are talking about hirers here, 98% do perfectly fine, take a bit of care and don't take chances, it's the odd 2% that are the problem, moor at Ludham for a day, most will panic a bit if they get too close, the odd one will hit you, won't even say sorry, I even heard one person shout back it was the boat he hits fault for mooring there, there's no cure for those type and never will be unless at some point they own their own boat, but having said that some of the worst culprits have been private owners, so no-one is exempt, training yes! teach them how to tie the boat up properly using the right knot, I seem to spend half my life showing people how to tie up, wrapping the rope around the post 200 times just isnt right and they always do it over my ropes when I'm not around and it takes me 20 minutes to sort the ropes out so I can leave the mooring, and please someone put big stickers on hire boats reminding people they steeer from the rear,,, Frank,,,,,