marshman

Thats how I pronounce it, but whether I am right?

Always been Clay, whatever poncy outsiders call it!!!!

The reason Flotex, or similar, is used is that it is waterproof and as such is easy to wash down. I know of one sailing boat yard, who have two sets and change the flooring every week and wash down the one not being used! Try that with your Axminster!

Not by any stretch of the imagination - north of £30 sq. m

What do you expect - it is Norfolk!!!! Perhaps it is all preparatory wok - but somehow I am not especially optimistic!!!

That would be good if that is what they are going to do but currently they have nearly 2 miles of cones - are they really going to move them in and out every night? Perhaps I am prejudging them!!!!

Well - that bits wrong at least!! They have been doing overnight work on trees and encroaching bushes but that finished about 3 weeks or more ago!! Handy that these things are up to date!!!!!

The roadworks on the bypass are a typical Norfolk joke!! Ok I know a lorry, or something big, demolished part of the central reservation and to leave it untouched is not possible - but it takes 3mths to do this? They have also found another bit thats a bit shorter further down towards Postwick but total length perhaps 200 yards or thereabouts. Can you see this happening on the M25? No they would pull their finger out and get on with it! No one there today, neither tomorrow I bet - why can they not work 7 days a week, early morning starts and late finishes and ALL weekend. Is that too much to ask on one of Norfolks busiest roads? The Highway Agency seem to be taking the whole thing as if it were an Alan Partridge set - absolutely disgraceful just as we get up to peak holiday time.

Rain should stop within a couple of hours and with that the temperature will rise - forecast is for it to get up to about 14C later and for the overnight figure to drop only to around 9Cish! Positively summerlike!!! Its been a long old cold spring down here but at least we don't get the frosts they get further inland. We get a few but not those "killer" ones that go on and on - or at least not often!!!! And it rarely rains like it does up north - thats something else!!!!

PLEASE, PLEASE be very careful with BBQ's this dry weather as the marshes and other areas are exceptionally dry. The worst culprits are the shop bought disposable ones and you MUST use a stand for them. Placed on the peat the fire can burn directly down, travel horizontally for some way and break out some distance away and you will be unable to extinguish it easily. Do not place them directly on the wood around moorings either for obvious reasons. Please treat the marshes with care - a fire will spread rapidly and do untold damage to wildlife as well.

Polly - do you live in the Norwich area? Pop into Das Auto, Blue Boar Lane, behind the Social Club - lovely bunch of lads who are VERY fair!!!

But thats why everyone should read the instructions and pay attention to what is written!! The whole point of crossing at slack water is that you avoid the strongest tides - having said I think its just better to keep going and not stop, especially on a pontoon! If you need to moor, do so at the Yacht Station where there are people to help. However always do as advised and read the instructions you have been given - it helps which is why you are given them!!!

Does that mean I have to desist as well?????

Its the type of equipment that is the issue! On the North Norfolk coast you can indeed use heavier and larger machines as the ground is more solid, but the problem on the Broads is that where the reed is grown these days, on the marshes, it will only usually bear the weight of lightweight machinery - you should remember that the marshes are not drained and in the winter consist of floating hover. Break through that and both you and the machine could just disappear!!! Harvesting reed from the Broads is hard hard work and then having got it off the marsh you still have to dress it to get rid of the litter - although Norfolk reed is expensive even compared to Chinese reed by comparison, it does last well, much better than a straw thatch. There are still a handful of hardy souls working through the midwinter to harvest reed - in summer they work in the sedge beds to provide the sedge ,which bends, for the capping. Thats not much better with the heat, horseflies, and the razor sharp sedge itself. Not a job that attracts too many applicants these days!!!!

I think Howard may be right about the electric boats - I think HW have a few. Up towards West Somerton, there can a lot of weed growth but it has been dredged I believe this winter and the weed is cut around twice a year so in a diesel day boat drawing less, you should not have a problem. The electric ones should cope but they might try and dissuade you going to Somerton - try not to miss it as Martham Broad is great for dragonflies and I know their is an otter family up there - as there is in most places these days! You should also get up the Waxham Cut too as that has been dredged too - prime crane country up there!! Everywhere else above the Bridge should be fine, unless you disappear into the nether regions of Hickling when you would expect issues - stick to the channel unless you know better!!!

Fine but south of Acle and north of St Olaves you will see a lot of reeds and riverbank, just a few trees and bu**er all else!!!!!! You are coming to the Broads and will see just one!!!! Or two if you nip into Oulton!!! You shouldn't be punching the tide too much but they are spring tides next week, and tides never could tell the time that well!!!

That belongs to, or was at lest used by the NWT - whether it comes with the information centre I do not know.

You couldn't reserve a mooring for a wherry for an Open Day to raise money for a charity - I suppose they should have just taken a large can of white paint with them and painted a white stripe along the capping!!!!!

Liana is not really big enough to block the corner - you will still get a small boat in the corner. That whole stretch will easily fit a a full size wherry!!! Where was Liana moored at Wroxham - was that on a BA mooring?

Theres a whole lot of squit being talked about electric cars and indeed heat source heating in house - targets here there and everywhere, none of which will ever be achieved. Everyone goes on about electric cars and still they cannot manage a decent journey - in the cold weather when that affects battery power and you have the heating on, that alone can reduce your available mileage by up to half! So if its not bad enough to not get where you want to go, you have to freeze your n**s off just to achieve that!!! There are plenty of other savings to be made, for example by banning bitcoins, a very simple thing to do!! The bitcoin industry uses the same amount of energy as a the whole of Argentina - just ban them!!!! And save some people a lot of heartache! MM - want to see the answer to your electricity question?? See here for todays figures http://www.gridwatch.templar.co.uk/

I am afraid Vaughan is right - perhaps if the Australians would stop opening enormous new coal mines and the Chinese stopped doing the same, we might get something started!!!

G3 for cleaning hull - use plenty of water, i use any old kitchen spray bottle and if you are using an electric polisher use only a very low speed setting for the cleaning phase. You won't need a big bottle - they do tubes. For polish I use a Starbrite one ,Premium Marine Polish with Teflon - its the one in a black tub. Expensive but goes a long way, the paste goes on easily and more importantly, buffs off easily very soon after application. If you go to a car accessory shop you can get polishing stockinette in big rolls quite cheaply. Then top it off with two coats Autoglym Extra Gloss Protection. Alternatively you could just chuck it back in and have a beer - looks ok to me! Its only a dinghy!!!!!!

Tide came in and didn't go out at Acle today!!! https://flood-warning-information.service.gov.uk/station/6203 Thas the wind a'doing that! Got another couple of days of that too!!!

Yep - rode that once when Nobby Clark built it at his place in Whitlingham!!

An uprated Nutty Slack!!!!! ( No if you don't know, its too long a story from about 60 years ago!!! )