LondonRascal

When I would hire boats I often used the last post - the reason was, as some may be aware hire boats batteries are not always the best so, I would moor with the stern on the end of the mooring facing away from everyone else - thus the last post was utilised. If I needed to get the engine on to get a boost of voltage to get the heater going, then at least I would cause the least disturbance. However, I have noticed for some time now that generally people like to leave a bit of space between boats - and I don't mean just a single post say - 3 foot - no, it can be a good 5 foot and gets repeated down the length of mooring. I is guess work of course, but it often looks as though at least one, maybe two more boats could have been accommodated if everyone had moored a bit closer. Now here is something to ponder, what about the cases when you've moored and people have come and gone and things have changed about a bit to when you first arrived, do you move your boat along that bit closer to the boat that is now along from you to give a bit more space - or do you leave well alone, after all you were moored well before people came and went so why be the one to move up a bit?

You've been having a terrible time by all accounts, but you are at least using up your bad luck tokens in one large go rather than spreading them out over time.

Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth are sizeable towns - and they deserve a railway. I have noticed in recent months just how many people use the trains from Norwich to commute to be it to local stations along the line (like Brundall) or to the likes of Great Yarmouth. You've also got a lot of school children use the line during the week as well, this is a real overall community need. The problem is not so much the bridges, it is the overall franchise for the region. These lines have always lacked investment even under British Rail it was the 'hand me down' stock that filtered onto it be it local or main line trains and it is only in the next year new trains will come on stream - imagine that actual new trains for the region. What I think would make a ideal and innovative model is a bit of copying what happened down in London with what were a miss match of lines and services which are now known as 'London Overground' which was brought into the cusp of Transport for London. With improved stations, trains with a higher frequency of service and a simple fare structure (being included also into the Oyster payment system) passenger numbers sky rocketed. I would prepose a part public/private partnership where Central Government along with Norwich, Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft Council's, Network Rail and Abellio invested into the connecting of three major areas more seamlessly. New rolling stock be introduced which provided longitudinal seating so there was more space for cyclists, luggage and other users who require ease of access, a simple fare structure be utilised - possibly with a 'tap and go' style of payment, that services were more intensive - even if this meant that a single carriage train was the norm but running at twice the current frequency of a two car unit - and with less seating overall more capacity would result. That services run longer into the night both on weekdays and weekends providing easier connections for workers between to three areas and bringing more cross 'socialisation' where people are able to travel between Norwich and Great Yarmouth for example for an evening out and return later and easier than currently you can. As more people use the lines and revenue from such is allowed to be invested into the actual line rather than the overall pockets of the parties involved you can then help address things like the bridges. It needs a real push to get people who may drive between places to use the trainknowing they will be frequent, reliable and cheap - you can't have increased demand without increased investment. Now I know we are talking about jobs here and all that goes with that but, really having out dated situations like several signal boxes and as with Brundall a crossing keeper along with guards on each train is just not viable these days. A line has to be drawn at some point to say 'that is it' these trains will now be one person operated just like so so many are without issues - this is not just about this region there are masses of services that have Guards left over from bygone days who really do very little other than open and close train doors (especially in London where they are not required to check or issue tickets even). Such changes would have enormous opposition from Unions and effect many but it is another stream of money going out currently that you get very little back from. The same issues would come in terms of business and jobs if the bridges were changed to fixed types - people like me would need to relocate their boats - possible off the Broads system while that is easy the loss of these boats being moored would caused big big problems for the sudden losses in Toll income to the Broads Authority to Marina's having less boats in them and less income - since even if they let the moorings out it would be to shorter boats bringing in less revenues, local businesses, brokers and service agents would likewise begin to loose out with experienced staff used to dealing with large engines and complicated marine electronics now earning their bread and butter on small river boats with basic systems. One change has a big knock on effect to another industry down the line. It is one thing being delayed by a bridge that cannot open in hot weather, but what happens when something big breaks and very large amounts of money are needed to keep it working? It seems to me as if everyone is putting off that thought and thinking someone else one day will have to worry about it but not us here and now.

Find out the the real facts here: http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/lake-of-the-ozarks-boat-crash Synopsis About Lake of the Ozarks Boat Crash refers to a viral video in which seven speedboat passengers are violently thrown about the deck after hitting a large wave at high speed. On YouTube, many remixed variations of the video have been created featuring electronic dance music tracks dubbed over the background audio. Origin On August 31st, 2012, the Lake TV YouTube channel uploaded a news segment containing footage of a boat crash at the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri, where seven people were thrown back-and-forth across a boat's deck after plowing into a wake at dangerously high speed (shown below). While all seven boaters were injured, five were taken to a hospital to be treated for "minor to moderate injuries." In three years, the video gathered upwards of 4.5 million views and 1,100 comments. Original Video

In this day and age charities are and need to be run like large corporate companies. A lot of this goes into being able to hold themselves up and stand proud looking good out there. It is about getting well educated and passionate people to run their online division, build the brand and look as professional and well run as a company with many more millions of pounds to spend on such activities. All this does not come cheap, and the type of people who can help bring this about come from 'the wild commercial west' and so despite how one may be financed being very different, I can see why these days charities are run as competing businesses almost. But, that does not and should not take away from the 'coal face' of, in the case of the .R.N.L.I saving peoples lives and helping those in need in our inland and coastal waters. If you give more to them it could be argued that being better than making their latest advert campaign as glossy. But I am surprised how many younger people believe that the Lifeboats are just part of the Coastguard all paid for somehow (e.g. the government) and not donations. This is especially so in areas many many miles from the coast and I remember only finding out more about the Lifeboats through Blue Peter! The fact is I donate to them, I also hold their hard working 'men and women on the ground; with such high regard. Shaun at NYA has a pager on him at all times and could be called out at any moment - down tools and rush off to an incident that could be nothing or might be the difference between someone living or not - what dedication, pride and sheer selflessness. It might leave a bitter taste to some, but without out continues donations things could drastically change and what worries me perhaps more than anything is that the overall amount of funds raises comes from legacies - as our society changes and I wonder will the Millennials of today be as willing to give in their legacies as the older generation today do so if it takes a lot of money to raise awareness and spend out elsewhere than just at the coal face to get the message across, I say so be it. And if that means some people in the head office getting a bit of cushy number and pension pot, well I don't see how it can be any different in the times we live in.

Another successful trip out and a lot learned - but before we talk about the social side of things, lets talk about the continued work side of matters. As you are aware Picca the RIB was sorted out finally and now runs smoothly with her new oil, and spark plugs fitted. It was now a case of getting a bunch of things ticked off the list for Independence herself. Friday 8th June: To begin the remaining 240v electrical sockets needed to be changed from the previous un-switched single or double 'small marine' versions to domestic type models in brushed stainless steel. The issue being that every old socket that came out meant some work was required to make the physical hole larger in the Teak to accommodate the new socket. Pete (our Wizard Carpenter) got on to this but with about 9 to go it was going to be a long task. While Pete was on with that,Charlie and I were going about at the top of the list with the most pressing items. This began with changing the float switch in the aft sea chest so the sink and shower from the master cabin would drain correctly and automatically overboard and not require me to keep manually turning on the pump at the DC distribution board. Once that was done it was up with the forward cabin deck plates to inspect and clean and change the float switch in the forward bilge (which worked) but in rough seas would stick in the 'up' or on position - this was both a worry when a bilge pump comes on and stays on and then when you realise it is a stuck float switch the hassle of getting to it to reset it - something Charlie got used to during the delivery trip. We replaced the wipers and springs - but these continue to frustrate us not being quite the right type and not putting quite the correct pressure on the wiper arms as should. There was a host of other small tasks to complete but the one that was most bizarre was the test to see how small of a hole you can get a Yorkshireman into. If you look at the outside of a Trader you will see the flybridge area has a steep slope just ahead of the helm - this is a large area you can get into but along the sides of this are tiny voids - and Charlie managed to get into these to clear debris from water drains, and tidy up cable runs - something no body had touched no doubt since she was built. As the day wore on we met with Shaun from NYA who popped over to top off the hydraulic tank and helped us locate some 4mm diameter flexible hose to replace the washer jet hose from the centre wiper arm which was the only casualty from our last very cold winter. By about 8:00pm Pete had completed the sockets and cleaned, sanded and coated some corrosion on the centre fuel tank outlet in the engine room, Charlie had found the primary oil filter was a quarter of a turn loose, and we had identified what size and type batteries to replace (230Ah each) so you can imagine they are big things at over 55Kg each. Andy (LondonLad) duly arrived as did Shiela and I called time on works to get to the Yare before last food orders. By 10:46pm Howard had also arrived at the Pub and we had our full compliment of 6 crew. Saturday 9th June: The chaps we up and eager to get going, so off to Co-Op for booze and food and shortly after returning we readied for departure. Having successfully turned and proceeded down the fairway in the Marina we should have perhaps headed to Brooms for fuel (something we still need to do as we are now showing just into the white areas of the gauges this means we are into the hundreds of pounds worth of Diesel used category) but I had imagined being the season they would be open till a good hour on Sunday so did not worry. We instead headed downstream, for Reedham with the outgoing tide. Upon arrival at Reedham we found a pretty empty quay so turned to come in agaisnt the tide and moored up. All secure, the lads set about on the task of paying all of the anchor chain out - then measuring it all before paint a mark every 6 feet (or Fathom) on to the chain. Turns out not including the anchor itself we have 216ft of chain. This weights in at 133Kg with the Anchor another 27Kg on top of that. This is serious stuff and would not want to think the cost of that alone and another indicator just how big everything on Indy is. With this done it was time to head off to the Nelson for beers - after all, we had to wait for the tide to turn. I walked up later to the fish & chip shop where I found them very reasonably priced and all the chips and fish fried in Beef dripping. Not to everyone's taste, but it was to ours and we loved it. We headed back to the boat and waited a little longer until I was happy with depths and departed Reedham Quay, having had the bridge swing for us it was a case of heading down the New Cut with the tide helping us gentle along. 2.2m depth reducing to 1.2m just past the Hadiscoe Bridge where there is ridge. But it was not the depth we had to worry about this time, it was the height of the bridge. 25ft was indicated on the height gauge, something only sailing boats need really concern themselves with, but not with us. We would have to lower our three aerials and this brought out airdraft down to 23ft 6" - Charlie took to the top of the Radar arch/structure (a bit like the crows nest) and proclaimed with had about two and half foot of clearance as we passed under the road bridge at Hadiscoe. Onward we travelled and I was surprised now on the Waveney we had more water under us than on the Yare. However, once on Oulton Dykle this began to reduce and by the time we were crossing Oulton Broad we had between 1.8 and 1.5m of depth. We came to the Yacht Station to find the pontoons all taken up with what I think was a gathering of the Broom Owners Club - certainly a lot of boats there were Broom. We came in for a stern moor with a difference. Drop the anchor some way out, then go astern paying out chain as we did. This was the first stern on mooring I had done and without use of the thrusters too with a bit of a cross wind I was so pleased at how sure footed and predictable Independence is. She has masses of windage but also her sheer weight and amount under water helps counter that. One we were about a foot from the pontoon I stopped and held the boat while the anchor chain was pulled in taught. Lines were then secured on the pontoon and between them it held us securely with our swim platform and fendering never touching the pontoon, having completed what was effectively a Mediterranean style mooring we naturally used the Passerelle for the first time. We then spent the evening in the Commodore Pub - nice food there, great place with a real vibe and I must choose my words carefully, but you might get a stiff neck keep looking at more and more very fine ladies wearing rather less than one may expect turning up. Back to Independence for a night cap and a classic Bond film. Sunday 10th June: We decided to head over to the Wherry for breakfast, all you can eat affair for £8.95 which turned out to be very nice with fresh brewed coffee. By the time we got back on the boat and readied for departure it was a good time after 11:00am. While this meant we had more water under as Oulton, the tide would be ebbing at Yarmouth and soon at Reedham. By the time we entered the New Cut we passed over the 'bar' with 0.7m depth and we had an orange bath tub meander about ahead of us. Independence suddenly handled very 'oddly' and I had to concentrate a lot for this stretch just before the road bridge, not helped having to go in and out of gear and then run most of the cut itself on only one engine. It has a 5MPH limit but the boat ahead was at times in just tick over. They knew we were there, it would have been helpful had they let us pass but with respect to them and the 'rules of the road' they did nothing wrong and it would have been wrong of us to have asked them to do anything contrary. I just worked with what we had and on one engine at tick over Indy will do about 4MPH. We had between 1.6m to 1.8m of depth along the Cut once past the 'ridge' at St. Olaves end. Emerging at Reedham the bridge was shut, 20 minutes wait for next swing so we moored at the waiting pontoon, with now what was a fast ebbing tide. The bridge duly swung and we got under way once more - passed the quay in tick over still on one engine as now with this current rushing past her hull even keeping to the speed limit caused an enhanced wash. At each mooring we would do the same and this was appreciated by several people - unlike the boat ahead of us who carried on regardless and we noticed a boat moored grab their camera film them and make note of their registration number passing Cantley. I got a wave and Thumbs up from a passing Ranger later as we neared Rockland. We made it back to Brundall which seemed to come all too soon, and found Brooms closed. Oh well, back to the Marina and by now it was low water - at places less than a metre of depth and since Indy displaces so much water as we passed boats down the fairway all you hear is mooring lines creek as they take up the slack. We came into moor and another outing was successfully over. Time for my guests to pack up and head off for their respective homes, having all thoroughly enjoyed themselves. I think I have found one major problem with Independence though, it is the fact that people come and don;t want to go and wish had more time in their diaries to spend longer exploring places lol.

I can power limit the engine with a key. But it is completely pointless if you were going to buy such a thing but as a package with the boat it’s worth keeping. I still would like to at least give it a try now and then so it’s important to have it ready to go. I’ve also decided today to have all the fasteners and hose clamps changed to stainless steel as the current are mild steel and beginning to corrode. New spark plugs going in today too.

Same has happened with Broad Ambition on Breydon - there was not enough clearance at the bridges, so we opted to head off down the harbour for a bit to kill time (having got permission from Yarmouth Harbour Master on VHF). We were duly shouted at from the old fishing trawler that is now open to the public and moored at Town House Quay "Hire boats are not allowed down here" - we should have shouted back thank you but we are off to the continent for duty free lol

You may recall that some time ago I was preparing the Willaims RIB (now named Picca) and was shocked to have found it was devoid of oil. I duly therefore bought some more oil and put it in until it showed on the dip stick. Having posted such here some engineering savvy members pointed out I should on no account try and start the engine for I had now massively overfilled the engine. I duly then attempted to remove this excess oil myself without luck and so before I did any lasting damage got in touch with Norfolk Yacht Agency to help. Today they popped over to do this, saying it would be a quick and easy job. How wrong we all were...For it was so overfilled with oil when they tried to turn over the engine (with the coil pack removed to prevent it firing) and to pump oil from the sump into the oil tank - the engine hydro locked. Oil was full in the cylinders! There was talk of maybe having to take the head off to resolve the issue, but several hours later and after much work and a lot of hoses having been removed almost all the oil was removed. It should have a maximum of 3.5 litres and we removed over 7 litres! With the engine back together again it was time to add fuel and try to start, she fired up - the smoke was terrible as the oil was burned off and ejected from the exhaust. One thing I did find out is at some point the spark plugs had been messed about with - one was the original Iridium Racing plugs, and one was a completely different one which looked like what would be in an outboard. I have ordered two new Iridium ones from Panks in Norwich so she will soon be firing very well. Oh and one final note, I also found out the engine she has is the ungraded turbo charged version priding not 80HP but 100HP! Video of initial start up

... I have no problem with him - as I said he was helpful on two separate occasions to me so I cannot talk of any other persons experiences or observations. I also only noted that he was formally at Beccles Yacht Station since he told me this during a chat we had. I think though having someone there is helpful as it is a 'go to' point for a large amount of the day should you have any questions about tides, buy an electric top up card or just get some 'boating advice' he is very approachable.

Simpsons Boatyard (formally Moonfleet) charge £1.20/Litre for diesel (I was told maximum purchase amount is 100 litres) and £12.00 for a pump out or £18.00 for two tanks. This as of 5th June

The current 'Ranger' - for I am not sure if he is actually one - but is a chap who used to work at Beccles Yacht Station which of course is not owned or run by the Broads Authority. I am guessing that he took up the job at Reedham being very used to the work that goes into the boats coming and going at a busy mooring but as I say am not sure if he is a qualified Navigation Ranger I got on with him well, both when I stopped over night with Trixie bringing her north after purchase (he took her lines) and with Independence when we waited at the pontoon for the bridge while he moved two day boats along to make room for us to moor.

I was indeed, and it is now onboard Independence - waiting for a more permanent home since it would need moving from the current place everything we moved the boat.. It was a very thoughtful gift and thanks to Stuart who did took so much of his time to create it.

It is not very easy to get to Yarmouth by train from Potter Heigham - for there is now train station - but there is at Wroxham... You seem to want to head to Yarmouth itself, not perhaps to go on to the southern rivers after crossing Breydon Water - so, if I am correct in that assumption my advice is leave Potter Heigham and head to Wroxham - depending on your boat choice you may get under Worxham Bridge to some handy moorings, or since you are in a hire boat you might find space in one of the boatyards in Worxham. It is then a short walk to the train station, and easy to get to Norwich and on to Yarmouth. If you do go by boat though you really should not see such as being a scary of challenging trip. I'll use Thursday as an example - low water will be 1t 10:26am so if you wanted maximum clearance under the bridges, or were heading south over Breydon Water between half ten and half eleven in the morning would be ideal times to pass through Yarmouth - if you were leaving Potter Heigham therefore you should leave at about 7:30am - for it takes about four and a half hours to get from Potter Heigham to Great Yarmouth. Now let us presume you did this, you would find there would still be some 'ebbing current' that is to say the tide is flowing out slowly and so as NorfolkNog above said, you should turn and come into moor against this current - to be extra safe do such a turn having passed under both bridges and passed the yellow post - then come back through the bridges and moor up. Don't forget the Yacht Station staff are really helpful and you can give them a call on 01493 842 794 between 8am and 8pm and they will give you a some good advice.

I have donated to the cause too

Well I can only offer the opinion of myself Matt, but this is on the list for independence which has a mish mash of original SImrad equipment that is trying to work with Raymarine equipment and a lot of the stuff is ether broken (upper helm) or not in good enough shape to trust it alone. Boat navigation and general electronics were for a long time vastly expensive stuff based over a Windows operating system on things you might well expect to find in an average laptop. It even came in the same old grey colour schemes Laptops of the day used. Then Apple came out with the iPhone and iPad and people began to supplement their marine electronics with these and as time went on and as Apple improved the devices and developers made more and more powerful Apps it made the expensive marine electronics seem archaic. First it was touch screens, but people wanted ease of use and speed and so today while they cost relativity speaking the same, all the kit is so much improved and is so much more like using a tablet. Now you won't go wrong with Garmin, Simrad or Raymarine they are all very good at what they do but it is how they do it and what they offer and because it is a costly experience I advice to get some hands on use with each manufactures kit to see how it performs Personally I don't like Garmin because it is all touch screen based and a lot of the mapping and overlays is proprietary to Gamin - but they are simple and look very similar in look and use as a modern sat nav in a car. Raymarine has some good units out now too, but regardless of what people say in my experience they are not as fast to pan, zoom and use as the Simrad kit. The Simrad stuff may cost a bit more, but it has both touch and physical controls which is so much easier to use when you are in a rough sea than trying to keep your finger on a screen to move or select an item. My idea is to have a central MFD on the lower helm and then a couple of small colour screens that can network to it and provide things from depth to speed to course etc. I then would use my iPad Pro as a secondary roaming screen that will tie in to the SIMNet system and allow me to have full control over the main MFD anywhere onboard - and with a suitable protective case also from the upper helm. I also recommended having things like an iPad because Garmin, Raymarine and Simrad all have Apps for these and these can act as great backups. Have a look at You Tube for Simrad they have some great videos showing the power of their kit, as does Raymarine but not quite in the same way. Raymarine: Simrad: Garmin v Simrad Routing:

Try this link I agree about the checks, the small amount of oil I found under the engine was only spotted because I like to have a good check and look about and make mental notes of anything that has occurred or changed or looks different. I also make sure I always check things like coolant, oil, belts fuel filters etc before ever start up - and small things like did you leave a rag from the oil dip stick somewhere stupid where ti could get tangled in a belt, or cover an air intake. I think a lot of boaters regard the engine area as the dark smelly place best left out of sight. Randomly, just remembered my aft sea chest (where the aft shower and sink drain into) has a failed float switch I need to order a replacement It stopped working on Sunday so was manually operating the pump to drain it when needed. I should take a photo of the ones on Indy, any I have seen are kind of self contained boxes you buy off the shelf with inlet and outlet ports and a small Rule Bilge pump in them. On Indy they are custom moulded 'mini' baths' with a 2,000GPM bilge pump in them and an open top - thus if ever the bilges flooded to the point of operating the high water alarm, they would also over top the sea chests and these pumps would act as a further two pairs of bilge pumps meaning the boat has the capacity to pump up to 10,000 gallons per minute out of her bilges. Small things I find still impress me.

I love this place, full of new wonders to discover. Thanks.

This made me laugh. You know what I did just think. A number of boats have CCTV in their engine rooms, as if looking a screen makes it all ok until there is a coolant pipe burst and you think it is smoke - well matters not really for you cannot see a damn thing anyway. It is the perfect environment for thermal imaging and seeing hot spots develop and being able to remotely see what those temperatures are - and, even in a large event like smoke filled engine room they are not effected by it. I am annoyed they cost so much. A couple of hundred pounds gets you one for a smart phone, but want it in a 'CCTV' style enclosure and it is several thousand pounds. Of course resolution increases with cost, but even so.

The 'problem' is just us, people. There are more and more of us and we need to live somewhere and there is a whole new generation brought up on not having to own (save up and buy) large expensive items. Cars are following the mobile contract path, you lease the vehicle pay an amount each month - never own the car outright but you get a new car ever few years and just keep on paying. It might cost more in the long term, but you get the nice new wheels. Now with housing more and more people like the new home - not just to own their own, but it to be new and shiny just for them. Add in the help to buy schemes and lenders perhaps slipping back a bit to giving mortgages of values they should not really to people and it fuels it more. I cannot believe how the housing market so far as flats in London has just exploded. It matters not if there being all sold, or if half the actual homes in the developments are own by people who are not even in the country and may not ever be occupied the likes of Bellway Homes just cannot get enough of these sites be them in central London or the suburbs - any land they can get they want more 'boxes' for people to live in. Look at Norwich how former office buildings at three sites have been converted to luxury apartments and people are snapping them up. The problem is we are living in such uncertain times I believe and I get the feeling everyone is rushing to build and sell as fast as they can before the bubble may burst. After all, once that happens (and I do think it will) it is not the developers problems, just as it is not theirs about public services or utility provisions. However, as a country we are growing and more and more areas will grow - I don't see that as a bad thing necessarily, but it is a shame that in the past an area grew bit by bit - homes had their own charm and style and would be 5 here, 7 there type thing whereas what happens now is always these 'estate' type places where you have two or three styles of home, in a small area in the same style go up rapidly. They are the same style and type in Norfolk as what may be built in Nottingham and so slowly our towns and villages are becoming encircled with new homes that are so often carbon copies from elsewhere. The charm and soul of the town or village is watered down as what was small and quaint becomes busy and loud. Then the streets are filled with all the new Leased cars, and the delivery vans of online grocery shopping and of course the couriers delivery the Amazon orders too.

I too have one of these, though I admit not in the engine room it is with all the tools. However, while that might be pretty precise and help identify the exact location of a difference in heat, the good old hand can also do a great job in in seconds to just touch the obvious parts simultaneously between 'good engine' and 'engine with alarm' . Usually a marine engine overheating is lack of raw cooing water through blocked strainer/thru hull, an impeller that has just gone, or lack of header tank coolant (or a combination). Since all these are fine, my money is something has disturbed a sender or the fact the entire thermostat and housing was remove to repair the coolant leak on this engine may point toward something there not being happy. I am confident the engine did not actually overheat. I am also far more happy that once the boat was out and underway there was no smoke evident - this was before we pushed her up the rev range on Breydon Water. I have become in recent times a bit of an over worrier 'uh oh what is that' and then immediately presume its an enormous problem and will cost thousands to sort out, only to find out actually in the case of the oil leak it is a leaking oil filter.

It is about sale and usage, you will never get much more than a few 'fans' using it, and even then not all the time. We all have powerful communication devices on us that - well everyone has - and are able to communicate for for free using them. PMR is great because of it's short range, ease of use and cheap price with no licence required but again then only often used if with people around you who you have already informed to use their radio's and even then you will be surprised how some will forget to turn it on and you only find this out when underway so text their phone to remind them to turn on the PMR radio lol.

I just wanted to update this thread with some photos and a little write up of the weekend events. Firstly, nothing was really planned but came together perfectly when Broad Ambition with Charlie and friends had headed down south and he had asked about the possibility of joining Shiela and I onboard Independence and maybe taking her out for a cruise to the likes of Reedham for an afternoon cruise. I thought it was a great idea. Of course Shiela had no idea of this - she was due up after work Friday evening, and I was myself heading up but a little earlier in the afternoon. Having got to the boat it was a case of a 'quick' wash - only nothing about Indy is easy and a wash even if you do the bare minimum takes about 45 minutes and that is without cleaning the windows to a streak free shine. Once I had done that, checked over other items and generally readied the boat a long horn blast announced the arrival of Broad Ambition who duly moored alongside Indy. This was after heading down the wrong dyke, and having to perform a U turn outside someone's front room as they watched Corrie so I was later told. We had a nice chat and catch up and everyone had a tour of the boat - the ladies in the party very impressed and wanting to decamp to Indy for the beds, heads and general accommodation was so much large and no bending was required. Meanwhile the chaps were impressed with thins like the TV that rises and the sound system I have put in. Back on Broad Ambition for pre-dinner drinks. Sometime later I returned to Indy and did a quick ready meal in the microwave and had just had it when the phone rang. Charlie was telling me they had run out of Gas! They were therefore unable to cook their dinner and would 'bring it over' which I must admit, I thought they would walk round to the mooring with said dinner to cook, but being Charlie he brought the boat round (far better idea). So the Chilli was duly being cooked in Indy's galley and there was enough to feed about 10 - so I found myself back on Broad Ambition eating some more - just as well I am built for this sort of carry on and so polished off two portions. We then all headed off to 1972 (The Yare) where the very silent bar tender took our drinks order and also produced a water bowl for Macie dog. About 15 minutes later and Shiela walks in with her case and a look of surprise to find me and a bunch of rogues saying 'surprise' - naturally being a woman she knew something was up when I said 'come to the pub because I am there and the boa is locked up'. Everyone was pretty tired and we headed back to our respective boats and beds. The following morning we were up early and ready - Charlie had the simple task of getting a 13Kg Propane gas cylinder - Saturday morning, in Brundall would be an easy task. Not a bit of it. Brooms were not answering the phone, the Marina would only supply to berth holders and so we went about the Riverside Estate on the hunt. First call was Brooms just to see since it seemed crazy that on a Saturday change over and Bank Holiday of all times they would not have anyone there. Well, they did in the hire boat area and having checked with a chap we could get one, and a pump out so we opted to bring Broad Ambition round. With some crew in the Bistro near Brooms others onboard Broad Ambition and Indy we walked back to Broad Ambition and then took her around to Brooms. I guess the entire evolution had taken about 30 minutes but upon arrival nobody was to be seen - eventually someone arrived asking if we had been seen to, and duly dealt with providing us with gas and dealing with the pump out - we also got water. Long story short, all done, paid back to base and everyone gets onboard Indy and readies themselves for departure. Now Indy is not small, and we needed to turn her before we left, of all days plans this was the one I was most bothered about as a mistake here is not going to end up with a 'ding' it will be someone's entire rear canopy torn off with our Anchor as the boat swings round in the narrow fairway. Needless to say we had a bunch of crew on decks with fenders at the ready and some great instructions and distances being called out and I turned Indy with ease. We then cruise out to the main river, turned left and headed for Reedham. Indy draws over 1.6m so it was a keen eye on the depth instrumentation we had between 2.6m and 3.3m under us. It was a windy, but lovely day and the guests were soon sipping some interesting flavoured Gin and mixers - well I guess it was then crowned a 'Gin Palace'. The men amongst us were on good old lager and ale mind you. We arrived at a busy Reedham Quay, with the current which was by now beginning to pick up in its flow. Charlie shouted over to the quay attendant could they move a day boat up a little and he obliged. We waited at the bridge waiting pontoon for this to be done and then it was a case of me taking the boat away and turning her while not allowing the current to take us too far towards the close railway bridge. I did not use the thrusters but with about 1.500RPM on starboard engine forward and the same on the port engine astern she turned in her own length with an impressive growl to boot. We then slowly came alongside whereby as I engaged drive on starboard engine a sudden vibration and the engine bogged down for a second - clearly the proper had touched the muddy bottom (this was still about an hour away from low water) so no more motive power was use and the boat was moved forward on the lines. We had some lovely food and drinks at the Lord Nelson pub in the sunshine and once we had our fill we decided to head through the bridge and down to Breydon Water. We did not need to call up the bridge as it showed a countdown on the LED information screen as to the next opening and open it duly did. This time I left the quay using thrusters only and then spun the entire boat using counter bow and stern thrust and this as you might imagine had a lot of onlookers from either moored boats or those just sat or walking along the moorings. Using the engines earlier or the thrusters had the same effect - she is large but very manoeuvrable and you have complete confidence in things even so far as to be able to come to a mooring with the current, stop and then moor as if you are in still water. The slightest nudge astern for a second or two literally feels as if the brakes have been applied and people need to steady themselves to counter the change of momentum, really rather remarkable to feel. We headed down river, past the Berney Arms and out on Breydon Water proper. It was low water now but the tide was just about ready to turn and with only one other boat some distance ahead of her Charlie, who was now on the helm began to build up the revs, until about 2,000RPM when all hell broke loose and various alarms began sounding. We had a full overheat occurring on port engine. I rushed up to the fly bridge and took over as Charlie rushed past to the engine room. Here he used his hands to compare engine temps - header tanks, the same, heat exchangers also the same, raw water strainers - clear and cool, raw water impeller housings, cold, exhaust where water is inject - again cool. Absolutely no sign of any issue and yet the port engine temp gauge was now pegged in the red. With the Port engine shut down I cruised down Breydon water, Charlie then closed the sea cock and removed the raw water strainer it was as expected perfect clear with no blockages. I turned the boat and then came back towards Berney Arms and re-started the port engine, slowly the temp gauge fell until around 85c at tick over she was further reducing but at about 1,500RPM she would again begin to rise and get hotter. We suspect it could be a faulty sender (there are two for temperature sensing) but it might be an air lock in the cooling circuit where coolant goes in a closes loop into the hot water tank, it might be a faulty thermostat as this was all removed recently whatever it needs more investigation. We then cruised back to Brundall without further incident and moored up at her berth. After some time talking and enjoying the late evening sun, I popped down to the Engine Room to find engine oil under the starboard engine - not much maybe a cupful, but there none the less. Charlie then got over into the hot nooks and crannies (he seems to do a lot of that on Indy) and found it was one of the oil filters leaking from the top O ring seal. I have since looked at this and it just does not look very 'new' and this was another item supposed to have been changed prior to leaving Plymouth. I have spares but I am no longer taking any chances - I am having NYA look into the cause of the overheat - was it real, or just a false alarm with a faulty sender, but they can also do a proper Yanmar service - fuel filter's oil fitter's oil - the lot. I have a great deal of respect and trust in them, and having now paid a couple of invoices for the work they do and care they take I don't think they are at all bad value. So, nothing too bad, nothing too serious but when people say about the Broads and sea boats being on here and so on Breydon Water really came into its own for me to be able to safely do something find an issue and come back home so to speak as if it was a walk in the park, having had to return to Plymouth in less than favourable conditions on one engine during sea trials, I'd much rather fin out things on Breydon than off of the coast at Yarmouth. Still, on the plus side the upper help throttle controls performed flawlessly, even if their chrome has now peeled and the trim tab adjuster has packed up working. One step forward, three back at the moment but I'm still loving it!

The scale is impressive but trust me when you’re in a big sea Indy feels tiny. Taking Indy out tomorrow for a cruise on the rivers. Maybe Reedham. Sent from the Norfolk Broads Network mobile app

Just talking about dreaded GPS Nav - coming back from Norfolk after the meet I gave the free navigation App 'Waze' a go. I has to be one the best sat nav's out there - not only because the directions given seem that but more clean, that they are given well before the turn off for example but it is crowd sourced real time data coming in from other users. So it is able to work out thing like average speeds from others who use the the App and are in the area, and since it can interact with users someone might have reported the fact there is a police speed trap ahead - so as you approach it warns you and you as well. This began to show is strenghts with road works being reported to be ahead well before the traffic began to slow and any signs were seen. The only issue I can see with it, is in order to use a lot of the feature like reporting issues along the route, or giving them a thumbs up (confirming they are indeed there) means you'd have to physically tap at the screen though in the general scheme of things this is little different to taking your hand to adjust the heating, or change the radio station