Happy Jax 3

Chapter One Friday 17th July A long time coming but finally we are on Holiday. Yipeeeeeeeeeee!!!! Arrived at the boat yard at Wayford approximately 7pm minus the two dogs who are on their own holidays in the kennels and Connor. No Connor you ask, I will come to that later. Up for two weeks so spent the next two hours unloading the car. How many clothes can our family have? I was probably the worst to be honest. As we loaded the boat up I am sure I could see it lowering in the water. Gave the boat a wash and had an early night. Saturday 18th July As usual to Lou’s discust I was awake at 5.30am. Out of bed at 6.00. Put the kettle on had a cup of tea and started on a few chores before we set of on our adventure. Problem being, although you try your hardest to keep quiet every movement echoes around the boat and it wasn’t long before loops was up having a moan about “were on holiday or something†We had made the decision to go down to the southern broads for the two weeks as we normally spend most of our time up north. For the first few days we had agreed to meet up with some friends Terry & Sheila and head down south together. We had pre-arranged to meet at Acle at midday but needed to confirm, no phone signal in our yard so had to wait until we were underway. Carried out all the usual checks oils, filters etc.. and set off at 9am. Once underway and a mile down the river I called Terry to confirm meeting place. They had spent the evening at the Lion at Thurne and we agreed to meet at the BA moorings at Thurne Mouth at midday. We arrived at Thurne Mouth earlier than expected and we decided to go up to Thurne Dyke, as we turned in the Dyke we could see Terry & Sheila’s boat Southern Comfort and we moored up directly behind her. Terry looked directly at us but didn’t recognise us at first and you could see his beady eye on our boat ensuring we didn’t bump into him. Well I did go in faster than normal for effect. Eventually he recognised us and invited us aboard for a drink. Out come the Rum bottle, well it was past 11am and we were on holiday. We done last minute checks on tide calculations for going through Yarmouth. It was agreed to go through 2 ½ hours after high water as this ensures that you catch the flood tide pushing through Breydon. My only concern was that we were on neap tides and the clearance through the bridges would be limited. Terry’s Bayliner with the radar arch folded down still needed 8ft 6 inches in old money. Leaving it too late would be a dangerous game. Knowing we had to hit Yarmouth at 2.30pm we planned to set off at midday. Terry had always said that I am jinxed with the weather when on holiday on the broads after our 2008 experience. At 11.55am the biggest black cloud you could imagine rolled over Thurne and the skies erupted. At that point Terry nicknamed black clouds Colin clouds, Jay found this very amusing. None of us were prepared to go out in the down pour and decided to wait it out,Yarmouth Bridges again in the back of my mind. At 12.20 the skies cleared, rain stopped and we set off. It was the usual boring uneventful trip down to Yarmouth on the ebb. As we approached Yarmouth knowing Terry had to pull over to lower his radar arch and canopy, I noticed another Colin Cloud on it’s way in. As it happened we all managed to moor up at Marina Keys. It was now 2.50pm, slightly behind schedule. Terry lowered his arch we lowered our canopy and we set off, still watching the cloud as we were all now open to the elements. We approached the bridges and they showed a clearance of 8ft 7in. Phew. Terry slid under with less than 2inches to spare. Now the fun starts. We entered Breydon got through the lift bridge and Terry struggled to pull his arch back up as the canopy was acting as a sail against the head on wind. Once up, Terry decided to try out his twin 7.4 litre V8 Mercruisers. Yes I did say 7.4 litre V8 . Although he does have a gas conversion to help keeps cost down. As he opened up the Bayliner he went past us just before hitting the plane we fell into the hole of water he left behind him. What fun it was though, little did we now this was in preparation for another adventure a few days later. Terry soon stopped playing when he looked at his fuel reserves depleting. . It was a rough crossing for the rest of Breydon as it was now strong wind against tide. HJ II handled it with ease. We were heading up the Yare towards Reedham hoping to get a mooring. As we approached Reedham Railway Bridge it was again raining, not wanting to get wet Terry called up the bridge on VHF to get it opened, timing was excellent as we passed straight through. The quay heading at Reedham village was packed solid with boats so we continued through on to the Ferry Inn moorings. As we were planning to eat in the pub that night we managed to moor directly outside. Once settled me and Terry went into the bar to book a table, it had to be in the main bar as they had their two dogs Barney & Snowy with them, Of course we had to have a pint or two as well. Real ale, I must add as I have now been fully converted from Lager by Rod (Flying Fortress) & Mark of the Mbird variety. Anyway, the table was booked for 8pm. At 7.45pm we all wandered over to the pub, dogs included to have a quick drink before our table was ready. At the bar we advised them that we were there and had reserved a table in the bar area, the barmaid looked at the list, found our name and went silent for a while, she then went off to speak to they guy organising the restaurant, there was an element of heated conversation and flaying arms. She returned, apologising as she told us the table we had reserved had been given to someone else by the man organising restaurant, but they shouldn’t be long and we are welcome to wait. They had just started their starters, so I guess we were in for a long wait. Not very impressive we all thought, surely a reservation means exactly that. It was very busy and time was moving on. When Terry ordered the next round of drinks he asked the barmaid again how long, all he got was a very vague response. To be fair I believe she felt very awkward about something she had no control over. Then as luck would have it a couple moved of the table next to the bar, we asked if we could squeeze on that table. We did and they set the table. After a period of time and no service I found some spare menus on the bar. Not knowing how to order, Terry asked the man organising the place if we have to order at the bar. He responded very arrogantly, “No, I will be with you when I can, can’t you see I am busyâ€. That was like a red rag to a bull with Terry. His arrogance continued throughout the evening. When he finally came over to take our order, Terry asked him how our reservation got messed up, he gave every excuse under the sun and then blamed it on the couple sitting at the table, that they had ignored the reservation sign. Surely it should be down to him to move them off. Oh well! Moving on. I must say once our food arrived it was very good. Although, Lou, ordered Coq Au Van, expecting chicken with bacon in a red wine sauce, what she got was a piece of chicken on a bed of rice with a tomato and mixed pepper sauce on top. Closer to a chicken chasseur we think. Lou enjoyed it so nothing was said, translation issue we thought. We went back to our boat for coffee and a nightcap. Chapter 2 coming soon Click on pictures to view, one day I will sort this problem

But you do have two of them, you will probably get two for a tenner in a factors.

All makes sense now. Just as an aside, you will probably be able to match the thermostat at a motor factors. Even Volvo Penta didn't produce thermostats just for the marine industry. It will save you a fortune. Remember Car, Boat, Boat, Car. Oh! boat add on 400%.

Hi Simon Is the engine with the good thermostat running at full temperature i.e. 80-88 c. Does the calorifier run of the port or starboard engine? With most thermostats they will be set to start opening at 80-88c. At river operations (low Speeds) the thermostat will probably only open 1-2mm max as that will be enough to regulate the temperature. As with a car it will only fully open when under heavy load. If it is open as you say, you will never reach operating temperature.

Hi Barry You could try International Interstrip, especially developed for gel coat. http://www.marinemegastore.com/product- ... 175299.htm I would not recommend Nitromors at all. It will damage gel coat.

Nice Picture Simon See picture below, an earlier shot on the same theme, but it includes your Gull/Cormorant at the top of the centre dead tree. Don't forget click on the picture.

Thanks Perry Simon, well done I forgot you were there at the weekend. It's the dead trees that give it away.

I have just been editing some pictures taken on our recent two week holiday on the Broads. This is probably my favourite sunset picture I have taken to date and I thought I would share it with you. Can you tell me where we was moored when taking the picture? Please click on the picture to view, I still seem to be having a problem with fuzzy picture down loads.

Hi Cygnet I to would avoid gas fridges at all cost. We also have an Isotherm 12 volt fridge. As does Mark we run with 2x110Ah deep cycle domestic batteries and have never had a problem. Even on the lowest setting we still have plenty of ice for Lou's G&T's. From memory the Isotherm fridges run with a current draw around one amp, so unless you have batteries in poor condition or low capacity you should never have a problem. Mark, don't quote me but I believe gas fridges have only been disallowed on petrol engined boats.

Hi Simon In answer to question 1. Toilet paper is designed to dissolve in a very short period of time, I have never experienced a problem. However, we did learn from the mistake of using kitchen roll in an emergency as we run out of toilet tissue. This blocked the pipes very quickly necessitating a rather unfavorable repair. Question 2. From memory, think providing the pump handle is in the down position Raw water is not able to enter even under pressure. I also understand that the skin inlet and outlets fittings are designed to act as a ventury when in motion, (pardon the pun). To be on the safe side we always left the valve switched to empty to tank as well. We never turned the Sea cocks off on the Princess as they were inaccessible anyway, although we did struggle when we left the boat.

Hi Simon In my limited experience with these drives, on our Princess the water take off from the drive unit was via an stainless elbow pipe from the bell housing, this was high enough to take it higher than water level. If they are rubber hoses below water line can you use a pipe clamp to carry out routine servicing such as impellers etc? With all drives you have to put your trust in the security of rubber pipe and bellow connections, as on the river side you have the main drive bellows and water intake hoses also. Failure of any will result in water entering the boat. It is esential these are replace at the correct intervals.

Hi Simon A lot of valuable info in this thread, may I add my twopennith. are the calorifiers running of the port engine with the faulty thermostat? If so that is your problem. Marine engines, no mater what size (Well In our sector anyway) with sealed pressurised cooling systems are in effect no different to most car engines. the only difference is the radiator is replaced by a heat exchanger cooled by raw water. Providing the thermostats are operating correctly I would expect the engines to be up to full operating temperature 80-88 c within 10-15 mins maximum even at idle.

I would be up for it Simon

What a great tale Jonny, The photo's are stunning. Keep it coming M8, your fingers must be sore, so I guess a rest is in order.

Just bought the latest Anglia Afloat, Imagine my surprise when I got to page 10 and see one of my photo's in the top right hand corner. A friend of mine Terry had used it when he wrote a piece for Anglia Afloat about the Broads Authority's request for the New Inn Horning, having to dig up their redevelopment due to not obtaining BA planning permission. Anyone need a press photographer, you now were to find me.

Nice tail Dan, keep it coming, cant wait to be back up tomorrow evening.

Nice shots as usual Simon

3.4% I would have a better result drinking tap water

Far from it Mark, just using up old stocks

Oh! Is that what it is. Didn't even think of that. Bl**dy nice punch though

Thanks Pete I knew you would have the answer.

I have posted up some pictures of the NBN meet at Beccles, (see link below) and the pictures are very fuzzy. They are ok if you click on them to full size. This has only just started to happen, does anyone have any ideas. viewtopic.php?f=29&t=5211&start=100

Nice tale Geoff, can't wait for the next instalment.

Hope all goes well Dave and you are back on the river soon. Modern technology, don't you just love it. Bring back points and condensers, that's what I say.