ranworthbreeze

Hello Les, Welcome to the forum. Regards Alan

When we went to the boat at Brundall this morning the walkways on the moorings were very icy, be careful when mooring up or visiting your boats if the walkways are wooden staging and if this weather continues. Regards Alan

When we left the hotel Wroxham this morning we found ice on the windscreen and on the soft top, we saw a number of cars on our way down to Brundall that were covered in snow. We checked out the new section of canopy that Jeckells did for us, we showed our latest owners around the boat again and the marina. Finally at home, rain for most of the way back home, its been raining for most of the weekend, but it was good to be away. Regards Alan

Hi Paul, Women do not understand that when a job needs doing in some cases you need to to use an iron or modify the odd item to get the job done. After using the iron once a leaving a slight mark on the sole plate, I had to get a new one for laminating edging strips, I let Tan have the new iron, which was good of me. Regards Alan

No its a case of survival, if I am hungry and want food I cook. Tan looks after washing, ironing, maybe a bit of cleaning, all I have to do is keep everything working. Tan with a broken washing machine or last week when I had to wait a week for a new drive belt for the tumble dryer is not to be reckoned with. As for sailies there is not much difference between sails and sheets Regards Alan

Hi Polly, The best thing to clean these we have found are the Magic Sponges. Regards Alan

My favorite Christmas record is "I believe in Father Christmas" by Greg Lake. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPm6CheT6rs Regards Alan

Tan was over keen of me putting our ropes in the washing machine, I used the pillowcase routine, I had to do it a couple of times. Now should I have left the mud weight on the end of the rope Regards Alan

Sat in our bedroom, we have already gone onto the veranda to look at the Bridge. The staging outside the hotel has been renewed, but it looks as if they are still working on it. Its our AGM tomorrow, but we may get down to the boat on Sunday, just to check that everything is ok, sadly the owner this week could not take up their allocation and we had already booked the room. Off to Roy's now for a look around. Regards Alan

Me too Grace, But only if you are talking about red wine, the white other than a good sparkling wine I would not be bothered at all if it ran out completely. Regards Alan

We would be sorry if that was the case Stuart. Regards Alan

Hi Strowager, I have seen 8 inch disks in the dim & distance past but I never used them it was bad enough with the 5 1/4 disks an dual drive units, programming in those days was an art, keeping the files small enough for the disk size. Cost of drives, ram etc was a small fortune. Regards Alan

Hi Doug, That looks a good start on the project, funny why the port side boards are in a poorer condition on the port side. Thank you for the picture, please keep us up to speed on the progress. Regards Alan

We found out after the owners took direct control of the boat in early 2012 that some suppliers were instructed to only do the minimal maintenance. The prop shaft was our first major work in early 2012. Regards Alan

Hi Mark, We put this down to bad maintenance when we were moored on the Northern Broads. Because of the amount of wear on the prop shaft, we had the alignment checked and the engine mounts. I totally agree that work such as over tightening the stern gland in the wrong hands can cause such wear. Regards Alan

Hi Andy, It was not a question of cost, but more of timing, the job could not be done in Norfolk in time for the season start, the prop shaft was removed (all eight foot of it) shipped to Leeds where one of our owners had the work done at the company he works for. The prop was refurbished locally which was done in time. I totally agree that whilst out of the water John should check everything that he can. Regards Alan

Hi Alan, I hope you are not hearing Grace's little voices Regards Alan

Hi John, In the past we have had to stainless weld our prop shaft and have it reground to take out wear where it went through the stern gland, we have also had to have the cutlass bearing housing sealed where it was leaking. You have already been advised that you will have to remove the the prop shaft. Could the problem be an out of balance prop? Here are a few pictures for you Regards Alan

R & S Ranworth Breeze Still a School week for sale.

When I was a service engineer and on call for faults in pubs, I always used to ask the landlord for a measure of gin for cleaning parts. I was on site when a certain pub was changing tenants. The old landlady used to have a silver goblet behind the bar, she could pull a measure or two into her goblet, drink it wash it out and replace it back on the self whilst her husband was changing a barrel. On the day of transfer there was no beer in stock but there was 8 gallons of Gin on stock. Regards Alan

Another topical one Petitions their relevance in society!

I agree with you the upper helm is really the only place to enjoy the Broads, I have only used the lower helm on a couple of occasions, I would rather dress in wet weather gear and suffer the elements and this would only be the case if we had to get back to the moorings or catch a tide. Sorry no gin usually aboard, we usually only have that for our crew when on a narrow boat holiday and then I drink beer. Gin however is good for cleaning machine parts and electrical contacts. Regards Alan

Hi Laura, The more cameras the better as far as I concerned, ones that show a shot of bridge height boards is even better. Regards Alan

Hi Andy, PM sent. Regards Alan

Hi Neil, I takes me between 3 to 4 hours to clean the outside of Ranworth Breeze especially out of season, the inside you can do in about an hour. We do get a cleaning service to clean the outside of the boat and many of the other owners use their services, I prefer however to do this myself, that way I can spend time inspecting the gelcoat and clean off any marks that have been missed, it also give us an idea of what gelcoat repairs we may have to include in the winter service. Out of season weeks aboard the boat can be some of the best times on the Broads, we have seen black swans and large groups of other wildlife on these quieter times on the rivers. We have been sat on the back of the boat in December in sunshine, dressed in tee shirts. Regards Alan