ranworthbreeze

Hi Jeff, The forum has had over a thousand members a number of times, the administrators and moderators decided on culls of members that had joined and hardly logged into to post or view almost every time the forum has been updated, this helps with migration and promotes an healthy forum. The forum is now a place where people do actually login in to make use of Broads information to find out if anything will disrupt their visit to the Broads, where to get that repair done or that service undertaken, what pubs are open or where to go for that BSS inspection. Forum members talk or debate with the friends they have made, share jokes good or as usual very bad, boating tips are given, advice and reports of restoration and projects are very well received and enjoyed by all, likewise tales from members holidays on the Broads or from other waterways. We are advised of there is no such thing as too many shoes, scooters may go faster with stripes, its nice to have a broad at the bottom of ones garden and if in any doubts "Get off of my Land" The NBN the friendly forum. Regards Alan

Any city worth its salt should make sure that any of these waterside developments include full access to the public in the form of continued or new walkways that promote use of river or canal use. I have seen good use of and promotion of canal side paths in places like Edingburgh, Birmingham and Banbury; sadly Manchester turned its back on the canal. A good walkway helps with self policing because these paths are used more by walkers, cyclists, joggers etc. Where towns and cities have had the foresight to have a combined plan of use for all these waterway developments are providing a safe environment and well used facility. Rather than close the pub they would have been better making it the centre of the development with full water front access, bars and bistro's and 24 hour moorings and a footbridge across the river to improve access would not go amiss. Just my thoughts of course but what are yours? Regards Alan

Hello Geoff & Wendy, I hope you have both got into the swing of things. I guess you were not allowed up onto the Ranworth Church roof if repairs were being carried out. Looking forward to your next instalment. Regards Alan

Hello Andrew, Thank you for your first post, I guess you have been a watcher for some time. Regards Alan & Tan

Day 9 Tuesday 21st April. Breakfast over using up some of the fruit and bread to try and cut down on the food we had to pack up ready for taking home. The last thing to pack up will be the fridge, for longer journeys I would use a cool bag or cool box and the freezer packs, but we only had to put a few bits in, a few cold bottles or tins of beer will help keep items such bacon, cheese and margarine cold if sealed in a couple of plastic shopping bags. Tan did the washing up whist I took the boat round to Broom’s to get the toilet tanks pumped out and the fuel tanks filled (one toilet emptied £18 or both for £23) We used about £63 worth of diesel for our week plus aboard Ranworth Breeze; this included the fuel used for the heating at night. Back to the marina I started on the jigsaw puzzle of getting all the bags into the car, Geoff will know all about this because I wanted the roof down for our journey home. Car fully packed I went back aboard and checked out the engine, filled up the water reservoir and after shutting off the seacock removed the water intake filer which I took ashore to fully wash out. The filter was refitted nuts fully locked off seacock open and the engine turned over to check that everything was good. Tan cleaned down the bathrooms/wetrooms, this is an easy task all you need to do is fill up the sink with warm soapy water and sponge down all the walls and fittings and then shower off. After all the cleaning was completed by us both I refilled the water tank to full. We completed the boats log indicating that the boat was cleaned by the owner/contractor, fuel and water tanks full and all checks done and nothing damaged or broken. I had left the upper deck as the last job to be done before we would leave the boat. We decided to wait for Rich & Lisa who had done their Roy’s shop and arrived down at the boat by about 11.30am (we used to be off the boat by 9.00am when the syndicate first started). As always it is sad to leave the boat, we decided to go to Horning we wanted to look at a boat at NYA a Funnell 37 Sedan (2010), in the end we looked at three boats, the Funnell was the worst of the boats. We quite liked a Haines 32 Sedan (2013) but preferred a Westwood C340 Coupe which had a better specification. Its ok we were only looking, but you can never stand still with boating. We called in at Womak Staithe on our round about way home, we took in the sunshine all the way home and arrived back in Sheffield about 6.30pm. Did I mention that this had been our 29th weeks visit to the Broads? Roll on the beginning of September. You might be asking what happened to the 10th day? Of course I did not list our first day when we arrived down at Brundall on Sunday 12th April when we were lucky enough to take over Tony & Julie’s allocation. We try and inform other owners if we are leaving early so they can take advantage of any extra time aboard the boat. Regards Alan

Hi Mark, We are onto our fourth one however, we only had to pay for the second one when we were managed by a management company; £2500, ouch!! Since then we have had free repairs by a couple of our fellow owners, who improved the motors by fitting additional thrust bearings and improved brushes and brush gear. I current have our now refurbished bow thruster at home awaiting installation if required. Regards Alan

We did see a few hire boats using the bow thruster to aid steering, I hope that the bow trusters used are constant rated or have a cut out to protect the motors. They also draw an awful amount of current from the batteries. We only use ours when necessary well at least I do. The ideal use of these is getting out of tight mooring locations such as the side moorings at Ranworth Staithe. These are not cheap for basically what is an heavy goods starter motor. Regards Alan

Hi Matt, Because our Birchwood 340AC was built with a sea going specification the emergency tiller was part of the sea kit in case the hydraulic steering failed. Just an emergency aid, I remember the anchors used on narrow boats that were stowed ready for use on flooded rivers. I have not seen this provision used on the Broads however. Regards Alan

Hi John, I have pinned a message regarding the situation of the refuge bins on the Southern Broads:- Regards Alan

Hi Alan, The extra couple of days (well an extra full day and two nights) were a bonus. I like to meet all the owners if I can, but other owners have taken new owners out for training or shown people around the boat. The AGM's are a good time to meet up and share our tips re what we do when onboard, this also discussed on our private forum. We have made a large number of friends both in our syndicate and other syndicates on the Broads. Regards Alan

Day 8 Monday 20th April Breakfast over early it was a short trip up the road to Brian Ward’s , yesterday whilst showing Frances and Michael where everything was located and how it works I noticed that the TV mast was missing one of the plastic thumb screws, so the top section would not extend. I have tried to locate these in the past with no avail; so a new mast was called for, I also noted that the flat hosepipe (reel type) had a pinprick hole in it. The items were all available at Brian Ward’s, I advised Nick & Tanya that their advert with us was up for renewal and asked if they would be renewing with us again. Yes they will renew with us again this year. I got back to the boat and Tan & I were waiting for Richard (Rich) & Lisa to arrive, they had seen Ranworth Breeze on line viewing several pictures on a few websites including our own. They were not disappointed when they arrived a little after 9.30am. We had a coffee and showed Rich & Lisa over the boat from stem to stern showing again where everything was stowed, how it works, the does and don’ts i.e. only use the cheap two ply toilet rolls that the syndicate supplies, soft three ply is regarded as contraband and is removed off of the boat when ever found, likewise toilet cleaner is not to be used. Helm change over switch showed but the lower helm is seldom used, I have only used it twice in the 14 years since Ranworth Breeze was launched, the helm position is no better than a number of the low hire boats all that can be seen is the reeds and nothing at all can be seen behind you at the helm other than the stairs going up to the upper helm and down into the aft cabin. Rich show what the emergency tiller was when I removed it from the aft cabin wardrobe, again another item showed which thankfully has never been used on the boat. Engine checks over we went onto the upper deck and showed Rich how to remove the canopy side sections that needed rolling up to protect the plastic windows from creasing. The top section is let down and is rolled after lowing down in the pram hood manor. Rich & Lisa have hired boats for many years both yachts and cruisers and would have no trouble operating the boat, they hired Fair Diplomat a few years ago so they were somewhat familiar with the basic layout of the Birchwood 340. Rich was surprised however with the boats response to the helm and engine power aboard the boat compared to the hire boat, of course our boat is finished to an higher standard but sadly the air draft is a lot higher. Rich was straight on the helm and took us out of the marina and we headed up towards Brammerton and eventually Norwich. It was an easy day for me today Rich proved that he been on boats since he was eight and we chatted away whilst we went up the river, we tried a emergency stop and a full turnaround all of which impressed Rich with the handling. We did a few moorings and then moored up at the Waters Edge for lunch; we sat on the decking in brilliant sunshine and had our meal. Lunch over we proceeded towards Norwich but turned around just before we came to the bridge. We made our way back down to Brunadall and I showed Rich & Lisa the Brooms Fuel station and said that we moor there port side on so that the two toilet tanks can be emptied (the two caps are on the port side and one of the diesel filler caps, the other diesel and water filler are on the starboard side). Back in the marina after about 4 hours on the river we went through the logs and explained other procedures Rich & Lisa left to spend another night at The Hotel Wroxham, they said that after we left them the night before they went into the Kings Head, by all account that and two takeaway shops on the Bridge were the only thing that stopped Wroxham being a ghost town. They said the refurbishment of the Kings Head was very good and it was hardly recognisable as the pub they knew and it was a vast improvement. We went back to cleaning the boat after they left, I spent about two to three hours washing down the outside of the boat and Tan packed a lot of our gear so we could put some of it in the car out of the way so Tan could tackle the inside clean in the morning. We went for a shower and had a meal in the Yare before going back to the boat for our final night aboard. It would be Rich and Lisa’s boat in the morning for a full week. A couple of games of Rummikub, a coffee and bed. Regards Alan

Forget the wind it is the midges that fly through those brushes you have to worry about. A group of my friends hired one of the older boats a few years ago and they were all bitten almost to death. I guess they were not marmite lovers. heard that the biting insects are not fond of Guinness drinkers, real or not the trials should be good. Regards Alan

Hello John & Mary-Jane, Welcome back to the fold, we are all waiting with bated breath for your tale of other waterways. Regards Alan

We may have to have another server just to cope with John & Mary-Jane's pictures alone. Iain you deserve a well earned rest, pity about the journey down to the Broads, but it is all down hill Remember we like loads of pictures and the odd story. Regards Alan

First Time reading of this blog for me too. A great piece of fiction surely Regards Alan

Hi Tim, I hear that slugs and snails are having go faster stripes painted on them to give you a race down the A17. Enjoy your trip. Regards Alan

Hi Simon, On a bad day I think I could give JM a run for his money with the canopy up. Unless it is exceedingly bad weather we travel with the canopy down. Back home now, back to the grind and just the swaying to remind us of our time on the Broads. Day 7 Sunday 19th April Frances and Michael arrived shortly after 9.00am after a five hours plus journey from North Wales. We showed them around the boat again even though they had visited Ranworth Breeze in February. Part of the initiation on the boat is where everything is located, what it does and how it is stowed; this is done from stem to stern both inside and on deck. The stowage of the emergency tiller in the aft cabin wardrobe is usually a talking point, likewise the almost secrete cutlery draw. The lounge carpet removed and down into the engine bay to go through the various engine checks and weed filter on the water intake. Sunday morning was overcast and at one point we thought we might get some rain. We showed how to let the canopy down after removing all the side panels and how to roll these up to prevent the plastic panels from splitting. With the canopy down and the anchor and forward light mast down we have an air draft of 9ft 8 inches. We ventured out of the marina up to Brammerton Green practicing at any available moorings; mooring up portside and starboard side on with or without the bow thruster. I remember our training back in 2001 all we did was figure eights on Hoveton Little Broad, no mooring practice and no experience of tidal, windy waterways. Sadly Frances & Michael had to be away before 2.00pm for their journey back home, so it was back into the marina and our stern mooring berth that Michael performed well, if the wind is blowing down the marina it can catch out the best of our fellow boat owners. More tidying up for tomorrow, we had a late lunch and phoned Richard and Lisa, they were still on their way down from Derbyshire and had been caught up in the closure of the A1 and roadwork’s on the A47, we arranged to meet them in the Hotel Wroxham where they were staying Sunday & Monday night, we had some drinks in the bar until the bar closed somewhat early around 9.30pm, it seemed a pity so a round was bought in. We left them around 10.pm and made our way back to Brundall. A coffee and a few crosswords and bed. Regards Alan

There are bins at the Public Toilets at Womak Staithe for use of all boats using the staithe. We called at the staithe on our way home yesterday. Regards Alan

Hi Geoff, The advice given to you regarding leaving the wheel was also given to me even though I have over 40years experience on Narrow Boats. I hope you called in the Four Mary's at Linlithgow, and kept up the tradition of having a sample of all of the hand drawn brews (I think there were 5 on when we were there)before buying your pint. I am looking forward to your journey on the Scottish Canals. Regards Alan

Hi Alan, I bet you are relieved now that Ocra is in its mooring and is ready for those cruises ahead. Just a tweak here and there and full speed ahead, within the speed limit of course! Regards Alan

With regards to Womak Staite I think it is correct that a donation box is being used, some late arrivals to the moorings do use this to help keep the moorings maintained by the parish is very good condition. The above is still my favourite mooring location on the Broads. Regards Alan

We saw PC Ish Najjar the Broads Beat Manager at Brooms open day yesterday at Brundall. they had with them their patrol boat. Any presence on the Broads has to be good news to boat hirers and boat owners alike. Regards Alan

Hi Terry, Welcome to the NBN forum. Do you have any pictures of the operation to get Hurricane off of that bank? Or maybe a short story of how it was achieved. Regards Alan

Day 6 Saturday 18th April I managed to get some time on the forum this morning being as we were on the Marinas wifi, nice morning the sun up and ready for the day. We had breakfast and then straight to the showers, clean once again I came back on the forum just before jonzo pulled the plug so my upload of yesterday would have to wait We parked in the marina car park and walked round to Brooms to attend their boat show. Tan signed us up to the first factory tour for 10.30am and a boat trip at 12.00 noon. On both of these events was John, CaptainJosie & his wife, we chattered a bit during the boat trip and afterwards whilst having some of Brooms free drinks. The tour was as I imagined and was interesting. There was a few trade stands and a fish & chips van, this seemed to be the biggest queue of the day. Being as we were there it would have been an insult not the look around the boats that were for sale, if only I had put on my other coat maybe I could have afforded the £299,999 for one of the boats that rather struck our eyes, Potter Heigham may have been a tight squeeze though. A lot of the boats while being bigger and having more berths did not tick all of are boxes compared with our Birchwood 340. After being on the river earlier it seemed the best thing we could do was head back to the marina and take the boat out, canopy down and on our way back up to Brammerton Green, not much space but we managed to get in. Someone took our lines who used to be in our syndicate at the beginning of the syndicate back in 2001 (like ourselves we were the second owners to take Ranworth Breeze out on the river back then). We will shortly have to get back to the marina for the night, so it a meal in the Yare and back to the boat to de-clutter for the arrival of new owners for their initiation training at 9.00 in the morning. More later. Regards Alan

Hi Neil, I am not sure, I have advised the landlord to join the forum when he has sorted out his broadband, by the sound of it is almost steam driven. Regards Alan