ranworthbreeze

I have just spoken to Lynda At Maffett's, she has confirmed that they will not continue with the Dive/Prop insurance that they provided in the past. A few lucky old customers will still be able to take advantage of their services. Maffetts will still offer the services of towing or diving on a none insurance basis dependant on their workload. As with most boating companies on the Broads they will help you out when they can. Regards Alan

Hi Alan, Have you treated the canopy? Is it comming through the canvas or through the stitching or zips? We tend to use Fabsil on ours, but you would need a dry day to apply it. Regards Alan

I agree that the progam last night was far better than the barging about series, that extra half hour makes the program less rushed and allows for a gentle pace. When we were on Oxford Canal last year we did not get much further than Banbury, their boat festival was that weekend, we passed through the centre very slowly with boats on both sides of the canal leaving only a few inches of clearence on each side of the boat, steering at a very slow speed was an issue but we did not hit anything unlike poor Timothy in the program that kept hitting other boats, locks etc. On windy open sections going into a lock can be an issue and those locks with the wider pounds that Timothy & Prunella encounted would have been a problem and no doubt a small amount of paint would be missing from the front of their hireboat. It does happen to everyone at times. Round a corner and a bridge you can guarantee that there will be a boat that you may not be able to see approaching from the other direction. Of course the longer the boat the bigger the problem especially with conture canals such as the Oxford, the 70 footer we hired was really 5 to 10 foot too big for the canal because of some of the tighter bends. Regards Alan

Hi Roy, There were only six of us so we did not use the two sets of bunk beds at rear of the boat. The crew consisted of 5 girls and myself. Tan of course was one of the girls but I still had looks of envy from people we saw on the canal towpath and in the pubs, happy days and a great start to boating. In 1974 that boat cost us just short of £300 plus fuel deposit, later that year and for a couple of years after we made use of their out of season 4 day special which was £60 all in (included fuel) for the same boat. Regards Alan

They would be a great item on a Broad as a floating bar/restaurant you could moor all around one. Regards Alan

I will have a word with Lynda on Monday to find out exactly what they can and can't do, I need re renew our dive/prop insurance with them anyway. Their web site said they provided towing services off of Breydon Water and salvage. Regards Alan

Iain now I am confuzzled :bow Or is down to too many Alan's Regards Alan

Hello Poppy, Be careful what you wish for and do not give them any idea's, the cost of BSS would pale into insignificance compared to an electrical safety inspection. On Ranworth Breeze we conduct PAT testing on all of our appliances for the safety of all of my fellow owners. Regards Alan

Hi Grace, Is that BA, Broads Ambition or BA, Broads Authority (or what ever they are currently called) Regards Alan

Over the years we have been coming down to the Broads we have seen the close knit help that the boatyards have with each other, we have seen boats that have had issues and other boatyards have offered help directly or have loaned engineers their boat to aid stranded holiday makers. Regards Alan

I watched this again last night later on (we recorded it) and it was on the Trent & Mersey and featured the Anderton Boat Lift and the open Harcastle Tunnel. Yes a lot of information was missing such has the Anderton Boat Lift now works on hydraulics' and the old gearing is just for show, sadly we have never been able to use the lift and the last time we moored there the visitors centre had just closed, we were able to walk around the lift whilst it had been striped prior to its full restoration and reopening in 2001. The open tunnel is the second Harecastle tunnel. The first tunnel was built by James Brindley, boats had to be legged through this tunnel and the horses had to go over the hill, (closed in 1914 affer a partial collapse but suffered with subsidence for many years prior to the collapse). Thomas Telford build the second tunnel (that is in use today) it took just three years to build, and was completed in 1827. It had a towpath so that horses could pull the boats through the tunnel. The tunnel was closed between 1973 & 1974 due to subsidence, the towpath was removed to allow boats to travel in the middle of the tunnel. We have had many holidays over the years on the Trent & Mersey Canal and like the narrow locks (after the few wider locks at the River Trent end). I think that the program this week was better than the previous episodes, or were we just looking through rose coloured glasses because of our love of the canal, our first canal holiday was on the Trent & Mersey in 1974, a 56 foot 10 berth narrow boat hired from Stenson Lock from a company called Barrington (sadly stopped trading in 1980 they shared the boatyard with Black Prince). Regards Alan

Just a reminder that the Canal Journey program is on Channel 4 at 8.00pm on Sunday (repeated at 9.00 on C4 plus 1) We will be watching or recording. Regards Alan

Windows 7 and office 2003 at home and XP and office 2003 at work. Getting used to it all, but bring back MSDOS 6.22 and Windows 3.1 oh for the days when computers just worked without any problems and servers remained up for years rather than months without issues. Luddite at heart and the hammer ready for use Regards Alan

Hello Monica, Yesterday after Clive posted his message I set up in our information pages the companies that I knew of that offered recovery or diving services. Please see the following link to get to this information:- http://www.thenorfolkbroads.net/forum/forum/319-boat-recovery-diving-information/ On Ranworth Breeze we have purchased the Maffett Dive insurance for the last few years and will be renewing again this year. We called on their services last season after we had a issue with our bow thruster, they dove on the boat after we took the boat to their yard so they could confirm that we had nothing stuck in the bow thruster tube. The bow thruster tube was clear but the bow truster was jammed. The boat was lifted and our spare bow thruster fitted. Oh the joys of boating If anyone has information of any other recovery or diving services please let me know by PM and I will add the information to the list. Regards Alan

Hi Grace, Confuzzled or just a bad hair day? Don't worry we still love you Regards Alan

Hi Bill, Thank you for the input and advice regarding Southwold Pier. This is one of the Norfolk Live webcams as is the one at Barnes Brinkcraft. Regards Alan

The Barnes Webcam is still down, sorry Grace. I have added the Southwold Pier webcam if anyone is interested. http://www.norfolklive.org/camera/southwold-pier.html It is now in the list of our featured webcams. Regards Alan

Hi Steve, I checked it out but even paying £7.95 all you got was a magazine: http://www.buyamag.co.uk/Leisure-Magazines/The-Norfolk-Broads/NFKBROAD Regards Alan

We are on the boat during that week so we will keep a look out for you or the boat on our travels. I bet you thought this would never happen Regards Alan

No doubt it will protect the hirer by the insurance waiver they will have paid. The hire company may have paid a premium to their insurance company. With regards to private boats and insurance, I know with our insurance we are not covered for roof damage, the skipper assumes resposibility to pass under bridges. It is a judgement call. Are you other owners covered for roof damage? Regards Alan

How stupid was the person walking on the harbour wall? Regards Alan

Hi Mark, I tend to agree with you, but assume that they wanted to clear the bridge for other boats. Regards Alan

Hi Jon, I have had a look at the height levels of the next period that may be suitable for passage of Southern Crusader or Ranworth Breeze the Broads Authority's tide tables. Thu 19th 08:11 1.87 19:59 2.07 01:51 -0.19 13:57 0.14 Fri 20th 09:02 1.96 20:52 2.19 02:45 -0.37 14:49 0.00 Sat 21st 09:49 2.03 21:45 2.27 03:33 -0.48 15:39 -0.10 Sun 22nd 10:34 2.05 22:37 2.29 04:19 -0.50 16:25 -0.13 Mon 23rd 11:18 2.02 23:26 2.24 05:03 -0.41 17:11 -0.09 Tue 24th 12:01 1.96 - - 05:47 -0.22 17:57 0.01 Wed 25th 00:15 2.13 12:45 1.88 06:31 0.03 18:45 0.14 For us to get under the Yarmouth Bridges we need a low water height of less than 0.2 to be on the safe side. The minus levels are good for those people who are struggling with very high air drafts. Regards Alan

Tan is a big fan and likewise was saddened earlier this afternoon when the news of Terry's passing was announced. Terry Pratchett RIP.

Well this does happen to some of the hire boats and pivate i they get it wrong, from time to time and not only at Yarmouth, it makes me wonder how this has happened with a relatively lower air draft craft. I would assume at most a little over 8 foot, the crew were unlucky, inexsperienced or not given enough information by the boatyard. One of Broom's hire fleet were damaged at St Olaves bridge a couple of seasons ago on its few weeks of service. Regards Alan