alexandlorna

Hi Andy At first we were blaming a crow also, and had seen him on the boat a few times ,through cabin windows early in the morning However we later blamed the swallows as they always seemed to be in the right area , picking at beasties Having heard what you say now I aint so sure So which do I shoot I am of course joking , but seagulls might tempt me though Alex

Hi Ian Yes that's the place , I used to make odd bits of heavy machinery for them , mainly for repairs All the smaller forges and stamping shops are gone now and most of our work is now on large pressbrakes and heavy shears also laser cutters Alex

BB can I ask your boat name Kahleesi , where does it come from ,are you a Game of Thrones fan ? Alex

Are we the only people on the broads whose window seals are eaten by birds this time of year? Or does Jason Hatch have swallows specially trained to make lots of business for him? Alex and Lorna

Tony You should think about getting a hydronic type heating sytem It will heat your water and rads or matrixes and is much more controllable than hot air it can also be used to warm the engine coolant on a frost stat if temp drops Alex

When we had Braveheart re-gelcoated at LBBY we planned to stop at that , but having purchased a new !2 volt fridge of rather large proportions ( read wine cellar) ,the galley had to be modified . We got a call from Jason to say that the galley (which was rotten through) had fallen to pieces ! ( he did have some choice words about who picked the fridge too lol) So began the ongoing story of her refit .... Alex

Hi Ian I think I know the place you mean , closed now if I am not mistaken though , like a lot of British industry. but the issue is a lot like a boat , you start on one thing and work down , with the bills rising exponentially! Alex

Ian Unfortunately Lorna is a nurse , so it could be a double dose of trouble There is hope though as her son is a paramedic Alex

Parking spaces ! Much smaller and very much dearer! Though some places do take pictures of you as part of the service .........

Is this not what we have women for !!!!!!!!!

Yes Ian Its the same in machine tools also , we have had to remove 20 -80 tons of power press, just to change parts which were deemed fine by the machine manufacturer , but now are non- conforming . As you can imagine the press owner is not keen, especially when he hears the cost and downtime !!!!!!!

Its not just the units of measurement either , we were at LBBY one afternoon when four folk came along and as they lined up on the bridge and gave it some , one shouted " how do you know if the boat will go under?" I pointed to the board and heard him say to the helmsman " its summat to do with that number board in the corner !" Alas Mr Helm was committed and as they passed with great gusto various bits and bobs were swept off , no real damage other than tv arial but after they moored and recovered it was apparent that they genuinely did not have a clue how the height gauge should be read . When we are moored on a nice day behind the shed , A constant stream of people are often heard doing the "will it or wont it routine" , then they ask us and many have not even an idea of their airdraft and cant find the plate on the boat ! This begs the question - how many bridges have they negotiated by luck to arrive downstream of Ludham Bridge ?

Getting caught is understandable, if not right ( no one is perfect ) , getting caught , making excuses and carrying on is just idiotic The geezer on the work boat ( or a mate of his ) is a regular speeder and I have seen this mobile tsunami a few times ,didn't worry us , but I would not have fancied being in a canoe as he passed !

Last Saturday as we reached the ferry , the chains formed a complete barrier across the river on both sides of the ferry Due obviously to a very strong ebb tide pulling the ferry downstream towards Reedham I have in the past taken a chance and passed when the ferry was almost stopped , however seeing the vessel almost across the river and yet still miles out laterally has changed my outlook totally , as the slack side chains kept suddenly appearing as the ferry struggled into land We had to stop dead (or as dead as you can in such current) and wait almost a minute until the ferry finally struggled in to its berth . SInce there was a yacht race at that time it must have been very hairy indeed for some of them , as indeed it was at Reedham Swing Bridge on their return also - though it was very entertaining to watch at the Ship Inn !

Barry ,its just that ,we know how easily tempted you are ,with a small libation lol Whats your quote now - " well I shouldn't really but ............" Polly the sin is all behind me these days ........

Not much left in the old vodka bottle then Barry???? Drink is just the devil's work!

It is an ugly relic with nothing in its favour at all . Give me one shift with oxy-acetylene and thermic lance and that would be an improvement ! Or if it must not die , lift it of its abutments and dump it somewhere out the way of boats Some bridges are very smart and worth saving, but alas not this one .

About 380 miles and a 7 hour drive Used to do it for a weekend working on the boat (drinking Jasons fine tea!) but now get much longer stays

Beta 60 ,miles better than our 2.5 BMC The noise reduction alone was worth the money! And the installation looks and performs so much better Saying that our old BMC is still keeping about half a dozen boats moving after its organs were donated ! Alex

We are currently using both , simply because we had a webasto hot air unit already fitted , and when LBBY fitted our new front berth we had a Eberspacher D4 hydronic fitted with separate stats and matrixblowers for main cabin galley and berth. The hot air unit was fast , noisy and smelly on start up , but great heat output that was uncontrollable and vanished seconds after shut down The new hydronic is very controllable, heats quickly , heats the water , and almost silent with no odours . It can heat water only by press of a switch in the summer Because it is sized to run about 3/4 to full on ave use it burns clean with much less coking etc If the hot air ever wont start its gone , hydronic is deffo the way to go Alex