Broads01

Really like the look of Astral Gem. I love the super high steering position and the interior looks good. At £921 in peak season it's very good value I think. Do you know what the bridge clearance is Clive?

That sounds a very reasonable approach Andy. That leads me back to my original question to which I suspect no-one has the answer - why do Herbert Woods automatically insist on 2 adults?

Just thought I'd echo all the comments above about this boat looking fantastic. What I really like about it is it's ultra modern and yet at the end of the day it's a through and through Broads centre cockpit cruiser, so it's modernity all inter-twined with the traditional, if that makes sense. I'm really looking forward to seeing it in real life.

Just booked what will be my second hire of the year, being Crown Gem from Richardsons for 3 nights in October. I'll be on my own for the trip, my good lady having decided she's happy just to do our trip in late July and having got a bit chilly in October last time round. I'm an experienced hirer and very comfortable handling a boat on my own and fair play to Richardsons - just enter 1 person on the online booking form and away you go. Pacific Cruisers would have been equally happy. What surprised me was Herbert Woods have a completely different policy - minimum 2 adults and wouldn't budge from it. It's their loss though - they actually had my first choice boat in Glimmering Light and I would have gone ahead with booking that if they'd allowed me to do so. Is this an insurance thing? As there really is no issue with one person handling a small boat alone I'm somewhat baffled.

Like Dan I'm also hiring a Broom 29 (Le Boat's 'Capri') on the Thames starting towards the end of the month. Looks a very comfy boat, even if the cockpit is too enclosed for my taste, but that's just a personal preference. I'm also pleased to see the extra boat choices. There's even the extra odd one or two on the South Broads now, with the Silverline arrivals plus additions in the last 12 months for Pacific, Topcraft and Alpha.

Wow that boat looks gorgeous, I'd be interested to see what the interior's like.

Over the years I've been unconciously adding to a little collection of mine being Broads locations for picking up a hireboat. I'm not talking boatyards here as in Horizon Craft or Bridge Craft, I'm talking Broads locations as in Acle Bridge. I have ambition to start a holiday one day from somwhere I've never started before, which for me would be Oulton Broad, Reedham or funnily enough Horning (even though I've started from Wroxham and Stalham amongst others many times). This started me thinking, does start location actually matter? What makes the difference between a good start location and a not so good one? Is there anywhere to avoid starting from (remember when Line Azzuro were at Great Yarmouth!)

I have to admit I had no idea what a simoom was so I looked it up. According to Wikepedia it's "Simoom (Arabic: سموم‎ samūm; from the root سم s-m-m, "to poison") is a strong, dry, dust-laden local wind that blows in the Sahara, Palestine, Israel, Jordan, Syria, and the deserts of Arabian Peninsula." Yes it is an odd choice of name but as it's Silverline it'll be anything but an odd boat - really looking forward to seeing the finished product.

I was just going to post something similar myself.It was the 30% off short breaks at the end of April that caught my eye. A measly £213 for Glimmering Light for 4 nights starting 25 April. Ooh to have unlimited time off work.

Great topic idea Michael. Stalham? No, there's enough hire boats there already! I would go for a south Broads location. The south took the brunt of the spate of hire yard closures that happened a few years ago. I'd love to set up on the old Hampton Boats site at Oulton Broad. Then again both Beccles and St Olaves are now devoid of hire yards having both been busy places in the past. I think the former Aston base at Beccles would be my choice. As for boats I'd go for a wide range to suit all pockets and personal taste (a kind of Richardsons approach but on a smaller scale). For something different I might go for a super high south Broads only boat that wouldn't fit under the bridges at Great Yarmouth!

Good discussion. It might seem obvious, but some hirers don't make the connection between engine revs and fuel consumption. Tides do make a massive difference to the amount of revs you need to go at your desired speed & bear in mind that tides on the south Broads are much stronger. Apart from that though keep your speed down and you'll see the benefit at the end of the week. I can never can resist the urge to max that throttle on Breydon though! (The only place you're allowed to of course). One yard I hired from, Silverline gave explicit instructions not to refuel the boat anywhere other than with them on the basis of the risk of contaminated diesel - anyone else come across this?

I didn't pay a lot of attention to this boat when it came out. Then recently I was browsing through the Faircraft brochure, looked at the interior shot of the saloon and realised this boat has something missing - the interior helmsman's position! It looks like a dual steer boat in every way otherwise. Actually, I think this is potentially a really good idea, especially for outdoor steering nuts like me. The boat has a canopy up top to compensate for the lack of steering 'choice' - it would be great to hear from anyone who has experience of Aristocrat.

Thanks for the tip Dave. Is that a general thing or a limited offer?

My Dad hired Merlin in 2009 and had nothing but good words to say about the boatyard. I gather the boss is a very skilled marine engineer, servicing Pacific Cruisers boats as well. Another thing I was led to believe is that they earn a lot of their income from the Breydon rescue business they also run, so I think the 3 hireboats are just a part of the overall concern. For that reason I guess the chances of them increasing the fleet much are small.

The 2 berths in particular look excellent value for money as always. With the fuel deposit only £50 it looks like 1990's prices all round!

Not hired it Dave but seen up close a couple of times. My view from the outside is not exceptional, very much unchanged from the Fencraft days but very good value for money (as all the Pacific boats are).

Yep! Solitaire Emblem is not the prettiest Broads boat ever! However, I find myself increasingly admiring an operator who sticks their neck out and does something different. OK, it might seem strange to build a centre cockpit boat where the roof doesn't slide downwards - but not all boats have to go under all the bridges do they? To me there are shades of the old F.B. Wilds (also at Horning of course) philosophy of Broads hire innovation, a definite move towards standing out from the crowd for the hell of it...rock on!

Hi there. I love the South Broads as much as the North and when I'm boating for a week I often split the time between the 2. It's very much down to personal preference, and if you like cruising a lot of hours in the day then by all means go south and do some of the routes previously suggested. However, bear in mind that there's tons to see on the North Broads for 4 days, especially if you prefer a bit of time to take in the scenery, plop your mudweight a bit and so on.

This is an excellent addition to the website. At long last the internal photo thing is really catching on! It seems there's only one 360 degree twizzle per boat with all the other photos being static only. A suggestion for improvement would be to have 2 or 3 360's available, so for Broadland Orion for example you could spin round the saloon area as well as the cockpit.

I used to enjoy the updates and I agree with dan about the website content. The Royall's website has an excellent blog which is updated every couple of weeks.

A returnee Dan? Is that going back to the Belaugh days? I have vague recollections they had a Bounty 37 then. What's the history of this boat do you know?

It's 261 miles from my hone west of Bristol to Wroxham. However my partner lives in Swansea and in October I drove 400 miles in the day to detour via her house. Always worth the journey of course!

Got my brochure now. I agree it's a definite improvement on prior years and as per my comments about the website the increased number of interior pictures makes a big difference. The 2nd holiday discount is a good deal - I seem to think this resurrects an offer Hoseasons used to do for a number of years. As always the 10% out of season discounts are also really good. Small point - the Acle and Stalham headings aren't very clear which has the effect of jumbling all the boats together which is a pity.

Bill - it's a Honda CBF1000. I've always had Bridgestones (BT021 at the moment) but I've ridden another bike with Avons and they were excellent too. The Merchant looks good. I'd really enjoy that helmsman's position, although I'd worry a bit about being isolated from the rest of the crew. What's the air draft though and is Ludham likely to be an issue?

Ah the Dan Horner express Broads postal service is always so reliable. Still waiting for mine of course.