BroadAmbition

Anyway, where I grew up, the "bow thruster" was the boat hook! Like it Griff

This would rather indicate that should Griff become physically less able, he'd sooner sell his share in BA than make it suitable for use in his dotage. Not gonna happen. As long as I'm able to control the helm - then the deck crew can do the rest. Besides to be honest even if I was to consider fitting a pu55y button to 'B.A' I'm not sure there is enough depth in her hog / fwd bow to facilitate one without major surgery. That major surgery would no doubt fall on my shoulders, another reason for it not to happen - as if I needed one Griff

I've just done a 'Robin' that is I have gone and done an 'Impulse buy' with no thought or recommends from any third party whatsoever and ordered two of these for the windscreen clearing operation onboard 'B.A' I wasn't even browsing for them either. I saw them advertised on FB when I wasn't even looking for them. Then I went searching on Ebay and Amazon, eventually getting two for just under £20 inc Postage. Whether they turn out to be effective or any good, we will see Griff https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12V-2-IN-1-CERAMIC-HEATER-HOT-COLD-FAN-CAR-PORTABLE-DEFROSTER-DE-ICER-RED-517/323385736309?epid=3012008879&hash=item4b4b4abc75:g:DXQAAOSwX4dbaZp7:rk:10:pf:0

Bow thruster aka pu55y button. I would never ever in a million years have one on 'B.A' - Never missed not having one either. However on 'Indy' they are a real bonus and aid to approaching or leaving a mooring. I really don't think that any broads cabin cruiser really needs them but then again I do understand the attraction and the aid they give to skippers, especially novice skippers. Whereas on 'Indy' not having them would make life somewhat interesting mooring her up in a strong cross wind. What I absolutely hate about bow / stern thrusters is the horrendous noise they make whilst being used. The reason for that is the shallow draft of most Broads cruisers. The bow and stern thrusters on 'Indy' are proper strong ones and they are almost silent - Deeper draft of course Griff

I was once stopped in a small queue at traffic lights in Donny. (Cantley Lights) The road is inclined uphill to the lights. A lady in a car in front of me rolled back into my van. I couldn't see what she was doing at the time but a driver next to her could - It was the lipstick thing. She got out of her car, came to me and accused me of hitting her car from behind and it was therefore my fault even though I had the handbrake on. Fortunately the driver next to her bore witness that her car had rolled back. The 'Grifftile' van has s/steel bars on the front of it so no damage but she had two tiny marks on the rear of her car. She was furious the witness had intervened and tried to give him a rollocking for not minding his own business! You could not have made it up. Rather than giving her a rollocking I just laughed and told her bedrooms were the place for applying lipstick not busy junctions and away we went. She would have had the issue of explaining to her partner (If she had one) as to how the car came to be damaged Another time I was in a clients house alone (Client off to work), knock at the door, I found a very attractive lady looking distresses, she told me she had just reversed into my van and could I have a look at it please? Now the van has many battle scars on it, yes she had indeed added another small bit of character but it was really minor. I told her not to worry about it and it was just fine, she flung her arms round me and gave me a right smacker and told me I was a very nice man. I told her would she like to reverse into my van again? Months down the road I was on a tiling job, I asked the client where they found me from, the Lady of the house said that her sister recommended me as being a nice man when she had reversed into my van! Strangest recommend I ever had Griff

At least they are doing a bit Griff

It gets sillier. Look at this price - Wow, I must have about half a dozen of these. Seems I am loaded Griff https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/JACK-POWLES-VINTAGE-PENNANT-BURGEE-FLAG-BADGE-WROXHAM-NORFOLK-BROADS-circa-1947/163471759988?_trkparms=aid%3D777007%26algo%3DDISCO.FEEDMERCH%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D55319%26meid%3D7b1379f2132f4ab89f08d238bacf1920%26pid%3D100044%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D1%26sd%3D351416155240%26itm%3D163471759988&_trksid=p5713.c100044.m43681

Postcard answer - Opportunity Knocks with Huey Green ? Griff

Really? Well I never Griff

H.W's once had to get two Jewels outside the barrier two days before we arrived for us to commence the start to another Lads Week. Lucky for us their fingers were on the pulse that weekend, Griff

We use 'Auto' greasers. Two fitted, maintenance free and only have to be topped up rarely if you regulate the flow down to a minimum Griff

We have the similar system / hatch in the well deck on 'B.A' Ours is a loose fit with currently an aluminium dressing strip to cover the gap.(It will soon be a polishes S/steel version) The s/steel ring pull - I usually have to replace them about every five years or so but next time will put beefier ones in. As has been previously stated, candle wax, and good for drawers too Griff

Chuffin Eck https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VINTAGE-PENNANT-BURGEE-FLAG-BADGE-NORFOLK-BROADS-DARBY-BOAT-YARD-OULTON-BROAD/352560980044?hash=item521645a04c:g:ihIAAOSw1IhcB7SE:rk:10:pf:0 Griff

Voted as requested, Griff

My Boy works for Claas, he sells / buys all manner of em. Here's one he made earlier:- Griff

I didn't know we were that knowledgeable or that good to be honest! But Yes Ghostwriter, there are plenty of us in here who are self confessed experts on wood butchery of the marine variety. Not one of us knows it all or everything there is to know. Collectivity we can usually come up with something resembling a sensible answer - most of the time you understand Griff

Lightweight Canopy roof ? Vinyl Griff

Robins £10k is a fact. What also is fact is that a whole lot of that is down to labour costs. This is just one area where we make huge savings with ‘B.A’s upkeep Griff

You may call her a syndicate boat but I notice in a previous post you said you were a "custodian" rather than an owner. I have great respect for what you are doing but also for the fun that you have doing it, and I salute you! Vaughan - I have thanked you for your post. What I really wanted to 'Like' was an embarrassed emoji but couldn't on your post as you are getting close to giving me a red dish. But I can do so here:- Griff

Griff how do your lot decide on allocation? This is an easy one bearing in mind there are only four skippers. I run a word doc. It is only amended when a 'new' booking instruction is emailed to me, I then email it out to the four of us. Last years booking diary ended up at amendment #27. This year we are currently at amendment #01. We operate the bookings diary on a first come first served basis with the understanding that for special occasion events we TALK to each other and have due consideration and understanding. It is rare that more than one skipper wants the same dates but that can happen ie the spring NBN meet - Easy answer - We all go together as we did last year (Well that is three of the four skippers). The Lads Week is booked a full year in advance but that is in October so not a sort after set of dates normally. It is also very rare for the four skippers and partners to have a weekend out together which is a shame, we have done it just once that I can remember - Note to self - Lets do it again. Last year 'B.A' was crewed up for 091 days which left 274 days available. There is NO allocated weeks / weekends per skipper share. 'B.A' is operational and ready to go 365 days a year. There is no closed season for her other than river ice outside the wetshed - yes it has happened. 'B.A' is insured 'Fully Comp, Any Helmsman' plus a 30 day coastal allocation. This means anyone of the four skippers can lend (But NOT hire) 'B.A' out to whoever they wish. It rarely happens even when we do offer her. I offered her out to Polly and crew whilst Brilliant is undergoing her restoration but the whimps (Pun intended) have yet to take me up on the offer. She has also been offered out to Malankas crew before now - again offer not taken up. My lad Dale has taken her out on a few occasions - It's about time he did so again. Here's the cruncher though. If 'B.A' whilst on the rivers in the hands of a 'Guest' skipper were to cause damage to a third party or suffer damage herself for whatever reason then the owner Skipper that lent her out is responsible to make good on behalf of the three other owner skippers, if that make sense. Griff

Looking at Griff's response, I'd say that more or less all of the remedial work is completed by the syndicate. What would the cost of lifting the boat annually for cleaning be? All of the remedial work and upgrades are completed by ourselves whenever we can. However some specialist items have to be sourced out like the new polished s/steel borders for the three aft hatches. That entailed us taking them to a local s/steel specialist, Robin will collect and deliver / fit back onboard in due course. We don't do annual lift out for cleaning. We clean her throughout the year by hand from a dinghy to a foot below the waterline as and when she needs it. Bi-annual lift out is what we do and then for only ten days Who would provide repairs to defects reported by owners at the end of their holidays and how would they be funded. Even what appears to be relatively run of the mill repairs are costly - a new fridge fitted to Moonlight Shadow recently was circa £700. The four skippers report defects to each other, they are jumped on immediately by anyone of us or sorted out at the earliest opportunity. We don't wait til the end of a holiday either. For instance I had a raw water pump on the Beta fail last August when I arrived at Beccles, a few days later whilst we were in Wroxham I replaced it mysen it was delivered to us by a local friend. Fridge - A new Fridge costing £700 is a good example. How much of that £700 was the actual cost price of the fridge? We (Robin) would source a best priced suitable fridge, either myself or Bro would fit it. If the fridge cost £400:00 to buy, then it would also cost £400 after it was installed and running Griff

Would be interesting to know Griff as you have the only sort of private syndicate boat I know of whether what I stated for the expenses is anywhere near what it costs yourselves to run the boat. Obviously I didn't put down the costs of winter maintenance or things like gas bottles and valets. 'B.A' annual running costs as of 2018/19. Moorings (Wet Shed), River toll, Insurance, 24 x Hr breakdown inc prop insurance come in at nigh on £3k per year. There are five shares in 'B.A' but only four shareholders - mysen, Bro', Capt Chaos and of course LondonRascal. (Capt Chaos - Both me and Bro have known him since 74-ish). There is a fifth share left over from 'The Admiral' mine and Bro's Dad who sadly left us during the five n a half year restoration. Myself and Bro' took on that share between us. So in Yorkshire speak (Straightforward stuff) that means that for every £100 that each share holder invests into 'B.A' then me and Bro' have to invest £150. The both of us do not get any benefits from owning that fifth share between us, no more extra time on the water etc. What we do have is an extra vote between us should we as a syndicate ever have differing views we have to put to a vote. In the sixteen years we have been 'B.A's custodians we have never to date had to use the voting system. If as a group we ever sold 'B.A' then we would enjoy a slightly larger return as her sale price would be split into five equal shares. Whew, that's got that lot explained. Back to that £3k = £600 per share for the year. Yes that's all she costs per share. For me and Bro' she costs us £900 per year each. BUT that is before the key is turned, mooring ropes onboad and she sails forth. Diesel is each ones burden - you pay for what you use. She is always returned to the wetshed with emptied black tank and full diesel tank. Cleaning / turnaround - NOWT - We do it oursens whilst cruising back up the Ant, finishing off inside the wetshed. We each bring our own bedding with us, the duvets and pillows stay onboard. Gas 13kg propane we take it in turns to replace but it costs us pennies and who cares if we go slightly out of turn now and again So we are still on £600 per share plus running costs, these cannot be pre determined. 2018 saw 'B.A' Crewed up for ninety one days. Not all of these days were spent out on the rivers some of them were maintenance weekends. You bend/break it - You fix it. That is, any damage whether the skippers fault or not is down to the skipper onboard at the time to make good on behalf of the other skippers. If you have to use the insurance - Do so but you will be responsible for the loss of the no claims bonus to make up the shortfall. Maintenance - Minimal due to the painstaking not skimping or cutting corners during the restoration. However there is of course some to do, this is split 5 x ways. Upgrades - A blasted kings ransom when you have a young ambitious techy called Robin with his finger firmly on the pulse! We are sensible about upgrades and only really do them if it will benefit 'B.A' and the crews Every two years 'B.A' undergoes an 'AMP' - 'Assisted Maintenance Period' the assistance comes in the way of whichever yard we are out of the water at and our long suffering 'Associate Members' (Press ganged mates) This involves her being out of the water for ten days max and we go bonkers, 12 Hrs + each day. Lots of planning beforehand and yes it is open wallet surgery but only every two years (April this year at Sutton Staithe). Even if we spend say £3k it's only £600 each (£900 for me and Bro') The main points with a diy private syndicate. Someone has to be the 'Senior Skipper' to make decisions on all our behalf. which is of course me, but nowadays less and less which is a good thing. You need lots of skills to. Mine are woodbutchery / engineering / 12 and 240v / Gas / cabinet maker / painter / varnisher / surveyor and all rounder. Bro' is better than me on electrics, he is ok-ish at woodbutchery rubbish at painting and even worse at varnishing, he is right up there with electronics. He is v.good on metalworking and could do the engineering but leaves that to me. Robin - Is the tops on tech / upgrades / research / bargains / ideas. He is also a damn good listener and will turn his hands to most things if shown the way, a real bonus in his locker is that is not afraid to ask for advice / help. Capt Chaos - is well, just Capt Chaos, would put Frank Spencer to shame. Proper good at doing as he is told and is keen to have a go at most things. He is also our financial safety net should the sh1t ever hit the fan (It never has) Th weakness is our syndicate is the amount of time we each spend 'Hands On' during maintenance or upgrade weekends. It isn't fair, never has been and probably never will be. Life is like that some times and we just have to take it on the chin Hope the above helps Griff Edit - P.S The biggest two savings imho any syndicate can make is not paying for management services and labour on any maintenance and upgrades. Do it yersen for a fraction of the cost

What about the private sort of syndicate? A small group of like minded individuals, purchase, maintain and run the boat between you. We have a four man syndicate running 'B.A' (With a fifth share option). It has worked for us since 2002 Griff

Methinks the quantity of G clamps required, yours and mine combined just won't be enough Griff

Chucking the bloody thing on a lorry, taking it home (or local) and bringing it back done is a perfectly achievable and very cost effective option. Isn't it just. Broad Ambition went to Yorkshire and back... She did too. We spent over 8'500 man hours actually working onboard 'B.A' in our designated 'Boat Shed in Blaxton. That was just to get her back to Norfolk minus engine / gearbox etc. The 'Boat Shed (A former engine railway shed) was about a five minute drive for me from home. If we had to add on a 7 x Hr round trip plus needing accommodation / tool storage etc it would not have been possible. Of that there is no doubt Griff