BroadAmbition

Saving any sort of Hardwood whether one has an immediate need for it or not is always a good thing imho. Have a look at this listing I just discovered £140:00 per plank. You think that is expensive? Not really, not for genuine teak. If I had a few quid spare I would purchase the lot and have it in stock ready for any issues on 'B.A's hull as she is planked entirely of teak. Which is a good thing, until we have to start changing any of them Griff https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Teak-Planks-of-Wood-Timber-per-plank/264054384596?hash=item3d7ade27d4:g:HwYAAOSw1Dtbohrl:rk:29:pf:0

'worth digging them up about' Chuffin Eck, I thought you suggested they had been made redundant, not buried, that's a bit over the top! Griff

3m x 10m? You can wish - If only. Publishing statements like 5000m3 removed from a given 'Area ' sounds a lot, well it used to do so to me until FairTmiddlin explained it.(Thanks again) I suspect the Ba publish the m3 figure coz it looks impressive and sounds a lot when in reality it is far from it Griff

:5mm out - Yes you must. Have you not done it yet? Griff

All that window frame hardwood timber, now de-nailed, screws / fastenings removed, ends squared up, ran the lot through my mates circular saw and planer. Now cleaned up and ready for taking down to Norfolk. Not bad for nowt, Griff

I was always under the impression that the boards were there to stop dinghys, canoes etc from getting stuck under the side arches. Hardly likely the two outer arches were spreading apart. I mean those medieval engineers didn’t muck about. Just a pity they didn’t make it a foot taller Griff

dwindly depth Now there's a thought! You'll not get me 'Dwindly-ing' in this wx, no matter how deep / shallow it is Griff

Marshman - ( Must not say more - I might incur Griff's wrath further!!!! ) I most certainly hope that you do not think I'm riled? I would be disappointed if you did. There is no wrath coming from this mooring. I would only post on here what I would say direct to your dish. Tbh, I'm not even slightly miffed. This thread is after all a discussion is it not? if we all thought the same with no differing points of view it would be pointless. I learn from other points of view and enjoy reading all of them. I might not agree with them but that does not make me correct or otherwise. So as far as I'm concerned you say as much more as you like, I'll still read all of it Griff

So now we know what 5000 cubic metres actually means in real terms in removed spoil / increased depth etc. (Big Thank you FairTmiddlin for educating us). As a poster said a fair while back, it is not enough, not nearly enough, just literally scratching the surface - Well bed to be precise. Just as I thought the Ba are doing the absolute bare minimum so we can actually navigate without touching bottom 'Hopefully'. Seems to me then that the 'Hump' will keep on slowly but surely increasing in size resulting in keeping the river levels in the Northerns artificially high - which in turns means even less dredging the Ba must carry out. The river from Marina Keys to the yellow post will get ever narrower and shallower resulting in increased speeds of ebbing water but with less volume going out to sea. We are all guilty of allowing this to happen by not pressurising the Ba enough. Mind you to be fair, that's kinda difficult when we are up against an unelected Quango that seems not to be accountable to anyone Griff

Well, What's a day between friends ? Griff

Even our very own NBN bridge height gauge guide is incorrect as that states at average high water PHB is 6ft5" and Wroxham 7ft3" It is proper misleading / wholly incorrect to newbie hirers and privateers alike Griff

Unimpressed? No I was disappointed more did not flow out but was not surprised in the least. I would have been impressed and very surprised if the Northerns had drained out as much as the Southerns, then my dredging point of view would have been pointless and I along with plenty of Broadsmen would have had no argument but due to the bottleneck that is the lower Bure it can't flow freely enough. Rocket science it ain't. As for tide table and clearances being imprecise, change the imprecise word to - Bullsh1t. Do the Ba really think regular Broads users are that stupid as to believe the Ba's spin? I've contacted them before now on this very issue and asked them to just be honest, print the actual realtime todays world average clearance heights as they are only kidding themselves - not even an acknowledgement or reply. My guess is they would be held responsible for it by their own booklet and don't want the embarrassment. Richad Bassey - Keeper of MTB102 who has a Broads history as long as your arm has an ambition on his bucket list - To 'Park' MTB102 right outside Hotel Wroxham. He is confident he can get under the bridges at low tide but the shallow Bure will stop him. He stated that it would not have been a problem when the river was dredged properly before the Ba came along. Hang on a minute, my grey cells seem to remember that Herbert Woods built MTB'S / Gunboats during WW2 at Potter then sailed them down to Gya for the mast / bridges to be added on t'other side of the bridges. Can't seem to remember them running aground on the lower Bure due to lack of water depth. Mustn't bang on about that one either, another inconvenient truth to be ignored Griff

Vintage Wooden boat show / Gathering. 10/11th Aug. However most of us meet up at OBYS Friday for a cruise in company down Beccles on the Saturday. You should contact Dave (Janet Ann) requesting a mooring / slot etc as it is his baby. There is a thread running in here somewhere or t'other re this years gathering and the classic boat magazine that featured Dave's event. Hope this helps, Griff

So Griff - can you back up your claim that the GYPHC actually took away more silt than the BA are currently removing? Methinks not so lets not, with respect, keep on banging on about it - that was over 30 yrs ago and in todays world is pretty meaningless. The BA has been down there over the last few years taking away the inside of some of the bends - in my early days in cruisers in the late 60's there were plenty of bends where the inside was shallow, as it is now at certain stages of the tides. That's a belter is that. You sure you don't work for the Ba spin department? If not you should do. An inconvenient truth - so lets ignore it and pretend it didn't happen. The figures you ask for - Of course I don't know, neither do you. What I do know from numerous eye witnessed including my own is that there were grab cranes on either bank ready to operate all year round. It doesn't matter in today world - No of course it doesn't we can all now ignore another inconvenient truth that PHB has higher water levels than in the days of the port commissionaire so lets ignore that inconvenient truth too shall we? Even in todays world the Ba's own tide tables booklet states an incorrect truth that clearance at PHB at summer HIGH water tide is approx 6ft 6" and we all know we are proper lucky if we see that kind of clearance at LOW water - Another inconvenient truth that the Ba bang on about. They even state at HIGH water normal summer tide that Wroxham road bridge has approx 7ft 3" clearance. 7Ft 3" I ask you! so what is average low water clearance 7ft 10" ?? It's beyond a joke and far from funny. So you Marshman can stop banging on about it if you choose to do so. I will respectfully not turn a blind eye and ignore it. To ignore it is pretty meaningless other than giving up on what we have left as of today. There is nothing worse than when good men do nothing Griff

BUT - IF the 'Hump' in the Bure and the LOWER Bure was dredged, especially on the corners right down to the yellow post, done properly to the banks, then surely even more water would have ebbed out from the Northern rivers. Then during normal tidal range the levels at PHB would be averagely lower just like they used to be when the lower Bure was maintained correctly. The southern rivers seemed to lose far more water a lot quicker than the northern rivers did. Of course the Southern rivers don't have a restriction called the lower Bure. And I keep coming back to this one. If dredging the lower Bure allowing more water to flow freely would not have any great impact, just why oh why did the GYA Port Commissionaire spend so much time and effort maintaining it for so many years? And why oh why was PHB accessed as per the norm? - Coincidence? Then just by coincidence when the Ba came into being the river silted up slowly but surely along with increased water levels at PHB. The cynic in me thinks that the Ba are allowing this to happen to save them from dredging the areas that they should have been doing before now all over the northern side. As for climate change and increased water levels to blame - That one holds no water with me (Pun intended) otherwise the whole of the Southern side would be higher too Griff

Is that what it generally costs? - £45 per grab load? That's a heck of a lot of grabs to clear out the lower Bure down to the yellow post. Mind you, if the 'B.A' had kept on top of it as it was handed over to them it would just be minimal on going maintenance Griff

The photo kindly provided by Ray. The 'Strong Metal Arm' to me seems not to have any support at the aft end unless it is directly in front of the rudder and I can't see it. It just carries the lower pin for the rudder. If the lower arm was to sit on the bottom I would deduce that serious pressure from below would push the rudder trapping it between the arm and the underside of the hull. Having said that it is a good design to protect the prop and rudder from hitting objects in the water or the bottom of the river itself. 'B.A' has a very similar design but with a very strong 'Leg' at the end of the arm just fwd of the rudder between the arm and the underside of the hull where it fastens to the substantial rudder stock and the end of the keel / hog. This design means that even sitting on the bottom the pressure cannot squeeze the rudder / pin as per photo, Griff

Chuffin Eck woman, you want me to pay for TWO? Griff

You might often here of Tyke telling all and sundry that Yorkshire is Gods Country. Historians have now realised that the Three Wise Men did indeed come from Yorkshire. It is even stated in the Bible:- 'Three Wise men came from the East Riding, on camels' Griff

At LAST or FINALLY. The first Wednesday of every calender month our group attends a clay shoot just outside Bawtry, followed by a dinner in a local pub on t way home. It should have been last Wednesday but due to the rain it was postponed till this evening. At this time of year we are shooting painted clays under big floodlights. There are somewhere between 5 - 10 guns in 'Our' group on these gatherings, it's a 50 bird clay shoot, all sporting birds layout changed slightly so never the same month to month. To date I have never achieved the much sought after allocade of 'Top Gun' been 2nd or third on plenty of times. Tonight for the first time ever however I won outright, 'Top Gun' at last - All good things come to those that wait. Well chuffed. You watch, next time out will bring me crashing back to earth. As the saying goes ' After the Lord Mayors show - Follows the sh1t cart' Griff

Just ordered one for friends of ours - Yes we do have a few - Paid via the paypal thingy. Thanks, Griff

I would like a copy but don’t want a full years subscription. Advice Pse? Griff

It's a chuffin small sea It's not even that big and certainly not a 'Sea' But it is classed as inland though Griff

Simples , no radiator Actually there is, the boats 'Radiator' is the river! (Via heat exchanger etc) We have looked at and discussed a few times now of doing this onboard 'B.A' Initially I was thinking of going down the scrapyard route, cobbling together a matrix / fan etc but nowadays there are some decent sized ready made kits out there, matrix inlet / outlet with 12v fan, some of them multi speed, plus the hot air ducting pipes. It is something we will do one of these days maybe even during our forthcoming AMP next April. If so We will of course report with photo's of the diy fitting Griff

Grimsby must be the s/steel capital of UK. More than likely cheaper than Norfolk and definitely faster - mind you, that wouldn’t be difficult Griff