BroadAmbition

The earlier engine overheat was caused by an incorrect fitting of a thermostat which was cured way back. It also successfully stopped me from helming a gin palace over Breydon for the second time. Cleaning out the raw water skin fittings has resulted in both engines running cooler so another big tick Griff

Alongside. Job done Griff

Clear of Reedham chain ferry. Exchanged ‘pleasantries’ with Boycee in the normal fashion (plenty of verbal abuse) Griff

We made it under Haddiscoe much to my dissapointment Griff

Great. You can take out ropes now clear of Somerleyton Griff

Clear and underway. Hands fall out from harbour stations. Into Oulton Dyke. Just how high is the tide/ rivers then? We may not clear under Haddiscoe bypass bridge which means we will have to go alongside The Bell at St Olaves, that’d be a shame eh? Griff

Here we are holding station waiting for t rail bridge to swing, then we cause traffic chaos when the road bridge lifts, then into the lock Griff

All that laborious polishing on the Tupperware and stainless steel has paid off. She looks fantastic, I have noticed there is a reflection of a damn good looking Tyke in the white / blue and s/steel Griff

We are back in the wet stuff. All to the good. Alongside a floating pontoon at Haven Marina where we will wait for Mutford Lock at 1400 - if anyone wants a trip form here to Brundall, you are welcome to join us. Just one issue on starting the engines, the port tacho refused to give a reading. So after we cleared the hoist area and got alongside I disappeared into the engine room (I seem to spend more time in there than anywhere else) a tiny nut that held an electrical connector was missing. Amazingly I found it! So that was an easy fix. Talking of easy fixes, the port trim tab had always been problematic in fully retracting, showing one light on the panel when it should have not. On investigating some Richard Cranium had anti fouled the bottom of the shaft on the ram. Cleaned it off (I did all four for good measure), greased and all to the good. Another easy fix was the speed log, the wheel was stuck fast, yet again with anti foul, thoroughly cleaned out now spinning freely. This afternoon whilst underway should see it working. The copper earthing plate, again painted, on cleaning it off, the words ‘Do not paint’ came into view. There are six water intake grills that had been anti fouled to such a degree that the holes / slots were partially blocked. I have cleaned them all out. Had to take my drill to one of them and drill the paint out of the holes. Painting over the hole lot is just bad attitude / practice, no care or attention to detail. All Boat Services in Plymouth needs to buck up imho. We used ‘Coastal 037’ anti foul then ‘Emporer 034’ for the boot topping from Marine Industrial, same gear we use on ‘B.A’ it performs very well. In the earlier pics you can see how clean Indy came out of the oggin, the previous anti foul used was 037 too. Internally we attended to various other tasks, all completed. I just have to change one 240v socket this afternoon and yes, of course it has to be in my favourite location - the engine room once again Griff

That is one fugly boat no matter how good below decks (imho of course) Griff

That’ll be my Bro and his crew. He was a submariner - lower standards than us skimmers Gtiff

We have downed tools. Now going to GYA via taxi where we will Board MTB102 for the trip back to Lowestoft. Indy is now ready in all respects to accept her boot topping and anti foul paint tomorrow. Griff

Big props, small rudders Griff

Yes but in a shed Griff

Through Mitford Lock, up road bridge, swing rail bridge. Now by lifting gantry at Haven Marina. Lift out anytime from now through to 1500 - ish, well this is Suffolk very much like Norfolk with regards to timekeeping. Two of our crew going back to GYA onboard MTB102 then trains back to their cars at Brundall. I am toying with getting a bus to GYA on Sunday then a sea trip on MTB102 back to Lowestoft that’s if Robin gives me a few hours off Griff

Nice to see you. Cracking day. Passing Somerleyton swing bridge Griff

No tracker on but I’ll update Griff

Underway, all to the good. No sign of JM this morning though. Lovely sunny morning Griff

We are crewed up, under sailing orders. Main engine start in 5 mins Griff

MTB102 will no way do 35kts today. In her current configuration she will manage 25kts tops Griff

The thing is, even if it was a boat of 'B.A's stature, the same sort of passage plan would be needed to get through Mutford Lock and the like. We are constrained not so much by the tides on the Yare / Waveney - although of course they do have to be taken into account with Indy's draft, the main constraint is the timing of the Lift out at Lake Lothing, gotta be done at HW that means the rail and road bridged have to be opened, the same would probably be the case for 'B.A' too (I've not looked to be honest) Besides I kinda like it when road / rail bridges have to be opened to secure a safe passage - Feels like I'm getting my own back! Griff

Thanks for the offer, recruit him for what? - Giving a hand on 'B.A'? Good, glad to hear it Griff