Viking23

There are a lot of skippers that ignore the use of a bridge pilot, on Sunday 16th August at 9:00 am I observed Grenada Girl attempt to go under Wroxham bridge towards Coltishall, it started to go under and appeared to hit the starboard screen on the brickwork of the bridge, after a bit more messing about, they reversed out and started to head back down river, as if nothing had happened... A few snap shots on the Barns Brinkcraft site, web cam and you can follow the sequence. Looking at the Summer Craft website, they use a bridge Pilot.... BUT not this time....

So where is the rest room?

On Winsford flash, Cheshire, in the 70's there were many sunken wooden working narrow boats, when the canal trade lessened, many years earlier, the boats were taken up to the flash and left to rot. Some of the rotting hulls were below the surface, and were a navigation hazzard.

Hi Mark, we have a Honda 15 twin, when we had a similar problem ie it ran rough at higher revs, ours was a cracked spark plug.ie a crack in the ceramic. At higher revs, the HT voltage is higher, and it then jumped to earth via the crack, so no spark at the plug. Yours might not be, yours could be dirty plug leads, or plug cap etc but worth changing spark plugs anyway, keep an old good one as a spare.

So how do they start work in the morning them? "On your marks..... get set....... go... " lol I think it is very refreshing to see the start of a new venture, it might escalate to a fleet. I can see the advantage for autumn pike fishing sessions. When not in use, will the boat be ashore undercover? Good luck, I'm sure we will all be interested to know when the first hire takes place and what they thought of it.

What Potter Heigham and Wroxham bridge need are... parallel beams, that adjust to suit the beam of the boat, and you are kept exactly in the middle, a height bar at each end, if you get past that you will get through without any steering action by the crew. A bit like the inflatable bumpers for the kids at 10 pin bowling alleys lol...

That'll stop double mooring... lol

I hope anyone with any form of heating or cooking using oil or gas have a fully functioning carbon monoxide detector on board. Certainly any diesel fumes into the cabin from the heater mean there is a leak from the combustion side to the boat side, this can also pass carbon monoxide across too. CO is called the silent killer, you can't see it, you can't smell it... It might be a faulty gasket, or a seal, or corroded heat exchanger, either way it should be checked out. I can't imagine it getting any better, only worse.

Oby mill certainly looks like a dalek...

The people on board are responsible for mooring, they might want to ask or accept assistance from a stranger on the shore. What I think is a no no, is personally taking a rope off a boat and tying it off without any interference from any one on board. What would happen if they decide not to moor and try to cruise away, or you slip in between the boat and the quay heading, or drop the rope and it gets around the prop...? If the crew were in genuine difficulty, then I would use my judgement and assist as required, if the crew of the boat make no effort, then out comes my boat hook for damage limitation. I have pushed many a boat clear of ours as they come along side, if in my judgement, they are likely to hit my boat.

No CDW then, you paid a deposit which you got the full amount back if there was no damage. Once we owned up to breaking a plate, or an odd glass, they said no problem, and we never lost a penny. I took all our boats through Wroxham bridge, Golden Horizon, Spring Horizon, and several Connosieures, etc

There are not that many free moorings north of Wroxham bridge, even less now that they have halved the Viaduct moorings. Coltishall has limited moorings, there are a couple at Beauleigh and Cairn Meadow, and a few wild moorings at the head of navigation. You could mud weight in Bridge Broad I guess, especially if you like to take train numbers lol. At what point will they limit the number of boats passing through the bridge? I remember one summer driving across the Menai bridge to Anglesey, and they had put a sign up... "Anglesey Full" lol

I might try that next time. On a previous occasion we aimed to arrive at the yellow post half an hour after low slack water, but then we were confronted with an incomming tide through the lift bridge, which meant we had to increase the throttle quite considerably, we also had to steer well up stream of the yellow post before turning, as we were being swept away. We were well under control, we were at no risk, but we required more use of the throttle, with only 15 hp to play with, we couldn't have left it much later.

Sorry won't work... we have already established that most of the people aground on the mud flats, or the lower Bure, or heading out to sea cannot read. lol...

That would be the best solution, boats could check in, a ranger could check boat height before departure, and advise them what time to leave. There could be a digital height display, and a camera and video screen looking at the bridge(s). However, mooring fees would need to be adjusted, £2 for two hours or free for 20 minutes whilst checking bridge clearance. If this was available, I would use it, when returning back up the Bure, as the Bure ebbs for half an hour after slack water, and we could hold up for an hour, and leave on the flood tide. Saving petrol, engine noise etc

At Yarmouth to avoid turning in a fast current, time your arrival to coincide at low slack water. We rarely stop at the yacht station, the main reason, I like to be in control of my boat, when other boats are manoeuvring around me. If we are moored up, and a large battle cruiser looses control, we could suffer huge damage. Over the years, we have seen boats punch holes in the side of moored boats. What Yarmouth needs are floating pontoon moorings.

We have been over most of Hickling and Horsey, and we know where the shallows are, we have a depth sounder, and an outboard engine, which we tilt when the depth gets less than 2 feet, the problem could be any one seeing us could think... must be plenty of water over there.... and can be coaxed out of the main channel. The reverse logic they use, might be similar to a dog looking at a duck on the water before jumping in... " It can't be that deep, it's only halfway up the ducks " lol On Breydon, we always keep inside the posts, even then, the depth can be less than 2 feet a boat length from them.

Rather that the government put money into such areas, quite the opposite has happened in Great Yarmouth. Great Yarmouth Council have had to make cuts in their spending, one of the targeted areas for cost saving has been the reduction of rubbish collection in many Broadland areas. This can only have a negative effect on tourism, and has been discussed many times on the Broads forums.

So if the crew were taken off the boat and taken to the yacht station, do they have a waiting room, or somewhere out of the weather to sit it out, and maybe get a drink? I wonder how many seats they'll need in there, and will it be open 24/7? Perhaps they could have an instructional video playing a loop, on how to pass through Great Yarmouth without running aground, hitting another boat, going out to sea, or hitting the bridge and putting the boat and crew at risk. I must admit, we have a honda 15 outboard on our Viking 23, but for the Breydon section, I fit a spare 4hp, set up, warmed up... ready to go if we have engine problems, sometimes when coming back, we have it running already... The key to navigating Great Yarmouth is to pass through at low slack water, then the current is low, clearance is the highest. Simples...

There will be a difference, depending on the distance from the bridge, if too large, then on a fast incoming tide the river will be higher at the bridge than the chain, and vice versa.

Got their marked up wellies on the wrong feet... R L lol

Here lies the problem on the Southern Broads, if you are looking for mooring an hour before dusk, you might not have time to find another mooring if your chosen spot is full. Luckily in the Autumn, when it gets dark early, there are generally less boats on the river, so better chance of finding somewhere, but not guaranteed of course.

His last words to his partner were... "I'm going for a dump" lol There are some huge off road vehicles about, I remember British Steel used Euclids, back in the 80's, to move slag and scrap. The gross weight could be close to 120 tonne. I guess those were a sort of dumper truck too.

The car gear box would have four forward gears and one reverse, the reverse, first and second gears would be too highly geared for a boat I would have thought, so maybe marinising one might be limiting the gears to one forward and one reverse with a decent ratio. Also you wouldn't need a clutch. I remember the Triumph dolomite sprint, the problem was in order to get everything to fit, the engine and gearbox was fitted on a slope, however, due to the angle, the engine sufferered oil starvation, and this was it's downfall if I recall.