[More questions (sorry)]

Hi Steve,

Public showers are quite hard to find from my expererience. You shouldn't need to get a toilet pump out if you're only going for a week, if for some reason you do, most boatyards do pumpouts. As for water, it's available at most of the BA's public moorings, and again at most boatyards. Remember to top up with water every day, as you'd be amazed at how quickly it goes, and take care to rinse off the end of the hose before using it, as you don't know where it has been. Hope this helps.

[GREY GOOSE IV and OUR 1st Trip.]

Congratulations, what a lovely story! Hope you have a great many more adventures together on the broads!

[The crazy price of diesel.]

Of course we could all move to Scotland, quite a bit gets paid for up there.

It's true that in Scotland you get some things paid for which you don't in the rest of the UK, however you need to be Scottish (living in Scotland for 3+ years) to qualify. For example, I've just finished my degree in Scotland, and had to pay tuition fees for the first 3 years whilst Scottish students didn't have to pay a penny.

As for pubs having to close, I don't believe the effect of the smoking ban has been as disastarous as some people have claimed. Smoking was banned in Scotland at the beginning of 2006, and two and a half years on I've yet to seen a pub close in the town that I lived in up there. If a small town with 17 pubs in can all stay open 2 1/2 years into the smoking ban with none of them having to close, I don't believe the situtation can be that bad. Obviously this may not be the same across the country, but this is my personal experience.

As for fuel prices, I'm off to Stalham today, so will take a look and see how much diesel is selling for up there.

[First time.]

From the sounds of their website, all of their boats should pass under Potter Heigham, except following heavy rain. (http://www.whisperingreeds.net/holidays.htm)

[Restoration.]

Good luck, look forward to seeing it on the water.

[Brinks Sonata Y or N ??]

I think most people have covered the interior space and cockpit issues, the one thing I would add, especially as you are first time boaters, is that the boat does not look particulerly easy to moor side on, or if coming in to step off the bow. There is no side walkway, so you need to step of from the back somewhere. If you need to land someone off the bow, then I think the centre part of the windscreen, which would probably need the canopy down, opens to allow access to the front of the boat, but even then the rails will make it hard to step off from the front. If the water is high against the quayside, then it will be some feat to climb over the front railings and back down onto the quayside.

The Haines 31's (amongst many others) have the same lack of access from the bow to the bank, which I initially thought was going to hinder moorings, however I've discovered that as long as you take the boat into the mooring slowly at 45 degrees to the bank (going upstream if there's a current), you can easily swing the stern around to bring the boat alongside the mooring. So as long as you take it slowly and calmly it should be ok, the majority of problems I've seen people having with mooring is when they've tried to do it too fast.

The Sonata is a great looking boat, but the inside does look a little cramped. As you're going in July though, the weather should be nice, so you'll probably be spending most of the day outside, so I wouldnt worry about it.

Pete

[New stainless steel sink]

Norfolk Marine had a pretty big selection when I was last there.