mbird

Poor old Gok! Dunno much about his fashion sense, but his Chinese cooking programme was alright...

Hi Robin If you ever get off the train at Lingwood by mistake again, give me a call (Simon has my number) and I'll take you to Acle in the car! I only live a couple of hundred yards from the station!

Good to catch up with everyone again this weekend. Thanks to John for the organising. I don't think the seating arrangements for the meal were very good this year as we were all far too spread out, so maybe next time we should suggest one long table or something? Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

In Lingwood we have two level crossings for the Norwich to Yarmouth line. Both are manned full time with proper wooden gates, and even the pedestrian gates are locked. If more level crossings still had people manning them these tragedies wouldn't happen. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Flippin eck, she was lucky! Stupid woman! I do wonder why she went back the other way afterwards though, maybe there was a pub nearby for a stiff drink (or a Specsavers)

What an excellent idea! There will be a plethora of naysayers and armchair admirals hating the idea I am sure, but I think it's great!

Excellent advice Mark, thanks. I was thinking along similar lines too with the stick.

You're doing it wrong then Neil

Tried the sponges on the fenders yesterday as others have suggested, and they really do come up almost like new! I can't believe it's taken me so long to cotton onto these things!

I thought I'd give one of the Magic Sponges a go today, and I have to say they are, well, Magic! They do self-destruct with use (especially if you catch canopy studs) but they way they dealt with the grime ingrained into the non-slip areas of the decks was very good indeed. I used them in conjunction with an environmentally friendly cleaner and I am very impressed with how the GRP has come up. Just need to give it a polish now! ps I thought it best not to let SWMBO know she'll be getting a job lot of them for Christmas!

Thanks Trevor. I'll certainly bear that one in mind. I was hoping to use a pump with a reasonable flow rate in order to decant the fuel and also suck up the sludge in the tank at the same time into a container. I'm not sure a submersible would be able to do that, so was thinking of using my little drill pump for that in the first instance. Luckily I've only got about 100 litres in each tank at the moment, so shouldn't take too long to empty.

I always had good fishing off the bow of the boat when moored stern on at Ranworth Staithe. Good bream used to appear at dusk. I don't mind divulging this one as I can't get my boat up to the northern rivers now, so not likely to fish there again . Also heard good things about Fleet Dyke (entrance to South Walsham broad) but not fished it myself.

I thought that was last weekend? Must be getting my dates wrong! I knew Nigel and Tracy were leaving at the end of September, but it's good to hear new tenants are waiting in the wings!

Thanks for the reply guys. I've now ditched the idea of the MLS units, as have heard they too become blocked with sludge, but as you cannot take them apart, the sludge just builds up inside the unit (it sticks to the sides so wont drain out of the bottom unless it is in water). I'm now into cutting holes in the tops of the tanks to "hoover" the sludge out and then I'm going to fit new filters with BSS compliant clear bowls so I can keep a close eye on it. The duplex filters are a great idea but horribly expensive....!

Yeah it does that quite regularly Lori on Spring tides, as Trevor has said.

A few weeks ago, we had a very hairy experience in a rough sea resulting from engine failure caused by blocked primary fuel filters, resulting in us being rescued by the RNLI and towed for 3.5 hours back to Lowestoft. The filters had only been changed a few weeks before, so this all points to crud in the tanks. Having now inspected the tanks, the amount of sediment etc really isn't that bad, so I am thinking of installing some fuel purifiers from MLS that we saw demonstrated at the Southampton Boat Show; here is their website link. http://www.mlsystem.co.uk/fuel/index.html Has anyone come across these or had any experience with them?

That was a good price Alan! I thought I was doing well at 2 for a quid! If they work well I'll be placing an order so SWMBO has something to do

Also worth trying Walker rubber in Norwich who make a lot of rubbing strake profiles http://www.walker-rubber.co.uk/s4/Marine.html

I found this on Luke's Sealine Forum, and whilst not strictly suitable for a Broad's forum, it is nevertheless an interesting read. It's been set up by ex- Motor Boat Monthly employees. http://www.motorboatowner.co.uk/ Whilst we're at it, this month's Motor Boat Monthly magazine has a bit of Broads coverage, with a review of the new Haines 30 (which we saw at the Southampton boat show and is lovely!) and also a write up of a Broads hireboat holiday.

I bought some of these from Poundland the other week as they were recommended by a friend for getting the dirt out of the leather-grain non-slip deck surfaces. I haven't tried them yet, but the feedback sounds very positive!

The Lizard maybe?

+1 for splicing! It's easy once you know how, and a skill that can be very useful and make your ropes look professional.

We bought one last year from Makro for £35. We also bought the optional smaller blade which is much better for our windows. We use it at home, and on the boat. They really are very good and leave a streak-free finish.

Personally, I'd take it to Marinetech in South Walsham in the car! http://www.marine-tech.co.uk/ C.C. marine in Beccles also do outboard servicing, but I think they are mainly Mercury/Mariner.