mbird

I have both an anchor and mudweight. My own opinion is like Strowager says, I'd be a bit worried about tree roots, gas pipes and electirc cables when using an anchor, coupled with the fact that the soft silt at the bottom of a lot of broads can be 3-4' deep. A mudweight will drop straight through and be held by the suction, whereas an anchor would need to be "set" properly and have about 20' of chain trailing from it. I was swapping from anchor to mudweight on the windlass depending whether I was going out to sea or not, but I have now left the anchor fixed to the chain on the windlass and will just manually deploy the mudweight on a peice of rope when needed.

Hi Merlyn I know we have spoken at the marina, and thought it was you on that lovely 410, but couldn't for the life of me think of your login name . Good to see you too and it was yet another Sealine procession Col, I think we may have released too much information!!!! Jimbo, So who's the short one then?? Oh, that would be YOU

Well blow me! I haven't even seen Anglia Afloat yet, so this is a surprise to me. I sent in a couple of pics in response to a competition they ran a couple of months ago. How cool, my first ever publish (unless Clive used my kingfisher pic in his brochure, but I have never seen it)

Well I did tell you we were leaving about 10-10:30 in your topic about your winch!!

Along with hundreds of others. At least we only had three boats in sight and no traffic jams And the huge smile at the end of an exciting journey of course

Hi All This weekend was planned as a lads jolly, with Col and I taking Serenity out through Yamrouth and to Oulton Broad via Lowestoft on Saturday, then doing the return trip on Sunday. I had already booked Haven Bridge during the week, and it then transpired Ian (Senator) was also doing the same run, so we had a mini Salty Bottom convoy. It was actually very helpful having Ian infront of us and picking up on his radio protocol through Yarmouth, never having been through there before. The bridge lift and trip out through Yarmouth all went smoothly. When we exited the pier heads we were presented with about a 1m beam sea from the north which rolled us about a bit! As we turned south for Lowestoft, it became a quite noticable swell on our port quarter, but even so 22kts and a bit of anticipation from me on the helm meant it was no real problem and we soon settled into the rhythm. Ian was on his flybridge and looked as though he could reach out an touch the water as he had a rather exaggerated list, but he seemed happy enough We made the 14:30 Lowestoft lift and so up to Oulton Broad for the night, with a few beers (well ok, quite a lot) a curry, some live music and good conversation. (Comment was made, however, by one inhebriated young lady that Col and I looked either like brothers or lovers. Not too sure which I prefer ) Sunday morning was bright, though windy (from the west), and started around 8am with a nice clear head, a good fry-up, and then preparing to go through Mutford at 10:30. We made a complete hash of leaving the boat we were rafted to, which nearly saw Serenity being blown down the broad with us still standing on Meluha . Several lessons were learned in those 5 minutes, but luckily a bruised hand and couple of pulled muscles were the only result. I was completely astonshed by the pressure generated by just a brisk breeze on the side of Serenity, even though her canopies were off. Until you've felt that through a rope and realise how hard it is for two quite big blokes to fight it, you have no idea just how much these planing hulls get blown around Having made the 11:15 bridge lift (just!), we followed Clandestine into Hamilton Dock to have a quick cuppa at the Haven Marina pontoons. Quite a decent spot albeit rather industrial, but still a viable alternative if RNSYC is too busy! A good run up to Yarmouth with a calm sea with just enough chop to make it fun, and we were at Yarmouth. I thought the harbour entrance was further south that it actually is, and so made a rather fetching "Z" approach, but we got there in the end. Arriving at Haven Bridge about half an hour early, we moored at Town Hall Quay, and a quick dash into town had us returning 20 mins later with a KFC to top up that mornings brekkie. Through the bridge on time, and then under the side span at Breydon Bridge (there are advantages to only being little ) and I was munching cold KFC at 25kts over Breydon . Another good weekend, in good company, with experience gained and a couple of very valuable lessons learned.

Well if you need any help Barry, you know this is the place to ask it.

The OBYS guys told me at the weekend it is definately the 310 bearing from the waypoint that is the correct one, not 330.

I'm sure you won't be disappointed Barry

Great shots Pete. I haven't got to Happisburgh yet, but Simons thread some time ago made me want to go there on a dark stormy day for some really angry sea/sky type stuff. The only problem is that would mean getting bloody cold too

Excellent news Wayne That has got to be reducing the torque load on the engines at full throttle so can only be a good thing IMHO! (ps the bracket is just the job mate, thank you)

Hi Dave Sounds like a similar set-up to that I installed in our last boat, Tranquil Breeze. The difference there was that we had 4x110Ah batteries, which I split into 3 banks (1x engine, 1x inverter, 2x domestic). I used three of the isolators you picture, a three bank Sterling charger, and a 3 bank Sterling digital alternator regulator. The digital regulator was a lot dearer than the equivalent splitter diode type, but was intelligent in that it charged the banks in priority order, and if a large drain was sensed on one of the banks, all alternator power was diverted to that particular bank. The only question I would have, is that if you are not charging your starter battery from the Sterling charger when on shore power, you would have no way of starting thr engine should you have a flat battery. I realise this should not happen, but there is always the possibility I suppose. Would it be worth also putting in a battery link solenoid to temporarily link the started and domestic circuits for emergency starting?

Ah, found it. Tim Collins 01603 783788

I can't remember the name either, but it is on the Rhond. Take the left fork at Barnes dayboat area and it is on the right hand side past Fineway dayboats before Sabena marine. It's a funny little shed with a couple of typical Norfolk chaps running it (helpful guys too). I'm sure if it wasn't too much you needed they wouldn't rip you off.

Good news Luke, as I in the market for some oil and replacement fuel filters at the moment

Thanks Luke, I was just surprised when the message said "hello this is Steve". Obviously a laid back chap then

Hi Guys Sooner or later I am going to be brave and exit to sea via Yarmouth, especially with the troubles at Somerleyton. I have looked at the Eastport website, which gives the bridge booking number as 01493 335503, but when I call this it goes through to a chap called Steve, who sounds like it may just be a private number. What number do you peeps use to get a bridge booked?

The IS version of that lens that you have Strowager, is streets ahead of the non-IS version that came with my 350D which truly was a piece of junk

Hi Barry Present camera is a Canon 50D. Don't get too carried away by the higher resolutions though, as it doesn't necessarily mean better picture quality. I would question the use of HD video on an SLR camera in the first place, but that is only my opinion and I am sure it will be shot down in flames, but if I wanted HD video, I would buy a video camera, not an SLR

Probably the best sort of lens to start with would be in the 17-85 area which are often supplied with the camera body as a kit lens. You may find a better deal could be had on the 500D, which is the model the 550D is replacing, so there is bound to be some end-of-line bargains around. You won't get the HD video function, but then it will probably be a lot less cash!

Clearly what I should display when I attempt to moor

If you were to go for the camera Barry, you'd soon find you did also want at least one extra lens (probably a zoom). The camera itself is a much updated version of the 350D I started with a couple of years ago.

Lovely shots Perry. A few years ago, we hired a cottage with some friend in Snowdonia in March. We thought we were all barking mad, but the weather was fantastic and actually has us eating outside in T shirts and shorts on several days

Well number 13 is a fairway buoy, and number 12 I think may be an isolated danger mark? As to the rest, god knows without referring to my RYA book!

Noooo! What I meant was it's rare to get a set of pics like that where every one is really good. That's not meant to be blowing smoke up yer ****, but I would be very happy with any of those shots, let alone all of them!