Gramps And The Lads Back In October

[LondonRascal]

Great to re-read this thread - I know I have knocked the old bath tubs, but I also happened to have enjoyed many a happy holiday on one with my family and hired two myself.  They can feel a bit like a bus when you are going along and you look up at everything else it seems, but they offer real space internally and are good practical boats in many respects.

 

[Vaughan]

17 hours ago, BB37 said:

On 7/9/2016 at 8:16 PM, Wussername said:

We were not able to get it up on the plane, but very nearly. The wash from the boat was amazing. 

Is it that it was not powerful enough, or was the design unable to plane?

This boat will never plane as it is a "displacement" hull design, which has a design "hull speed". She may appear to lift out of the water, by the sheer thrust of the big engine and will make an enormous wash, but will not go any faster, especially when in shallow water.

The 6 cyl diesel was fitted with the idea that it would do less work at low speed and therefore be longer lasting and more reliable. This may well have turned out to be true, but I don't think the idea caught on!

BB, if you look at my earlier post on this thread, I hope that can answer some of your questions about Bounty Boats.

I think I am safe in saying that, in those days, apart from Porter and Haylett, Alphacraft and Martins Plastics (Bourne) all other moulding was done by Aquafibre. There were also the Elysians, but they were moulded in Ely. Bounty later had their own mould tools, which they had bought from Aquafibre when it ceased business.

[BB37]

Do you know where Solar Marine was based, and if they designed any other boats?

[Vaughan]

As far I as I know, Solar was not a boat builder - it was a design, by naval architects, one of whom was John Clabburn.

[BB37]

There is an old photo that shows, what is now the NYA service centre, with a empty Buccaneer hull outside in the 1990s. Further up the roads is Buccaneer boats marina, where these both part of Bounty Boats?

[Vaughan]

Why not show us the photo?

One thing I do know - in those days a lot of new moulds were delivered from Aquafibre to Brooms, where they were put in the water and then towed up or down the Yare to the various small boatyards that had bought them, for fitting out "on site". Maybe this is what is shown in your photo?

[BB37]

The photo shows a Moores boat coming out of Bounty's 10t hoist shed, with a Buccaneer hull on a trailer

[BB37]

I just wondered if anyone knew how BB moved their boats to the Netherlands and France.

[jillR]

its a while since iv seen that picture of wooky witch originally lairdmore ... a moores boat.

that is a scan of a picture I took.

It must have  been  1993.

here is one inside the shed

she was later bought and shipped away from the broads

 

[Gramps]

On 22/11/2016 at 7:58 PM, BB37 said:

Do you know what engine Ultimate Gem now has?

Sorry BB37 didnt ask but dont they use Nanni's now

Ron

[BB37]

We went on Superior Gem a few years ago and it had a new 50hp Nanni engine.

[Gramps]

On 23/11/2016 at 9:34 AM, Vaughan said:

Ultimate Gem, however, is the only 10 berth hire boat I have seen, which can genuinely sit 10 people around the dining table. This done by a clever folding partition between the saloon and the front cabin, which separates them at night but opens up the whole space in daytime. So for 6 people, you must have been nice and comfortable.

Hello Vaughan thanks for reminding me of that feature i forgot to mention it in my boat details. With the folding doors open the saloon was vast, we left the doors closed all week but still found the saloon was large enough for us all to be seated. I particularly liked the double seat looking forward on the otherside of the helm.

[Gramps]

On 23/11/2016 at 10:54 AM, LondonRascal said:

Great to re-read this thread - I know I have knocked the old bath tubs, but I also happened to have enjoyed many a happy holiday on one with my family and hired two myself.  They can feel a bit like a bus when you are going along and you look up at everything else it seems, but they offer real space internally and are good practical boats in many respects.

 

Hi Robin totally agree with your "bus Comments" I look at the design of some of the new boats and think that I would love to holiday on one of those, but with Arthritis taking over the single floor level is the only practical design for me. With the aid of a small fold up stool I can still usually clamber aboard.

Ron

[LondonRascal]

Ron, you make some interesting points about mobility and ease of use with these forward steer boats – but as my Mum pointed out once to me, it is not always about the getting on – if you get on at the bow there is two large ‘drops’ into the Well and these have to be a compromise between a step and a seat.  At the stern there is always a steep step to the rear door which often opens outwards – a narrow entrance either way. 

That got me wondering about the best compromise between a low freeboard meaning easy on and off at a mooring, and an easy entrance/exit of the boat itself. Once on the boat of course you want the minimum of steps as well, so what is my ideal choice?

Bright Gem.  Wide side decks, a low freeboard, a large rear well to enter and exit the boat from with large sliding doors into a flat interior save a small step into the forward cabin.  Low airdraft means all but Potter Heigham bridge can be sailed under too – so safe, low level easy access boats can have pointed bows ;-)

 

[JennyMorgan]

Re arthritis & boats, I'm finding out for myself, often the hard way, that knee pads are invaluable when it comes to sometimes crawling aboard. Traditional 'granddad' wooden walking sticks are also invaluable, they float too! I also have a half height, cut down one handy for getting off my knees. The curved handle is also handy as a hook. A gardener's seat cum kneeler is also handy to have aboard. Damned if I'm going to give into it yet!

[Gramps]

Some interesting comments there from Robin and Peter.

Robin Bright Gem looks a nice boat and would probably be suitable for a smaller party than ours but a vessel with more individual berths is necessary for our type of party, I have found teenage boys do not like sharing a berth with their brothers.

When moored stern on I can manage to get on or off but have a waterproof cushion that I can sit on and swivel my feet round into the rear well, don;t use it much but it does not take up much space, the same method can be employed to get aboard on the bow and as such solves the problem of the steep step down into the well, second step can be overcome by the fold up stool.

Peter, some good tips there, my walking stick is never far from my side and as you say can be used in a variety of ways.One such use is fishing coathangers or items of clothing from the bottom of the locker, why do they need to be so deep? but we manage somehow. hopefully with careful planning and a little assistance I might get back again at some point.

[Vaughan]

On 11/23/2016 at 2:51 PM, BB37 said:

 

I just wondered if anyone knew how BB moved their boats to the Netherlands and France.

 

A bit off the thread, but perhaps it's worth mentioning!

The boats that went to France and Holland in the 60s and 70s were not Bountys, but the Bermudas and Caribbeans built by F.B.Wilds, of Horning. Not sure if they did their own moulding, but the mould tools were later bought by Langford Jillings Snr and form the basis of a large proportion of Alphacraft boats on the Broads.

It is fair to say that the Wilds Caribbean radically changed the hire boat business on the Broads but in France, it founded it! The French are traditionally mariners - offshore sailers like Eric Tabarly - but they didn't use their inland waterways for pleasure, only for barge traffic, so it is fair to say we taught them how to do it, and they readily admit it. Blue Line had their head office in Castelnaudary and rapidly expanded to almost all navigable waterways in France. They were later bought by Crown Cruisers (when I came along) and were then absorbed into what is now Le Boat.

Their managing director in France, John Ridell, (my boss at the time and still a great friend) is still spoken of by the locals, and by the VNF (Voies Navigables de France) as the saviour of the Canal du Midi. Without the business brought to it by Blue Line, and the practical contribution that John made to the organisation and maintenance of the waterway, the Canal du Midi would have closed down 40 years ago.

The BA might do well to reflect on that!

The boats were delivered at first by water! There was a mad Dutchman, who was employed to deliver them, and he took them from Norfolk across the North Sea to Dunkirk, on his own, three at a time, lashed together! He then took the French canal system, through Lille and Reims, down the Rhone to the Midi, arriving less than 3 weeks later in Castelnaudary.

This soon became a bit too expensive in incidental damage and from then on they have been delivered by road. When Crown Cruisers in Somerleyton were building the famous Classiques, they were completely fitted out, with all their inventory and then driven by river to Brooms to be loaded on a truck. So when we got them, they had already done 3 hours on the water and were literally "keys in hand".

It only took us a couple of hours to unwrap all the linen and crockery and have a good check round, and we could hire them. On some occasions the hirers arrived on the yard before the truck carrying their boat, but they always got away on time that afternoon.

Happy days!

Edited November 24, 2016 by Vaughan
typo

[JennyMorgan]

At its height the Broads industry was churning out boats for other areas. Bell Boats at Brundall was building sport fishing boats, so successfully that they had to call on other Broads yards to fit out hulls for them. I was involved with Fowlers at Oulton Broad and we fitted out several. The bonus for me was in delivering completed boats to Holland & the Channel Islands. We then fitted out a Moonraker which I took to Chichester, that lead to two years working down there, returning home to collect more boats for the South Coast. 

[JanetAnne]

1 hour ago, JennyMorgan said:

. We then fitted out a Moonraker

You too! Did JCL ever fit any out themselves?  lol

[JennyMorgan]

10 hours ago, JanetAnne said:

You too! Did JCL ever fit any out themselves?  lol

I thought that they did! We only did the one, we didn't like the standards that we were expected to work down to. Those standards actually reared their head a few years later when I was asked to bring one back from Chichester. It was only insured for local, inshore waters and the insurance company would not cover it for the trip back to Norfolk. Needless to say we took the risk with the obvious disclaimers from the owner.