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Old Broads Boats


webntweb

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On 17/06/2019 at 14:42, webntweb said:

Wroxham Friday evening in early September 81 - mixed bag of weather the last couple of days.

Some of Loynes fleet of woodies. Can see a couple of Lock Ness class; maybe a Loch Tulla or Arron class. Is the nearest one Loch Sandy?.

The nearest boat sheds are Loynes - can't remember if the newer sheds next to them are Loynes as well.

Would the sheds in the distance on the left of pic still have been Ernest Collins at this date?

Pic is very grainy as scanned from a slide that has deteriorated.

 

 

 

625a Wroxham.jpg

I have given it a bit of a lighten up for you.

Screenshot_20190803-070512.thumb.png.49cf8a3fbfd4a139d1bee327770235c0.png

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I think the boat in the foreground is a Richardsons' Roving Gem or a boat of the same design. They were an odd design - a sedan with a single stern door and very little stern deck space, so nothing like the sedans of today. In warm weather it must have been like hiring a floating greenhouse. 

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1 hour ago, Broads01 said:

I think the boat in the foreground is a Richardsons' Roving Gem or a boat of the same design. They were an odd design - a sedan with a single stern door and very little stern deck space, so nothing like the sedans of today. In warm weather it must have been like hiring a floating greenhouse. 

The were originally from "Beaver Fleet" at St Olaves. I seem to remember them being called "New Generation" or something like that, which at the time WAS ultra modern and ground breaking.

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I saw one on my July trip just moored at Berney Arms. It had been modified a little. Like Speedtriple, I remember them being of the latest design and featuring heavily in the Hoseasons(?) brochure. I think there are several new design boats which have the problem of being floating greenhouses. OK for out of season but on a hot July/August day, they must be warm enough to grow tomatoes in. Fair Jubilee/Executive are like that to me. On checking Hoseasons, Jubilee is still available for most of August. 

DSC03641.JPG

Fair JubileeL.jpg

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3 minutes ago, DAVIDH said:

I saw one on my July trip just moored at Berney Arms. It had been modified a little. Like Speedtriple, I remember them being of the latest design and featuring heavily in the Hoseasons(?) brochure. I think there are several new design boats which have the problem of being floating greenhouses. OK for out of season but on a hot July/August day, they must be warm enough to grow tomatoes in. Fair Jubilee/Executive are like that to me. On checking Hoseasons, Jubilee is still available for most of August. 

DSC03641.JPG

Fair JubileeL.jpg

Hi David,

I think Beaver Fleet were in the Blakes agency.  They were all the same interior fit out, yet there was 3 classes, being New Generation 4, New Generation 5 and New Generation 6. being 4 berth, 5 berth and 6, and were listed in the appropriate berthage sections in the catalogue.  I actually like the look of them, but would need a complete change in layout to make it work for us. They originally had a fwd double cabin, a twin bunk cabin behind, with a wc / shower compartment opposite, then up to the wheelhouse with steering and sideboard to port, and galley to stbd, two settee`s aft, and a fixed drop leaf table and six stools smack back in the middle. Not a good layout, but with a walk round bed in the fwd cabin, seperate toilet and shower comp`s and the wheelhouse with a galley and L shaped settee, they would be a really spacious 2 / 4 berth boat.

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27 minutes ago, trambo said:

When new, from the 1973 Blakes brochure.

So they were already 10 years old when I knew them at Port Cassafières, on the Canal du Midi.  They had not aged well!

That box type saloon table was a GRP moulding which hinged up, to reveal the engine. Not built with an engine drip tray, so oil and diesel all over the bilge.  The shower also went in the bilge so the smell inside them, in the heat of the south of France, was insufferable.  They had been cheaply thrown together out of chipboard, so if any of them got damaged and took on water, that was the end of it!  All the interior furniture blew up to more than twice its size.

Beaver Fleet was part of the Rank (Freshfields) organisation in those days, as were Richardsons.  When they sold up, that year, the boats were bought cheap by someone I hesitate to call a hire fleet operator, who ran them out of the Port of Beziers for a few years.

 

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Hi,

I believe about 30 were built by Beaver Fleet most of which ended up in France although Richardson's and Crown cruisers had some back on the Broads in the 80s and 90s. What amazes me is the 73 Blake's brochure states will not normally go under Potter Heigham bridge. I appreciate there was more clearance back then however to suggest it had even a slim chance of going under takes some believing. Being a fixed sedan roof boat with a square ish shape it must be a lot lower than it looks or perhaps as it was a new design they weren't sure how tall it was going to be.

Neil

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44 minutes ago, Captain said:

 What amazes me is the 73 Blake's brochure states will not normally go under Potter Heigham bridge. I appreciate there was more clearance back then however to suggest it had even a slim chance of going under takes some believing.

Neil

This, I think, was  the standard Blakes description for boats passing Potter Heigham, much more honest than Hoseasons who at the time never ( or rarely) mentioned bridge restrictions.

Fred

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51 minutes ago, Captain said:

What amazes me is the 73 Blake's brochure states will not normally go under Potter Heigham bridge.

I think you will find, in fairness, that all the signs were worded that way in those days. I think it was considered more polite! It was only in later years, with the coming of more and more dual steer flybridge cruisers, that "will not pass" was stipulated.

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The guy who restored / converted the boat in NeilB's link was Fergal Butler, a truly remarkable and skilful man. Sadly his son who had cerebral palsy passed away in march this year. Fergal's record of the boat conversion is in this link.

https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057583016

This was not his only foray into boating, he build a V8 powered Crackerbox called Olds Cool. I think there are some video clips on  U Tube or Google Olds Cool Fergal Butler

Regards

Bob

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2 hours ago, NeilB said:

There was quite an epic build thread on an Irish boating forum to go with the video below but it seems to have disappeared.  The video does link to a few more though.

 

 

 

I was trying to find that film series, but did`nt want to mention it in case i could`nt find it. Thanks for posting that. With the paint scheme, it looks like it used to be one of Richo`s Roving Gems?.

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  • 2 months later...
28 minutes ago, webntweb said:

Porter & Haylett's Sunline 2 in late October 83.

It had a split sliding canopy - possibly the first bathtub with that feature; Sunline 1's canopy wasn't split.

063 Salhouse Chris Darrell Barry.jpg

I loved those slide top 42 ftrs, I don't know why, but they looked so much better than the other versions. I seem to remember there was one of them at one of the Earls Court boat shows in the late 70s?.

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It was cold. Below freezing most nights. Woke up with ice on the inside of the windows most mornings.

A 42 ft boat with warm air unit right at the back - the heat only just reached the middle cabin, so it was sleeping in wooly hats in the saloon.

But the Broads are gorgeous at that time of the year.

075a Thurne Dyke.jpg

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2 hours ago, Broads01 said:

I had no idea split sliding canopies were around that long ago and I always thought Alpha Craft were the first to build them. 

I am also interested that Porter and Haylett were using the Wilds Caribbean hull mould at that time, along with what is obviously an adaptation of the Caribbean superstructure. I had a feeling that Alphacraft bought those mould tools from Wilds a bit later than that?

By the time Porter and Haylett launched the Connoisseur class of cruisers they were doing their own moulding, and did ever since.

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Hi,

I think Alpha bought the Wilds moulds about 1976/7, this particular P&H boat appears to date from around 1977, I believe  a few were built around 77-79 just as they were staring to build the Connoisseurs, certainly 2/3 went on to join Richardsons for a period before they were retired from hire. Presumably therefore these were Alpha moulds at the time. Alpha didn't build there own split canopy until 1992 (Alpha 29/35) which was probably in response to the Aquafibre 28 Opal which started in 1989, also some the little Sheerlines had dual slides as well; not sure whether that was option back in 87 when they started however. I am still not sure if the Porter and Haylett boat was the pioneer though as there were several weird and wonderful designs in the 60's and 70's many of which were one offs.

Neil

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