Burgh Castle Moorings

[Hylander]

Prepared for a slapped wrist but here goes anyway - just read else where a post which was a copy of an email I would think,   from JP of the BA.

 

We recognise that the Burgh Castle moorings are very important and it is only because of our concerns about the safety of boaters that we have had to take the action set out in the report to the Navigation Committee. The good news is that we have recently been able to reach a verbal agreement with colleagues in the Environment Agency for their contractors BESL to re-pile the moorings. On the back of this we are looking to negotiate a longer term agreement with the landowner so that the free 24 hour moorings can be reinstated and secured for the future. 

 

 

So that is better news.

[DaveRolaves]

It would be good to see some electric hook up points at the extensive free 24 hour mooring at The Berney. There is a electric pump station positioned just a few yards away near the mill so a electricity supply could be a possibility.

[grendel]

Using the supply to a pumping station may not be suitable, firstly it depends upon network capacity available at the supply point to the pumping station, then you have to look at the rated capacity of the cable, then there is the fact that a pump is what is called a disturbing load, on startup the pump may momentarily drop the supply voltage near the legal voltage limit, which may not allow for a charging point.

this is the sort of thing the designers I work with are looking at day in day out, and is the biggest  problem we face, also bear in mind that to lay a service cable can cost in excess of £40 per metre, by the time you have factored in the civils costs and costs for the cable.

[vanessan]

Good news there from Hylander, fingers crossed it all happens. 

[vanessan]

I may be quite wrong about this but isn’t the electric post at Burgh Castle run from a pumping station? There is certainly one nearby. 

[JennyMorgan]

Good news for us all! 

Re this constant clamouring for electric hook-ups, why? Surely your boats should be capable of being independent of the land? 

[Vaughan]

10 minutes ago, JennyMorgan said:

Re this constant clamouring for electric hook-ups, why? Surely your boats should be capable of being independent of the land? 

On a normal week's cruise, yes. But boats have to have all the bolt-on goodies nowadays, such as the microwave, the kettle and the immersion heater.

[JennyMorgan]

9 minutes ago, Vaughan said:

On a normal week's cruise, yes. But boats have to have all the bolt-on goodies nowadays, such as the microwave, the kettle and the immersion heater.

Plus bubble bath, trouser press and inevitably several hairdryers and shoe polisher!

[Hylander]

Not the least bit interested in the immersion heater or the microwave and the kettle unless in one of these gin palaces you should have a gas hob to boil your kettle on.   Cannot be without a cuppa.

 

 

[MauriceMynah]

Todays society requires todays technology and todays facilities. Wouldn't it be wonderful to go back to all wooden boats with ice boxes, oil lighting and straight through sea loos? ... No? well anything else is just cherry picking!

If we decide to cherry pick, who does the selection? Where do we start?

The answer  is that the customers of the hire fleets dictate what the hire fleets supply, and if the broads is to continue as a major holiday destination that means plastic boats with all mod cons. The customers (majority of) will settle for nothing less.

We (broads lovers) have few options and by far the easiest of those is just to embrace the changes. To do otherwise would make King Canute look sensible. 

[Vaughan]

11 minutes ago, JennyMorgan said:

Plus bubble bath, trouser press and inevitably several hairdryers and shoe polisher!

Don't forget the washing machine and the vacuum cleaner. . . . .

[DaveRolaves]

The supply from the pumping station at Burgh Castle is about 150 yards away. The pumping station at The Berney is just a few yards away. The RSPB cottages just upriver from the mooring are connected to the electricity supply. Is there also a electricity supply connected to The Berney Mill?

[grendel]

35 minutes ago, vanessan said:

I may be quite wrong about this but isn’t the electric post at Burgh Castle run from a pumping station? There is certainly one nearby. 

It may well be connected to the adjacent pumping station, all I am saying is that the obvious point of connection may not in fact be suitable, you can only push a certain amount of electric through a wire before it overheats and melts, and this has to be looked at first.

[vanessan]

28 minutes ago, JennyMorgan said:

Good news for us all! 

Re this constant clamouring for electric hook-ups, why? Surely your boats should be capable of being independent of the land? 

I don’t think it’s really clamouring, rather a ‘nice to have’ sometimes. If you are out on the rivers for 2/3 weeks at a time, being able to plug in could mean not having to travel too far once in a while. Plug in or run the engine? I know which I and others would prefer. We don’t all live close to the Broads and are therefore not able to pop out for the day. It’s horses for courses. 

[Vaughan]

7 minutes ago, MauriceMynah said:

We (broads lovers) have few options and by far the easiest of those is just to embrace the changes. To do otherwise would make King Canute look sensible. 

I agree with you John. At least in principle!

We have to change with the times, that is why we have diesel engines, fridges and hot running water. I am referring to what I call bolt-on goodies which are by no means necessary and add nothing of real value to a broads cruise.

I have always thought of boating aa a camping holiday. I think you get more enjoyment that way, and don't miss all the gadgets, which become a nuisance in the end as you have to go and find somewhere to plug 'em in the bank!

[JennyMorgan]

3 minutes ago, vanessan said:

I don’t think it’s really clamouring, rather a ‘nice to have’ sometimes. If you are out on the rivers for 2/3 weeks at a time, being able to plug in could mean not having to travel too far once in a while. Plug in or run the engine? I know which I and others would prefer. We don’t all live close to the Broads and are therefore not able to pop out for the day. It’s horses for courses. 

Agreed.

On a serious note though, it is an horrendously expensive service to provide thus there are obvious implications involved.

[Meantime]

Just after the electric posts were upgraded I swapped 10 x paper cards for the new style plastic cards. I still have 10 plastic cards!!! Was out on the boat from Good Friday for 9 days and as many will remember it was a particularly cold and damp Easter week. Did we feel the need to plug in, No. Most mornings we woke to find no hot water left. Did we run engines to get hot water, No. We got up, put the kettle and frying pan on and had a coffee and breakfast and then cruised to generate hot water and showered whilst under way, or when we were moored up.

One day we were moored at Neatishead and went to The White Horse for the evening. The plan was to cast off late evening and go and mud weight in Barton overnight. We got back to the boat around 9:45 and it was so quiet and quite a few of the boats were in darkness so we changed our plans and stayed put rather than disturb anyone. Next morning at 6:30 the first boat engine started, followed by the next and so on. At 7am enough was enough. We got up, put the roof down and started the engine and departed. At this point every one of the other 8 boats had either an engine, or heater running. I really do feel sorry for the residents living near by. We cruised out to Barton, dropped the mud weight and had a very peaceful breakfast, far better than being surrounded by the noise from 5 or 6 engines running needessly.

Some will say that electric posts at Neatishad would have solved the problem. I say that consideration for others would solve the problem. We were considerate enought the night before to change our plans based upon it being quieter than we expected, us being slightly later than expected and more boats being in darkness than we expected. Had we known the racket that was going to be made the following moring we might have changed our minds, but two wrongs don't make a right.

I understand that for medical reasons some people will have a requirement to plug in, and that is fully uderstandable and reasonable., but I really do not understand this constant need to get away from it all, only to want everything to be the same as it was at home. Where's the sense of advenuture and doing things differently gone? We still showered once a day, just at a different time to when at home. We may have gone into the pub at lunchtime, before having the daily shower, but I don't think anyone noticed. We still managed to wash up the breakfast things, although sometimes it waited till we had been under way for an hour or so.

Going boating is a good lesson in being adaptable.

[JennyMorgan]

2 minutes ago, Vaughan said:

I agree with you John. At least in principle!

We have to change with the times, that is why we have diesel engines, fridges and hot running water. I am referring to what I call bolt-on goodies which are by no means necessary and add nothing of real value to a broads cruise.

I have always thought of boating aa a camping holiday. I think you get more enjoyment that way, and don't miss all the gadgets, which become a nuisance in the end as you have to go and find somewhere to plug 'em in the bank!

My feelings too. Personally I wouldn't want to be reliant on a plug on the end of a bit of wire. I value the freedom that boating provides, keep it simple! Okay, each to their own! 

[Vaughan]

This may sound a bit extreme but in the 70's there were lots of large hire boats going around with one battery to power the whole boat. No separate domestics and no charge splitter. Admittedly most things were on gas, and have now become electric, apart from the cooker.

It just shows though, that we were telling hirers then, to run the engine for one and a half hours a day to charge the batteries. Now, it is 4 or 5 hours. Every day.

[Meantime]

31 minutes ago, MauriceMynah said:

Todays society requires todays technology and todays facilities. Wouldn't it be wonderful to go back to all wooden boats with ice boxes, oil lighting and straight through sea loos? ... No? well anything else is just cherry picking!

If we decide to cherry pick, who does the selection? Where do we start?

The answer  is that the customers of the hire fleets dictate what the hire fleets supply, and if the broads is to continue as a major holiday destination that means plastic boats with all mod cons. The customers (majority of) will settle for nothing less.

We (broads lovers) have few options and by far the easiest of those is just to embrace the changes. To do otherwise would make King Canute look sensible. 

Can we be sure that is the case? For years the supermarkets have been generating mountains of waste because they wanted the perfect potato, or the carrots had to be a certain size, apples had to be blemish free. All because it was what the customer dictated or so they told us. I don't remember asking for that!!!

Finally Morrisons have had a change of heart and introduced their "wonky" vegetable range. Straight from the ground, or tree as nature intended, and guess what, it is cheaper!!! I really hope it catches on and the other supermarkets follow suit. 

[Hockham Admiral]

Unfortunately, in an all-electric boat, for your early morning cuppa or late night chocolate, you need to boil an (electric) kettle. That means either running your generator or being plugged in.

[TheQ]

It's not the supermarkets that dictate the perfect spud or carrot, it's the public.

 When they go to the fruit and veg counter the first thing they do is sort through the veg taking the best that is there, at the end of the day al that is left is the misshapen bruised left overs that have to be skipped. By requiring the best fruit and veg in the first place they are saving the coast of buying / transporting and then skipping the veg that would be skipped.

[TheQ]

1 minute ago, Hockham Admiral said:

Unfortunately, in an all-electric boat, for your early morning cuppa or late night chocolate, you need to boil an (electric) kettle. That means either running your generator or being plugged in.

I'd second that on my boat. for propulsion as well

[Hylander]

Tell me what is wrong with a wash up and down from a basin in the bathroom on the boat.    You dont have to shower everyday.    I can have a wash up and down using my shower gel on a flannel.      Like with the fruit and veg today people are far too fussy.

[TheQ]

2 minutes ago, Hylander said:

Tell me what is wrong with a wash up and down from a basin in the bathroom on the boat.    You dont have to shower everyday.    I can have a wash up and down using my shower gel on a flannel.      Like with the fruit and veg today people are far too fussy.

Done that many times, I do prefer the water to be hot, using cold water from a bucket in the military is a distant memory, I  don't want to repeat...