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LondonRascal

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Please can you go back to making videos on hireboats i really miss the kinda "through the keyhole" of hireboats.. you could even do ones in europe and ireland... you could drive to europe there you go ey your new passion and old all together..

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1 hour ago, JawsOrca said:

Please can you go back to making videos on hireboats i really miss the kinda "through the keyhole" of hireboats.. you could even do ones in europe and ireland... you could drive to europe there you go ey your new passion and old all together..

Sent from the Norfolk Broads Network mobile app
 

At the recent Brundall Boat Show I had about 7 people, only 1 of which I knew, stop me and say the same...

There is however a little problem in this, that being it makes little sense to spend a few hundred to over a grand on a hire boat simply to spend a few days to a week onboard doing videos and ending in a review and that is why that has not happened, but of course I have a few boats I could always use, which brings me to the next issue..Producing them.

I don't have with me now a computer with the editing software and power I need - that is all in a storage unit waiting for me to get off my **** and buy a house, move into and set it all up again. So I have had a chat with my long suffering mother who has said once the new carpet is down, and my new bed has been put together I can get a desk and use my old room at their place, set up the computer and use their high speed fibre to upload content.

The stuff I have been doing, little snippets all on my phone and while it is okay it is not nearly as good as proper camera gear, and being able to edit things properly - for one whatever would I do without my eclectic music choices to be included into the videos...

So I will try and bring back the good old Captain's Blog's - it seems my style and personality has been missed by some, and yet others have loved the fact I have not been about talking to a camera and driving a boat, still if I make a come back think of all the things I can be told I did wrong lol.

 

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How about a go in a flappy jobby? There would be much for the private owner and holiday maker to learn and understand about the unique challengers and enjoyment of sailing on the Norfolk Broads.

For the benefit and understanding of all perhaps.

Old Wussername

Andrew.

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Do wonder rascal if you go round and say look: "mr boatyard owner.. can i do some walk round vids of your boats whilst no ones aboard only need it for few hours".. monetise on ebay.. bobs your uncle.. youtube needs these :)

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The thing is, knowing Robin as I do, just stepping onboard with a camera and doing a walk through video doesn't really do it.  He needs to be onboard for at least a couple of nights using the boat as it was designed for so he can get a real 'feel' of their foibles, good points / bad points and the like. Then he can produce his proper Capt's Blog on any given boat.  Hope this helps,

Griff

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  • 2 weeks later...
1 hour ago, OldBerkshireBoy said:

Now that was one stupid idea! Sadly not the only stupid idea from BL.

Not half as stupid as scrapping the hatchback Allegro was supposed to have and replacing it with a boot lid so small you had to load the weekly shopping in installments. 

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I used to like the old Allegro. My brothers ex`s brother had the 1700 sport version. It was really quick, and with slightly tuned suspension used to handle well. The build quality was supposed to be questionable, but i knew several people who had them and always said overall they were great little cars. Like all cars, or bikes for that matter, many people expect far too much from a basic package.

 

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That's the first time I've ever heard or seen the phrase "really quick" in relation to an Allegro. It must have been the 90hp twin carb version.

The best thing about Allegros was the fact that the A series engined versions at least were a good cheap source of replacement engines for your mini when you blew yours up. I bought two and stripped them for the 1275 engines

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It is hard to get things right, I remember way back being asked not to 'hide' my Boat Reviews in the longer videos of a particular day, so I made individual videos just of the review.

A review of a boat is always done at the end of the holiday, on the last day/evening. It takes a lot of preparation too. Everything that has been out needs to be removed, all the surfaces need cleaning, beds making, pillows plumping. Floors cleaned - I have even been known to polish sinks with Mr Sheen to remove water marks I have left when urm using the sink. In short I want to present the boat as you would find it upon take over - clean and tidy and without any belongings about.

Then I begin to walk through the boat, but as I go things left in cabins from say the saloon, need to come out and be re-arranged so when I open the net door it appears to open straight into a perfectly tidy cabin despite moments previously it being filled with my suitcase etc.

Boat reviews therefore take two hours to prep for, and 45 minutes to an hour to film. I have been told by many they are really useful, yet others will say I talk far far too much and should just walk through quickly pointing of the main points. You can't win. I don't do any of this because I particularly wanted to, it was more a case of "I am here why not" - so to go about yards and ask to do videos is a bit pointless, even a medium size yard with 6-10 boats would take a few days to get through. I think however there is scope for boatyards to vastly improve their offerings through video and photos, and I also believe it should be that each boat in a class has photo's of it, not just picking one out of 5 boats and taking photos of it - each boat is different in small ways, and it all makes a difference.

Where I really think video reviews should be used is for boats on Brokerages, I am amazed at just how different one businesses idea of photos of a craft and another can vary - some include engine photos, others do not, some include close up photos of decks and fittings - I remember when buying Independence the Broker had photos showing the thickness left in the Teak decks. This all matters and costs practically nothing in this 'digital age'.

I know this Thread was about cars, but I am sorry if the boating side has been left a little bare over the last several months. A lot has happened and also the realisation that much of the escapism of the Broads and boating was there for me simply because it was all I had - now I can drive I can explore so much more. I drive about 2,000 miles a month and none of that is a commute or because I really need to, it is just to get out there and go places - even if just to the beach in Yarmouth and back as the sunsets.

That sad, I also miss the whole boating thing - Blogs, going places and talking to you guys as I am cruising along so once this period of awful weather is over and we get back to summer I am going to get out there with the camera and it is going to be on a boat.

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1 hour ago, LondonRascal said:

I think however there is scope for boatyards to vastly improve their offerings through video and photos, and I also believe it should be that each boat in a class has photo's of it, not just picking one out of 5 boats and taking photos of it - each boat is different in small ways, and it all makes a difference.

Yes - I recently clicked on a link to a video which I expected to be a walk-around of a hire boat...instead it just showed it cruising along. (Including several children not wearing life jackets).

In my limited experience of hiring boats, where there has been more than one of a class there hasn't been any way of knowing which one you are going to get.

 

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I once bought a 1275 Allegro for £25, by comparison my apprenticeship wages in those days were £40 a week. I stripped the 1275 AustinA Plus engine out and rebuilt it, put it in my Mini. It wasn't a straight fit as I had expected, A series and A plus were not directly interchangeable but a mate of my dads welded a couple of extra mounts for me. I then sold my 998 A series engine for £40 and the carcass of the Allegro to the the scrapman for the same £25 I paid for it. A 1275 upgrade and forty quid profit, which bought some second hand bucket seats. Add a set of second hand minilites, front disc upgrades and a pair of the biggest spot lamps you ever saw on the front and their was no stopping me. I thought I was Paddy Hopkirk.

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Well in my early years of getting on to the 'Having kids' ladder, I acquired an Austin Montego Vaden plas. I think I have spelt it right. It was a lovely car to drive and very reliable, but the only thing that let it down was rust started to get the better of it. Although with a lot of British Leyland cars, they forgot about rust proofing and a simple coat of hammerite would of helped. 

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