Swanning Around

[MauriceMynah]

1 hour ago, grendel said:

I came back to the boat from the ship after nine...

I find that after nine it doesn't really matter. glad to read you're enjoying yourself.

[Cal]

1 hour ago, grendel said:

We are at reedham overnight, we were told to expect overtopping of the quay heading at high tide last night, I came back to the boat from the ship after nine and there was only a foot to go before overtopping.

Did it over top?

[grendel]

Not last night, but it's already only about 9" off overtopping and still at least another hours flood

[Cal]

Just had a beautiful breakfast with the produce we bought in Wells yesterday. The black treacle bacon, old English sausage and duck eggs were delicious. 

I will write a proper review of Swan Ranger when I get time later today.

[Cal]

So onto the review of Swan Ranger. 

First things first she is a lovely boat. Very warm and dry and in many ways ideal for winter boating with the lack of drafty sliding canopies but in other ways not so ideal with the very limited visibility from the lower helm. In fact driving from below really cant be recommended although we did on rainy days and managed well enough.

She handles very well, in fact easily the best Broads boat we have hired on that score and the prop is well matched to the hull and engine. Slightly under propped perhaps but that is for the best with a hire boat.

There were just the two of us onboard, and little Sydney so we had loads of room onboard. We used the bow cabin to sleep which had ample room and storage and stayed nice and warm and dry. 

The galley is a bit tight but perfectly manageable. Sunday lunch was tackled and successful. 

The saloon was comfortable and offered good views out and again stayed warm thanks to the radiator heating. This is the first boat we have hired with radiator heating and we were impressed with it. While it is slower to react than blown air it heats the space well and keeps its heat well after the unit is turned off. 

The aft cabin we used as storage was spacious with a large double berth and en suite with bath and shower.

By far the best feature was the upper deck which offered far reaching views of the Broads not seen from the lower boats. It is cold up there in October but well worth getting wrapped up warm for.

I have struggled slightly with getting on and off when moored side on this week but that is not a fault of the boat, the water levels have been higher than usual. Although stern on mooring made getting on and off much easier. The stern is well designed for that.

Overall this has definitely been our favourite boat we have hired so far and despite a few small problems at the beginning of the week we had a great time and will certainly hire Swan Ranger again some time soon.

[NorfolkNog]

Good review and very useful for anyone contemplating hiring this style of boat. Swancraft certainly knew what they were doing!