Pacific Princess

[tim]

Hello everyone

I've not been on here for a while (although I did say you lot make me jealous when my holiday is over) however I've now booked our annual trip to the broads and will be afloat again in late June.

Well, they only went and sold our beloved Dawn while my back was turned!   

We considered Tower Bridge. a Royal something or other and a couple of Alphacraft 35CC's from Richardsons

Tower Bridge doesn't have 240v (I like 240v) Brinks said takeover was 4pm (too late) The Ricko's boats didn't have a bow thruster (I've got lazy) They were the only of those types available, so time for a change!

I was was still happy with Pacific, and when I emailed Fiona about Dawn not being on the website, she told me about the new Aquafibre 32ft coming in, but I've seen Princess a few times plus we have our daughter coming with us this year so the extra space might be useful!

Yes me and Mandy, daughter Susie, and Lottie the dog! Three 'girlies' and me on a boat, no wonder I turn to drink!   

Now if you read my blog last year, you might know I have a paranoia with bridge heights, so the logical thing was to book a boat 2ft taller than the last one   

So a long winded way (yes i know) of getting round to asking a couple of questions of you wise folk

At 8ft 6 inches, and reading some posts on here about Ludham Bridge recently, that may be a no go?

Although Richardson seem to keep quite a few 8'6'' boats at Stalham!

Obviously Wroxham bridge is out, we always moored at the viaduct when visiting, so if we want to stop in Wroxham for an hour ish on a Monday 10ish, which of Brinks and NBD are likely to be more hospitable to this request, or should we just go shopping in Potter Heigham and moor if necessary in HW, who on the couple of times I've been in there have been supherb?

I know Monday is change round day but HW were ok I may just try my luck and see if the old charm still works!    

Oh, and you may get another rambling blog so brace yourselves!

[Cal]

We have never had a problem mooring at either Barnes Brinkcraft or NBD when stopping in Wroxham.

Unless the water levels are unusually high you should get under Ludham Bridge with an air draft of 8'6". As you say Richardsons have plenty of taller boats nowadays.

[Captain]

Hi Tim,

I was thinking of hiring Dawn this year as well until heard she was sold and booked Princess as well. I had a look at Diamond which appeared to be a nice boat however the 360 degree vision and comfortable seating position on Dawn was preferable IMHO. I see Richardson's have a similar boat to Princess called Contessa which is listed as 8ft 4 therefore believe you wont have any issues with Ludham although maybe worth trying around low water for safety's sake. I will be staying South so wont have too many low bridges, Beccles is out of it unfortunately, St Olaves maybe a little close depending on tides. My first Dual Steer on the South, hopefully be a good view which will make up for the Bridge issues.

Have a good trip.

Neil

[Cal]

We hired our first dual steer boat, Swan Ranger last year and it was well worth the extra planning to get under the bridges. The views are amazing.

Depending on the time of year you are hiring it can be a bit nippy up top though. We hired in October and it was a bit cold a few days for driving up top.

We have hired a dual steer in Belgium this year just before Easter. Hopefully the weather improves before then!!

[oldgregg]

There'll be no problem getting Pacific Princess through Ludham bridge.

Richardson's have Contessa - which is also an Aquafibre Crystal 37 - based at Stalham and she goes through just fine. I've taken her through myself, from upstairs.

[CambridgeCabby]

During the summer months the last few years Ludham at low water has been 8ft10 more often than not , the exceptionally high waters at the moment are not only unusual but to the best of my recollection unheard of not for the levels but for the amount of time the level has remained this high.

For years we hired Fair Diplomat / Aristocat both of which were listed at 8ft6 a couple of times we had to wait for levels to drop at low water and in twenty plus years only once were we unable to get under the bridge and that was after literally a month of rain .

The views you will get from the fly bridge will be wonderful across the reeds .

If you have any concerns ring George at Ludham Bridge boatyard when you are wanting to pass the bridge To confirm you’ll be ok  01692 631 011

[NorfolkNog]

3 hours ago, tim said:

Tower Bridge doesn't have 240v

Just a minor point - we've hired Tower Bridge several times. It does have 240v but only low power, up to about 300 watts but enough for phone charging and low power appliances. 

It does have bow thrusters and a low air draught, about 6 ten I think, certainly will go under all the bridges bar Potter. 

[SPEEDTRIPLE]

2 hours ago, NorfolkNog said:

Just a minor point - we've hired Tower Bridge several times. It does have 240v but only low power, up to about 300 watts but enough for phone charging and low power appliances. 

It does have bow thrusters and a low air draught, about 6 ten I think, certainly will go under all the bridges bar Potter. 

Yes, we hired her twice, and she does indeed have a bow thruster and a 240v socket for phone and laptop charging etc.

[SwanR]

4 hours ago, CambridgeCabby said:

During the summer months the last few years Ludham at low water has been 8ft10 more often than not , the exceptionally high waters at the moment are not only unusual but to the best of my recollection unheard of not for the levels but for the amount of time the level has remained this high.

We hired Zircon Emblem last October with an air draft of 8'4. The river levels were high and we didn't risk Ludham Bridge, partly because the low tide times didn't suit us when combined with the daylight hours. We hadn't expected that. But we have found river levels to be high every year that we have hired in October. Hopefully this will be different in the summer months.

[YnysMon]

Check out the tides before your visit. 
http://www.norfolk-broads.org/tides/tide_report.asp?

[Broads01]

I too have hired Contessa and passed through Ludham with ease. I think you'd have to be very unlucky with conditions not to pass through. Bear in mind also the height gauge at the bridge is so unduly pessimistic it's more or less useless. 

For future reference, Barnes published take over time is 4pm but like most others, chances are the boat will be ready much earlier. Last year I think I arrived around 2pm and the boat had been ready a while I think. 

[Mouldy]

8 hours ago, YnysMon said:

Check out the tides before your visit. 
http://www.norfolk-broads.org/tides/tide_report.asp?

Also, download the Aweigh app for either Apple or Android.  Great app with gps speedo, tide times, bridge heights and mooring details.  Best bit is its free!!

[Cal]

9 hours ago, Broads01 said:

I too have hired Contessa and passed through Ludham with ease. I think you'd have to be very unlucky with conditions not to pass through. Bear in mind also the height gauge at the bridge is so unduly pessimistic it's more or less useless. 

For future reference, Barnes published take over time is 4pm but like most others, chances are the boat will be ready much earlier. Last year I think I arrived around 2pm and the boat had been ready a while I think. 

Same here. We have hired several times from Barnes and the boats have always been ready early. Earliest we picked up was midday.

[tim]

16 hours ago, NorfolkNog said:

Just a minor point - we've hired Tower Bridge several times. It does have 240v but only low power, up to about 300 watts but enough for phone charging and low power appliances. 

It does have bow thrusters and a low air draught, about 6 ten I think, certainly will go under all the bridges bar Potter. 

Yes we hired her a few years ago, and no it wasn't a real problem, i just like 240v and a bow thruster

We had a lovely time on her, once Mandy got used to the colour, and the people at Bridgecraft were lovely

Underneath is the boat, Mandy and our old dog Amber, sadly no longer with us but never forgotten    

[tim]

11 hours ago, YnysMon said:

Check out the tides before your visit. 
http://www.norfolk-broads.org/tides/tide_report.asp?

Thanks Helen

I've not only down loaded the low tides and put them in a excel spreadsheet but I've also calculated the theoretical high water on each day at all listed places to assist with bridges and tidal flow

I can be such an anorak sometimes when it come to planning, but in my first sales job 40 years ago my boss used to continually tell me 'failing to plan is planing to fail' and that has stuck with me!

Now not following my plan is what used to get me into trouble!     

[RS2021]

You can also check recent river levels at various places here.

https://flood-warning-information.service.gov.uk/station/6215

[vanessan]

50 minutes ago, tim said:

I've not only down loaded the low tides and put them in a excel spreadsheet but I've also calculated the theoretical high water on each day at all listed places to assist with bridges and tidal flow

You could also purchase the Broads Authorities tide table booklet for £1. Gives low and high tides, water depths, bridge heights, river distances and much more. I’m not sure how soon this season’s will be available, it may already be. A call to the BA will confirm. 

[YnysMon]

2 hours ago, tim said:

Thanks Helen

I've not only down loaded the low tides and put them in a excel spreadsheet but I've also calculated the theoretical high water on each day at all listed places to assist with bridges and tidal flow

I can be such an anorak sometimes when it come to planning, but in my first sales job 40 years ago my boss used to continually tell me 'failing to plan is planing to fail' and that has stuck with me!

Now not following my plan is what used to get me into trouble!     

That’s what I do too, except as a Word table.  It’s so handy to be able to check out high tide at a glance when planning to go somewhere on the far side of a bridge. 

[Mouldy]

1 hour ago, vanessan said:

You could also purchase the Broads Authorities tide table booklet for £1. Gives low and high tides, water depths, bridge heights, river distances and much more. I’m not sure how soon this season’s will be available, it may already be. A call to the BA will confirm. 

The Aweigh app does this and its free.  With gps activated, the tides can be shown at your current location, or elsewhere on the Broads.  I was doubtful about it’s value, but having used it, am a convert.

[vanessan]

18 minutes ago, Mouldy said:

The Aweigh app does this and its free.  With gps activated, the tides can be shown at your current location, or elsewhere on the Broads.  I was doubtful about it’s value, but having used it, am a convert.

I’m sure the App is great, I keep meaning to download it. Having the booklet to hand is very useful we find, if signals are poor paper can’t be beaten. (We use the Broads.org tide tables in conjunction with the booklet too.) We have one copy of the BA booklet on the boat and one at home for planning  purposes - although not too much of that happens!  

[Cal]

46 minutes ago, vanessan said:

I’m sure the App is great, I keep meaning to download it. Having the booklet to hand is very useful we find, if signals are poor paper can’t be beaten. (We use the Broads.org tide tables in conjunction with the booklet too.) We have one copy of the BA booklet on the boat and one at home for planning  purposes - although not too much of that happens!  

That's a fair comment where signal is poor but I can't think of a single place on the Broads where you can't get a decent signal.

[vanessan]

4 minutes ago, Cal said:

That's a fair comment where signal is poor but I can't think of a single place on the Broads where you can't get a decent signal.

Try Pye’s Mill at very low water! Ok up on the bank but a few times it’s been dire actually on the boat there. There are going to be places and times when one system will be better than another. Personally we like to have as much info as possible and that sometimes means something other than an App. Anyway, I’m off to look at Aweigh and possibly add it to our ‘armament’! 🙂

[vanessan]

Went to download Aweigh and found I had already got the App. Doh!! 
How do you search for tide times for a date in the future? I couldn’t find any ‘search’ facility. 

[OldBerkshireBoy]

Not sure you can get ahead more than a week as they update daily.

[SPEEDTRIPLE]

On 20/02/2020 at 12:31, tim said:

Hello everyone

I've not been on here for a while (although I did say you lot make me jealous when my holiday is over) however I've now booked our annual trip to the broads and will be afloat again in late June.

Well, they only went and sold our beloved Dawn while my back was turned!   

We considered Tower Bridge. a Royal something or other and a couple of Alphacraft 35CC's from Richardsons

Tower Bridge doesn't have 240v (I like 240v) Brinks said takeover was 4pm (too late) The Ricko's boats didn't have a bow thruster (I've got lazy) They were the only of those types available, so time for a change!

I was was still happy with Pacific, and when I emailed Fiona about Dawn not being on the website, she told me about the new Aquafibre 32ft coming in, but I've seen Princess a few times plus we have our daughter coming with us this year so the extra space might be useful!

Yes me and Mandy, daughter Susie, and Lottie the dog! Three 'girlies' and me on a boat, no wonder I turn to drink!   

Now if you read my blog last year, you might know I have a paranoia with bridge heights, so the logical thing was to book a boat 2ft taller than the last one   

So a long winded way (yes i know) of getting round to asking a couple of questions of you wise folk

At 8ft 6 inches, and reading some posts on here about Ludham Bridge recently, that may be a no go?

Although Richardson seem to keep quite a few 8'6'' boats at Stalham!

Obviously Wroxham bridge is out, we always moored at the viaduct when visiting, so if we want to stop in Wroxham for an hour ish on a Monday 10ish, which of Brinks and NBD are likely to be more hospitable to this request, or should we just go shopping in Potter Heigham and moor if necessary in HW, who on the couple of times I've been in there have been supherb?

I know Monday is change round day but HW were ok I may just try my luck and see if the old charm still works!    

Oh, and you may get another rambling blog so brace yourselves!

So you`ve hired a high top design, and are concerned about Ludham Bridge, and always like to moor above Wroxham Bridge? ............................... hmmmm