Just For Fun Make Up Your Own Hire Yard

[Roy]

Where would your yard be ? 

What boats would make up your fleet?

the names of your boats and business? 

[JennyMorgan]

It wouldn't! 
Imagine having to put up with customers, perish the thought.

Best keep my money in the bank and go sailing and fishing!

[Smoggy]

I'm with JM, pesky bloody hirers!

[Bluebell]

I have thought about this occasionally when on board (those were the days!).

Acle - Bridgecraft - Tower Bridge, Chelsea Bridge etc - a good mix of well maintained boats...oh no too late someone’s already done that.

Maybe located in Ranworth - Norfolk Boats - Norfolk This and Norfolk That etc with a good mix of well maintained boats...

[Vaughan]

13 minutes ago, JennyMorgan said:

Best keep my money in the bank and go sailing and fishing!

Like JM and one or two others here, I've been there, done that and got the T shirt!

Not only have times changed but so have customers' expectations.

[NorfolkNog]

2 minutes ago, Bluebell said:

Acle - Bridgecraft - Tower Bridge, Chelsea Bridge etc - a good mix of well maintained boats...oh no too late someone’s already done that.

Yep, seconded - hard to beat. 

Nogcraft - have to think about the location though - near a good pub of course! 

[Chelsea14Ian]

I'm  with JM.I would really like a fleet of boats.That gets knocked  about every season NOT.

[grendel]

well lets call it viking boats, we will have a good selection of hybrid boats sails plus oars, boats, a handful of Snekke, another handful of Drekkar a Skeid or two, a selection of Knarr and a Byrding.

we will run it as a fitness building holiday, with lots of rowing and a bit of sailing, with a day of raiding in between just for a change.

the biggest issue I see is dropping the mast to get under the bridges, possible with the large crews that will be needed, luggage stowage will provide the seating at the oars, and  at night the sail will be used to shelter the communal crew area.

[oldgregg]

Love this topic. What self-respecting Broads / boat nerd could resist?

I have long wanted to own Bureside Holiday Park, located just down from Thurne mouth. That and a great big pot of money to do my plan justice. I'd take the site and sympathetically develop it into something similar to Waveney River Centre.

There'd be a large visitor mooring basin, 32A electric to all berths, a nice shower block and all the facilities boaters, campers and lodge guests need. However, these would tie in with the nearby businesses in Thurne to ensure there's no overlap with what is already there as that's excellent.

Near to the visitor basin would be the hire fleet. That would be a mixture of aft cockpit, dual steer, single level forward steer and centre cockpit models. Around 50 boats in total, which would be designed by the best and developed and built by Haines and our own team. Efficiency, elegance, space and handling would be a common requirement.

The hire fleet would be hybrids using the latest battery tech from the automotive industry and have capacity for at least a couple of days of normal usage. Naturally, these would be plugged in to the 32A supply on a turnaround and there'd be a more than adequate diesel generator to keep things topped up - The key would be to avoid running engines at moorings or on an early start.

All of the fleet would have a smart speed limiter, which would know what the speed limit was for the boat's current GPS position (that really is not hard!) and the propulsion motor would also be more than adequate for punching a tide. The generator would run once the speed went above 5mph, or between the hours of 8am and 6pm if the battery was below a certain percentage and the forecast usage required it.

There would be no gas on these boats - Induction hobs and combi ovens only, naturally. And a diesel wet heating system would provide heat and hot water.

Over time, the fleet would transition to full electric or hydrogen fuel cell hybrids, as technology progressed.

If there were any breakdowns, the on-call engineer would check his mobile app and see where the boat in question was moored and view the current data from it to determine whether attendance in person was required.

The park would be run by a talented team of customer-focussed professionals, and have excellent marketing, social media and technology teams.

[JennyMorgan]

2 minutes ago, grendel said:

 

In time to emerge as a Norfolk Wherry! 

[Smoggy]

50 minutes ago, grendel said:

well lets call it viking boats, we will have a good selection of hybrid boats sails plus oars, boats, a handful of Snekke, another handful of Drekkar a Skeid or two, a selection of Knarr and a Byrding.

we will run it as a fitness building holiday, with lots of rowing and a bit of sailing, with a day of raiding in between just for a change.

the biggest issue I see is dropping the mast to get under the bridges, possible with the large crews that will be needed, luggage stowage will provide the seating at the oars, and  at night the sail will be used to shelter the communal crew area.

You could base it in Luton, only cos I don't know of a place called pillagon.

[grendel]

how about repton

[MaceSwinger]

Never given masses of thought to where or what boats, but I suppose North would be my choice, probably South Walsham area. What I've given more thought to is that I'd never want to get so big that proper maintenance suffered, and customer service would always be top priority. When a certain yard had my wife in tears last year it pressed the point that a yard can have a brilliant reputation for clean, well maintained boats and still be staffed by utterly rude people who couldn't give a tinker's cuss about their customers.

[Roy]

I think I would have a yard at Ludham my yard would specialise in small boats for couples maybe a fleet of Hampton safaris with names relating to wildlife.

 

[Vaughan]

2 hours ago, JennyMorgan said:

In time to emerge as a Norfolk Wherry!

Norfolk Keel!

You'll be saying there was a Great Estuary next.

[JennyMorgan]

38 minutes ago, MaceSwinger said:

When a certain yard had my wife in tears last year it pressed the point that a yard can have a brilliant reputation for clean, well maintained boats and still be staffed by utterly rude people who couldn't give a tinker's cuss about their customers.

For the life of me I can't imagine which yard that might have been, oh no, not possibly!! 

[Turnoar]

 

So, fantasy boatyard league:

Waxham.

Pocket cruisers, sailing yachts and aft cockpit cruisers, all wood and circa 25’ or less.

Seasedge, Mistsedge, Fogsedge, Reedsedge, Broadsedge, Meresedge.... not sure if I can fit any more in!

Cutsedge Cruisers.

[JennyMorgan]

27 minutes ago, Vaughan said:

You'll be saying there was a Great Estuary next.

But surely there was, wasn't there?

[MauriceMynah]

My boatyard would be at Hickling. The fleet of about 300 boats would comprise mainly 45 footers with flying bridges. Equipped with electric 'everythings' and two generators each capable of fully charging the batteries in an hour or so. These twin engined craft would be capable of going on the plane but there will be clear notices reminding the hirers of the 4mph limits.

The smaller cruising arear will be compensated for by the quieter waterway.

Whilst the business would be doomed eventually to fail, it's purpose would be to take Marshmans mind off the things I'd be planning to do to get the clearance of PHB back to where it was back in the late 90s..

[Smoggy]

Best way to make money would be to buy the wrong sort of boat for the task so it would be well priced and find some daft sod to pay way too much to use it, no wait spirit of breydon has already been done....

[jwb]

Well I'd say base the yard at Potter as you can get everywhere easily from there and there is a ready supply of quart on hand. 

The fleet would be mini subs with stealth capability.

The Yard could be called "Broads revival"

The object would be to hire out the subs FOC to anyone who can sink at least 20 plastics a day. 

Laugh I almost cried!

[JennyMorgan]

5 minutes ago, MauriceMynah said:

My boatyard would be at Hickling. The fleet of about 300 boats would comprise mainly 45 footers with flying bridges. Equipped with electric 'everythings' and two generators each capable of fully charging the batteries in an hour or so. These twin engined craft would be capable of going on the plane but there will be clear notices reminding the hirers of the 4mph limits.

You could have a preview of such a fleet, albeit privately owned, by visiting Brundall!

[Wussername]

I come from a boating family. My great grandfather, my grandfather, owned boat yards. As did my Uncle Jack, as did my Uncle Bill. As did my cousin. My cousins owned boats. My father owned boats. My brothers all went boating on the broads.

I have worked on several boat yards, for over 30 years on a part time basis. General hand, trial runs, out on the bobbing up and down stuff in the North Sea.

Every time I met up with the family it was boat this and boat that. It was relentless. In the end I spent my holidays in Spain. Not in the Costa Plenty bit, but in the mountains and hillsides in Andalusia. No bloody boats up there I can assure you.

But, do you know what, it has turned full circle, 

I love my home, Norfolk, the Broads, with a passion. It is a privilege to live here. 

To run a boat yard of say twenty or thirty boats, which may I suggest is a minimum, is a huge task, huge. Requiring the support  of your family your whole family. It is like Mr Patel and his corner shop. It requires a dedication of all. Any lack of contribution by illness from any member is a serious issue.

Be aware.

.

[catcouk]

There are some amazingly funny responses here. Well played! 

My fantasy boatyard is nowhere near as amusing. I'd probably base my yard near Ludham Bridge - to the South just in case of high water levels! I'd have a small but varied range of cruisers including a high dual steer and a smart bathtub. That way, I'd have whatever type of boat I fancied for my family holidays.

The fleet would have all mod cons but feel cosy like some of the classic cruisers rather than the more sterile feel of modern boats. I think I'd have them specially made to ensure the layouts were just right. 

Obviously, my boatyard would run as not-for-profit. As I would need to already be a multimillionaire to set all this up, I wouldn't need to make a profit... 

[Davydine]

I think @oldgregg has got it spot on with his idea about Bureside Holiday park, but this thread reminded me that when I was about 10, My dad, who was selling the family travel agency, nearly bought a boat yard. I remember meeting David Court and visiting the yard with my mum and dad, I often wonder how that might have worked out if he had...