Considering Joining A Syndicate At Some Point

[oldgregg]

I can take a guess, based on the maths.... 

[Matt]

When we put the new engine in on Thunder @oldgreggsuggested we fit an additional alternator but the fitters advised it wasn’t necessary. We should have fitted the additional alternator……

[ShaneB]

Hi all, sorry to hijack the thread but me and my partner are very interested in joining a syndicate, I’ve done countless hours of research and scanning forums and the only thing I haven’t been able to find is the actual size of the beds.

I know ideally I should visit the boats to have a look but unfortunately it’s a struggle to get down with work and I’ve never been moored up next to a syndicate boat to have a snoop around.

We’re mainly interested in Evening Shadow, Silver cloud was my favourite but apparently there’s no 4% share anymore. Could anyone give me dimensions of the beds or any advice about them. I’m 6’ 2 but sleep on my front so ideally need 7ft of length for a good nights sleep.

Any info is gladly welcome, thanks!

[Mouldy]

Evening Shadow and Moonlight Shadow are sister craft, both built on an Aquafibre Pearl mould, of similar age and spec.  I’ve never measured the beds and being a vertically challenged 5’ 8”, that hasn’t ever been a concern.  I believe that the v-berths in the fore cabin are longer than the double in the aft en-suite, but would hesitate before confirming they are 7ft long.

Shares in Evening Shadow tend to be more expensive than for Moonlight, which given their specifications is surprising, but if you can get to see it and it’s suitable, £2500 is a bargain price for the share at the moment and as the season progresses, the price is sure to increase, especially with doubts on foreign travel continuing.

Oh and welcome to the Forum, by the way! 

[OldBerkshireBoy]

38 minutes ago, ShaneB said:

I know ideally I should visit the boats to have a look but unfortunately it’s a struggle to get down with work and I’ve never been moored up next to a syndicate boat to have a snoop around.

 

Any info is gladly welcome, thanks!

Dont commt to anything without seeing for yourself and thinking one is moored on the south and other is moored on the north should that make a difference too you.

[ShaneB]

38 minutes ago, Mouldy said:

Evening Shadow and Moonlight Shadow are sister craft, both built on an Aquafibre Pearl mould, of similar age and spec.  I’ve never measured the beds and being a vertically challenged 5’ 8”, that hasn’t ever been a concern.  I believe that the v-berths in the fore cabin are longer than the double in the aft en-suite, but would hesitate before confirming they are 7ft long.

Shares in Evening Shadow tend to be more expensive than for Moonlight, which given their specifications is surprising, but if you can get to see it and it’s suitable, £2500 is a bargain price for the share at the moment and as the season progresses, the price is sure to increase, especially with doubts on foreign travel continuing.

Oh and welcome to the Forum, by the way! 

Thanks for the info, I’m just looking for reassurance regarding the beds having endured many a sleepless, uncomfortable night in a tiny berth being as wide as I am tall! 
I would have snapped up the share in Moonlight but prefer a northern base. 

[Mouldy]

37 minutes ago, ShaneB said:

 . . . . . . . . . I would have snapped up the share in Moonlight but prefer a northern base. 

I thought that when we bought into Moonlight, but when we originally purchased the share, it was at a price we couldn’t refuse.  It didn’t take long to realise that the southern rivers offer some great cruising too, quieter in the summer and with some excellent pubs and when we bought our own boat, we moored that at Brundall, too, although in a different yard.

We still have a half share in MS, primarily for our son and his family to enjoy a summer week afloat, although we intend using our spring week this year when we’ve invited friends to join us + our own boat will sleep four, but it would be just too cosy!!

[oldgregg]

I’m 6’2 and about 14.5 stone and can fit in both the bunks, the v berths and the double on a Pearl.

The bunks aren’t that wide but V berths are decent and the double is also not bad for a boat.

[ShaneB]

@MouldySeems like you’ve got this boating lark sewn up! Very envious! I may have to work on the missus to see if she’ll let me have a full share and maybe have a crack at Moonlight.

@oldgregg are your feet against the wall or do you have a bit of room to play with?

[YnysMon]

My husband finds the v-berth in Moonlight Shadow’s forward cabin comfortable, and he’s 6’2”. My son is the same height and slept comfortably in the aft cabin double.

Welcome to the forum. 

[Broads01]

4 hours ago, ShaneB said:

apparently there’s no 4% share anymore.

4% shares are like gold dust in my experience. Malcolm (Mouldy) has one but I think it's the only 4% share on MS and the other syndicates are similar. Ranworth Breeze has 2 week shares and Southern Crusader single fixed weeks if those boats suit you.

[SwanR]

I was looking at Southern Crusader recently. Fixed weeks is interesting. I think there were a few weeks available but they were all winter options. 

[Tempest]

13 hours ago, ShaneB said:

I would have snapped up the share in Moonlight but prefer a northern base. 

I did smile when I read this because I was of the exact same opinion before we took the plunge and bought our shares in Moonlight Shadow

We even came down and spent the day on her as the previous owner met us and we took a jaunt to Rockland St Mary, had lunch at the New Inn and came back

At the time shares were 2 or even 3k more for the same style of boat on the Northern rivers and we just didnt feel the outlay was justified, so we went for MS which was moored on the south

Now if you asked me the same question, I actually am not bothered as I love the south (dont let anyone know please as I was quite vocal at our first AGM about moving north..........................)

I saw the south as miles of reeds, very few good stop off locations and tides of terror, whereas I now see it for the beauty that it always had but I didnt open my eyes to it

We took my brother and sister in law with us this year who had always hired northern boats and had never been south in over 40 years of boating

We visited Reedham, Loddon, Beccles, Geldeston, Oulton Broad, Thorpe St Andrew, Surlingham and Brundall and they absolutely loved it and actually said they think the south is better than the north as you are virtually guaranteed a mooring, the towns and villages have so much more than they do up north and the quiet places are just gorgeous. For example the run from Beccles to Geldeston or Bramerton Common to Commissioners Cut is just stunning and we love nothing more than bimbling along at 3mph taking in its beauty

The North and South both have their advantages and disadvantages, but having spent the last 3 years mainly on the south, I have grown to love the place and I am sure you would to

P.S. We do still venture north on MS and if you check out Dave Whitworths or Russell Thompsons videos on youtube you will find they both have syndicate boats, and regularly venture south, so the location of the berth isnt as restrictive as you may first envisage or worth the 3k extra outlay!

 

[NorfolkNog]

1 hour ago, SwanR said:

I was looking at Southern Crusader recently. Fixed weeks is interesting. I think there were a few weeks available but they were all winter options. 

That would suit me perfectly as I like to go in winter and I'm not a fan of the draw system most syndicates seem to use. 

Having said that I'm very happy with Bridgecraft! Also we like to be able to tweak the dates slightly to fit in with the tides. 

[oldgregg]

13 hours ago, ShaneB said:

@oldgregg are your feet against the wall or do you have a bit of room to play with?

There's a little bit of room, but not masses. I can think of plenty of boats where I don't fit the beds at all, so that's quite a compliment to the Pearls.

Most Broads boats do not have massive beds, simply because it is very difficult to package them into the available space.

[YnysMon]

2 hours ago, NorfolkNog said:

Having said that I'm very happy with Bridgecraft! Also we like to be able to tweak the dates slightly to fit in with the tides. 

Yes, that's the snag with winter allocations, we like the opportunity to cross Breydon. Mind you, now that we've had our first taste of night navigation that shouldn't be such a problem in future. 

We have also had one of two 'out of season' allocations where the weather was atrocious for part of the week, but I suppose that can happen any time of the year. There was one February week where Storm Ciara made us stay put on our home mooring for three days. It would have been very frustrating had we not taken the opportunity to explore the coast by car.

[NorfolkNog]

51 minutes ago, YnysMon said:

Yes, that's the snag with winter allocations, we like the opportunity to cross Breydon. Mind you, now that we've had our first taste of night navigation that shouldn't be such a problem in future. 

We have also had one of two 'out of season' allocations where the weather was atrocious for part of the week, but I suppose that can happen any time of the year. There was one February week where Storm Ciara made us stay put on our home mooring for three days. It would have been very frustrating had we not taken the opportunity to explore the coast by car.

Very true, with reduced daylight hours crossing Breydon becomes more critical, does help being able to use nav lights  though. 

Indeed, you can get bad weather any time. We were out in May this year and it was freezing. We crossed Breydon in very strong winds in June a couple of years ago. Yet we were out in December and had some lovely weather. I would say in general winters are getting warmer though.

[Smoggy]

Warmer winters tend to be wetter and windier unfortunately. 

Cold usually means dry and bright.

[Broads01]

6 hours ago, SwanR said:

I was looking at Southern Crusader recently. Fixed weeks is interesting. I think there were a few weeks available but they were all winter options. 

I like the idea of fixed weeks and I like the two week shares on Ranworth Breeze. The snag is neither passes under Ludham which for me will always be a showstopper. 

[SwanR]

51 minutes ago, Broads01 said:

The snag is neither passes under Ludham

That’s a very good point. It would indeed be a shame to lose that. 

[Matt]

Couple of things from me:

1) Don’t forget boats don’t have to stay north of south. We moved Thunder from Brundall to Horning following an owners vote.

2) Those front v berths sometimes have an infill which makes it one big bed. We have it on Thunder but not sure if ES of MS have one?

Some people want four weeks, some people want 2 weeks,  some people want a couple months- one size rarely fits all in the syndicate world!

[YnysMon]

1 hour ago, Matt said:

Those front v berths sometimes have an infill which makes it one big bed. We have it on Thunder but not sure if ES of MS have one?

MS has a partial infill that make one of the berths into a small double. Graham took a double duvet with him the last couple of times and used the infill. 

[ranworthbreeze]

4 hours ago, SwanR said:

That’s a very good point. It would indeed be a shame to lose that. 

We have never found that to be an issue in the 20 years we have had our share on Ranworth Breeze, we have been moored on the northern & southern rivers.

[ShaneB]

Thanks for all your info and advice, it’s been very informative. 
Hopefully I’ll be a shareholder in the not so distant future. Thanks again!

[Broads01]

1 hour ago, ranworthbreeze said:

We have never found that to be an issue in the 20 years we have had our share on Ranworth Breeze, we have been moored on the northern & southern rivers.

That's perfectly understandable, Alan. We all enjoy different aspects of the Broads and that makes things all the more interesting.