Boat Wanted.

[CambridgeCabby]

Not without exiting the Ouse system via The Wash and then entering The Broads at either Lowestoft or Great Yarmouth , not something recommended in a river boat without estuary or coastal ability 

[Smoggy]

It's how I got to the broads with my old boat (RLM31), out through denver sluice down to kings lynn then round to wells for an overnight, then carry on round to gt.yarmouth, they are long hops ov about 50NM each with restricted tidal access at gt.ouse end and wells.

[Bikertov]

40 minutes ago, Bogart said:

Dopey question time again. Is it possible to get from the broads to say Ely or St Ives? by boat obviously.

Not inland as far as I am aware  

You have to go out via The Wash I think, then round the coast past Cromer etc and back in through Great Yarmouth 

[Mouldy]

4 hours ago, andyg said:

I'm off to St Neots tomorrow to look at a boat, I don't know a great deal about the ouse or the fens waterways. How do they compare with the broads. Are they as busy as the broads etc. ?? 

Often cheaper to buy a boat from another waterway and have it transported by road. The ‘Broads’ premium will probably be more than the cost of haulage.

[Bogart]

3 hours ago, CambridgeCabby said:

Not without exiting the Ouse system via The Wash and then entering The Broads at either Lowestoft or Great Yarmouth , not something recommended in a river boat without estuary or coastal ability 

Was looking on google maps I could not see an obvious route. You have confirmed there isn't one.

[Bogart]

2 hours ago, Bikertov said:

Not inland as far as I am aware  

You have to go out via The Wash I think, then round the coast past Cromer etc and back in through Great Yarmouth 

Not exactly as the crow flies

[WherryNice]

My parents had their current boat (af35) transported to the Broads from the Gt Ouse a couple of years ago. From memory the cost was in the region of 1200 pounds plus cranage at each end. They purchased the boat from Jones Boatyard but due to the size it had to be craned out at Westview Marina - a couple of hours(and a couple of locks) cruise away(again from memory - may have been shorter).

[Smoggy]

45 minutes ago, Bogart said:

Not exactly as the crow flies

It's as the gull flies.

[addicted]

We paid £900.00 plus cranage when we had our boat road - hauled from the Thames to Tingdene's, Brundall Bay last September.

 

Carole

[Smoggy]

If you buy a boat on the gt.ouse don't move it straight away, you know what the broads are like so experience a different river first, you are going to transport it anyway so no cost difference and it'll cost twice as much to do there and back at a later date.

And if you happen to stop in st.neots I'll let you buy me a beer...

[YnysMon]

I’ve been watching the YouTube videos from ‘Minimal List’. Over the past 4 years or so they have managed to get around all the connected canals and rivers in England and Wales and are currently posting the last few vlogs of their journeys from the Great Ouse, which they absolutely love. They are on record in saying it’s one of their favourite waterways. They obviously haven’t done the Broads, though they do mention that part of the attraction of the Gt Ouse is the lack of river traffic. 

[andyg]

We are a bit off from thinking about transport, but that's not an issue my best mate owns a haulage company so no big deal. The boats I've looked at on line do appear to be cheaper then similar broads boats. We will see what today brings. We've decided to stay in the area for a day or two to have a good look around. This will be our 1st outing since catching covid. So it will help blow the cob webs away. 

[Smoggy]

If you're stopping around st.neots at all I can highly recommend a visit to the ale taster for a civilised pub (no food though) but they don't open till 4pm on a monday and close around 9ish and it's well tucked away, you won't find mainstream beers though just the real stuff, avoid the local spoons as it has a reputation for being one of the worst.

 

[andyg]

Premier inn for us, I don't drink ale unfortunately, my brother loves the stuff. Always thought he was a bit weird lol. I'm not a spoons fan either I've yet to visit a good one tbh. But thanks for the pointers 👍

[andyg]

A friend of ours has booked a boat from Richardson's this coming May Bank Holiday. He phoned me to tell me all about it and asked how long it would take to get to Ely. I said about 2 hours in your car !!! He seemed quite surprised that Ely isn't on the broads. What a pilchard....

[CambridgeCabby]

Do remember when looking at boats in other areas that cruisers on The Broads have to have a holding tank for the wc as opposed to sea toilets , unless you go down the cassette route but again remember the disposal locations for these on the system are very few 

[andyg]

1 hour ago, CambridgeCabby said:

Do remember when looking at boats in other areas that cruisers on The Broads have to have a holding tank for the wc as opposed to sea toilets , unless you go down the cassette route but again remember the disposal locations for these on the system are very few 

Funnily enough that was one of my 1st thoughts. Pretty unproductive day to be honest, but we have had a chance to look aboard a narrow boat. I've never been aboard one before. I'm was very pleasantly surprised. Tomorrow another day. 

[addicted]

We had a narrowboat built back in 2006-7.  We loved the lay out and the space but hated the cruising aspect. As it happened, it was so badly built that after only 10 months,  on the advice of the BMF whose opinion they sought, the boat builder took it  back and gave us a full refund  we were grateful to see the back of it and promptly bought another cruiser. Some people love narrowboats -  one man's meat etc., but they were not for us.

Carole

 

 

[annv]

Hi Andy just remember that narrow boats are difficult to stern moor which along with a 50/60 foot length will restrict your mooring options on the broads. John

[andyg]

I've been surprised by the amount of narrow boats that now sport full canopies over the stern. Having a fully open area at the stern always put me off. The yards always offered free waterproofs with every hire lol. We both were surprised by the space inside. 

[Bikertov]

4 minutes ago, annv said:

Hi Andy just remember that narrow boats are difficult to stern moor which along with a 50/60 foot length will restrict your mooring options on the broads. John

And at that sort of length your mooring fees will be huge !

[addicted]

We had a full canopy over the stern. It made very little  difference to the lack of comfort and cruising in the rain was a real problem  with no windscreen wipers and a windscreen made of clear vinyl which used to mist up very badly. This was one of the reasons we hated the cruising aspect of narrow boats. 2 people could never cruise comfortably together in the "cockpit" as the tiller was very intrusive on the space available and the person not at the helm was always in the way of the tiller at some point. So you ended up with one at the stern and the other one in the cratch (bow section) not very sociable  and not how we like to boat at all.

 

Carole

[Bikertov]

52 minutes ago, addicted said:

So you ended up with one at the stern and the other one in the cratch (bow section) not very sociable  and not how we like to boat at all.

Carole

I dunno - for some couples that could be ideal !

[OldBerkshireBoy]

You can have a party with a cruiser stern narrow boat. All horses for courses.

[andyg]

We have ended up back in norfolk to look at a boat that came to market on Friday. I've learnt quite a bit these last two days and realised this isn't going to be as quick a process as I'd first thought. I have realised that I really don't like dark wood interiors and aft cockpit boats. I do very much like the alpha 35ft centre cockpit design that has the saloon in the rear. So we continue to look. Silverline have a couple of good examples and a broker told me to call them and see what they have to say. He said your be surprised.