Reflections On Reflection

[kpnut]

Lulu, it’s not very far but a lovely amble, stopping on the way at what I think is the sluice or at least a sort of platform sticking out into the dyke to peer into the clear water to see the creepy crawlers. The hide at the end is peaceful. And yes, you can take a dog on a lead so Desmond will be entertained. The rest of the boardwalk used to go round in a circular route, but last time I was there, maybe February, it was still closed off and rather overgrown. 
You also used to be able to walk down from the head of the dyke along the river boardwalk towards the moorings opposite the Ferry Inn, but officially it is closed now and in a rather dangerous condition in parts of the boardwalk. It was a nice walk along the flooded road to the Fur and Feather at Woodbastwick back in the winter, wading through about quarter mile of flood, but as I say, not meant to access the boardwalk any more unfortunately. 

[andyg]

Jean I was once told by Langford Gillings snr ( Mr Alphacraft) that he would sell anyone any boat in his fleet regardless of its age or popularity as long as the price was right. I think the Thwaite family (brinks craft ) own the moulds now. Buy a set and I'm sure Paul at swancraft will build it for you. Now where did I put my cheque book. BTW I think I'm right in saying Swan Royall was the last of this design to be moulded, she's a very nice boat or was. Now at brinks though along with most of the ex Royalls fleet. 

[NorfolkNog]

Hi Andy 

Yes, Royal Swan was the last true Royalls build (not to be confused with the legendary Swan Royale) 

You'll need to get behind me in the queue for a new build from Paul although it could be a long wait as he's understandablly in great demand atm 

I believe the brothers do own the moulds now and I think are building under the Viking brand? Just getting a set of moulds only from them might be a different matter however. 

[NeilB]

51 minutes ago, NorfolkNog said:

I believe the brothers do own the moulds now and I think are building under the Viking brand? Just getting a set of moulds only from them might be a different matter however. 

Haines have access to the moulds as they built one for Kris Cruisers a year or so back - https://www.kriscruisers.co.uk/cruisers/lady-victoria/ 

[Mouldy]

42 minutes ago, NeilB said:

Haines have access to the moulds as they built one for Kris Cruisers a year or so back - https://www.kriscruisers.co.uk/cruisers/lady-victoria/ 

Fairly certain that Barnes will sell the moulds to anyone who will pay the required cost of them, for fitting out wherever the customer wishes.

Dont forget that Silverline have built two new 35ft dual steers over the past few years, certainly since Alpha’s demise and Barnes also own the mould tools for those.

[johnash]

Thank you Jean. You continue to whet my appetite for our trip! So pleased you had good weather and you were able to take advantage with some great pictures.

We have an NBH pennant and will be flying it proudly on our day boats!! (Hope that's allowed!).

Great that the rivers were so quiet for you. Heaven!

[andyg]

4 hours ago, Mouldy said:

Fairly certain that Barnes will sell the moulds to anyone who will pay the required cost of them, for fitting out wherever the customer wishes.

Dont forget that Silverline have built two new 35ft dual steers over the past few years, certainly since Alpha’s demise and Barnes also own the mould tools for those.

Absolutely, no idea how much a complete set of moulds would cost, if current used boat prices are any guild, about 10 million quid should do it 😀 I think Id be to nervous of owning a brand new boat, I'm bad enough when I hire a new boat lol..

[SteveO]

We enjoyed our brief chat at Ranworth Jean. Always good to put faces to names. Glad you enjoyed your break on Swan Reflection.

[Mouldy]

7 hours ago, NorfolkNog said:

Yes, Royal Swan was the last true Royalls build (not to be confused with the legendary Swan Royale) 

Got to tell you Howard, we looked at X39 (formerly Swan Royale) before we bought Norfolk Lady, but it needed a lot of work to get it to a good standard - it was certainly a boat, but BOAT was more applicable (if you know what I mean! 😉

[NorfolkNog]

5 hours ago, Mouldy said:

Got to tell you Howard, we looked at X39 (formerly Swan Royale) before we bought Norfolk Lady, but it needed a lot of work to get it to a good standard - it was certainly a boat, but BOAT was more applicable (if you know what I mean! 😉

Hi Malcolm 

Swan Royale ticked more boxes for us than any other hire boat but of course that was with Swancraft which makes all the difference. Lottery never comes up when you need it! 

Apologies Jean, off topic, again 

[RS2021]

12 hours ago, NeilB said:

Haines have access to the moulds as they built one for Kris Cruisers a year or so back - https://www.kriscruisers.co.uk/cruisers/lady-victoria/ 

Have you noticed that the front cabin curtain rails don't move when the roof is opened. I presume they double up as hand rails for the side deck.

It would be nice to see new boats like this on the Broads. Everyone raves about them, so why no new ones?

[SwanR]

Day 4 was of course a very short cruise back to the yard. 

It was beautiful with mist low on the water. I often like being in the yard on the last night for various reasons. But on a 3 night break that felt like it might have been a waste of an evening, even though once it's dark and the curtains are closed, you could be anywhere.

The novelty for me was that once the handover was done and the fuel deposit sorted out, we were home by 9am and I was at my desk working by 9.30. If we did a weekend break again I probably wouldn't do that as it would have been nice to put my feet up and carry on relaxing. As I said, it amused me that I could have a short break and only use one day's annual leave.

It had felt as if we were going against the tide and the wind for much of the weekend. But we had only used just over £30 of fuel. A nice refund then although it does surprise me that they are still giving back cash.

[SwanR]

Review of Swan Reflection 1

Lovely boat. That's all I need to say really. But here goes ...

I think there have been a few items replaced as there seemed to be a few new items on board, just things like the grill tray, some of the kitchen utensils and the the helm seat was certainly in good condition.

The toilet / shower room is compact but for two people it's fine. Still the best electric toilets on the Broads on the ex-Swancraft fleet! Not much room to move around the rear cabin but decent storage and perfectly fine. After all it is only 31 foot long. The saloon is as big as you need ... and in the galley I always miss having a toaster as it takes ages to warm the grill and make toast for breakfast. But it's a full size cooker and a good size fridge with a freezer box.

The ropes were really long which was great as sometimes they are too short on hire boats. Meant we could use a spring line at Paddy's Lane to keep the stern in. And hubby could grab both ropes when he stepped off to moor us up.

Bow thrusters worked well, no lack of power. Always plentiful hot water, no need to run the engine in the mornings. The heating worked well. The demister and windscreen wiper are a plus. The engine is outside at the back on this one so it's quiet when you're cruising.

Basically a cosy comfortable boat for two and I would always take it again.

Just a word on Richardson's rebranding, if one can call it that. They seem to have taken all the boat names away from the sides of the boats. Instead their names are at the rear in silver letters as you will see from one or two of my photos. That meant that every time you passed a boat you had to turn around to look at the back after you had gone past if you wanted to know which one it was. 

[SwanR]

Here we are then. Another tale completed. And the usual little videos to go with it, split into two this time, in order to get the feel I wanted from the music. I hope you enjoy them.

 

[SwanR]

 

[kpnut]

42 minutes ago, SwanR said:

Just a word on Richardson's rebranding, if one can call it that. They seem to have taken all the boat names away from the sides of the boats. Instead their names are at the rear in silver letters as you will see from one or two of my photos. That meant that every time you passed a boat you had to turn around to look at the back after you had gone past if you wanted to know which one it was. 

I totally agree Jean.

One of the fun things is to guess the name of a richos boat as it comes towards you, then tick it off as it goes past. Not only do you now have to crane your neck to look at the stern, but small silver writing on a white background makes it virtually impossible to read. Not a good marketing exercise I’d say, as a lot of hirers spot a boat they like the look of and want to look it up for its layout etc. Make it easy and more people will do it, more bookings follow.
Can’t see it? Won’t bother to follow up. 

[SwanR]

3 minutes ago, kpnut said:

you now have to crane your neck to look at the stern,

Yes and the funny thing is that you don't always want to do it because the people on the other boat might be doing it as well. We'll all be going round looking backwards every time we pass one of their boats. I don't really understand it myself. Plus if you really looked you could still see the old writing there. I don't know how they removed or covered them but it didn't entirely work. I thought they were fine as they were.

[kpnut]

Yes they were just fine beforehand (if the font size on one or two was slightly oversized eg corfu). 
I really hate looking back; embarrassing to be looking nosey!

[Lulu]

Lovely videos Jean x

[Broads01]

Thanks for your write-up and photos, Jean, enjoyable. I'll put the videos on the TV when I get the chance.

I agree, a strange decision on the boat naming. I guess rewriting the boat names was overdue given previously they'd all been done at different times and sometimes done elsewhere so they were inconsistent. However, the only reason I can think of for restricting the name to the stern is to minimise costs - one name per boat instead of three.

[YnysMon]

Thanks Jean. I will look forward to viewing your videos tomorrow. 

[johnash]

Thank you, Jean, for sharing your short break. We thoroughly enjoyed following you. See you next month (almost!).