Winter Cruising.

[FlyingFortress]

1 hour ago, BroadAmbition said:

Never done a Christmas afloat but I live in hope ('Hope' must be a great place to live btw)

Have done a New Year afloat, did a night nav from the wetshed to Acle bridge in on New Years Eve, arrived in proper dark and during a snow storm, getting alongside and the mooring lines set was pure joy and glee - not

Then we got iced in at Malthouse Broad morning of Jan 02nd, fortunately a H.W's hire boat did the ice breaking thing so we followed their route out to the main river.

Came proper unstuck a few days later however attempting to get back to the wetshed as from Broads edge it was frozen solid.  Took us hours and hours with maximum physical effort from the deck crew, me on the helm with concentration levels to the max to get her back into wetshed without inflicting damage to her hull.  An experience I vowed to never repeat and avoid at all costs in the future and have largely succeeded 

For quite a few years now though we have had mild winters on the rivers and not seen any real ice problems for what seems ages

I have a weekend planned afloat later in November and am confident the rivers will be ice free.  There maybe an opportunity for a few days onboard late December too, we will see

Griff

 

Now that was a night and a half . We had spent NYE at Horning but we had a great night in The Maltsers with that big roaring fire going the next night.

It was the next morning that was most magical for us. Frozen Broad, snow covered green, bright sunlight and horrendous hangovers.

4 big dogs just chasing round and around  the green 2 labs and 2 retrievers plus one little Yorkie as we stood around nursing coffees and waiting for someone to make a move. Thankfully it was the HW boat that did the ice breaking across Malthouse.

I must admit I was quite greatful for your ice breaking efforts up Stalham dyke and ours ended up in the wet shed as well as we could not make it back to our mooring.

Must be 15 or more years ago as our dogs were just pups then.

[Andrewcook]

Hi Griff that's a very interesting story about your Winter Cruising plus these very good photos. As you've rightly said the Winters have been mild due to the Climate changes this may alter things for people wishing to do their Winter cruising as you are now considering this Idea. I wish you all well and enjoy it.

[BroadAmbition]

Here you go FF.  Dated 02nd Jan 2010

Griff

 

[FlyingFortress]

8 hours ago, BroadAmbition said:

Here you go FF.  Dated 02nd Jan 2010

Griff

 

Nice pic 👍👍👍

Yes that's how I remember it with my little horror being the last one standing. Gosh she looks really skinny there. I suppose she was around 9 months. But then Maisie was not much older.

[BroadAmbition]

Macie would have been about three

Griff

[BroadAmbition]

Daughter announced yesterday that they will soon be in the market for a Golden Retriever. They want a white-ish biggun apparently. Nor do they need it from gundog stock

Griff

[FlyingFortress]

30 minutes ago, BroadAmbition said:

Macie would have been about three

Griff

No you are quite correct.

We lost Treacle this year and she was 14 so she must have been about 2 in your pic .

She always was just a little un

[FlyingFortress]

We still had Barley our big Ginger one when BA was commissioned 

 

[FlyingFortress]

Now that's a Fox Red Labrador 

[BroadAmbition]

It would have been ‘Dusty’ with us during commissioning in 2007. I still miss him and Macie along with our first GR - Candie 

Griff

[FlyingFortress]

3 hours ago, BroadAmbition said:

It would have been ‘Dusty’ with us during commissioning in 2007. I still miss him and Macie along with our first GR - Candie 

Griff

Never met Candie but I do remember Dusty.

 

[Andrewcook]

Now the Norfolk Broads is relatively quiet once again.  there still be some Hiring and Private chugging away peacefully on the Broads. As to this inflation will this curtail some of the Private and Hiring Boats from the Broads,? Due to running costs with any issues with the Boat. Will the Broads be quiet in 2023 if there is any spare cash floating around in the 🇬🇧?

[Wussername]

1 hour ago, Andrewcook said:

Now the Norfolk Broads is relatively quiet once again.  there still be some Hiring and Private chugging away peacefully on the Broads. As to this inflation will this curtail some of the Private and Hiring Boats from the Broads,? Due to running costs with any issues with the Boat. Will the Broads be quiet in 2023 if there is any spare cash floating around in the 🇬🇧?

One must gird one's loins.

For some it will be difficult, but fear not there are some with  healthy disposable income. An inconvenience. "Champagne darling, non vintage im afraid "What! What!

For some it will concentrate the mind. We are a resilient lot, it will all come good in the end.

It will, I promise you.

[DAVIDH]

The Bank of England forecast that unemployment would rise eventually to 6.5%. But this manifestly leaves 93.5% of the working population still employed. Though it's fair to say most people will have to tighten their belts to get through the recession, meaning less will be available for discretional spend, I agree with Wussername that the effects will be limited. Probably a lot of trading down. The travel industry is surprisingly resilient, as a holiday has become almost a necessity in the UK. 

[NeilB]

Thought I'd report back on my Eberspacher duct lagging, I was expecting an increase but nothing like this! 

The heater is installed in the aft saloon with 3 outlets and and an approx. run of 30ft to the front cabin.  The ambient temp at this outlet was hovering around 6 degrees, after 10 mins it had risen to around 14 degrees.

So far I've fitted slightly over 2 metre's of insulation at the heater end and replaced an unused Y piece, (sealed with a rag!) with a straight connector.  After 10 mins of running I'm now seeing 30 degrees and climbing, far beyond my expectations!!  This was with all 3 vents open.

Sutton Staithe are still working on board but I should be able to add at least another 3 metres when I can get access.

I used this - https://www.butlertechnik.com/webasto-thermoduct-for-75-90mm-ducting-insulation-also-for-eberspacher-41s70015a-p1526  but others are available which don't require removal of the ducting.  Even 2 or 3 lengths will make a difference, increase heating power or reduce fuel consumption as you'll be able to run the heater at a lower setting.

 

[BroadAmbition]

I’ve lagged every inch of heater ducting. I use the wrap round stuff, a lot cheaper and saves removing pipes

Lagging heating pipe runs is a must / recommended for all. I’ve never understood why a lot of boats don’t have it fitted during heater installation in the first place 

Griff

[mikeyboy1966]

I’ve just ordered some of this ,

I’ll report back,

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/295493481012?hash=item44ccc8b234:g:4zUAAOSwTvdi-5V5&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAA4MbwYyyiWM1cFwUcxT7CJfDOl8Bk2OjHfQt2jNIJsNRuL8fRjREW%2F4KysqsnoleBWRxIgZJne%2FglEnIZCtI4Y3XxAGBzSoEaA%2Bbga8m119uRZxCWkdvSOMn7obU%2ByBnM3Zvo2z%2FpLwWDircH7RbKcZjyIgQC4LpD%2F%2BX9WFBtU2tnc8kIHtOE%2Br%2FxsLz0r2ox2xsKVsQkgCsOIHkk2QDC8MLivgI3nRkQ%2Br%2B3pHHsmFANBMgASXw069JlWPprND5PoG7aATxIBct3Brm4F2g8dC118Vm7iPjTgojdQ3pf%2F%2Fdh|tkp%3ABFBMgpqi78hh

[Smoggy]

I used lengths of the glassfibre/foil ducting insulation on the main runs on mine, makes a world of difference.