So A Bit Of A Review Of 2022

[FlyingFortress]

So as 2022 draws to a close here are some of my reflections on the last year.

It has without a doubt been a year of as our good friend Griff describes a year of serious open wallet surgery.

I suppose it all started towards the end of the season in 21.

Around 2 or 3 years ago we had a decision to make. It was obviously getting closer to my retirement and do we replace the boat before I do.  By then we had owned Sally since 2003 and although we had made a lot of upgrades in the early years nothing much had changed in the last 14 years or so. Sally is an ex Bees boat and had been in hire from new and we bought her when Bees decided to cease hire fleet operations. She was and is a type of boat that we really wanted an Alpha 35 having previously owned her little sister The Alpha 29 Mutineer (ex Ferry Mutineer 2 ) was without a doubt the nicest boat we had ever owned. 

Mutineer was our Fourth boat but for some reasons she just did not suit us. So we went on a quest to buy a 35. We were not initially bothered if we had a Centre Cockpit or a Forward Drive (bathtub).

The boat that suited both us and our budget was Sally Bee. 

Like a lot of hire yards at that time Bees were a little old fashioned and did not fit anything that hirers could break so although only 10 years old she still lacked some mod cons. But this was the boat for us. It did take a little forecefullnes on our part to get the owner to agree to providing us with the fledgling BSS before we bought her in fact it took a lot of pressure from us before she was allowed to have a survey done. 

It came down to " No Survey and no current BSS or no sale. Full Stop"

We eventually became proud owners of Sally Bee or Sally B as she is now known dedicated to the memory of the 8th Army Air Force of the United States and The Only still flying B17 in Europe.

I digress.

So our Sally was starting to show her age as when we bought her there were very very few Fwd Drive Alpha 35's in private hands .

What boat to replace her with? It seemed like it would be a more modern version of what we already had. As PaulNs' beautiful boat was not available at that time it looked like we would be making changes to our Sally.

Our major upgrades were coming to an end in late 21, all of the work being carried out by Horning Pleasure Craft. Thanks Clive and your great crew. 👍

A yard I have no hesitation in recommending to anyone. 👍👍👍

[FlyingFortress]

At around this time one of the very few mod cons Sally had was Blown warm air heating ( must for us when we purchased her) but the actuating button namely the on/off button was getting a little worn out and difficult to operate, so I ventured to a main dealer and purchased a new actuating control. It looked slightly different from the previous one as the logo was a different colour but I was assured that it was the correct one.

A little while passed as we did not use the boat much late on in the season but as we were planning to be out after Christmas I decided to fit the new controller.

These are supposed to be plug and play but the plugs did not match so another visit to the main dealer and was told I would have to make up the connections myself. Being as I cannot crimp for toffee I made them up with chocolate box connectors. The whole system refused to work and as it was a week away from Christmas main dealers refused to come out.

Eventually I got in contact with Jeff from Auto Cool who came out and jury rigged my system, replaced all the electrics I had blown by simply connecting the wrong controller to my system. It's simple he says. " The logo is the wrong colour, it's for a different system. Simple things for simple sailors".

So some Iiiiijeeet had sold me the wrong controller despite me pointing out to them that the logo was the wrong colour and the plug and play did not fit 😵😩 I had now blown every fuse in the system.

Refund, you are having a Giraffe 😩

Thankfully Jeff got us out of the smelly stuff and we were able to use our boat after Christmas and then return in the new year and make a proper job of a fix.

Another highly recommended company 👍

[FlyingFortress]

So we did go out after Christmas and had a cracking meal at lunchtime on my belated 60th birthday postponed due to lockdown the previous year at The New Inn at Horning 👍

We then went to Ranworth only to find The Maltsers closed that night but we had the pleasure of inviting some friends on board a boat that we could now be proud of again for an evening of much frivolously. You know who you are and thanks for a great night 😁

The dead Scotch Marine went down very well 🤫😃😁👍

[FlyingFortress]

The only thing that spoilt the after Christmas trip was our friends boat having paint thrown over it at Neatishead. 

We all know who did it but I am not allowed to say 🤫

More tomorrow 

[YnysMon]

Enjoying your tale so far, looking forward to more. Shame about the boat at Neatishead. I remember reading about it at the time. A wise move not to share gossip about it on the forum though. 

[FlyingFortress]

So 2022 dawn's and early in the New Year Jeff from Auto Cool returns with a new controller ( the correct one this time, it's easy the logo is the same colour as the old ones and it simply plugs and plays) and after taking away the jury rigging he made and putting the old connector back on we have a heating systems that works as it was designed to do. 😁👍

Bill paid and I thought it was pretty reasonable for the work and traveling he put in .

So another recommendation, this time for Auto Cool 👍👍👍

[FlyingFortress]

Service time for the engine and for quite a few years now we have been using Ignition Marine so Mark was booked to come and attend.

I did mention to Mark that for a few years now we had been experiencing a loss of oil pressure after a long run eg a Breydon Crossing but a slight increase in rpm would soon sort it out. He did say he could put an additive in the Oil that would keep us going for a few years but eventually we would be needing a new engine. I was by now fully retired but had set aside a 10k budget for an engine renewal if it was required. 

The existing Lister Petter had always been a first time starter and run clean after the first puff of smoke on a cold start.

Our old Labrador Treacle had her 14th birthday in March and much to our delight did have a few days out on the boat before the inevitable happened. Bye bye old girl you are much missed.

[FlyingFortress]

Blooming upside down again Grrrr.

By this time our central heating boiler had sprung a leak and our Plumber attended expecting it to be a simple fix but alas no it was terminal and of course living near to where North Sea Gas comes ashore there is no Gas so it's a far more expensive Oil Boiler 😵 Didn't budget for that one 😥

The only good thing about losing Treacle was that we got Jimmy our Hooligan at the end of April 

[ScrumpyCheddar]

Awww Jimmy 🤣🤣🤣He kept the tables clean after our spills in The Waveney didn’t he FF 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[FlyingFortress]

Even second hand Labradors don't come cheap so another 4 figure bill but one I was happy to pay. 😁

So The Horning Boat show comes around and I thought I would enquire at Preachments stand about a new Nanni engine.  They had a 38hp one on display which was not brand new but very low hours that had previously been in a Bondi Round The World Race Yacht as a generator and they are replaced every year. I spoke to Mark (Ignition Marine) and he said it was a no brainer. I committed myself there and then to purchase it and have Preachments fit it at the end of the season. I was then introduced to The workshop manager Brian who said they could probably slot it in in June if we wanted. All agreed and the quote was well inside my 10k budget. 👍

So boat was taken from Northern Rivers down to Brundall , we took a few days to make this trip and it was the first extended time on the boat for The Hooligan. The old Lister never missed a beat and even the night before taking it in I had my doubts I was doing the right thing , but hey ho too late now.

Anyway in it went and out came the old engine and away to a new life powering a Canal Boat. 

Phone call from Brian, we have a problem 🫣

The old engine had been vibrating against the hull and had almost worked it's way through, Can you fix it, Yes but it will have to be lifted out. Well no going back now.

Out she came but that was not the end of the problems the bolts holding the skeg had rusted away, mild steel, told you Bees were not all they were cracked up to be. 😣

Cut a long story short and Preachments made a new skeg dressed the prop and promptly fitted our new Nanni.

Slightly behind time and obviously was going to be more than the quote but we went down to Brundall and picked her up the day before temperatures hit 40 in Norfolk. The plan was now to start our June/ July holiday from Brundall. 

One last delay when they decided they had the wrong ratio gearbox in and changed that and we were off.

Now the old Lister was a bit agricultural and when we bought her it had no sound proofing in the engine bay but I fitted sound proofing and with the door closed to the middle cabin the engine was never intrusive. The Nanni however is in a different league. " Is it running?"

There were a few snagging issues with the fit but all of these were dealt with by Preachments promptly and with good grace.

When the final bill came in it was JUST below my 10k budget even with all the additional work.

So it's a big 👍 for Preachments as well. 

[FlyingFortress]

16 minutes ago, ScrumpyCheddar said:

Awww Jimmy 🤣🤣🤣He kept the tables clean after our spills in The Waveney didn’t he FF 🤣🤣🤣🤣

I did tell you not to feed that dog beer 🍺

He is quite nutty enough without it.

[FlyingFortress]

New engine in, but not quite in the right place 🫣

[FlyingFortress]

Ahhh Better 😁

[oldgregg]

9 minutes ago, FlyingFortress said:

I was just admiring the NBN (with its old branding) badge low down on the dash... Not seen one of those before and I've been here longer than most. 

[FlyingFortress]

5 minutes ago, oldgregg said:

I was just admiring the NBN (with its old branding) badge low down on the dash... Not seen one of those before and I've been here longer than most. 

Didn't know that was in the pic. 🤫

Yes I have been a member for quite a while now.😁

[FlyingFortress]

37 minutes ago, ScrumpyCheddar said:

Awww Jimmy 🤣🤣🤣He kept the tables clean after our spills in The Waveney didn’t he FF 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Still can't get him to sit his bottom down like you can. Must be the way you say it. 😂

Also the swear box money went to Dogs Trust raffle. We didn't win anything 😂😂

[ScrumpyCheddar]

16 minutes ago, FlyingFortress said:

Still can't get him to sit his bottom down like you can. Must be the way you say it. 😂

Also the swear box money went to Dogs Trust raffle. We didn't win anything 😂😂

Ha ha ha yes we know Jimmy understood popadom sit on your bottom 🤣🤣🤣.. Jimmy made a good collection for the Dogs trust that week 🤣🤣🤣

[PaulN]

18 hours ago, FlyingFortress said:

 

What boat to replace her with? It seemed like it would be a more modern version of what we already had. As PaulNs' beautiful boat was not available at that time it looked like we would be making changes to our Sally.

 

Wow Rod she looks great especially the Branded dashboard. Look forward to having s look next time we meet up. Thank you for the kind words about Bon Bon.

[FlyingFortress]

So off we went in record breaking heat and had our June/July trip mains on The Southern Broads as seems to be our habit now post pandemic as The North always seems to be so busy. 

After a week or so Mrs FF was complaining about the hooligan shedding hairs everywhere and as can be seen from earlier pics Sally has Blue carpets. With our previous Black Lab this never seemed to be much of a problem and even our previous one who was Fox Red did not seem to be so obvious.

We need new carpets. Oh stop whining. We need new carpets.

Well after a couple of weeks even I could see her point.😳

So when we returned home after almost 4 weeks Mrs FF started exploring the internet and finally came up with some stick down covering that could be used either inside our out. Outside as a form of non slip material.

It was blooming expensive but we endeavoured to put it down. Gosh it was a nightmare to lay as it was sticky backed you only get one shot at it matches the dog 🐕

Pic of an unscheduled trip out when it was not quite finished.

[FlyingFortress]

So when we got back from our unscheduled trip ( Thanks R for insisting we needed to go out 😋), we set about finishing the job.

While doing the aft cabin we discovered the floor to be wet around the wardrobe. Mmmmmm best investigate. Up with the bed and boards and sure enough a leak from our calorifier. Seems to be coming from the immersion heater.

Element out but no it's the tank itself. 😳

Stainless steel so where on earth am I going to find a Stainless steel welder. So I asked Rob at Sutton Staithe and lo and behold they not only have the equipment but someone who can operate it. 

Well Pete welded up the tank and I must say he did a better job than the original manufacturer. 👍👍

Re fitting the tank I had one of those nightmare jobs where everything I touched fell to bits but eventually it got fixed.

So another 👍 this time for Sutton Staithe Boatyard.

 

[FlyingFortress]

So another long trip out ( 4 weeks again, great this retirement thingy 😁)again mostly in The South and only one person dragged out of the water this time at Oulton and we arrived back in The North late in the day (tides) to find a very full Thurne Dyke with just one Sally sized space left.

In the morning after a very satisfactory meal in The Lion we were nudged all over the dyke by various boats making their way up to the turning place but hit hard by a Bridgecraft boat that removed 2 of our fenders including the cleats. 😳

On arrival back at Sutton I was making enquiries about having these replaced when it was suggested to me to have a word with Bridgecraft about this. Not holding out much hope I did call in there and was treated with some sympathy and told the owner would be in touch.

Later that very afternoon I was contacted by Daniel who was at Sutton ready to have a look. What a top man 👍

Sorry about that we will fix it for you.

It would be easier to do it at Acle but he was quite prepared to come to Sutton if we wanted.

As we still had some outstanding work to complete at Horning Pleasure Craft we arranged some dates and Daniel himself did the work. He Also found some rotten wood when doing the repairs which he said he could fix at relatively small cost now he had the boat in bits.

Now I don't want to say this and tempt fate but the only other time we had our boat damaged was by a Horizon Craft boat and they were exactly the same and did the repairs at our home yard which was then Richardson's at Stalham when they did their winter maintenance there.

So top marks to Bridgecraft and thanks to Daniel in particular 👍👍

Down to Horning and the outstanding work was completed to their usual high standards and George even found the source of a leak around our galley sink that had plauged us for years. The blooming tap 😣

So endeth a year of very open wallet surgery for the boat.

[FlyingFortress]

There is always a PS 

Now retired it's time to put our flat in Ipswich that I used when on duty up for sale. 

Plan is a clean and paint then on the market. Switched on the water and found water pouring out of the hot water cylinder. 😳

As it is all electric it has a custom built cylinder which has normal and economy 7 immersion heaters.

Yet another 4 figure bill to have that sorted out. 😳😳😳

Good news is the sale is now going through.

 

[Broads01]

An enjoyable read, thanks for sharing. Top marks to Bridgecraft - they're great people and I'm hiring from them this year for the second time. At Thurne, we're you towards the bottom end where it narrows?

[FlyingFortress]

1 hour ago, Broads01 said:

An enjoyable read, thanks for sharing. Top marks to Bridgecraft - they're great people and I'm hiring from them this year for the second time. At Thurne, we're you towards the bottom end where it narrows?

Yes indeed I was. I normally try to moor as close to the entrance as possible to avoid this scenario but as I said the dyke was full.

It is quite surprising that a passing boat could generate enough momentum to do any damage but this one did. 😳

A couple of others had brushed past before this one with no issues but this was quite a whack. 😥

And for the record. No apology even though I was retrieving my fenders from the water when they came back 😣

[BroadAmbition]

Cracking read. Well done 

Griff