The Adventure Begins.

[Admiraldingley]

Pre-Day 1:- Went to look at a boat, took it out for a spin, bought it, a 1966 Seamaster 25 Admiral.

Day 1 :-  I took the boat out raw, no gps, no clue on the speeds I was doing, lots of folks frowning or complaining about stuff they think I can hear about over the sound of the engine, stopped off at a pub, got chatting and one of the other boaters? sailors? tubmonkeys? recommended Aweigh.
Day 2:- Installed Aweigh, took it slow, let the children have 10 mins at the wheel and spent the day getting a feel for the ole boy.
Day 3:- Took it out from Thorpe to Cantley, had the odd person frowning, still wasn't sure what that's all about.

Went back this weekend, just the two of us this time, we took everything but the kitchen sink, and I noticed the boat was sat deeper in the water, spent awhile trying to unpack everything as well as learning to balance everything.

Day (evening) 4:- Took it out from Thorpe to Sirlingham Broad to test the mud anchor and spend the night star gazing.
Day 5:- Went up to Norwich, a ranger was shouting something at me, I'm hard of hearing, I lip read most of the time, the engine even at the slowest speed drowns out anything folk shout at me, so I turned the ole tub around and chased him to find out what he was saying.
"THE WAKE", aha so that's what people have been frowning and shouting about, the wake, I'd been too busy paying attention to the weather vane and aweigh to even consider the wake, but now I've started paying attention to it.
As well as frowning at those big wakers and waving my arms about pretending to shout at them.
Not 10 minutes earlier I'd passed a couple of paddle boarders (one of which I'm sure took a photo of me), the female had got a can in her hand and she was trying to take a sip when MY WAKE had her trying to balance and drink simultaneously whilst bobbing up and down, bless her........ I hope she forgives me.
According to Aweigh I was well within 6mph, but the added weight against the tide meant the wake I was leaving is seen as a nuisance, we'd been passed a few of those big boys that'd had us bobbing. 
Went back to Sirlingham Broad and dropped the mud weight again, pulled the ceiling panels out so I could chase the power cable to the Nav light, to find that it wasn't working because it had been snipped, managed to get that working, one job down.
Day 6: We wanted an easy day, we'd spent Friday night and all day Saturday trying to get bits and bats sorted with the tub, hoovering out all the nooks & crannies, trying to clean out the bilge and so on, get my head round all the piping & electric systems and so on.
Had a pub meal and tested the electrics with one of those £1 topup cards.

We've met some really nice people, as well as trying to absorb all the tips, tricks on everything from tying off on moorings to identifying the issue with my immersion heater pouring water out into the bilge due to a missing pressure valve (if anyone has one spare or can point me in the right direction for a replacement).
Looking forward to our next pilgrimage to tranquility.

[MauriceMynah]

The Seamaster 25 is a good boat (in my opinion) though I am a bit bias, I used to have one.

What's she called? What engine? and got any pics?

Oh and yes, if you are punching the tide and still doing near to 6mph you will be making one hell of a wake. So as they say round these parts...   Slow you down a bit.

[Smoggy]

And forget the speed limit past moored boats, slow down lots for them whatever the starting speed.

[Admiraldingley]

Yeah I've started slowing down way in advance of moored boats, canoes, paddle boards etc.
It has been helping me gauge my throttle, which I may need to look into adjusting 'cos I have to hold it in place between wake and no wake else it slips back down into crawl mode.

[Admiraldingley]

The family decided that the vessel is an old man, his name is currently labeled up as the Cormorant.
We've registered it and are looking into Brian Wards making us a few decals with "Admiral Dingley", 'cos its an Admiral and after my boating grandfather who was a Dingley.

[Vaughan]

14 minutes ago, Admiraldingley said:

which I may need to look into adjusting 'cos I have to hold it in place between wake and no wake else it slips back down into crawl mode.

If this is a Morse control it can easily be adjusted at the dashboard end, but difficult to describe on a forum!

It could also be because the return spring at the injector pump (engine) end of the cable is too strong.  I suggest you try that first.  If in doubt, take the spring off and see what happens.  So long as the engine returns to tick-over when in neutral, you may not need the spring.

[MargeandParge]

Just a bit of advice apart from being anti social the faster you go the quicker it wears out or breaks. Thus the faster it empties your wallet.

Have a great time with your boat and there isn't anybody that stops learning. 

Kindest Regards Marge and Parge 

[grendel]

the whole point of the broads in my opinion is the journey, and it doesnt matter how long it takes, so go slow and enjoy the scenery.

[ExSurveyor]

50 minutes ago, Admiraldingley said:

Yeah I've started slowing down way in advance of moored boats, canoes, paddle boards etc.

Thank you,

Excessive wake is the bane of my life being on a river front mooring.

At least I won't have to shout at you and wave my arms as you pass Brundall.

[Smoggy]

43 minutes ago, MargeandParge said:

the faster you go the quicker it wears out or breaks.

And if you are pushing a good wash you are using more fuel for very little more speed, every boat has a displacement speed based on it's length and hull shape, up to that speed it takes very little effort to keep it moving along, once you go over the wash comes up and you are effectively going uphill all the time, the only time this changes is when you have enough power to overtake your own bow wave then the bow drops and the stern lifts and the speed really picks up but you will not have the power for that, that is the domain of fast planing boats.

[Vaughan]

Plus the fact that I believe the Seamaster 25 is not a displacement hull.  It is semi-displacement, designed to lift up "over the step" as Smoggy describes, if it has a powerful enough engine.

So if you go too fast on the river, this lifting up is actually what it is trying to do!

[Admiraldingley]

This weekend, we just sat on our mooring, did the odd bit of work here and there.
Couldn't really go anywhere anyway 'cos the battery was too flat to get the engine going and I'd forgot my jump starter battery.
It was all good though, me and the Mrs just enjoyed relaxing, the few weekends away are the first time we've been away together without children for 27 years, the peace and quiet was bliss, it was nice to just kick our feet up, pour out a little tot and relax without hearing the dreaded "daaaaad, tell him/her".

[Admiraldingley]

So we came down last friday night, spent the night on sirlingham moor enjoying the peace and quiet.
Nice breakfast the following day, followed by a trip & night in Norwich.
Moored up at the power points by Waters Edge pub and spent the night recharging all everything.
Monday we set off late to Great Yarmouth, Cantley was the furthest we'd been.

The moorings at reedham were taken, so were the moorings between reedham & the open waters were sparse and I wasn't confident enough for the one spot I might have been able to squeeze into.
It was a lovely enough passing through the estuary, got to yarmouth at high tide to find that it was high tide, which I expected, but it was also pitch black, the waters were very choppy and I couldn't see far ahead, so we took the decision to head back and spend the night travelling back to our mooring.

I'd already dug most of the way from the opposite banking back to the deep channel, I'd also paid attention whilst the tide was out where the closest natural tidal gulley was that lead back to deep waters, I'd just been sat waiting for high tide to brave it, but when those two lovely rangers turned up, I couldn't have then sat around for three hours, or worse calling out the coastguard for an even more embarrassing recovery.

So I stuck it in forward & reverse, swung the rudder from side to side to dig a nice big hole I could swing around in.
Took it back down that track I'd already dug out, spun it around again and full throttle, minding to stay in my channel and aim for my landmark, managed to get most of the way towards where I expected the gulley to be, reverse forward, reverse forward, wiggle it just a little bit, until i felt the rudder & propeller slide into the gulley, this is where a 1.8ft draft comes in handy.
Sailed the boat sideways down the gulley using the waves to give me the odd bounce over any raised bits.
Then I hit deep water and used half a tank of diesel.
We love our boat.

The second photo was kindly donated by the rangers who saw us right, thank you guys, keep up the good work, glad you could see the fun in my foolishness.

 

[MargeandParge]

Hope your weed filter or raw water intake never clogged as things can start to get a bit hot.

Kindest Regards Marge and Parge 

[MargeandParge]

Another thing to think about is the cutlass bearing prop and shaft as that mud is like grinding paste.

Kindest Regards Marge and Parge 

[Admiraldingley]

the weed filter we checked pretty much straight after, surprisingly considering the amount of mud we kicked up it was relatively unblocked in comparison to say how quick algae clogs it up.
I'll be pulling it out in winter to see what damage I've done, so far it appears the vessel didn't break a sweat.