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A Easter weekend on MoonVoyager


Brian

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Ok back on track now using Safari :) 

 

We arrived at Moonfleet yard at 1pm,  Boat would be ready in about 20 mins, so we got our Lifejackets sorted, we were the only ones three at this time to take a boat :)

Very friendly staff.

 

There were 7 of us. Me, Rachel, Clare and Marcus, Bexley (rachels sister) and her boyfriend and his son.

 

The engineer showed us the controls and was very proud of the next yard where the RC45s are built.

We were off down the river with the  engineer showing me the controls.

I completed the course with a on the dial 180 degree turn, with out using the bow thrusters ;) 

I took the engineer back to the yard and we were on our way.

 

1st stop to be ..... Salhouse Broad !

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The Journey to Salhouse Broad was a lovely one,  The Riverside properties at Netishead get more and more beautiful every year :

The River Police were at the exit to Barton Broad with their Radar gun.

The Moon Voyager had a very accurate LCD screened speed.

We were well under the speed limited so waves all round :)

 

Our first bit of excitement was at Ludham Bridge, We quickly got the roof back and screen down, we made it through with plenty clearance.

 

We decided to moor on Salhouse Broad Island, as the main moorings were very busy.

We fed the ducks and watched some HD Free View TV :)

Cooked tea, which was ham rolls and salad :)

 

The Children had their showers, and got ready for bed.

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Hello Brian,

 

Keep up the good work with your posts.

 

Re the speed on the Broads, do not rely on any form of speedo, I am sure with all of your experience you know that tidal flow effects your speed.

Tan had a warning a few years ago (needless to say I never let it drop) by one of the wardens who had clocked us doing 7.5 mph on a 6.0 mph section the speedo said under 6.00 mph and we only doing a little over 1100 rpm but we did not allow for nearly a 2mph tidal flow.

 

Regards

Alan

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Hello Brian,

 

Keep up the good work with your posts.

 

Re the speed on the Broads, do not rely on any form of speedo, I am sure with all of your experience you know that tidal flow effects your speed.

Tan had a warning a few years ago (needless to say I never let it drop) by one of the wardens who had clocked us doing 7.5 mph on a 6.0 mph section the speedo said under 6.00 mph and we only doing a little over 1100 rpm but we did not allow for nearly a 2mph tidal flow.

 

Regards

Alan

The GPS speedo's that most of us are fitting are spot on, GPS beats old school senders, and as for 5mph at whatever RPM thats just a load of rubbish!

As I fit the GPS units in Sutton staithe boat yards day boats im sure Ricco's are fitting them over the older tech on their craft, The LCD display tells me it is most likely a Wema GPS speed and trip log.

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We passed the police boat Thursday afternoon on way down to Acle, I said to Kaz hope your not speeding BA coming up then I clocked thenew  boat and waves from them.  It looks ok complete with full strip of blue lights (bit much).

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We passed the police boat Thursday afternoon on way down to Acle, I said to Kaz hope your not speeding BA coming up then I clocked thenew  boat and waves from them.  It looks ok complete with full strip of blue lights (bit much).

The Police boat is not the BA, and they are not looking for speeders, they are looking for thieving B*stards!! 

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So Friday Evening, Moored up on Salhouse Island :)

Get bed set up in the Galley /Lounge for the 7th member of our crew...

No Bedding, could be found.  The engineer said it was under the seat, but there was nothing.

We decided to ring the call the yard out of hours number.

We explained the problem, and the call out engineer said he would sort it.

5 mins later a call back saying sorry it was missed off the intinery.

 

So we agree to meet him over on mainland, he would phone when he got to Salhouse Broad car park.

Being on the island, we decided to use the Tender :)  to row across to the mainland.

It was now dusk, so it was now - A Mission !

 

Engineer phoned and we rowed across, met him down the path with lots of bedding, blankets and pillows.

Rowed back in the dark with LED torches as Navigation.

Mission Completed.

We all slept well that night :)

 

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Saturday Morning,

Full English fry up  on the Boat :)

 

We decided over breakfast to aim for Coltishal, we phoned the Pilot when we were leaving Salhouse Broad.

He would meet us at Wroxham Bridge.

 

Arriving in Wroxham there were many hire craft reaching the bridge and turning around, causing the usual mayhem ! 

All seeming to be in a rush.

 

The pilot was waiting on the bank, i pulled up alongside and he jumped on.

We already had the screens down and the roof fully open.

It was going to be a tight squeeze.

 

He reversed the Voyager up and then all ahead full !

 

This has to be one of the most exciting bit of our Broads travels, getting such a large boat through a small opening.

We made it through with 2 inches to spare !

 

We dropped off the Pilot and thanked him, and we continued on to Coltishal.

It was a lovely sunny morning, this stretch of the river is always quiet,  its like a different world, a more peaceful side of the broads.

 

Bealugh was the same as it always has been, the boatyard hasn't changed since the 80s, stuck in time so to speak. Lots of character. 

 

We arrived at Coltishal at Lunch time, we had a game of football on the green while other went to the shops to buy ice creams.

 

Football next to the river, is never a good idea.

 

The tender was used again to chase the floating ball down the river ! Im glad we had the tender :)

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...... Glad you got the bedding sorted, what a thing to miss off the inventory, hope they compensate you.

 

Blimey - cant anyone make a mistake these days without people expecting compensation!?  Was it even the companies error? 

 

Anyway....

 

Dan

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Blimey - cant anyone make a mistake these days without people expecting compensation!?  Was it even the companies error? 

 

Anyway....

 

Dan

People make errors of course, but it's good business to offer something in return if all goes wrong as customers appreciate that, no matter how small the gesture, and will come back time and time again and recommend friends maybe.

Word of mouth is a great way to gain customers - and - to lose them!

Don't forget that when the boat was hired that they entered into a contract to have a service provided, which is sounds as though it was not fully.

I am not understanding why a gesture of goodwill would not be inappropriate!!! What if they did not notice that the bedding was missing until it was too late, it was very cold that night.

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It was very cold in the evening, Forcast was 4 degrees, and it gets close to that in the Galley, which is why we called the after hours engineer.

 

Janice, the boat you were moored up next to, was it the one with flat batteries ?

 

 

So back to Coltishal.

We decided to see how far we could go up towards the mill in a RC45 :)

We did get a little way, but the river suddenly narrowed to about 7 feet, so i spun her around and headed back to Coltishal.

 

Snacks were prepared, hot dogs and bacon rolls ! 

 

We then sailed back to Wroxham at a very relaxing 3mph.

 

We moored up opposite the Entrance to Bridge Broad.

We walked into Wroxham and visited the new Model Centre.

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If you like Models, Railways, Scaletrix, then this is worth a visit. The displays were very detailed, all controlled via computer software.

We spent about 1.5 hrs there.

 

We then walked to McDonalds, a few of us would have rather stopped off at a local cafe next to the River, but the kids wanted Mccdees so thats were we went.

 

 

In the evening the boys and the girls went out rowing into Bridge Broad and had a great time !

 

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