2 weeks on Suncharm

[Stranger]

Great news the opp went well hes kept his fingers intact they released him last night to stay at the Travelodge overnight from where Rickos are picking then up taking them to brundall for their gear off the boat then to the yard by road  to get their car and go home

[Stranger]

it has taken Mark and Jean 6.5 hours to get home to Sheffield from Brundall with all the roadworks A47 and A1 but they are home now. 

[Stranger]

We left Brooms and headed for Reedham got there for 12 noon so as low water was at 16;09 we had fish chips and peas from the chippy which went down a treat with a slice of b&b apiece and a nice cuppa idled our time away till  2pm and set off to Breydon the Berney Arms looking sad Boarded up  and only saw 2 boats as we crossed perfect timing totally slack water and toddled off  up the Bure to Stokesby Moored outside The Ferry for free as we were eating inside later a bit more activity this side of the Broads 6 boats moored as well as us Another cold night 6.5 deg at 4 am inside the boat 

I have to say the heating on this boat is toataly inadiquate the rear cabin gets warm with a radiator in  there the Head has approx 5ft of 1" chrome pipe as a towel airer useless another radiator under the cupboards in the galley to heat the rest of the boat saloon included there is a warm air vent under the helm seat but the matrix is the size of a 40 box of P G Tips so it blows warm for 2 mins then blows cold the original boiler system has been replaced with an Eberspatcher hot water heater tiny in size as well so if your thinking of hiring this boat do it mid summer or freeze

[ranworthbreeze]

Hi Dave,

 

I am glad to hear the Mark & Jean managed to get back home safely, such a pity it took so long to get back to Sheffield.

 

Boats and being cold is not a combination that works well, we have suffered in the past with hire boats that have not come up to scratch. Last December we had problems with our heating and had to resort to using the electric fires, but this meant we had to be on shore power every night.

 

Regards

Alan

[BroadScot]

Hi Dave,

 

Glad to hear they have returned home safely, if a somewhat long journey time back.

 

Sorry to read you are having heating problems. If the heating is not up to scratch, I put the oven on and that heats things up quite quickly. I am sure Richos will want to look at the heating, as any of their boats I have had in the past the heating has been good or very good.

 

 

Iain.

[Siddy]

HI Dave good to see you both yesterday afternoon in our sun trap lol how calm was it, Till 2 guys in a small boat with a outboard try'd washing us onto the bank.

You were saying abuot fuel used well there wasn't any notes return to me this morning then hit with pilot charge so I had to cough up.

[Stranger]

ouch Steve, and i think £12 each way is a bit steep anyway, i wont be giving Richardsons the pleasure of filling me up at £1.20 a litre if its over anywhere else i would rather pay that after this 2 weeks. At 1.30 am its 12.4deg now on the boat bugger you may say or is it my fault for being a bit nocturnal im wary of putting the heating on as its so noisey being at Coltishall and the moorings full so constant cups of tea will have to do for a while yet ooo wheres that whiskey and im thinking of filling up at Boulters as we go back through Horning .

Iain they have totally messed with the heating system since you had the boat it has an Ebberspatcher unit to heat the water and no thermostat in the saloon to control it so it now on or off i watched Apollo13 last night and thought ahh thats where the noise from this heating system comes from on the rockets launch pad lol well you have to keep smiling as it would spoil thing if you didnt .

We called in at Richardsons for our free pump out and asked for the heating to be checked by an engineer who checked it, bled the chrome tube in the heads and tweaked the thermostat on the unit a bit and said that was all he could do

[Stranger]

Thanks everyone for the best wishes regarding Mark, Dave yes we only just missed each other but we will be arround the northern broads for this week and may get to meet up yet  

[Maxwellian]

When we hired it had the big heater boiler and the heating was excellent. What possessed them to change it? I am sure Clive will let us know.

[Stranger]

i guess it was a cheaper option to do it the way they have, from 12.4 deg at 2am i turned the heating on at 3.30am its now at 16.1deg in the front saloon outside is at 7.7 deg at 7.05am at lovely Coltishall

[C.Ricko]

The old one was continually breaking, it was the newer of the boilers with a control board which was not reliable..

I am not sure but the hydronic Eberspacher is a 4kw unit the same as all the other units we use, the problem when you put bigger heaters on is that the fuel consumption goes up, we initially had problems on the RC45 as there are 2 heaters on there but when we put the sign on saying they used 0.8 litres per hour each then it was understood.. but it does add up... 

[andyg]

I've hired number two about four times now and would have to agree with Dave the saloon dosnt get that warm on cold nights,morn. The old system was much better then again we never had a prob with old system, we have a soft spot for suncharm. She's a cracking boat for a couple and would choose her over the new Broadway just personal choice.

[Stranger]

sorry folkes but i have lost interest after the accident with Mark and the cost of this boat in fuel £67 at Brooms at £!.07 a litre and £71 at Boulters at £0.99 a litre and still 5 days to go we might finish the week early as  now moored at How Hill lets see what the morning brings oh and April has devised some packings for the sliding roof sections to keep a lot of the cold draughts out  as the brush seal is knackered ttfn

[DelticMemories]

That's a shame, hopefully things will seem better today. But if you are really unhappy then there is not much point sitting it out for another five days, especially given the weather is going to get much colder in the next day or so.

[Siddy]

A roll of cheap black bags is on our boat list for sealing the drafts round the sliding roofs,

 

Glad we had them last week other we'd be like you. Hope you get to finish your week.

[BroadScot]

We have always used old newspapers for blocking the worst of the draughts, also we take two travel rugs and put them along the back of the seating. Also try and moor into the wind if possible, so the wind is not going through the brush draught excluders.

 

 

Iain.

[ranworthbreeze]

Forget the wind it is the midges that fly through those brushes you have to worry about. A group of my friends hired one of the older boats a few years ago and they were all bitten almost to death.

I guess they were not marmite lovers.

 

heard that the biting insects are not fond of Guinness drinkers, real or not the trials should be good.

 

Regards

Alan

[Stranger]

well having just read the up coming weather forecast good luck to anyone hiring this Fridge over the next couple of weeks

[Stranger]

yes Paul the critisisoms were not done lightly at all, all genuine we have had some realy frosty nights on other boats and its not bothered us at all but the more modern boat and extra charges for the privelidge of being on one   oh one thing it was a quiet boat thats all i can say in favour of it  now im going to try and post some pictures

[Stranger]

heres a go at some piccies

 

 

[Stranger]

pp Morning Swan errm im not a novice to the Broads at all and after hireing dozens of boats over the years this was the worst and most dissapointing boat we have hired after reading your post properly, i have learned by this hire not to go for "you will not be cold on this boat as it has radiator central heating" as advertised on the Rickos web site ,and after talking to another hirer on another suncharm the same last week as us they also said it was a cold boat and had spent their time in the back cabin to keep warm i must be doing something wrong or different lol

[Stranger]

here we go Norwich Yacht Station

 

 

[Stranger]

NYS  again

 

[Stranger]

more inc tree chopping at Loddon

 

[Stranger]

Mr Heron and the offending Ancor At Brooms on Marks fingers mummy swan on the Chet