Le Boat comes to Horning

[Dan]

Hi Everyone

I hear the Le Boat craft destined for their new base at Horning have reached Norfolk now & are being worked on at Somerleyton.

Has anyone heard/seen which boat types they are?

Great news to see the Norfolk hire industry expanding a bit further, I guess due to the attraction of UK holidays through the recession, and through the added value of a weak pound to those booking from overseas?

All the best

Dan

[Guest]

Hi Dan

i wounder if they are bringing so of the

Magnifique Class

Grand Classique

Salsa

Mystique

Elegance

mmm very nice i love the big sterns the weird shape of some

Jonny

[Dan]

Those are very tall but more importantly quite wide boats Jonny, around 13ft 6 if I remember right.

I seem to remember the max width allowed on the Broads in general terms is nearer 12ft, or am I mistaken in thinking that?

It's their mass of wider boats that's got me so interested in which will be coming!

Dan

[Dan]

Thanks Jonzo!

I think you'll be a happy man, as there's bound to be a few of the AF32 dual steers you rather like!

If the boats are mainly from Ireland the possibles are is fairly few, I guess the Birchwood's etc would just about fit though are still a bit too tall for Ludham perhaps. If some are coming from France the potential gets even more exciting!

All the best

Dan

[Guest]

Le Boat invasion... well thats what it looked like and by all accounts 25 more coming from Ireland !!

[RedRover]

not arrived yet,altho there are 2 nice looking boats moored there at the mo nice n clean.

[Guest]

anybody going to be able to take some pics when they arrive??

Jonny

[Broads01]

Does anybody know if Le Boat are increasing their Thames fleet as well? The overall Thames choice (Le Boat & otherwise) is tiny compared to years ago & I'm sure there's money to be made for Le Boat there too.

[Dan]

Jonny, rest assured I shall have my camera close to hand on all my trips, and hope to see some of them soon!

Simon, they have added a base at Penton Hook Marina (Chertsey) this year, and I think the Benson fleet grew a bit too - nice to see the Benson site with a decent number of hireboats there again, though sadly not quite as many as in it's hey day

The Thames has a lot to offer as a holiday destination, so I have been very sad to see it reduce by such a massive amount over the last 20-30 years, I guess possibly at a faster rate than the Broads due to the increased river tolls & overall costs due to its different nature & sometimes costly locations?

Dan

[RedRover]

Just been thro wroxham to le boatyard and it seems they are 30/32' Brooms boats with a fixed roof saw about 6/7 there and there is also 2 more at Horning marina to high to go under wroxham bridge so take it they will be transporting them by road.there were 2 men working on cleaning the boats asked them what they were, got a mumbled mjtyacxbv!! so don't know, but they are definately Brooms saw the name on the side.

[Dan]

Hi Barry

I'll post up some pictures of themain suspects when I get home and see if you can confirm their identity!

Dan

[Guest]

Hi Dan

Looks like there are some new boats on offer on the Le Boat website.

[Dan]

Interesting stuff Geoff, thanks.

Interesting they dont say what they are.. guess adding them/re-programming the site to show them is underway & no doubt this will appear with time (or should that be even more time?!)

All the best

Dan

[Dan]

Hi Barry

Here's a couple of pictures for you. I think the boats you saw were probably the 29ft Broom Sedan's which were spotted back (as in the 1st piccie), but wonder if you saw any of the 32ft dual steers as in the second picture as well?

All the best

Dan

[Guest]

but wonder if you saw any of the 32ft dual steers as in the second picture as well?

Hi Dan

was thinking the something with the dual steers

Jonny

[C.Ricko]

The smaller boat is the bounty sedan and the other is the 'Elegance' type

http://www.leboat.co.uk/flotte/eleg

[Dan]

Hi Clive,

Aren't the little Sedan's by Broom's?

Interesting that they're bringing some Elegance's over. At 13.6 ft wide I thought they'd be too wide to be registerable on the Broads

All the best

Dan

[C.Ricko]

Sorry, yes, bit of a typo, they are Broom sedans as was ssaid earlier..

Perhaps the other one is a Caprice? http://www.leboat.co.uk/flotte/cap looks similar,,, is shorter but not sure how wide...

[Dan]

Hi Clive! That would stand to reason as the Caprice is 12ft 6 wide.

Dan

[Dan]

Quite a nice looking boat the Caprice, but tall.

[Guest]

those sedans are stunning from the layout plan looks like they have a massive saloon area. but would love to cruise about on one the design is stunning.

Jonny

[Broads01]

I'd forgotten about Penton Hook Dan, thanks for reminding me.

I hope Le Boat don't introduce their Europe & Thames-style charging structure to the Broads. If you get an availability quote on their website you'll see what I mean. I checked for the 2-4 berth Consort for Spring Bank Holiday week on the Thames next year. £772 as a basic is reasonable by Thames standards, but they load on a £69 damage waiver, a £60 'cleaning charge' (what the heck's that?) and a 4 euro per hour fuel charge. The fuel system is the one that gets me because it's so easy for them to charge for more fuel than you've actually used because what they charge has got nothing to do with what's left in the tank.

Rant over, Caprice would be an interesting choice. Gorgeous looking boats & the prices in Ireland are half reasonable. Trouble is it would have to be offered with the caveat 'Will not pass under any Broads bridge whatsoever'!

[Dan]

It does seem a funny choice for that reason Simon, though I guess a few may book to a reasonable extent on short breaks. I'd have thought it make more sense to bring more of the 32ft AF dual steers back as they are broads friendly, and switch sell/upgrade people to Caprice's in Ireland out of them, as they had loads of the AF32's when I was there, so I'd be suprised if they're filling the booking charts on all of them since the econimic slowdown/weak pound etc.

I hope to see a few back, but I guess we'll have to see. The Caprice would give fantastic views... shame about the bridges!

Dan

[Dan]

Good to see the boats are now on their website, listed as running from Wroxham though.

Capri TS (the 29ft 2/3 berth Sedan), Tamaris LS (the dual steer 32ft 4/5berth), and Caprice (the tallish 4/6berth)

Dan

[marshman]

Strange that - saw one of the Caprices down on the Yare last week on trade plates, then lo and behold saw it at Horning the Sunday before last so they must have brought it up. Would have thought it a bit tight under Vauxhall Bridge too - not a lot of the Broads open to it!!!! As a punter I think I would be a little disappointed at not being able to go up the Ant but I guess what you don't know about you don't miss!!!