Norwich Yacht Station

[Guest]

16 minutes ago, JennyMorgan said:

........ It goes back to the comparison of tolls paid on a small runabout and a large motorboat, it just doesn't stack up. I do feel sorry for those who can't afford to go boating & feel that the BA, and the industry as a whole, do little to encourage low income boating. 

Damn !!     ....   you know you've got me in a corner with that one Peter.... 

I'll certainly agree completely that the toll charges are ludicrous for small low powered dinghies and tenders.

Almost £100 to toll an 8ft inflatable dinghy with a tiny 2hp outboard motor, representing about a third of its secondhand value, whereas the toll for a large motor cruiser is about one hundredth of its value.

[Springsong]

Vaughan you are quite right. Landamores sold some of the early Vestas to fund the building of more. They then sold even more to fund the building of Vestellas.

http://www.broads.org.uk/wiki/index.php5?title=Boat_Details&BoatId=1415&BoatHistory=1594

Although they had one port hole they always had the square (ish) windows until the later 1960s mods.

This photo Vesta 4 became I think the one that sank.It is difficult to be sure because after selling some they then renumbered the  ones left behind, also they sometimes didn't put the right numbers back on the boat. Craig and I both have photos of the same boat in different years with different numbers.

[Vaughan]

15 hours ago, NorfolkNog said:

 

I think this is Chatterbox, last time I saw her was at the Waterfront, I think she had sunk several times.

 

I am 1000 miles away and do not know this boat, but the two photos here show clearly that she has been sunk down to the cabin top at least twice, and has been sitting with water over the floors for a long time. You only need to look at the green waterline to see that.

I cannot see any practicality in trying to restore an old hire boat in that state. It really would be cheaper and quicker to take line drawings off it and build a new one.

[Labrador]

30 minutes ago, springsong said:

Vaughan you are quite right. Landamores sold some of the early Vestas to fund the building of more. They then sold even more to fund the building of Vestellas.

http://www.broads.org.uk/wiki/index.php5?title=Boat_Details&BoatId=1415&BoatHistory=1594

Although they had one port hole they always had the square (ish) windows until the later 1960s mods.

This photo Vesta 4 became I think the one that sank.It is difficult to be sure because after selling some they then renumbered the  ones left behind, also they sometimes didn't put the right numbers back on the boat. Craig and I both have photos of the same boat in different years with different numbers.

Where was this taken, that large building in the left background looks interesting.

[Springsong]

It is actually Horning Ferry 1947. I am not sure what it was all about but I am fairly sure it was

before the pub was rebuilt after taking that hit from a German bomb.

[Labrador]

Ahhh. Makes sense now, in the first picture it looked like a tall wooden mill like building. What looked a bit like windows are in fact slots in the walls for roof beams or suchlike. Or am I just senile?

[Springsong]

In this 1938 photo of the Ferry Inn the brick extension is I am guessing the wall you are seeing in the other photo nine years later.

[Guest]

The photograph of the ferry shows how accurate Arthur Ransome's illustration was back in the 30's.

[JennyMorgan]

No life-jacket and no toll disc , tut, tut! 

[BroadAmbition]

 

Your 2k per annum woodie maintenance estimate is quite accurate I would say, an annual overhead I could never  justify or afford.

 

'B.A' doesn't come anywhere close to that figure in 'Maintenance'.  Just where do these figures come from?  Ok, she does cost around £3:2k per year to keep as a turnkey ready to go, not one penny of that is maintenance though.  Maybe she is cheap to maintain because we didn't skimp and went the extra mile during her restoration.

What does cost is the damn upgrade list - that'll be the end of me if I don't get it finished, or at least down to single items outstanding.  'The sky is the limit'  is exaggerating but chuffin eck, the upgrade list can be zero or a veritable fortune!

Griff

[NorfolkNog]

Just been digging through some old photos and wonder if this could be the same boat again???? Norwich yacht station taken in December 2013. Looks very similar.

[NorfolkNog]

The Martham Juliette boat "Chatterbox" which Vaughan referred to earlier was also moored at Norwich Waterfront for many years. I think Vaughan is also right in that it sank more than once. Here are a few pictures from 2007 through to 2014. It seemed to have disappeared completely by 2015. Again very sad.

[Guest]

58 minutes ago, BroadAmbition said:

 

Your 2k per annum woodie maintenance estimate is quite accurate I would say, an annual overhead I could never  justify or afford.

 

'B.A' doesn't come anywhere close to that figure in 'Maintenance'.  Just where do these figures come from?  Ok, she does cost around £3:2k per year to keep as a turnkey ready to go, not one penny of that is maintenance though.  Maybe she is cheap to maintain because we didn't skimp and went the extra mile during her restoration.

What does cost is the damn upgrade list - that'll be the end of me if I don't get it finished, or at least down to single items outstanding.  'The sky is the limit'  is exaggerating but chuffin eck, the upgrade list can be zero or a veritable fortune!

Griff

 

But BA does have the advantage of being moored inside a wet shed Griff, and she was the subject of your most amazingly painstaking restoration project, completed just a few years ago.

My agreement with Peter's 2k pa estimate is based on many conversations with Gordon, of Martham Boats. I'm pretty sure his professional knowledge on the subject is as sound as it gets.

[BroadAmbition]

I agree Stowager, Martham - I wouldn't question them, my point is that there must be an average somewhere or t'other.

That painstaking restoration was completed over 8 x years ago now, it was painstaking, not cheap but paying dividends now.  Yes the wet-shed is a massive asset in keeping her right, that is by far the lions share of that £3:2k - which is our choice of course.  Both the restoration method and wet shed are advantages that we chose to utilise.  My point in our case still stands - £2k per year?- In 'B.A's case - Thank goodness it is nowhere near that figure

Griff

[JennyMorgan]

Griff, my daughter has an old woody, 1908 in fact. The odd plank here, another one somewhere else, a can of varnish or two, I do all the decorating, averages out about £2k just to keep on top of things. Had we chosen a full rebuild then maybe our annual costs would be reduced for a few years. I suppose we could lash out £20,000.00 every ten years!

[Regulo]

Can't say how true or otherwise this is, but in NorfolkNog's pics, the 3rd and 4th ones relate to a conversation I had with the Yacht Station master in about 2010. On bemoaning the welcome to Norwich's Fine City (their words, not mine) presented by the dilapidated state of the craft then moored on the approach thereto, he told me the owner of "Chatterbox" refused to sell her, as he thought she was worth a lot more than anyone would offer him. He was waiting for "appreciation" to kick in. That worked well, didn't it?

[Springsong]

Howard just in the back ground of your first photo with the white rear canopy is Star Premiere. Just behind her is Jill's old Golden Light.

[NorfolkNog]

Hi Barry, thanks I didn't realise that! The photo would be 2007, I'll have another look to see if I had taken anorher moments before, might give a better view  

[jillR]

here we are lady anne as was at abc wharf

I spot a beer keg on the quay heading ... we used to pull them out of the

river regularly among other things.

 

[Springsong]

She has good lines doesn't she, what a fine vessel. Thank goodness we had moved by the time of the conversation between the esteemed gentlemen Regulo and the harbour master, although I don't think either Jill or (Lady Anne) were dilapidated. That is to say Jill's boat as opposed to Jill herself. Stop digging Barry.  

[jillR]

some times it depends on whos holding the camera and why

this card was on sale in Norwich but chatterbox was not residential....

[Matt]

Bit of prep going on in prep to raise at the weekend. 

 

[NorfolkNog]

Well bless my soul! the wonders of Facebook  

Hope it goes OK - please keep us posted!

[Guest]

On 26/01/2016 at 0:46 AM, jillR said:

im not familiar with fiberglass as its something I haven't dealt with.

what happens when a fiberglass boat dies ?

are they recycleable ? 

im sure they are not burnable.

"what happens when a fiberglass boat dies" - that reminded my of the demise of Miss Molly .

She was a scruffy engineless and empty grp cruiser that appeared at a number of the old Woods Dyke boat auctions.

Each month Ray led everyone out the back to the boats, and there were no bidders for her, even at the starting price of one pound. Then a chap standing near the back did bid, muttering something about "any boat must be worth more than a pound".

He won the auction (for the pound), but never bothered to collect the boat.....

She eventually ended up at the back of Herbert Woods at Potter, upside down, among the rubbish, in this photo, taken in 2006. A short while afterwards, the rubbish pile mysteriously caught fire, and she finally disappeared.....

How times change. When I was a lad, people would have been queuing up to buy her cheaply, and carry out the relatively simple DIY exercise to get her useable again.

[MBA Marine]

I would happily supply anyone with a small scrap of GRP to try and burn themselves, or i would welcome anyone that knows how to make and upload a video to do so, in the interest of fire safety all owners should know just how hot and fast it burns with plumes of toxic black smoke, the resin burns out leaving the strands behind, this has no use and ends up landfill.