Brinks Belmore TC - Day Eight

After a fine evening of wine, good food and company aboard  River Song today brought forth the sort of weather you might stay in your cabin for - dull and grey.  It certainly was a lot different to the fine warm weather of yesterday.

I took time to get ready and then wondered where would I be headed today?  The wind was gusting (and pushing the boat onto the bank) so anywhere I went would make for an interesting mooring should the wind not be in my favour.   Now you see when one is alone you've got to do things a little differently than when you have one or two others with you to lend a hand.   The first thing to do would be to leave the mooring - not a walk in the park because I had to my front Bronze Gem and to my rear River Song with about 4 or 5 feel separation.  I had nobody to hold the bow line as I would clearly have to depart the mooring astern so it would all have to be done using a little skill and thrust.

I got off the boat and untied - I much prefer it when the wind is strong and pushing the boat on the bank, I can take my time, ensure my ropes are secure on the boat and get on without and drama or rush - it is all very much a different kettle of fish if the wind is blowing the boat away from the bank, for then the moment you untie one rope off the boat wants to drift.

Engine running, full left-hand lock and a burst of forward throttle - then astern - then forward - and each time I could go astern a little longer and get my stern to drift out thus I could then after I believe three moves at this go astern and out towards the centre of the river - clearing both boats without any risk of touching them.   Job done it was time to proceed up the Bure with the destination being Ranworth.

Upon arrival many of the boats had departed the Staithe but I was not sure if I should come in 'down the side' or at the front of the Staithe - the wind kept changing direction I opted to come in to the front and counter any drift with the bow thrusters.  As it happened Belmore TC really is easy to put where you wish, and with a good few revs on astern she came around nicely between two forward steer boats.  A  quick burst forward with opposite lock to correct the drift and a push of the bow thrusters and all was sorted - that was until I was off the boat and trying to tie up the wind was back up to its old tricks.

No sooner had I moored and filled the water tank than I saw on one of the electric posts (that served the moorings on the side of the Staithe) was loaded with quite a bit of credit still.  I moved the boat around and plugged in.  Now again I was unsure if all was well with the charging system - when I initially plugged in the voltage meter rose to 14v (more than had been the case with the engine running and the last time I had witnessed this voltage was prior to having one of duff batteries replaced).  But it would pulse and then drop off back to under 13v - something was not working correctly. 

I called Barnes Brinkcraft.

Shortly after the rain started - then the hail stones too and guess where I could only get a good signal on my phone - outside on the grass area - in fact the engineer had tried calling me back because he had not heard where i was exactly, so nipping out in the rain to retrieve a voicemail and call back it was all set and about 20 minutes later David duly arrived.  Used to working on Oyster Yachts he had been with Barnes Brinkcraft for about a year and I felt he loved his boats but not so much some of the annoying 'non-problems' some hirers would make a great fuss about and then find out a switch had not been turned on etc.

I was pleased I was not one of them and actually had a problem - the earth wire which appeared to be connected to the Victron Energy argo fet battery isolator was  not connected (the wire having come out of the spade terminal) - he got a new terminal, new wire cleaned the connections and and metered everything.  The checked the Alternator, the belt tension, the battery charger, the inverter load tested things with the engine on, off at low and high RPMs  -  pretty good service I thought low and behold with the engine running we were charging both banks of batteries correctly and voltage now showed 14v hallelujah!

An argo fet battery isolator in very simply terms is like a valve for electricity, and through some clever electronics a very small voltage loss is caused but it means that charge is directed to where it is needed and should you run down your domestic batteries, you won't also run down your starter battery - just wait until Day 9 to find out more about the argo fet battery isolator!

For now David had left, the sunshine had retuned and white puffy clouds had replaced the grey dullness of earlier.  I was perky, confident my boats electrics were not in tip top order and as the rain had made way for the sunshine what should I do - an explorer cruise was the order of the day and so leaving Ranworth Staithe it was first up to the Bure, turn right and head towards the river Thurne - and Thurne Dyke which I had not moored at for a long time - the wind however was gusting just as bad.

Belmore TC is a high sided boat with a planning hull and she is light, thus the wind caused one to have to keep concentrating where the boat was headed, but along the Thurne I found out I could drift, and thereby I invented 'Norfolk Broads Boat Drifting'  - don't be confused with the nautical 'drifting' as one can of course - no this is much more akin to the Japanese art of drifting cars - I could at certain revs and with the wind from the left turn the boat away from the bank into the wind and continue down the river under power but at a sideways angle.   Wow I thought how cool was that, until that was I arrived at Thurne Dyke and a 42ft boat was attempting to turn around in the confines of the narrow dyke. Of course with some boats moored either side as I turned to go upt he dyke I was very aware of drifting where I did not wish to caused by the wind.

Di you know Thurne Dyke narrows as it goes towards the pub?  I did not, well it does and so I picked this location to turn the boat - under power  - I managed this feet only tot hen be pinned once more on the port side and because there are no posts (only mooring rings) I did not feel confident to get off and tie up especially as the boat was being slowing push along the dyke towards the pub end of it.  Time to depart and head elsewhere.

Back to the main river then away from Potter Heigham I went to the river Bure, turned right and my next destination was Fleet Dyke and a look at South Walsham Broad.  This is a very pretty often not visited part of the Broads, indeed I have only been there myself a few times but today with the wind blowing it was not the most restful and quite of places but the intimate feel of the Broad and the lovely homes that line part of it was still very much in evidence.

I left South Walsham and back down Fleet Dyke decided to go to the river Ant - whilst blustery my thinking was get under Ludham Bridge and find a nice quiet sheltered mooring for the afternoon.  Well upon arrival at Ludham Bridge there was less room than the other day and I was not even at How Hill when I chickened out and turned to come back.  What if, I thought this wind held up tides and I woke to find I was unable to get under Ludham Bridge?  Unlikely but I got anxious and thought to myself 'better safe than sorry'.

Having just got throught eh Bridge I thought I would go back to Fleet Dyke as there are nice moorings there - maybe even a wild mooring?  Then I spooted Alex of Braveheart he saw me, I said something he could not hear, he said something I could not hear and between this and unpowered Hunters sailing boats coming from my left and right stuck against the bank or using a boat to bounce off I thought I better turn about, moor and witness the show to be part of it and find out just what Alex had said.

So with the wind gusting, I managed to avoid a moored boat on my left, a Hunters boat to my right, rest on t e bank, then turn and come back to be helped by Lorna and Alex moor - Phew!  Turns out Alex was just asking if I wanted to stop for a beer.  I did now, so we had a couple. 

I left Ludham Bridge sometime later and head to Fleet Dyke - the wind now much kinder and being even nicer as I came to moor along the reed lined Dyke, it gently pushed me on the bank and I had plenty of time to put my Rhonde Anchors in and set my ropes - also with the help of some gloves, remove some dry Reeds from around the heater outlet - just to remove any chance of them being heated to the point of combustion from t e hot exhaust gases.

And silence.  With the sun beginning to set, but still a nice warmth in t e air I ended the Blog and just stood and watched and listened.  At last I was completely alone not a boat near me the wide open skies the rustle of the Reeds this was what it was all about. Back on the boat I got my Spaghetti Bolognese on the go, a nice cold bottle of white was opened and Rule Britannia blasting from the speakers - I was in my heaven.