Broom Commander

I had the pleasure of Surveying this Broads Classic yesterday. The 37ft Broom Commander Cynric was one of the final wooden motor cruisers to be built by the Norfolk based CJ Broom & Sons.

The Commander class was part of Brooms well known trio of motor cruisers built during the 1950s and 60s, however Cynric deviated from the standard design in that she was the only Commander to have twin screws - a definite advantage with regards to manoeuvrability - and one of only two examples of her class to have the enlarged fixed wheelhouse based on the design for the Broom 45.

She is a product of the era of the tall sided majestic looking wooden Broadland Motor Cruisers designed specifically for inland waters and estuary use.

Surveyors Comments: You can still buy older, big wooden craft for about £15,000 on the Norfolk Broads. Definitely get a Full Out of Water Survey on these types of boats, lovely as they are…. you could be sailing away with a never-ending drain on your bank balance? If you would like a Broom Commander.... Brooms Boats have one for sale called White Heron. Here is the addy....

Broom 30 for sale in Norfolk Uk

I had another visit to Brooms Boats in Brundall today on the South Norfolk Broads. They are still selling lots of boats considering the time of year.

This craft moulded by Aquafibre of Rackheath Norfolk uses the same hull as the Ocean 30 namely a round bilge displacement cruiser with keel. The centre cockpit configuration provides berthing for up to 6 people. The boat is prominent in design featuring an enclosed wheelhouse. The skipper version had a folding screen and canopy over the centre cockpit. This had the twin Perkins engine, capable of coast and estuary work. Engines were usually single Perkins 4107/4108.

The superstructure and interior were designed by Mr Martin Broom and four pre-1968 boats had a mahogany superstructure and teak-laid deck, after which time the construction was all GRP. Wooden uprights in the forward windscreen and wooden wheelhouse door frames were also phased out in later models.

Surveyors comments: Good ones don’t stay on the market very long. Expect to pay up to £40k for a good blue or green one. White twin engine ones with the upper helms fetch 45K
 
Thinking of Buying a Boat and Need Help? Call Insight Marine Surveys Ltd. I specialise in Boats of all types, and I will assist you to make an informed decision. Contact me for a detailed and comprehensive report at:
steventruss1@aol.com

Sealine F42/5 Motor Yacht

I had a trip up to Lincoln and Burton Waters yesterday to Survey this Sealine F42 Motor Yacht.

Sealine has been designing and building boats for more than 30 years. It was founded in 1972 by Tom Murrant, who started out with nothing but the belief that he could make a boat better than those available on the market at that time.

Despite the company's overwhelming success and expansion over the years, Sealine remains at its original location in the West Midlands, England's industrial heart. People passionate about boating run the company. Staff are highly skilled, experienced boat builders and some have been employed since the first Sealine cruiser, the 23ft 'Continental', was born.

Boasting a workforce of more than 700, Sealine employees are specialists in their respective fields, which includes everything from mould-making to wood/metal work, upholstery, lamination and interior design.

Today, Sealine is one of Europe's largest production luxury boat builders, producing more than 300 boats a year.


A touch of a button engages Sealine's patented extending cockpit system on this model. The entire transom slides back, extending its length by three feet and almost doubling the aft cockpit's area. With the cockpit extended you can throw in a big table and six chairs for those that can't fit on the transom lounge. So 10 people can sit down in comfort to enjoy an alfresco meal in idyllic surroundings.

Surveys comments: Always impressed with the hulls on the Sealine boats. They have solid fiberglass hull bottoms supported by a closely spaced network of longitudinal and transverse fiberglass stiffeners. Combinations of stitched and woven reinforcements are used with polyester resin. Balsa-coring stiffens the hull sides, decks and superstructure, and molded fiberglass liners define the interior.

Thinking of Buying a Boat and Need Help? Call Insight Marine Surveys Ltd. I specialise in Boats of all types, and I will assist you to make an informed decision. Contact me for a detailed and comprehensive report at: steventruss1@aol.com 

 

Rainwater makes new Broads wash-down system a first

 

An innovative, eco-friendly boat wash-down system has recently been designed, built and installed by the team at Cox’s Boatyard, with help from an £8,900 grant from the Broads Authority’s Sustainable Development Fund.

Eric Bishop, the boatyard manager, and his team, were keen to ensure that the run-off water from around 200 boats they wash down each year has no detrimental impact on the environment.

They have devised a closed-loop system that not only harvests and uses rainwater from the boatyard’s roof, but also passes all used water through a set of purifying filters. The cleaned water can then either be used again, or discharged safely into the Broads.

Closed-loop systems have been used on a limited basis elsewhere in the country before, but this is believed to be the first time that harvested rainwater has been incorporated into the design.

Pressure washing is a vital method of keeping boat hulls in a good state of repair, by removing old anti-fouling coating, paint, weed, algae and invasive species, especially in the autumn before boats are over-wintered. Unfortunately, the run-off water from this type of high-pressure cleaning can contain antifouling residues, paint fragments and other chemicals, all of which could work their way into rivers and waterways. The new system at Cox’s means that not only pure, clean water is discharged, but also that it can be recycled and re-used, along with harvested rainwater, many times on an endless loop.

Eric Bishop says: “We are keen to implement any systems that help preserve the future of the Broads for both wildlife and for boat owners. This £18,000 system is part of a major eight-phased development plan for the boatyard. It took only five weeks to install, and it is already doing a great job. We are looking forward to further improving our services to boat owners in the future.’

The system collects rainwater and stores it in a 6250-litre tank, from where it is piped to an area used for pressure washing. Boats that need cleaning are suspended from the yard’s crane, which can lift up to 9.5 tons, and positioned above a large concrete pad, with angled sides that funnel the run-off water into a small, central drain and tank. Here water-borne particles and debris, as well as invasive species such as the ‘killer shrimp’ (Dikerogammarus villosus) settle out from the main body of collected water and sink to the bottom. Killer shrimps are aggressive predators that prey on native shrimps and young fish, and they have recently been found in Barton Broad, so any system that helps to prevent their spread has great environmental importance.

Once the larger debris is removed, an automatic pump sends the waste water via a pipe to a 4000-litre storage tank, which is situated alongside the rainwater tank. When this second tank is two-thirds full, the water is pumped at a rate of 85 litres per minute though two special filters, which are reusable and washable, to remove any remaining pollutants.

The pure, filtered water can then either be re-used, or returned to the river, meaning that even in a drought when there is little or no rain water there is always an ample supply of water available for washing down the boats. Neither does cold weather cause any problems, as all the pipes and cables have special heat cables fitted to them to stop them freezing.

Half Broads' boats will see no increase in next year's tolls

Over half the boats on the Broads will see their tolls reduced or remain the same next season as a result of the Broads Authority’s long-term aim to encourage more people to take up boating.
At its meeting on 23 November the Authority agreed an overall rise of 3% in income from tolls from April which will see small boats paying less than this year and larger boats paying more. This compares to other waterways where charges will rise by 4.6%.

A total of 5,700 private rowing, sailing and motor boats out of a total of 10,900 will see a reduction or no increase at all. The charge for private motor boats of under 5 square metres is to be reduced from £97.44 to £90.00 to narrow the gap in charges with unpowered boats of the same size. The annual toll for a small sailing boat will fall from £48.72 to £45.00. Hired day boats of 11 square metres will see a decrease of 2.69% from £439.52 to £427.68. A larger private motor boat of 25 square metres will go up by £12.00 to £267.60.

The charges for seven day short visit tolls are to be reduced from 70% to 50% of the 14 day visit toll as an incentive to visiting craft. Ferries will be charged at the private rate to encourage the return of these historic waterway links.

Chairman of the Broads Authority, Dr Stephen Johnson, said: “The system was reviewed to encourage more people, especially young people, to get out on the water with the aim of promoting health, well-being and the enjoyment of Britain’s magical waterland. It also recognises the popularity of angling which is often done from small boats.”

The Broads Authority still faces big challenges, especially dredging the rivers and broads and maintaining its assets, including 4km of public moorings. Prudent budgeting, down-sizing to smaller offices, astute second-hand deals with equipment for the dockyard and European funding for key dredging projects, has helped with the Authority’s finances.

John Packman, Chief Executive of the Broads Authority, said: “We have a major investment programme underway, including the building of a new workshop to maintain our workboats, the purchase of a new mud wherry for our dredging operations and a programme of safety improvements on Breydon Water including a new, more appropriate patrol launch for the estuary.”