Hearts Cruisers - Queen of Hearts Y408 - 1953 -The Official NORFOLK BROADS FORUM

River Rat
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MANXMAN

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Hi everyone,

I wonder if any members could help me with information or pictures of the former Hearts Cruisers Queen of Hearts and King of Hearts.

These Hearts boats were superb craft and Commander Ron Ashby and his wife set very high standards in terms of customer service and quality of the boats for hire.

My family holidayed on a number of their craft (Heartbeat, Heart Throb and Princess of Hearts) but I especially recall holidays on the King and Queen and despite dozens of holiday pictures in our old family albums there is not one of a boat - typical - we forgot the star of each holiday!

Any help would be gratefully received.
Nigel

This message was edited by MANXMAN on Dec-3-10 @ 9:31 AM

steve

Dec-03-2010 @ 11:12 AM

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steve

hi there ,
well heres your first place to look and good start ,
http://www.horning.org.uk/boatsearch.php?RegNo=y408&aand=EQ&bname=&tand=ST&search=yes&list=yes&unique=0&page=search
good luck

steve and vicky

AdnamsGirl

Dec-03-2010 @ 11:32 AM

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Mardles sometimes
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I have a couple of pictures of King of Hearts on Broadland Memories. There are two interior pics in the article which was written by Vaughan Ashby on the evolution of Broads Cruisers ... scroll down to the bottom of this page for those:

http://www.broadlandmemories.co.uk/page145.html

Actually, there are some wonderful images of various Hearts boats in that, and the article itself gives quite a bit of info on the boatyard and boat design whilst Ron Ashby owned it.

And there are a couple of pictures of the boat itself which were taken by Michael Hannant in the 70s - one at the very bottom of this page and another at the top of the next page.

I can't help with Queen of Hearts I'm afraid.

Carol

http://www.broadlandmemories.co.uk
An Archive Of The Golden Era Of Boating On The Norfolk & Suffolk Broads

This message was edited by AdnamsGirl on Dec-3-10 @ 10:38 AM

DanHorner

Dec-03-2010 @ 2:47 PM

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There's a few photos on the Hearts website, and I'm always keen to add more if you have any...

http://www.heartscruisers.co.uk/fleetphotos.html

All the best

Dan

http://www.fbwilds.horning.org.uk (My website on the Caribbean bathtub!)
http://www.dhorner.horning.org.uk (My General Boating Website)

Japonica

Dec-03-2010 @ 8:13 PM

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Hi Nigel,
King of Hearts is undergoing a superb restoration at the moment. The owner has had the hull rebuilt properly along with new decks and the cabin sides being refurbished. The work is being carried out by a top notch craftsman who is doing a fantastic job.
cheers
Mat

GeoffP

Dec-05-2010 @ 8:50 PM

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Hi there
Last time I saw King of Hearts was in a shed at Wayford Bridge having the aforementioned top quality restoration, it had a already been there about a year by that time.

At some time previously it had the upper works changed to a fixed type then spent some time moored at Horning I think. I believe i then changed hands and the new owners described the hull as like Weetabix and the current restoration started.

My sister, husband and friends hired King of Hearts the year after we had Queen of Hearts. Super traditional craft from a very good yard.

News of Queen of Hearts is not so good. I'm told she was being worked on at Wayford Bridge a few years ago and the owner lost patience with her and cut her up with a chainsaw. Might be a 'Broads legend' but I've seen no sign of her in recent visits.

I've got some photos I'll send them to Dan for his site. They're not particularly good quality but that's all I have.

Regards
Geoff

Japonica

Dec-06-2010 @ 9:18 AM

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Japonica

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A friend who used to work at a sailmakers had Queen of Hearts some years ago, even then she was in a bit of a state, and he intended restoring her. She was moved to a yard at Womack but they were reluctant to lift her due to the general condition, so we moved her to the other end of Womack where she stayed until being asked to move on. Thats when she then moved to Wayford and subsequently broken up.

DanHorner

Dec-08-2010 @ 8:27 PM

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I've just extended/improved the history section of the website, with some additional information that Vaughan Ashby has sent me, and also added several more photos.

You might find just a few more bits of interest now in the History section, as well as the Boat & Base Photo sections.

www.heartscruisers.co.uk

All the best

Dan

http://www.fbwilds.horning.org.uk (My website on the Caribbean bathtub!)
http://www.dhorner.horning.org.uk (My General Boating Website)

brijan

Dec-09-2010 @ 4:20 PM

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Knows that Roys is in Hoveton
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Hi Nigel ...This week we bought a Safari ..According to
the Broads Boats database ...It was previously owned by
Hearts Cruisers and was named Princess of Hearts l.
She is now moored near Beccles and will shortly be
renamed Maytime Safari
Not had time to photograph her yet but we will be
working on her and taking a few photos as soon as the
weather improves a bit.. ..Later in the year you would
be welcome to come aboard and take as many photos as
you wished
Regards
BriJan

MANXMAN

Jan-13-2011 @ 8:57 AM

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