Cheesey

Don't take this as I told you so but now I'm sailing on the open seas the previous owner of my boat drummed it into me to maintain a spares box with one each of anything that could reasonably fail. Filters, belts, fuses, wire, nuts and bolts and yes, impeller. Also, I change mine every year and clean the heat exchanger. Now I know why.

My lord, I rest my case! And members of the jury, see above posts!

I'm going to stick my head above the parapet here but I find that a lot of posts turn into discussions more suited to message programs rather than forum posts by members who know each other well and the whole topic spirals into friendly banter that has nothing to do with the topic. This gives the feeling that you have wondered in to a friends discussion. I remember a thread that turned into a discussion on shoes although fun it meant you had to wade through a page of nothing important that really could be messaged to each other. And duck

The dogs good I suppose...how is it at putting out fires?

Something like this thought process. Users on river? Not a lot. Our paying travellers who will moan and claim delay compensation to our franchise? More than a few. Hmm, who's more important to network rail and who's going to make the most noise and cost votes to whom ever?

In the Med, that's nearly how we do it. Nearly all marinas are stern on so we drop the anchor, keep that line tight as we motor back ready to pick up the lazy lines for the stern. Believe me the cross winds are quite something but the bow is steady and from personal experience at eccles, that is how I do it.

How about, "Fancy an early one Bob?" "Can't got a lift at 4:15" "Nah, tell them we have a problem and we will do it first thing tomorrow."

This not a fanboy forum is it? Or is it beginning to turn into one? All opinions are equal as long as no one gets insulted. And no ones opinion is more equal than others. The big danger is forming a little gang of opinions that no one is allowed to comment on.

I'm sorry I did not think it was compulsory to read this thread. My mistake then. That's probably why you dislike the thread so much. A lot of people said much the same to me when I bought my westerly Longbow and taught myself how to sail. Really hard to hear them as I sail off into the big blue.

Why break a gas tight connection? No guarantee it would seal again. Turn water off, drain out as much as you can, leave tap open to provide room for expansion

More birdwatchers, more people visit with knitted vests made out of shredded wheat, more they want to freeze The Broads in time and more the boating community gets pushed out.

Guilty as charged. I don't mind a Tescos bar selection with a great meal cooked on board at a fraction of a night out in a pub. Spend more money on the boat then..

As an aside, who has a sight hole fitted in their engine compartment in order to inject fire suppression?

Sometimes you get an unresponsive throttle because some boat yards set tick over high so that the high power alternator can charge the batteries. Sitting at 750 revs won't do it. So you will notice tick over at about a thousand. Most pumps won't let you set it this high unless you adjust throttle lever stop and you end up getting a big dead zone on the lever. Trouble is this still Will push you through the water fairly briskly makes slow manoeuvres tricky.

Was it a holiday park?

But what was that place just before great yarmouth yacht station with the massively long moorings and has been deserted for years?

I feel that if the EA have used sheet piling for flood defence then we should be able to rond there on the basis of we helped pay for it. Stick a fence a couple of meters behind for landowners benefit and everyone's a winner. Or am I being silly?

Just a question, do the owners of the land pay for flood defence?

For me it's the small things, the niggly things that get on my nerves. Last year I hired a top notch (so they said) boat that was full of minor faults. I used to work in a plant hire yard renting out some serious kit on a fast turn around as these things don't pay for themselves sitting unused. Each unit had a multi point check list that we ran through before cleaning and servicing. Everything from ease of filler cap opening to the catch on the document draw working. I'd expect this as a minimum.

If it's a low wash hull its going to do that a lot especially wind over tide. Tide going out, fine. Coming in, noisy.

Had a great time once going past the turn off for oulton broad heading towards GY. I pass this sailie on the corner bits and he would fly past me on the straights rigging singing as he went. Effortlessly. Then I'd catch him on the tack for a corner. That's when I fell in love with the rag and stick ( no not Mrs cheesey )

Got a theory. Is it the big family holiday with the kids on the broads is a thing of the past? No need to go in school holidays then. My two teenager's a few years back looked at me with horror when I suggested a floating holiday. My ears rang with tales of lack of mobile signal and lack of life. I just smiled and said what a shame, just me and your mother then!

That was a best scenario. Is it the remit of BA? Trying to keep everybody happy they vibrate in place? Me personally, since the place is about as natural as a tuna sandwich, I would place the boating world slightly higher than the rest. Keep people coming back to it, keep them loving it and keep people interested in it. Where I work very few people know of the Broads and those that do know is often memories from old holidays. I've been going there on and off for 30 years and I have seen the decline of the Broads as a place to visit but at least nature is doing well. I now sail around the s.e. coast in my boat but I still come back to the Broads and indeed plan on sailing right in for a week next year. But I'm still puzzled why it's so hard to moor in Wroxham, Horning and the like and the sad end of world that is Potter and yet Beccles provides? Or that getting water is getting harder and that no mooring signs are a growing industry. Sad rant over.

Don't really matter either way. Beauty of living in a country without a written constitution is the law can be whatever they say it is when they say it will be. Ancient rights can and have been modernised to suit.

Simple really. If we could have a do over, then BA would take over every bank and broad and would be no problem. But the Broads evolved piecemeal and typical of this country an impressive sounding name covers limited powers. As income and transport moved away from the broads most land owners no longer had to fight the rising waters or tend to the banks, the river became just another field boundary. A major change in law is needed. The EA should take over all river banks to 3 meters. Why should public money pay for flood defence and we then denied the use of it? If the landowner can't or won't pay then we have it off you and the public will still be protected. Because believe me, if the Broads don't get more free moorings then it will turn into an elitist destination.