grendel

The main reason if you have a dud battery for not drop testing is that the gas can explore, I had one in a van do just that, took it off charge, went to start and boom, battery and acid everywhere, lucky it was in the engine bay not under my seat.

Currently reading this moored up at deep go dyke, got the kettle on for coffee.

about the same time they changed pub licencing hours, I bet you noticed that one.....

Doug, she is a lot better now than she was coming from Martham, that was brute force and ignorance, since we replaced the cable she is a lot lighter to steer. but in marthams shed out of the water she was so hard to steer that I broke the cable.

"lets get as many people in on the consultation as we can, then any blame can be spread a lot thinner"- you mean?

I dont pick up judith 5 until Tuesday.

my level of welding is probably about on a par with yours, I have used both rod welders and gassless mig, and of the two the gasless mig is the better. yes they do jam at the feed - so do the gassed ones. I can join two pieces together, its strong it works, its not pretty

apart from the many hire boats with the number on the rear cabin, that were ignored by the rangers.

I think I have figured a solution that would satisfy the bylaws to the letter at least.

Why does this strike me as having a great potential to go horribly wrong? - even if it does achieve its goal, it seems a little too close to playing god for my liking, surely the correct thing to do would be remove the root cause (they mention fertilisers draining into the waters, rather than playing around with the eco balance? a lot of other factors have changed since they closed cockshoot broad and cleaned that, dredging practices, etc was cockshoot ever open to boaters? and is it still open to boaters? hmm that could be a bad precedent to follow.

I would also think that viewing numbers on the stern of the boat would be impossible as the stern is generally below the quay heading, I could see the point that numbers on the cabin sides might be obscured by the boats moored alongside as viewed from either side of the wet shed, so it could be said that the ranger could not see any of the numbers, either due to the adjacent boats, or because the whole of the transom would not be visible. Sort of makes it a bit pointless to check the boats while they are in the wet shed doesnt it. unless of course they had a target list of boats already in mind.

I think that photo of Ivy Lady also highlights the problem of putting the numbers at that location, ie at the point on the bow with the greatest sheer, at this position and as indicated in the photo they are clear - when viewed from about water level at a distance of about 15 foot, even at this angle the numbers are distorted by perspective and the angle of the sheer. from a position higher up (from the bank or another boat) the angle of the sheer will just make this number less easy to read - a direct contravention of the part in the guidelines that says or the bylaw that requires it to be conspicuously displayed. in similar cases with the transoms of sailing boats the guidelines allow for some degree of re positioning to make the number conspicuous, which is arguably the reason Broad Ambition has them on the cabin side.

Also they say it is to prevent confusion due to boat names being repeated, just how many Broad Ambitions are there?, I suppose it must be because Griff has disguised her by changing the mast. I too disagree with the fact they are only enforcing the rules for some, and that they must enforce them for everyone or not at all.

not to mention the fender line is partially obscuring the number

I cannot help but think that a lot of hire boats also display their reg number on the cabin at the stern, plus pictures I have seen of at least some day boats show their reg numbers on the cabin sides amidships. I will have to have a rough count when I am on the water next week

we get signs down this way saying heavy plant crossing - i waited all day, but apart from a few diggers, no trees went across.

as islander mentioned above, they do issue receipts, he has the receipt for all 4 of his boats on one sheet, since a receipt has been issued, surely that means he should display it.

I agree with you there, must be my bad wording of things again, but I do stand by the fact that by not issuing toll plaques the broads Authority is contravening bylaw 22 on every boat on the broads. (the plaque being the recognised form of the tolls receipt). surely then if the penalty for non display is £1000, then the Authority owes a fair amount to itself for that non display.

you dont have tractor paths - we do down here in kent, running along next to the main road. (there are also colliery cycle paths as wide as the roads down here too.)

I think the thing that stands out to me from this, is that compliance would have been far easier if the Rangers had chosen a better method of handling the issue, rather than just whacking an impersonal contravention notice on the boat, for the owner to find however long down the line, seems to be the wrong way to go about this. I am sure if people had been approached differently the same message could have been passed across in a much better manner, with less aggravation. I do note that the signature on Griffs letter is that of one of the new rangers announced in the minutes linked above by Paladin, so maybe being new to the post they did not realise that just about anyone would recognise Broad Ambition anywhere. I am sure if Griff had been sent a letter explaining in a nice manner, things would have been dealt with accordingly. that and the fact that the guidance leaflets that the broadcaster said would be issued with the toll reciepts dont seem to have been, would i think leave them on a sticky wicket legally, as if you have not received the guidance pamphlet, and been specifically informed before they issue a contravention notice, how were you supposed to know?

I tend to agree with MM on one point here, by targeting the highly visible boats, they get cannot then be accused of favouritism, but on the flip side, the boat has been fine for 53 years with the numbers displayed as they are, guidelines are just guidelines, the bylaws are enforceable, the question is does the positioning of the numbers on the cabin side comply with the near the bow part of the bylaws. then again are not the Broads Authority themselves committing an offence against the bylaws, by no longer issuing a toll plaque, they are ensuring nobody is in compliance with bylaw 22, can they in all honesty prosecute someone for contravention of the bylaws when a registration number has been clearly displayed, but they have not issued a toll plaque which should also be clearly displayed under the same bylaws.

MM we are talking about a Yorkshireman here you know.

Add a bow sprit and put the numbers on that - 2m from the front end (nb you might need waterproof glue)

I know I have the scarred knees to prove it too. (thats how I know when its time to trim their claws.)