grendel

thats interesting, I was watching a video of a pilot boat taking off a pilot in heavy weather and did note the pilot rail all around the boat, under a metre from the deck edge, except for the one area where the rubbing strake was thickened up, and which was the area for embarkation and disembarkation, here the pilot rail carried round across the deck, and a second section of pilot rail went around the bow and back across the deck, giving an area about 1m wide where you could stand and hold 2 rails, i also noticed that the crew member who went to the bow to assist the disembarking pilot clipped a safety line to one of those rails, with a pilot rail you can be clipped on a safety line without restricting your movement when anchoring or mooring up. I have always believed that those steps at the rear of a lot of the boats are a safety concern, as there is such a small area at the bottom to take that last step, though short of moving the steps I dont see a solution other than additional hand rails or a guard rail at that point. maybe clip on safety lines could form part of the solution, but then that comes back to the choice of wearing one, similarly to lifejackets. I believe its now well documented that the only time I have taken an accidental dunking was while wearing a lifejacket, though it is a manual kind and not automatic, but at the time I chose not to bother deploying it as I was relatively safe in the water, and comfortable in my ability not to drown, finding a suitable place on the bank to get out of the water was the biggest issue, and when I did it was by rolling like a seal onto a slipway, where an inflated lifejacket would have made this manouver nigh on impossible. the lifejacket is always ready to hand near the helm position, and though there are places where I dont wear it when going on deck, there are others such as Breydon, that I will always put it on before venturing on deck, once again - that is down to personal choice. though if you are a novice or uncertain I would always advise wearing on on deck. I would put one on for instance if planning to moor at Great Yarmouth, or other tidal area with strong currents. Also a lot will depend on the mooring and access to posts, as I have a centre cleat, i do like to use that for initial mooring and if I can achieve that initial mooring without leaving the boat, I will do, as once i have one centre line on and secure, I can take my time with all the other lines. another point that I have to stress is clear communication, between helm and crew, the helm should clearly state what he is about to do when mooring and tell the crew what to expect, they in turn should clearly communicate that they have understood, and also communicate when their part is done. an example of mooring up from lads week would be- Helm,- deploy starboard fenders, i want someone fore and someone aft to take the ropes ashore and tie fast. crew response - starboard fenders deployed, forward ropes ready - aft ropes ready come alongside - crew ashore with mooring lines crew, - stern line fast, fore line fast. after a departure, a report to the helm that fenders were up, and that all the ropes were secure (cheesed) would be passed to the helm (and if you are really clever you can pass this to the helm before he needs to ask for it to be done, as its a standard procedure). this is just an example of what helm / crew communication should be, everyone clear what they should be doing, and everyone reporting the status back to the helm. normally communication isnt a problem, you can just shout forward, though we do have multiple pmr radios aboard should that be necessary, maybe some form of intercom system could be fitted to dual helms to facilitate communication between helm locations that dont have a direct easy verbal communication path.

its not on the front either, but its a job that can be done afloat, so not mission critical

i bump my head on most boats at 6'4", all I really ask though is a bed long enough to stretch out on, for me thats more the issue.

yes the rear access steps have always been a concern, one slip going up or down and there is only the water to land in/ on. as for trial runs, I guess everyone assesses the hirers capability differently, for exampe I am sure that a certain yard the wrong side of potter heigham bridge let you loose, but then they will be carefully watching your boat handling skills as you approach the bridge to pick up the yard pilot to take you through, handling skills when unsupervised probably give more away than any supervised trial run, and there arent a lot of obstacles en route to the bridge from their yard. the talk through of the boat is pretty thorough.

In light of the publication of the MAIB report we understand that discussions around the subject of Boat Safety may be beneficial. However for various reasons we will make it clear right now that specifics from the MAIB report are not to be discussed. (any posts after this one that do so refer will be removed) out of respect for the families involved (including children)and the hire yard and employees and everyone else involved, we feel that discussing the report in detail might be detrimental to their well being. the thread after that incident ran for 26 pages, and ended up being locked due to many controversial and confrontational posts. Please bear in mind these discussions are on the open forum accessible to all (including those involved).

son of an electrician

make a bigger mesh cap you can put over the entire thing

for clarity i will add some snapshots from the video this shows the fence at the end of the mooring- apparently built at the edge of the pumping outfall (from the fence behind) this i presume is the pumping station built on the bank of the dyke inland (shown alongside and slightly to the rear of the moored boat and this last shows the land boundaries from the land registry, so if the land registry boundary is anything to go by, and the fence for the moorings is by the pump outfall, then there may well be a cause for the farmers complaint, if however the original moorings ended at the pump outfall, then the BA have not extended the moorings. but the footpath (a public right of way at this point) does not turn inland until after the pump outfall (where it says angles way on the above picture) a right case for confusion indeed. and the land between the two boundaries shown above shows as unregistered land on the land registry (no transfers over the past 30 years- or possibly crown land). still it has been reported to a ranger now, so no doubt it will all get sorted in due course. (since when has any legal boundary dispute been resolved quickly)

no, I have no idea whether the farmer was involved in any discussions, but descending into the realms of supposition here, surely if he had been, the EA would have at least halted work on the disputed section. but the facebook post did mention that the moorings ended downstream of the pumping outfall, so any disputed land would surely not amount to a whole boat length.

from memory that was about where the fence was shown on the video posted on facebook, the boat was in line with the dyke shown inland and stated he was downstream of the pump outfall.

a point i believe raised by myself over on the facebook discussion.

looking nice and shiney

since as you say there is nothing to add, i have taken the liberty of locking the topic. as such it will be for information only.

I believe that issue only related to a short section of the mooring at the upstream end, hopefully the BA will get things clarified with the farmer, and all will be well.

i believe Clive now runs Horning Pleasure craft, while his brother runs Richardsons

See, like this.

the ones down the sides on the model have always been mahogany, so in reality they are just bringing the boat on a par with the model, however the top strake isnt and wont get changed now, though it was laminated at the bow in exactly the same way Robin made the new one.

i have to admit how to wire the lights had me stuck for months just trying to figure out how i would do it.

well she has had several test sails up to this point, but the official launch, as Leo would say on tally Ho, two years I hope to get her to the meet with full running lights - thats just a few weeks away now. the problem is that the small details take time, for instance, just fitting and wiring 1 light can be an hours work, so generally i get one done per day this is because it is just that fiddly.

well I have been slowly working on the lights, I have all the aft cabin roof fittings done now, just the port deck lights still to be done

cut through a piece of 1/4" steel like a knife through butter.

i may well be around on water Rail that week, but heading back south toward the end of the week

so this morning was testing the latest lidl purchase for the workshop, purchased a few weeks back, but today I got it outside, fired up the air compressor, hooked to the mains and fired it up, yes lidls had plasma cutters on the shelves and one fell into my basket. not up to running it from the solar just yet, I am only getting an amp or so incoming with no direct sunlight, and my batteries leave some to be desired, both being second hand and slightly tired. still its charging them. and gives me the suitable alternate supply if required.

that new rubbing rail round the bow is looking just perfect.

well all wired up now, just got to tidy up the wiring