dnks34

Is that tongue in cheek as Id say that wash is significant!!

The EDP really get up my nose.....

Thats slightly worrying. Surely petrol vapour collecting in your bilges is quite hazardous? We have two diesel cars in our household. We could have had a petrol and a diesel but then the wife would be at risk of putting the wrong fuel in one of them so I thought it best to keep it simple!! Apart from that unless we are talking something with a 5.3L V8 petrol Id prefer the turbo diesel to the standard petrol everytime, I just prefer the way they drive. I was behind one of those chicken chaser motorbikes earlier with L plates on it. The fumes coming off that were worse than any run of the mill diesel I have ever been behind.

By any chance was it the sailing club before you get to Beccles? That one can be a nightmare when there are races on as theres not a lot of space. If they just had a coherant method of directing people trying to go by life would be so much simpler!

I do agree the decor is nice and they have done a good job of redesigning the space and the bar its just a shame it had to be done in there really. For anyone who hadnt been and seen it the way it used to be they wont know what there is to miss I suppose! The chopping boards wouldnt stop me going in if I was hungry thats for sure!

Waveney River Centre is certainly worth the visit but I cant say Im overly taken with the pub since its traditional interior was vandalised (sorry refurbed) and the convivial atmosphere destroyed along with it. Every time I have eaten there the food has been nice thats providing you like it served on a plank of wood, I have always wondered how they serve soup!

I think the Horning to Wroxham stretch is really one of the nicer parts of the broads and probably my favourite part aswel as some sections of the Ant. Only in the quieter months mind as it just gets to busy like whacky races during the season and we dont find that enjoyable at all but as has been said we are all different!

A petrol car might carry 60 or 80 ltrs of petrol not the larger quantities a boat could have onboard. A car could still go bang but maybe not as spectacularly as boat?! If the car is still on the road it will be mot'd every year so the rusty fuel pipe ends up getting noticed before anything goes wrong. Also the car isnt going to have shore power, a gas cooker and probably other potential sources of ignition like leisure batteries etc that wouldnt be found on a car. Petrol boats are very common in the USA but then gas is cheap as chips. If I lived over there I would most probably be tempted by one. Im not saying they are all dangerous, each to their own and all that.

I hadnt thought of it that way but your absolutely right!

Also if im not mistaken, the boat covered in fenders is also steel hulled!!! They really must be worried!!

The boat draped in fenders is on one of the worst moorings on the broads for likelihood of getting hit! We had that spot for a few months over one winter, brilliant location view wise but we soon moved on before it got busy! Its not for anyone with a weak heart anyway!

Looks more like a tail back because of the boat turning!

The issue I have with petrol engines on boats is the 700+ litres of petrol most of these boats carry and the inherant dangers of that amount of petrol in one place. If petrol installations had to be proffessionally checked yearly maybe over a certain tank storage size then I would feel happier about mooring next to one overnight thats for sure! In my opinion there is an over obsession with pollution and emissions. If we want trucks/cars/busses/powered boats etc which I am all in favour of then we are going to have to accept that a certain amount of pollution cant be avoided. If we can minimise it then great but trying to eliminate every unpleasant molecule when youve got dirty great big diesel trains running about late at night with 4 people on is somewhat ridiculous. In my sceptical view all these things we are told we can and cant do each day is more to do with the people doing it justifying their mostly pointless and expensive jobs than anything else. Remember global warming, didnt that turn out to be manipulated rubbish?! Why dont we start putting money into the things that really matter.

I did say maybe im not an expert!! Roughly how many hireboats were there back in the good days Clive?

Is it a natural occurance or a result of the increasing number of boats now based on and using the Ant maybe.

Its definately not the Dawncraft as Chelsea says, you can see its still there at the end of the moorings in one of the pictures.

It was the only one there when we went past last weekend.

If some effort could be put into addressing some of the issues Lowestoft is suffering then it could be a much nicer and more prosperous Town. Traffic, theres a case to be made for a railway not being allowed to strangle a town in the way that I believe it does. Traffic going across Town or through Oulton Broad is usually terrible and in my opinion unless the Bascule goes up its mostly a result of the 2 Level Crossings at Oulton Broad. I cant understand how the number of trains coming through is sustainable when more often than not they appear sparsely occupied. It not only causes fairly continuous and unnecessary delays on the roads but must be affecting businesses, employment and the wider local economy by putting businesses off the Town, even the cheap clothes shops havent come here yet! Try living in London I hear you say but this is Lowestoft with probably a oneth of London's population, you would never think it living here! Otherwise the Town does have very good road transport links. That is so long as the buses are not caught in traffic. For example, Recently as some of you may know Bridge Road in Oulton Broad has been closed Northbound for repairs to the Gas Main. Then some bright spark puts filter lights in on the lifting bridge over Mutford Lock for a barrier to be repaired, that is aswell as the railway crossings holding everything up and the traffic chaos caused by the gas main works. It took me over an hour to travel less than a mile that day and in Lowestoft things like this seem to happen regularly. The last time I walked along the promenade it was mostly barricaded off with metal fencing. It didnt look good, the town needs some serious investment and lets not even start on the state of the High Street! I hear the ugly but in my opinion valuable multi story car park by wilko's is due to go soon, thats going to put even more people off coming and spending money in the Town. Still when thats gone they can move on to closing the public loos just next door because no one needs them these days....... Driving standards in Lowestoft are also shocking but thats another thread for another day and In fairness its an East Anglia wide problem. Lowestoft could be a little Gem on the East Coast but its more like a boil on an otherwise pretty face, almost everywhere you look its pretty clear its had its day. But having said all that it does still have some pleasant features. I dont think the Min Carlo was mentioned that is well worth the visit (old fishing trawler in the harbour you can have a look round) If there are any town planners I would love to know what they are actually doing and who employed them! The area needs regeneration. Personally I dont think spending X millions on the promised third crossing is the answer to any of it. Changing the way trains access the Town would improve things no end.

Anything that helps make a boat easier to handle such as a bow thruster can only be a good thing in my opinion. I do agree with Viking's thoughts about the mudweight 100%. Not only can they be very heavy and unwieldy when trying to retrieve them but lobbing upwards of 20kg's off the deck attached to the boat with a rope does have an inherant danger to anyone lacking in the common sense and personal safety department and i am quite suprised no one to my knowledge has ever accidently drowned themselves deploying one!! If I ever looked at hiring in the future for health reasons a mudweight winch is one of my must haves even over the bow thruster!! We installed one ourselves on our own boat for around £100 and apart from the galavanised cable rather than rope or chain visible from the bow when its deployed you wouldnt know it was an ATV winch and not a specific marine version as its all hidden away! With a bit of ingenuity it can be done without having to buy any of the incredibley expensive manual or electric marine winches on offer!

Who are his superiors JM? Who does he answer to? It just seems far to cosy for him in my opinion.

Wasnt there also a Soviet named Stalin who once said "remove the man and you remove the problem"

Never heard those two!

I heard of one known as an "up ducky" !!

I do have an 18mm in the garage, I thought we were talking boat toolboxes!!!!

Im not sure about an 18mm spanner Ive never come across a need for one up to now but we do have a 19mm spanner and a long jemmy as part of our tool kit, the jemmy is for tensioning belts. I always carry a spare impeller, spare belts, spare oil and antifreeze and would like to think I could deal with most breakdowns myself if need be, i noticed before we left OB today a weap from the HE drain so that will be undone later in the week and having its washer renewed.