Vaughan

I assume they are insured? During the war, they weren't. I knew a lot of "ammo techs" when I was in the Army. They are very competent people who know exactly what they are dealing with. I don't think the local population could be in better hands just now. Aren't you over reacting, rather, to a little bit of black humour? Or is Hylander right?

My Mother in law used to tell us about all the bombing when she lived in Gorleston and had to be evacuated many times. Of course we feel for all those who are displaced and whose property may be in danger. But at least today with all the precautions, they are in no danger of their own lives. During the war, their sense of humour was largely what saw them through.

On a different thread lately, I said I would look up some photos of when I used to work on the gas platforms, back in the mid 80s. Sorry they are not good quality but all I had was a little point-and-press Kodachrome pocket job. Digital technology was still a long way in the future! This rig is British Gas 47/3B, on the Rough Field, just off the Humber Estuary. The photo is taken from the deck of a crane barge moored alongside, so you can't see the platform legs, going down to the sea bed. The rig was a fixed structure but the crane barge was a "semi sub" which had to be moored on anchors. Someone told me that the height was the same as Norwich Cathedral. There was certainly a difference of 8 millibars air pressure, between sea level and the flight deck. Slightly left bottom you can see the footbridge which connected the two. The crane barge was also an accommodation platform for all the construction workers (known as the bears) who worked alternate shifts completing the construction of the drilling platform. There were about 1000 men at any one time, working on the main platform. In rough weather the bridge was removed and we had to change the shifts every day by "shuttling" them across in helicopters. A big exercise in logistics! Here is the crane barge being towed away, one foggy morning and you can see one of the anchor handling tugs. Someone told me that crane would lift 800 tons. The drilling rig, almost finished. The platform was already in production but previous wells had been drilled by floating rigs alongside. Lowering a garbage skip down to a supply ship which has backed up to the platform legs. A long way down! One of the very powerful anchor handling tugs. Notice the big fire monitors, on either wing of the monkey island. I believe this may have been the same ship which, many years later, towed the salvaged wreck of the cruise liner, Costa Concordia. Another way of coming aboard, by crane basket. You put your baggage inside the net and then stood around the edge, holding on. No harness, of course, and 4 men at a time. I don't think they allow this particular method any more! These are the "slots" which are the actual pipe casings coming up from the wells below. On the deck above is the "Christmas tree" with all the control valves. In a real emergency there were hydraulic shears on the sea bed, which could cut through the casings and any drill pipe inside them, to close off the well for good. This is a smaller platform, on the Leman Bank off Yarmouth. I don't know how many photos I can post at once, so I will post this and start another one.

The EDP have just said that Bomb Disposal say it is too dangerous to move, so they are building a sand wall around it before blowing it up on site. They have already shifted about 400 tons of sand, apparently. Police have announced a major incident. Should be interesting! As for other members' comments on improvements to the GY area, I can't help thinking of Sir John Betjeman : Come, friendly bombs and fall on Slough : It isn't fit for humans now.

Quite probably. That area was bombed a lot in the last war. If so and it goes off, it is enough to flatten several houses.

According to the EDP it seems pretty serious. They are evacuating homes and closing roads in the Southtown area. It seems it was discovered during dredging works around the second river crossing.

That's what it's for. It is also what the temperature gauge is for, if you keep your eye on it. Keep it simple.

Let's keep things simple. When you re-pack a stern gland, do the nuts up just a little more than finger tight, and then run the engine in ahead gear at about 1500 revs for at least 10 minutes. I emphasise that the boat has to be in the water before you do this, or you will burn out your brand new cutless bearing! After 10 minutes the gland should be warm to the touch. If it is too hot to touch, slack off the nuts by about one turn each, and try again. If the gland is dripping too fast after stopping the engine, you have slacked off too much. You will eventually find the right balance. A stern gland will always have a slight, slow drip when the engine is not running. Maybe one drip every 10 seconds.

Don't make the mistake of thinking that the north rivers are "fresh water". Galvanic corrosion is affected by many other properties in the water : not just salt.

Don't forget the "Belaugh Bumps", on the old road to Coltishall!

During the war, my father was skipper of a 60ft British Powerboat Co. motor torpedo boat, with 3 Napier Sea Lion engines. Part of the 2nd MTB Flotilla, based in Hong Kong. Very often there was not a lot of battery power, so the centre engine was started, then the other two had to be "towed in". I have just found quite a few photos of my time on the platforms, which may be of interest to the forum. I shall see how they scan up, and probably post them on a separate thread tomorrow.

Yes, that ticks all the boxes! The sports car was a Triumph TR2.

I did 18 months in the Rough Field, on British Gas 47/3B, as HLO and rig clerk, then another 18 months as HLO off Yarmouth, on British Gas 27/E. Flying out of Easington for the first one and then North Denes heliport. I know what you mean about the crane ops! They were great people. I shall have to look up some photos - they were good times.

When that series first came out, I was working in the North Sea on a gas platform and the crew all used to get together and watch it on TV in the evening. They would all turn to me and ask "is that really what boatbuilding is like, Vaughan?" I advised them that a better fantasy was just to watch his daughter, in her bikini. You remember the one, who didn't need to wear a lifejacket - if she fell in, her chest would keep her floating face up.

My tab key takes me straight back to the Safari "favourites" page.

Good Old Gregg!

Which tends to suggest how very much they rely on the summer tourist trade, rather than "regular" local people who live in the area. So can the BA be accused of killing the goose, that laid the golden eggs? If Ranworth Maltsters were to go out of business, that really would be a "nail in the coffin" of north rivers cruising. Whether or not their nice little "visitor centre" with nice leaflets about Bewilderwood and Wroxham Barns, were still open. Now to be paid for, it seems, from the toll fund. When on holiday, what exactly do you need a visitor centre for, when you are standing there on Ranworth staithe? Did the existence of this little facility actually attract you to go there in the first place? Either by car, boat or paddle board? I somewhat doubt it. But of course, it's another box to tick when you are "working in partnership" with other quangos, to demonstrate your efforts to "open up the area to a wider public". Give me strength . . . .

Which one is that? It's not on my keyboard . . . It's a pity really - it was one of the very few pieces of IT that I had actually found out how to use. So, as they say in Norfolk - hatta start agin!

Tell me headmaster, is your school co-educational? You can't baffle me with long words. Yes but what I mean is; do your boys and girls share the same curriculum? No, we had separate ones built. Yes, but how do you segregate the sexes? If you must know, I go round with a crowbar and I prize them apart!

"You can't baffle me with long words!" Peter Sellers.

Let's just take a step back for a moment! If this thing is still in its cardboard box I presume you can still return it? Have you considered a manual anchor winch, which can do the same job for a mud weight? Your problem is that you cannot lift the weight on your own. So why not simply go up to the foredeck, crank a handle and wind it up? I know for a fact that VETUS make manual winches and there may be several others on the market. They are easy to use. This means no extra high tension wiring, no extra batteries, no charge splitting, and all the rest of it. The actual installation into the foredeck of your boat would not need any more Fibreglass and wood reinforcement, than if you installed an electric motor version. Let's keep it simple!

I know James as one of the most honest and forthright people I have met. His problem (perhaps just like mine) may be that he does not "suffer fools gladly". Of course he realised there would be an increase in tolls this year! But did he have any indication that they would be way over existing, or predicted, rates of inflation? And did he have any more idea than the rest of us, how the BA could justify that increase? As to the EDP, I note that their reporting has been much more aggressive in this area lately. They have been accused in the past, even on this forum, of being poodles of the BA. Could it be that there is a wind of change?

Exactly. But what is the "one off" reason this year? Unless, as suggested in the press, it is to use toll fund money for other "NP" expenses? I do know James, actually : He is my brother -in-law.

On reading the article again, including the MPs' letter to the BA, it is clear that toll rises are normally announced in November, following discussion with the BHBF and the nav committee. So this year, why was there apparently no discussion and if there was, why were boatyard members excluded from it and why was it only announced two weeks ago? What is so special about this year, that this rise has been hidden until now? And, of course, what is it supposed to be for? Sorry Meantime, but you cannot budget for the winter maintenance and presentation of a hire fleet, let alone consider building new ones, if you don't even know what your fixed costs are going to be until halfway through the month of January! James will have done his business plan for this year way back in September, not now.

Is that an informed comment? Hire boat operators are in the seasonal tourist business and have to make their decisions a year in advance. Not just from the marketing point of view, but to try and decide how much of a business overdraft you can afford, to cover the cost of materials and labour, to try and present your hire fleet in good order for next season's customers. Oh, please tell me about that! I have just spent the last 3 days trying to extract my credit balance out of a bank where I have held my current account for sixty years, after they decided to close it, as well as cutting me off from all communication by "on line" or telephone banking. And all this because of BREXIT. So I am made to feel like an alien to my own country. At least I still appear to be allowed to own my own boat on the Norfolk Broads, so I will continue to "fight my corner" from there.