Vaughan

Quite true, but it gets a little complicated in France. French boat registration nowadays quotes the engine capacity in kilowatts. A pleasure boat of under 15 metres can be driven by those with the "permis fluvial" but up until about 1995 they were registered as having a horsepower of less than 9.9. So the permis bateau was known as the "neuf neuf". How this was calculated I don't know, as it doesn't have anything to do with the horsepower of the engine! BMC 1500 means, of course, a cylinder capacity of 1500 cubic centimetres, or 1.5 litres. As opposed to the Perkins 4108, which means 4 cylinders, of 108 cu. inches capacity.

I think it can be almost certain that this is the original BMC (Austin) 1500 vehicle engine, with marine parts by Thornycroft, which basically means the heat exchanger, sump (cale), oil pump, flywheel (volant) and bell housing (cloche en Francais). These engines have had other names, such as Tempest Captain and Leyland 1500. Caribbeans are advertised in old brochures with a BMC Captain engine. Some photos would help to identify.

Enjoy what? Other people's misfortunes? The previous thread was locked and now we can clearly see why. The buzzards are circling around the corpse. I thoroughly agree with Grendel and the mod team.

Don't think there's anyone around at the moment Andy - only about 4 of us logged on. I think folks are having a lie in, after yesterday. I watched the TV for 11 hours solid. Couldn't take my eyes off it!

I thought you said - several times - that you know nothing about the hire boat business? I can tell us a story that may illustrate the gravity of the problem : In 1993 I joined Crown Blue Line and was made manager of a new base on the Marne, at Chateau-Thierry. From November until the following Easter I had to make a builder's merchant's shed into a boatyard, receive boats from other bases, negotiate with local authorities on a river that had never seen hire boats before and get everything ready for our new base, advertised in the brochure, to start hiring boats for Easter. When Easter came, the weather turned bad and the river swelled up and flooded over the banks. I looked at the tree trunks flowing down the river past the quay and reckoned they were doing at least 8 kilometres an hour. Our boats were capable of 11 KPH. I drove to the nearest moorings available, up and downstream and found that the pontoons were already submerged underwater, so anyone trying to get shelter there, would be impaled on the mooring posts, since the pontoons were submerged. I had no choice but to phone my boss John Riddel, one of the founder members of Blue Line in France, and tell him I would have to close the base for Easter. John knew my experience from the Thames, so he backed me up and transferred all the bookings to other bases in the south of France. Meantime, at St Jean de Losne, on the Saone, the same flooding had occurred but the manager thought it was no problem and let all the boats out on hire. He was (is) a great friend of mine who had started his career with me at Port Cassafieres back in the 80s but he admitted to me later that he had only ever known canals before and didn't realise how badly rivers can flood. Anyway, a brand new Crusader, worth £180,000 cost price at the time, on its first week on hire, moored that night on a pontoon that was on the map, but submerged and found itself impaled on the mooring posts when the water went down again. Our best salvage expert (the manager from the river Lot) was sent to recover it but it was a wild mooring with no road access. The only solution was to jack up the inboard side, let it capsize and sink in the river. From there, it could be pumped and recovered by crane. The insurers agreed for the boat to be trucked back to England where Crown Cruisers, who had only just built it, could strip it out and start again. It came back to France about 3 months later. Yes, sure, you can haul it out, mend the holes and get it back on hire in a week, with all these teams of staff that people seem to think that boatyards have on hand, with nothing else to do. The problem from the hirer's point of view is that this boat will then be a rogue, that will suffer breakdowns for years afterwards. And all of these faults and failures will have to be suffered by the hirers and will come out of the time that they have to enjoy their weeks holiday on the Broads. That is not what I would call "preventive maintenance".

If only it were as easy as that. Grendel, by quoting you I am not replying to you personally but surely, we are off speculating again? Just pump it out, wipe the cushions, a quick squirt of Febreze in the headlining and away we go for next week. If that is what people think of the hire business then I despair of all I have been trying to explain here for years. It has been mentioned elsewhere that we have abnormal high water at the moment with salt water incursion far up the rivers from the sea. It was even noticed up as far as Potter. So that boat sank in brackish water. So goodbye all the electric wiring, pumps, motors and other equipment including light fittings. They may work now, but not for long! If there has been any cheapness in the building, by the use of chipboard or MDF then it is ruined. That also applies to the whole galley if it was made from flat pack kitchen units. Why do we think that our cars are always written off by insurance companies, if they they get caught in a flood?

I have always understood it to be a rule here that we do not "name and shame" boats which have found themselves in trouble. Perhaps it is a simple matter of courtesy, or maybe a thought that "it could have been me". And this sort of wild and totally irrelevant speculation is exactly why. Imagine what the hirer might say about this : I was not told on the trial run that with some valve turning and and blank removal the largest pump in the engine room, usually a water cooling pump . . . . can be deployed to counter flooding in the engine room. For Goodness' sake!

Thank you for that factual report, which I hope will allay the usual trial by forum which follows such incidents. "whose boatyard was it?" "Did they get a proper trial run?" "Was the boat properly serviced?" "Were they shown the video?" It seems to be acceptable on facebook but please, not here.

I have been looking for this for a couple of days. I knew I had it somewhere! Right to left here in 1953 are my mother, grandmother, aunt , and my cousin, restraining me from galloping off. We must have got there pretty early as I remember the huge crowds and the steady rain, all through the procession. I hope she gets better weather on Monday but if not, it didn't matter at all then, so it won't matter now.

It is a simple matter to set the tick-over a bit higher to avoid stalling. About 950 revs will do it. It also depends on the size and pitch of the propellor. On the principle that a thruster is only fully effective when the boat is stationary, I find it most convenient to be able to dis- engage the gears and rev up in neutral, to increase the power of the thruster. With practice, a 180 turn can be effected by going astern and thrusting at the same time and the boat really will turn in its own length. Electric thrusters only have one power setting, are a big drain on batteries and will overheat after a very few seconds running. There is a rocker switch on the dashboard which operates two solenoid valves on the power take-off, between the hydraulic pump and the two way valves for the main drive to the prop. Hence use of the thruster will diminish the flow to the hydraulic drive motor. Peachments have also developed soft opening valves, so that the thruster doesn't engage with a crash. This is why there is a second's delay after you push the button.

Remember the timing that was always used by the Warrant Gunner on a cruiser, when firing a Royal Salute : If I wasn't a gunner I wouldn't be here, fire ONE! If I wasn't a gunner I wouldn't be here, fire TWO! And on, to ninety-six . . . . .

I notice that the new Royal Cypher, with CR, not ER has appeared on the tie worn by the King at his accession, as well as on the door of his car. It seems to feature the "King's Crown" as used for K.G.VI, rather than the "Queen's crown" that we have known since 1952. Here on the left is my old Naval cap badge from the 1960s and on the right, my father's badge from the 40s, with the crown used by both K.G.5 and K.G.6. These are known as the King's and Queen's crowns but I believe it is a matter of choice as to which of the several crowns each Monarch wishes to use. This will mean all of the uniform badges, emblems and insignia are going to have be changed. I have just realised that my passport is going to run out in about 6 weeks, so it might not only be a delay due to Brexit, but a change of sovereign as well! I wonder when I will next see Norfolk?

Not sure about that. An ensign is "dipped" as a salute between ships. I noticed the flag over "Buck House" yesterday was about a third of the way down the pole.

I have a horrible feeling she is the Bishop of London! A wonderful lament on the pipes. I wonder if that was the Queen's piper, from Balmoral? They didn't tell us. And the wonderful words of the Nunc Dimittis. Lord now lettest thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word.

I have just remembered an old "chestnut" about that : They say the sun never sets on the British Empire. But in fact, it sets when their Lordships of the Admiralty say so!

This would refer to public buildings I imagine but not boats. You may not wear the Union Flag on a boat unless it is a warship. The ensign is raised to full mast at 0800 (morning colours) and immediately lowered to half mast. It is then raised to full mast at sunset and lowered. Sunset in summer is 2100 hours or actual sunset, whichever is the earlier. Ensigns are not left up at night and club flags and house flags, should remain at full mast. Times for half masting are normally the day of death and the day of the funeral but in this case I think it has been announced that flags on public buildings will remain at half mast from now until after the funeral, as the country will be in national mourning. By the way, don't expect to see the Royal Standard at half mast. It never can be, as it is the standard of the Monarch and there is always a Monarch. The Queen is dead, long live the King, etc! I believe I am right that the only time the Royal Standard has been half-masted was when the royal yacht brought the coffin of Queen Victoria from the Isle of Wight to the mainland but that would need "googling" for confirmation!

I sit here this morning feeling as though my batteries have just gone flat. The Queen has given meaning to so much of my life. I was born on the day She married Prince Philip and was 4 years old when I stood on the Mall, in the rain, and watched her coronation procession. So I can honestly say I remember the whole of her reign, from start to finish. At school I wore the Queen's uniform, as a cadet RNR. Later, I earned her commission as an Army officer, and still have it framed at home. As Griff so rightly says, she was The Boss. All servicemen know what "Queen and Country" really means. Later I wore her uniform again, as a special constable. The Navy, the Army and the Air Force will be "bulling their boots" right now. They are going to have a lot of work to do in the next few days. They will give her the sort of send - off that will be respected the world over. Yes we are all very sad - I am quite stunned - but we must be proud as well. Rejoice that we have known her! We all have the enormous privilege of having lived in the safety, protection and continuity of, surely, the greatest Monarch the World has ever known.

I am so glad I have just finished my lunch.

I am so sorry to have ruffled your feathers whilst trying to give a decent reply to the O.P.s question. I am heartily sick of this. A while ago now, I had a post removed when I was trying to defend myself from your constant flaming, as the mod team said they preferred to deal with it. Well, as they say on military radios - "nothing heard, wait out".

I told you, didn't I? My father was a commander in the Navy in the War and a founder member of the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club before it, so flag etiquette for him, was vital, even for a yacht on Wroxham Broad. It is rather a question of maintaining standards, and the paying of compliments, by the correct positioning of flags and ensigns. As I said, it goes back hundreds of years. I wrote an article on it a few years ago, which was published as a booklet in the River Cruiser magazine, to explain the origins and seniority of club flags, the history of a commodore's "broad pennant", the seniority (and defacing) of ensigns, and a lot of other things for those who were not sure what to "wear" and when. I was thinking of posting it here on the forum but as you see, it is better I keep my head down.

Ensigns are traditionally made of bunting, which is very hard wearing, when flapping in the wind. This was woven in 9 inch strips which were known as breadths. So a flag a yard wide is said to be of 4 breadths. The ensign is the national colour of your vessel so it is whatever size is best to distinguish it from a distance to other vessels, which in the old days, might be at war with you! I have read somewhere that the correct length for your ensign is one inch for every foot length of the yacht. I think what really matters is the extent to which you wish to display your nationality with pride! The red ensign dates back to about 1700 which is a lot older than the present day White Ensign of the Navy and used to have the banner of St George in the "hoist" long before the present day Union Flag, which incorporates the crosses of St George, St Andrew and St Patrick. In the 17th century the Navy was split into 3 squadrons, which were identified by a red, white or blue ensign. Hence Nelson was known as an Admiral "of the Blue". The Navy later always wore the white ensign in battle, including Trafalgar, as it avoided confusion with the French Tricolor. When the present day white ensign (with the cross of St George) was introduced, the blue ensign was accorded to auxiliary vessels and port establishments and the merchant navy were accorded the red ensign, since they had been wearing it for 100 years by then, anyway! This is why the Navy also took to wearing the Union Flag in the forward rigging, to show that they were a warship, not a merchant ship and the union flag may still only be worn by warships, at the jack-staff when not under way. Hence it has become known as the Union Jack. I have an antagonist on this forum who will be waiting to pounce on me as soon as I mention anything to do with the sea but it is true that in theory, you have no need of your ensign in inland waters as you have already entered the country. All the same, flag etiquette is a fascinating subject with hundreds of years of tradition going back to Tudor times and nowadays, we with our pleasure boats are about all that is left of the British Merchant Navy. So why shouldn't we wear our colours with pride?

A man after my own heart! For me, it included driving a telescopic mobile crane, to get boats out of the water.

Two places spring to mind : Wayford Bridge Inn, who are sponsors of this forum and The Recruiting Sergeant at Coltishall. Both offer very nice accommodation and very good food. The second is perhaps more expensive but still good value for money. The river at both locations will be very well suited to kayaking.

Let's hope not! If not, Peachments and Crown Cruisers have done a lot of research into the problem, which I hope will be of help.

Sorry, but I don't get that? We are talking about an oil leak from the rocker shaft. The later version of raw water pump with 10 vanes on the impeller rather than 12, was developed by myself and Peachments to avoid the back pressure caused by the small bore of the exhaust water injection bend. It was not possible to drill out the bend much larger so we had to experiment with the flow rate of the water pump. Early Nannis suffered from serious overheating until we found this balance, between the flow, and the back pressure.