thingamybob

Due to the fact that I am slowly becoming an old fossil and my back is starting to play up I am now in the market for a "Mr Shifta" caravan/trailer towball attached trailer mover/tug. The item is no longer manufactured due to the retirement of the factory owner. From research it appears to be ideal for what I need, ie. just something to augment my own efforts to get the boat into my driveway. Please note that I do not want one of those powered jockey wheel gismos which are apparently a waste of money and useless so if you have one please do not offer it. The "Mr Shifta" is a two wheeled item that fits onto the towball and has its own built in battery. Thanks if anybody can help. Thingy.

If it was in GY it would have been chucked in the river by now. No it is in Greater London.

You may have a point there Grendel.

No that is a cctv (continuous crap television) pipe. Mind you there may be a tv in the cabin. No no no! Before somebody says something, all the workmen appear to be very butch!

Try these people. They are well respected in the industry and well capable of manufacturing to your requirements John Rawlson (Engineers) Ltd Rawlson House Lea Road Waltham Abbey EN9 1EA United Kingdom Steel Fabricators and Erectors I used to know people who worked there and they did all sorts of one off stuff.

Perhaps you have to go outside to pull the chain.

The moral of the story is: don't upset the ranger.......................he may have one on board!

Gracie! shame on you! You have forgotten your pink furry handcuffs! Tut tut!

Perhaps they did not want to loose this bit of bog standard equipment.

The Red Ensign is the only correct and proper flag to fly on a British vessel. A few years ago if you flew anything else on the Thames the lock keepers would tell you off and tell you to take the offending flag down. However, a few years ago I did see a narrow boat with a load of lively lads on board with a blow up doll straddled on the bows. Not sure what the Thames regulations makes of that.

Oh dear, I am back on the "common sense" track again. Basically, security mark it, display the fact that it is security marked, lock it down, and leave the boat in a place that is well used by other boaters or public. Whilst it will not stop the determined thieves it will deter the casual scumbag. The scum will use a battery powered angle grinder to cut any chain, outboard lock or even cut off the transom of a boat to get a good outboard. Usually the outboards, and indeed cars etc. can end up in containers and sent to Eastern Europe for resale. Not sure about mop heads though, not much resale value there. Mind you The Beatles sold themselves well in Germany in the sixties..............Sorry!

Having owned a Honda 7.5 for many years, personally if I bought an new outboard it would not be a Honda. Their spares setup and control is total rubbish. Also after two years the head water jacket corroded through to the exhaust port and it took weeks to get a new one sent from Japan. Also the carburettor is a complete abortion and distorts however much you are careful to tighten it down. This is due to bad design. I tried to get a new carb about seven years down the line from the engine being brand new and the Honda stockist said that the engine was obsolete and no more carbs were being manufactured. I have bodged this engine to work over many years and on the whole it has been very reliable but only with me as its owner. It would have cost a fortune if I put it into a Honda dealer for repairs. Being mechanical minded, I do the repairs myself. It would have been scrap after about ten years otherwise. That is why you find them being stripped down and the parts sold on Ebay.

He probably has a size complex!

Totally reckless!, shame on you! Keel haul him! Seriously though, since it is not being mandatory to fit a spedo on a boat these speed limits can only be flexible. A little bit over, provided the boat is not making a wash and there is not a collision in the making it should not matter.

For heavens sake, this is just going over the top. When going on the Ant I just increase the engine speed to a fast tick over, just when the engine makes a nice steady hum, l look at the banks and think "is this the speed I would walk when I was much fitter than I am now". A quick look over the stern to see if there is not a breaking wash, job done. I have put a mark on my throttle, yes I have separate throttle and gear levers, and basically the old tub goes at that speed all over the Broads which is about four miles an hour whatever the upper speed limit is. This is a nice speed, very economical on the old go juice and does not drag the banks in. Common sense rules............ok?

No doubt the bridge height markers were ignored. Once a boat is turned in a current it is difficult to get the bows pointing upstream. One trick if this happens is to nose the bows gently into the bank and the current will do the rest for you and bring the stern around. I know in that area there is a lot of hard quay heading but it can be done with careful use of the throttle. Unfortunately there is not enough time to teach hirers these little tricks on handover.

Hope he is ok. That water there is very deep and dangerous, one slip and you are done for especially if wearing heavy waders etc.

I have just had a look for you and London Lad is still on the website. Regards. Thingy.

Hi Andrew. You might find that London Lad has turned off his mailbox. Some people do this for various reasons. A member's private e mail address is not available to other members so you will not be able to contact him that way. Hopefully he will see your above message and contact you. Best of luck mate. Thingy.

Although I am not on the boat at present I have just knocked up this delicious little very healthy snack in my kitchen. It could easily done on a boat even with the most basic cooking facilities. This is for one portion so just multiply if you want more. The snack could be just a snack or a starter or the centre of a nice salad with new potatoes, coleslaw and salad leaves. Take half of a small onion (about two tablespoons in volume) and chop into shreds. Fry gently in a teaspoon of rapeseed oil, when transparent add two medium size chopped tomatoes and a couple of tablespoons of water (you could use white wine) and cook gently until the tomatoes disintegrate. The add a small fillet of haddock or any white fish and cook until the fish is done. I added a pinch of sea salt, a good twist of black pepper and a couple of fresh basil leaves. Just add what you want in regards to seasoning, I think a pinch of dried oregano may go well with this dish. Serve in a small dish as pictured here. Ah! Deep Joy!

By the way, a proper job means WORK! I daresay she does not know the meaning of the word.

Perhaps she should get a proper job and more important, just get a life!

Some of Dale Farm is a bona fidae travellers site, it is only the illegal extension that is the problem. However, our local travellers site do not cause any problems for us locals as it is properly sited away from the built up area where a different way of life is enjoyed. In that way we all usually get on well. Dale Farm is situated very close to a built up area and friction does occur. Travellers and residents have a different way of life. Local Authorities should recognise this fact and site travellers sites using a bit of common sense.

My Local Authority learned its lesson after spending many thousands of pounds of ratepayers money evicting travellers from council land over many years. If the Council had spent a quarter of that money putting up height restrictors and the steel railings they would have more money to spend on our streets. and indeed on our local travellers site. They have now bitten the bullet and protected our open spaces. We have a large travellers site in the borough and in general the travellers who go there do not cause any bother and contribute to our council tax and pay for their pitch, in fact if they have an English accent you would not know they were in the same pub as you. Some of them have jobs in the area too. It is the people who do not want to pay for the pitch and council tax and just camp anywhere that are usually the problem. These are the people who give travellers a bad name.

I had one of those calls and told the prat that I have not had any accidents. "You must have had an accident" he told me. "Nope" I said, then he asked me if any of my family had had an accident, "nope" was the answer. "Well, have any of your friends had an accident" he desperately asked, "nope" I answered. About time he got a proper job.