Mowjo

Can Strow and me say it? can we huh can we? told you so!!! you wait till it's dark Alan you'll be out there, I was in cupboards even shutting the curtains to try mine out, mind you it's a bit sad when you get excited about a torch but I just couldn't believe the power of something that small,,,

Iain! that's like comparing a Model T Ford to one of todays Cars, seriously I've tried then all, Crypton, Halogen, Gas, Wind Up, Leds from 6 to 40 leds, I kid you not try one of these Cree Led Torches and you'll never go back to any other torch ask Strowager! I'm not easily impressed but I'm hooked on these torches, you can pick them up from as little as a fiver, mines the 1000 Lumen one in the link above, it's one of the best bits of kit I've bought in a very long time, Frank,,,

Hey Strowager! what's the betting Alan will be out lighting up everything and having a play when he gets his new toy,,,

Mmmm! very odd it all just came back on it's own, unless whoever stole them bought them back,,

Thanks Strowager! I can't think what as I havn't made any changes and my laptop has been off for three days, I'll do a clear out and restart and see what happens,,, Frank,,,,

I've seen them about for ages Strowager! but I though No! something that small just can't be that good and it was all Hype, I finally gave in and went for the rechargeable one as I'm forever running out of battery's, to say I was gobsmacked is an understatement, the bit I like with mine is if you have it on Spot it gives a square light beam, I'm still trying to work out how you get square light from a round hole but it's very handy for watching the river banks at night,, Frank,,,

Logged into today and just noticed that in replies or starting a new topic, all the little tabs are missing for the Smiles, fonts, colour and all the other bits, the little light switch has gone so I can't copy and paste or edit, so who ever had them last! can you please return them???? Frank,,,,,,

Just thought I'd mention this! I use magic sponges like Alan to clean my fenders, I normally buy mine at Aldi's around £1.50 for six, yesterday while in a Chandels in Wroxham I noticed a small packet hanging up by the counter that said fender cleaning sponges, so being nosey I took a look! it's a pack of two magic sponges the same size as the ones I get from Alsi's, I think to myself it's taken them long enough to cotton on to something a lot of us have been doing for ages, then I see the price! £7.00 plus a few penny's for two, proof that if you claim it's anything to do with boats you can try and charge people stupid prices, next week you can find me at a local Car boot with packs of two magic sponges with a picture label of a Boat and the words Magic Fender Cleaning Sponges £3.50, I'm just off to Aldi to buy up their entire stock,,,, Frank,,,,,

OK Folks! I put this here because in a way it's Broads related, I have this thing about torches and for some reason I had five on my boat, no idea why I have five but if in the Marina at night and I hear something the torch comes out, if I'm out walking the torch comes out, you get the Idea how handy torches are! well I just found a torch that is the Dogs, it's only small around 6 or 7in long and fits your pocket and has a wrist strap, to give some idea of it's power while moored at Wroxham last night I shone it over to Porters and it lit the sheds up, I shone it at the road bridge, same result so I'd say it's good for a good hundred meters at least, the only torch that comes close to it is my million candle power rechargeable, I think it's cheap, it's rechargeable or battery, the only downside was there were no instructions with it and I found that to get the different beam functions you just lightly press the on off button, If your after a torch this is brilliant and I've just ordered a second one, I carry spare everythings,, http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/370842691952?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649 Frank,,,

Alan! I usually carry a couple of spare cards as I never plan anything we just point the boat and go! I forgot I gave my last two to my Daughter at the end of last season and forgot to replace them, having spent the last three weeks painting the hull and waiting for my engine to be fixed, I thought I would take it for a little run just to make sure the engine was Ok after the service, fuel pump repair and having the injectors serviced, the intention was to go to Irstead for lunch then back to the marina to get the topside ready for painting, but we some how ended up at Wroxham, we got here around lunchtime and all we have had was one Private boat that stayed for an hour then went over to Porters and we have one empty 27 footer moored here that was here when we drove down last week, I was quite surprised by the amount of hire boats out, we passed a hiring forum member on the Ant but by the time I saw the forum Logo we had gone past it and I didn't even get it's name, still it's nice and quite out here may be too quite for me but I have to make the most of it as it's back to working on the boat Wednesday, I'm glad to report my old 1.5 BMC now purrs like a kitten, Ian at Broadsedge did a great job on it, trouble is I can now hear Judi when she talks to me, I've had the Hampton for three years and it's never ran so well even though I have it serviced every year, Ian did say the injectors had something to do with it, no people watching for me today as there's no one around, so I'm shinning my new torch everywhere and blinding the ducks instead, I'll post something about the torch when I get back home on my own Pooter, it's only around six inches long, battery or rechargeable, but you have to see the beam on it to believe it, I'm at the Wroxham public mooring and can actually light up the road bridge from here,,,, Frank,,,,

First the good news! Moonfleet at Stalham has just dropped the price of their Diesel from £1.40 to £1.35, the bad news is my boat is now fixed and i,m out and about on the river, i.m at Wroxham and we are the only boat there, went to get some electric from the tourist shop but they don,t open until Friday, but more good news, if the shop is ever shut you can buy the electric cards at Barnes Brinkcraft from the reception, bad news is we are headind back to Broadsedge tomorrow because i have to make a staart getting the boat ready to paint the topside,,,,

I don't think it's dangling toes I'd worry about,,, :naughty:

Looks like I'll be changing my insurance then,,,

I've used Edward William for years and never had a problem with them, you can do it all online, no survey needed, and if you want you can even pay it in three instalments, I pay £150 a year for my Hampton 25,,,,, http://www.edwardwilliam.com/ Frank,,,,,

Paladin! I try to avoid the forums for that very reason, but quite often there are some very good links so I tend to use those more, but some of the links are so Techie they go over my head, I found two good ones, one was a Canadian Government Trawler Fishing link, and the other something like the UK Marine Standards Agency both reports around 20 pages long, with graphs and test over months in labs, both with the same conclusions that the low sulphur fuel is doing damage to seals, causing increased diesel bug, affecting certain metals, it actually made grim reading until I realised these were for commercial fishing vessels using up to 1000 litres of fuel an hour which is probably at least three years fuel to me, so when you put it in context it could be quite a while before a Broads boat could see any damage to seals and stuff, so I think all we can do is try help prevent it happening by taking a few simple checks like keeping an eye on the oil levels, and for certain adding diesel bugger treatment which is something I'm more worried about at the moment, so Soltron on order, ooooh! while I think of it I looked at the Marine 16 and Soltron, both have very good reviews but the Soltron is recommended for higher usage boats, and as I'm high usage compared to most Broads users it's Soltron for me,, Frank,,,,,

Ok folks I've been busy as I couldn't find the site where it said Ebers were Ok with the 2 stroke so I mailed them, and got this back,,, and the only thing it may affect is the heat output,,, After contacting Eberspacher this is their response "Our diesel fuelled heating systems are designed to operate on the DERV available from the diesel fuel pump which is defined to EN 590. Adding additives like 2 stroke oil may reduce the performance, kw output slightly due to incomplete combustion but should not cause the heater to prematurely coke up." Paladin! after confuzzling myself looking at various forums about 2 stroke, and giving myself a headache because some sites say Jaso FB, others Jaso FC, I decided on plan B and went and spoke to my local diesel injector service centre, he told me it doesn't matter on older engines and even the cheapest stuff will do the job, and that the Jaso FB will be fine or any 2 stroke mineral oil,,, Frank,,,, Mark! unless you actually know what was serviced it's hard to say, you may have had your injector pump serviced but it depends on what seals they put in, in a way it's something you won't know until the seals leak, it's nothing to worry about, but we need to check oil levels more often and make sure the level doesn't rise and your oil thin as that's a sign a seal has gone,, the guy I spoke to at the service centre said it's a problem that been about since they bought out the low sulphur fuel and they fit the new LSD seals as standard now,,,

Ok! back to the original post about LSD and adding two stroke, if anyone is near Stalham, Motorman is doing 1litre of Comma Mineral 2 stroke for £5.00, it's recommended that you DON'T use Semi or Synthetic 2 stroke,,,,,, Frank,,,,,,

Personally I don't have a problem with the BSC, what I have a problem with is how different testers will fail or pass the same item, on my son in laws boat it had a brand new test certificate when he bought it, I took one look and knew it was a fail, even I know that a bilge pump under the engine that pumps directly into the Broads isn't allowed, his electrics were a fire waiting to happen but as I don't know what they test I can't comment too much on that, and the Gas tap to the cooker had a leak, a definite fail, when I say his certificate was new it was issued a week before he bought the boat, I rechecked everything and made it all safe, but the Gas leak is the one that worried me because that one could be fatal, I've since heard the tester is being investigated, but what happens with all the other boats he passed, will they get in tough with owners and have them re tested, going by my son in laws there are some dangerous boats out there with valid certificates,,, Frank,,,,,

Clive! I said LAUNCH not LUNCH!!

Bad Boy John! telling me to use Fairy liquid mind you even that's better than some of the stuff I've seen throw over the side, twice last year while at the other side of the railway bridge at Wroxham I saw two private boats empty their Porta Potty's one over the side and then one in the bushes, I took their reg numbers and reported them but I don't know if anything was done about it,,, Frank,,,,

Judi does that John any diesel near our boat gets a squirt of Ecover, I know it works but where does the diesel actually go ?? Iain! I'm getting the hang of this Burns stuff, this one is about a man who went out in the cold and his Willie fell off and went wandering, then came home in the summer,, Wandering Willie,, Here awa, there awa, wandering Willie, Here awa, there awa, haud awa hame; Come to my bosom, my ain only dearie, Tell me thou bring'st me my Willie the same. Winter winds blew loud and cauld at our parting, Fears for my Willie brought tears in my e'e, Welcome nowhSimmer, and welcome, my Willie, The Simmer to Nature, my Willie to me!

Sorry Paladin! I meant to say BSS people, I know many boaters that fill up via jerry cans, my son in law does because he gets it cheaper at the pump and saves a few pence, but from what I can see this is the stuff to avoid, it seems most of the yards use the normal diesel so most of us are better protected, I wonder if a large spill occurred due to the use of the LS stuff and they did ban it, would they start dipping the tanks like they do for road diesels to check for red diesel, I know the LS stuff was made to cut down on air pollution but for the amount of Marine craft there are in the world I'd be more worried about water pollution, I accidently knocked a jar over with no more than a tablespoon of diesel in it and couldn't believe the area of diesel film it left in the water, we had a spill no long ago outside our marina that ended up with us being locked in or out of the marina for about three days because of the booms and soak mats every where, It's going to be interesting to see where this all goes with the BSS and BA in the future,, Frank,,,, Iain! if he didn't set fire to the Country who did it then??? “The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men, Gang aft agley. An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain, For promis'd joy!

Hi Paline! I read that report before, and came to the conclusion FAME free was the best option, from further reading it now seems the main concern is diesel BUG but if you use no FAME it's less likely to happen, for me it's going to be 2T and Soltron and more visual checks, The BA response surprised me they say "We at the BSS are not qualified to provide authoritative answer to your query" then go on to say, "We at the BSS continue to monitor the impact of biofuels and any safety guidance associated with its use." I would have though they would be on top of something like that considering if something corroded and leaked into the bilge you could end up with 150 litres of diesel pumped in to the Broads, as a lot of the problems with the new fuels are only just starting to show up with boat engines I don't think it will be too long before we see a few changes to the BSS Frank,,,,,

But just think of all that Info you will be armed with when you do get a boat, even on a hire boat a little bit of extra information can get you out of trouble, and I have a question!! You say Robert Burns Country! how come I havn't heard it on the News, I'd have thought I'd have heard of a fire that size,,

JTF! your coat is over there on the hook,, Frank,,,