Mowjo

Neil! never say never! a lot can happen in ten years and you never know what's around the corner, I went from a six day week, working up to 12 hours a day and driving anything up to 1500 miles a week for crap money, to buying a Porta Cabin café, working seven days a week and anything up to 14 hours a day for crap money, then thought is it worth it, so sold the café and my house, paid off all the debts and mortgage, went into a rental flat and with what was left bought a cheapish doer upper boat, did it up and sold it on for a profit, put the money into a dearer boat and did the same thing, then bought my present boat which I did up with the profit I made on the previous one, The wife and me are both on State pensions and still manage to afford to run the boat, it's very tight but do able, I don't know how long we can keep it up, but as long as we can we will, life is too short,, Frank,,,,

The great thing about both being retired is we go to the boat for a weekend and end up spending most of the Summer on it, we usually go home for a couple of days, just to do the washing and check the flat, but I think I mentioned somewhere here that last year we were out for 124 days and that's not counting the weekends we just sat in the Marina or helping my Daughter with her boat, Yup! it's a hard life being retired, and I'll think of Alan and Grace every time I'm out now,,, Frank,,,

Well the paint just arrived! think I have enough for 3 boats, as I ordered 5ltrs of each, because the Jotun paint worked out cheaper for 5ltrs than most of the others did for 2. 1/2ltrs, 5ltrs each undercoat, white topcoat and French Blue topcoat, nice clean looking blue it is, also got sandpaper, masking tape, brushes, rollers, tack rags and half the shop, going to the boat this weekend but still have to arrange the lift out, thought I'd try Jotun as it's been going since 1920 and it's used on ships, just a shame that 5ltrs is the smallest size they do, looks like I'll be busy for a couple of weeks doing the Hull, I'll do topside back in the water,,,, A little more filling and sanding and it should look nice,,, :

Well I don't want to rub it in, because I'm not like that , but! Retired, Own Boat, 30 minutes from the Marina, Life's a Bitch, just saying,, Frank,,,

Grace! every day has an element of Crap to it, only the depth varies,, strange how even breaking down or things going wrong I can't ever remember having a bad day on the boat,, Frank,,,,,

Geeze there's always one, I often wonder how they sometimes get the bigger boats under Wroxham, I can remember quite a few times when moored at Wroxham watching Connoisseur loading up the decks with 45 gallon drums of water so they could get their boats under the bridge, I can't work out if boats have got smaller, the water level is lower now, or people have just got braver,,, Frank,,,

A bad Day! what's one of those???? every morning I wake is a good day,,,,,

My only concern about going through Potter is getting back, I've know of a couple of boats getting stuck that side for a couple of weeks before getting back under, it's not only tides there, but the rain fall off, if it absolutely poured today it can be a couple of days before it affects the levels, as Neil points out, it is nice that side but I don't even risk in my Hampton 25 these days,,,,, Frank,,,,

Lori! thirty years I've been going under Wroxham in different boats and I still get nervous every time, even more so in the last few years as no-one sounds their horn now when going under, and one of those pilots is the worst and should know better, I always take a wide berth to the left when approaching to go under to the Wroxham side, and coming back I stay well over to the right, I make sure it's clear sound my horn and go for it, but last year three times while we were moored at Wroxham the same pilot pulled out from the pub moorings, approached the bridge at speed on the wrong side and never sounded the horn to warn anyone, twice there were near misses, if I see the same thing this year I'm reporting him, it's the same young pilot every time, Frank,,,

Nor me Strow! Trouble is I believe in Sods law, perhaps that's why I carry spares of everything on my boat, Frank,,,,

Have to agree with Neil, the Coltishall run is beautiful, we often moor up at the little mooring on the way, I think it's the church mooring, apart from the River Ant it's my favourite place, one little word of warning, keep an eye on your temp gauge and check your weed filter often, more than once I've have to stop to clear the weed filter, the weeds get chopped up by the boats a lot and it's even worse is the weed cutter has been about, if you like wildlife you'll not find any better than the Coltishall and River Ant runs,, Frank,,,,,

The funny thing is I've always been wary of the self inflating type, I know they work, I know a lot of research and testing go into them and 99% of the time they work, the trouble is my mind goes into "What if Mode" and that's what if it doesn't work? how will you know until you actually need it? yes you can have all the failsafe gadgets and all the whiz bang bits, but in the end nothing is infallible when it depends on different components to make it work, I know the buoyancy aids are still quite bulky in comparison but I'd certainly feel safer using one, I think part of the problem with the B/A's is they don't always look cool and they can be bit restrictive, but I must admit they have come a long way since those big orange things and there are some pretty nice ones out there, it may just be me but I'd sooner not look cool than end up in the cooler, the problem is getting people to wear either type, I know when we go out for a weekend, I can probably count on both hands the amount of people I see wearing them, and see lots of people putting their or others lives at risk, one of the classics is letting children run around on the roof or decks with no lifejackets, I don't know the answer apart from trying to educate people to the dangers, I have a rule on my boat that non swimmers are not allowed on the decks at all, they are not allowed to get on or off the boat unless I'm there, and when moored up if the don't have a lifejacket the stay well away from the bank, my boat! my rules! if they ignore them the won't come on my boat again,,,,, Frank,,,

Ok here's what I think could work, but it would involve having a legal contract with the other person. You sell them one share of your boat for a token amount say £10, in the contract you put that they own one share and are liable for a % of running cost and maintaining agreed by both party's, and that should the other person wish to drop out you have the buy back option to buy the share back for £10, my thinking behind this is that as the other person owns one share he becomes a joint owner, so no problems with the boat being classed as hire/reward, no problem with insurance, no problem with tolls, you could agree to let the other person use the boat for say four weeks of the year and he contributes say one third of the running cost, it's basically the same as boat sharing but instead of say four people owning 1/4 each you only sell one small share, and stay 99% owner, obviously it would have to be with someone you trust and would agree to those terms, but when you think hiring a boat for one week can cost over £1000, even if it cost the other person £1000 a year it would be a good deal, if you one of those unable to get to your boat very often you could even agree to let them use the boat anytime as long as they check with you first,, I've been doing a bit of checking and the only way I've seen not to fall foul of all the regs and stuff is if the other person/persons are joint owners, in my mind the above makes sense, and I can't see there being a problem if you advertised for someone to boat share, you could probably even do it on the forums,, now where's Boss Alan,,,,,

Well it looks like I may be having a later start than normal, I've just ordered all the paint and stuff for the boat, just have to sort out the lift out then it's work time, I'm only doing the Hull for now, I'll do the topside when it's back in the water, at least that way I can go out if I want to, I just hope the weather is OK mid march because I'll need a week on the Hull, the last time I actually painted a was back in the early 80's it was a late Easter and it snowed, at least now I'm retired I can do it whenever I want and don't have to worry about booking time off from work,,, Frank,,,

Sue! just make sure you have him well insured first, you could end up with better than your accustomed to,

Sue! just get the other half to wear it then push him in! you'll see if it works then,, Frank,,,

Unfortunately Alan you seem to be in the situation that makes people give up boating, I kind of had the same thing when we owned a Café, the boat sitting in the Marina, paying out for it and no time to use it, we could only manage one weeks holiday a year so we worked out it was cheaper to hire for the week and sold the boat, and we were lucky because we only live 35 minutes from the marina so didn't have all that expense of fuel, the next year someone made us an offer on the café that was to good to turn down so we sold it, bought another boat and retired, we are running out of money fast so I reckon we have another three or four years before we give up, but I'll live on pot noodles before I give the boat up, there must be a legal way to do what you want to do regarding sharing that doesn't fall fowl of the regs and insurance that's safer to do than boat buddy and is legal, I'll have an idea that I might run past Boss Alan as he knows all about boat sharing,, Frank,,,,

Ok now all that reading has done my head in! here's the situation on my boat, the boat is actually dry no damp anywhere, but even after just a weekend out there is damp between the base of the Mattress and the ply even in the Summer, I never get any on the front bunk where there are three vents, now here's the good bit, the rear bunk is situated right over the cold water tank that is two thirds the size of the double bunk, and there is only one little 6x9 vents under it, so for me cold water tank, cold bilge, warm bed means condensation, a few weeks back I put insulating slab all around the tank making a barrier between the tank and bed, in theory that should cure it, but I like going OTT, so adding slats mean more air flow, plus I'm adding another 6x9 vent at the other end of the bed, it may seem OTT but Judi like her comfort and wanted a memory foam mattress and at over £300 I don't want to replace it anytime soon, the other benefit of slats is it will give me easy access to another 4ft x 2ft of storage space, at the moment I have to take the mattress right of the bed and remove one of the 4ft x3ft 6 in bits of ply to get under the bunk, the slats will be on strapping with one fixed slat to the outside of the boat and on the inside a slat held to the bedside with drop in pins, this will allow me to just lift the mattress a bit take out the pins, slide the slats back giving me access to more storage, hopefully I should gain a dry bed, (well Judi will) and extra storage, so two birds with one stone, you'll see what I mean if I remember to post some pictures when I do it,, Frank,,,,

But Sue! it wasn't dusty when I was sanding it, it magically appeared after I finished and it was thick, I tried to blame the Dust Fairy, but Judi didn't fall for it,, funny thing is I didn't even know she knew swearwords like the ones she called me,,, Frank,,,,,

Actually Sue I'm an avid people watcher, I'll often sit at the back off the boat when we moor up watching people for hours, I've had some of my best laughs doing that and sometimes it amazes me just how stupid some people can be, like the guy at Ludham Bridge who was so busy looking back shouting at his wife and calling her stupid when she was trying to moor up, he walked right off the back of his boat, good job he could swim I was laughing too much to save him, keep me laughing for hours that one, Frank,,,

I can't make up my mind if I'm ready for the start of the season or not, I was going to have my boat out for a repaint mid march but I'm not sure now because of the way the weather has been, I'm converting the back bunk from ply base to slats, I have about 1 mtr of varnishing that needs doing to complete the inside of my boat, in between I'm helping my son-in law refurbish the inside and cockpit of my daughters boat, and it means gutting the boat and doing electrics and plumbing, I think I may be stuck in the marina for most of the season at this rate, the upside is him and my daughter only get down to the boat at weekends so I'll have all the week days to go out and play, Frank,,,,,

Ok back to Beds! Decided I'm converting the back bunk from ply to slats, been out today bought 14 x 2m of 1.3/4 x 1/2 in , all nicely sanded now, bit of advice though! don't do it in the house unless you want to upset the wife like I did, the fact I told her it was for her bed so stop moaning didn't help, anyway it's a little job I will be doing the weekend after next, If I remember I'll take the Tablet and do a before and after picture and post it, just for Sue,,, Frank,,,,

Thanks Strow! you confirmed my thoughts on it, I found the Buddy site contradicting in places, I read through all the reply's on the YWB site but not knowing if the same Regs applied to the Broads about chartering, I didn't want to put anything about it here, I just wanted to stir it up enough so that someone else would take a read and give their opinion, it seems that it's a very grey area about insurance, charter or not and how the term friend is interpreted, the scheme looks quite good, but if someone had a personal accident, damaged another boat or damaged your boat, the owner wouldn't have a leg to stand on, Frank,,,

Hi Alan! I knew you were the man for the job,, Clive! you have pointed out just what I was trying to explain, if what you say is the case, then I presume legally you would need hirers insurance as well, with boat share you are all part owners of the boat so it doesn't come into the realms of hire or reward, with boat Buddy it seems you stay the owner, but you let them share your boat in return for helping maintain it or paying towards the expenses of running it, I know if someone has your permission they can usually use your boat, but my concern is that the so called buddy could actually damage or sink your boat and walk away and there's nothing you could do about it, if I were Happy, I'd certainly contact the BA and my insurers to find out more, in principle the boat buddy thing seems like a good idea, but if it went wrong you could be opening a legal can of worms,,, Happy! sorry if I'm negative on this one, but I was always taught that if something seems too good to be true, it usually is, Frank,,,

Sue! age has nothing to do with it with me, I've been that way since I was a child and I've no idea why, I guess I've always been who I want to be and not who people expect or want me to be, it's odd that most of us are bought up to believe that honesty is the best policy, yet it's got me in more trouble than anything else, I blame my Dad, the good thing is that once people know me they know I'll give them an honest answer, so only ask me if they are ready for the truth, once the weather breaks a bit we are always out on Crackers or on it in the Marina, I think last year we managed something like 124 days out, dog hairs don't worry me, we lost our Springer last summer, she loved the boat but I swear I had more of her hair than she did, I actually miss falling over her on the boat she had this knack of getting under my feet when I was running to the back of the boat to moor up,, Frank,,,,