Mowjo

Been there, had a big issue on my last boat, everyone said don't let them touch it, but the mechanic did a cracking job on ours and even did a few extras, my son in law had his boat serviced by the same place, but after a problem had it looked at and serviced by someone else, and they said apart from an oil and filter change nothing had been done, to make it worse they must have lost the filter gasket and used silicone sealer instead, after hearing all sorts of horror stories, the only people we let near our boats now are in Ludham, same as above two carrier bags of still live cable removed from my current boat, even more from the last one, complete re-wire on the son in laws boat the whole boat was wired with what looked like BT phone wire and fuse boxes, how it passed the BSC i'll never know, in all I think there are a lot of pretty dangerous boats out there, 30+ years of boats I have a good idea what to look for and what to check, my fear is for new boaters, they won't have a clue what the previous owners have done, I've even come across a few that have had surveys and been given the all clear and then found dangerous issues with them, it's a minefield out there for any owners, who do you trust?? on the 240v issue, when I had my last BSC I asked the examiner why he never checked the 240v, his answer was they are not allowed to only advise if they see something wrong, but as long as everything else is Ok it's a pass, he said that only qualified electricians are allowed to do anything on the 240v side and none of the examiners are, I'm surprised the BSC dosn't require a 240v safety check along with the exam,

I don't know about others but I'm only to happy to show people around my boat IF they ask, I put a lot of time, effort and usualy money into getting my boats just how I want them, so I'm proud to show my work off and it's really nice when someone says, I never thought of doing that or ask me how I did something so they can do it on their boat, but start noseing around my boat without asking is a big no no, for me my boat is an extension of my home and God help anyone I catch peeping through the windows of my house,, Frank,,,

A few years back I returned to my boat from the shops to find a man sitting on my side deck talking to another woman with her nose up against the cabin window, whist a second woman had her head stuck in my canopy which she must have unzipped, now I'm more than happy to show anyone around my boat if they ask first, but actualy unzipping the canopy to look is taking the P, I casually asked have you lost something? Oh no! we were just looking, is this your boat then??? being me I just looked at her and said no I work for a repossession company and I'm just returning it to it's rightfull owner once the police have been to take fingerprints, I kid you not, they disappeared so quickly they left skidmarks on the path, the odd thing is I saw them again a couple of years later on that very same boat, Yup! they bought it when I sold it,, and believe it or not we are all quite good friends now,,, Frank,,,

Thought I saw a total eclipse last night then realised it was Judi bending over,,

Q! it's totally different type of site, My daughter owns an Elysian had several members of another site ask if there was a site for Elysian type boats, I gave them the link you have but they came back and said it wasn't very active as the last post was in January, so she set up a Facebook group, which is basically for people to chat and post pictures, info, and any tips they may have, there is a link on the group for the Elysian site as anyone wanting more detail can look there for infomation, Frank,,,

Thanks Jonzo! thought I'd ask though,,

After lots of people asking about Elysians my daughter has started a Facebook Group for Elysian owners and fans, it's still in it's early stages but I've added some info in the files about Elysians, Bountys, Madeiras and Discovery's, I'll try to add more info as I find it, but it's really just a place for people to chat about their boats, put pictures up and maybe get a bit of help from other owners,, Elysian Boat Forum And for Admin if this post isn't allowed please feel free to delete it, I won't be offended,, Frank,,,

Geoff is good with good prices, my son in law Chris does some of his fitting, so if you have your own Carpet or Vinyl and just want it fitting, let me know and I'll pass it onto Chris, if you want Carpet/Vinyl and fitting Geoff is your man,,

Lidl's have a Window Vac in today including the spray bottle for £19.99 with a 3 year Warranty, just bought one and tried it and it's goodhttp://www.lidl.co.uk/en/our-offers-2491.htm?action=showDetail&id=33117

Same issue as I had with my Moonlight, always some yellow flame at one end, but it still worked very well and did everything better than the other cookers I've had and the only one that did good toast, but as I'm not a fan of butane I changed over to propane, nice easy job and Stalham did a straight swap on the cylinders, never gave it a thought until Judi said what have you done to the cooker? nothing I said just changed the gas why? Judi said it's cooking better and the yellow bit has gone, when I looked no yellow just nice blue flame, so put the kettle on there was definatly more gas pressure and the kettle boiled in half the time it did on butane, my daughter who has a different cooker on her boat was so impressed she asked me to change hers to propane, I did and she got the same results, My guess is Vaughan is right and they should really be run on Propane for the best results, I definatly get another Smev Moonlight best cooker I've had on all seven of the boats I've owned,, for anyone thinking of replacing their cooker, look online and find the cheapest price and Norfolk Marine will normally price match it if you ask and have proof of the price,

I hope this cute little Piggy makes you feel guilty Poppy,,, but methinks the next one is for you!! Frank,,,,

If they gave medals for doing stupid things, I'd win Gold every time, if they gave them for dangerous things, I might get Silver because I take calculated risk, most people they arn't going to do anything that knowingly puts their life at risk, when I think back to the things I did as a kid and the cotton wool kids are wrapped in today I should have been dead years ago, back then it was called having fun, something lacking with peoples lives these days, imagine today seeing kids climbing 60ft trees, they'd have the police, fire brigade, ambulance and helicopter there, remember swinging over the canal or pond full of old bikes and anything else dumped in them on dodgy rope, or making those lethal throwing arrows and trying to hit each other with them, and playing splits with Mums best carving knife, to name just a few, Nah! sorry folks people today don't know the meaning of dangerous, unless you count playing conkers with your gloves and goggles on,,

Gracie mentioning fibre optic just reminded me of Judi and a conversation with my daughter! Mum! did you get your broadband sorted out? "Judi" yes! it's faster now and and dosn't keep breaking down, Mum it dosn't break down it crashes! what was wrong with it? "Judi" no idea but it's much better since Dad switched to the FIBRE GLASS one! ,,, and Jude wonders why I worry about her at times,, Frank,,,,

Alan! Thanks for explaining that to Steve, Steve I forgot you had already made the panels, it was that somewhere above someone mentioned the ceilings and I got distracted, you saw my curtains! they are lined and quite heavy all that hold my batons on is a good spead of Tec 7 just make sure you leave it a few days to fully cure,

Steve! when I did my ceilings they all had that foam back vinyl stuck directly to the GRP, luckily it the foam had all disintigrated and was full of black mould, I just wire brushed it all off and stuck my batons up with Tec7 it's not the cheapest but you can find it for around £10.00 a tube, B&Q now do it, Tec 7, if your doing you curtain batons don't forget to use a spring batons between the two sides to hold them in place while it sets, it dosn't slip normaly but if it does you will have a hell of a job removing it to re-position it once it dries, as you know all my ceilings are 6mm varnished ply so there's a bit of weight in them, If I can make a suggestion! if your doing the cabin roof as well, baton it and do it in removable panels, and use a varnished baton or something to hide the joins, that way you can hide any cables and stuff under them, it's a bit of messing about but if you just carpet over cables you'll have to remove and replace the carpet if you need to replace a broken cable, my way you just remove a panel change or add a cable job done,, I'm surprised Chris didn't mention doing it when you saw him, I talked him into doing it on his boat and now he loved it, it's like spaghetti junction uder his panels with all the bits he added,,, Frank,,,,

Steve! all the batons in my boat are glued using Tec7 sealant, I miss placed one baton and a day later when I tried to remove it, it actually tore the GRP, I swear by the stuff, it even sets under water, you and Debs saw my ceiling in Kali II all 1/4 ply and still solid,, so depending how wide your batons are a couple of good beads would do the trick,, Frank,,,

Could be worse Iain, I never mentioned I have an extending aerial,, and I wonder if there's a men and womans version? single pin and double pin? i'll have to check as I do like to stay aheadof technology,,

I know I'm asking for trouble! but my biggest worry is if it's in your pants where do you plug it in??

I'd get superfast Broadband! I have a big aerial in my pants,,

More to the point, how do you know about Cannibis grinders?? I 've fished most of my life and the closed season has never bothered me even when I was a match fisherman, it used to give me the time to catch up on all the jobs I'd put off, now it gives me time to get the boat ready, we've problably all seen the out of season hire boats stacked with fishing gear, how come the hire yards don't tell them there's no fishing and make them leave the tackle at the yard, my main concern is all the wanna-be fisher men, first job into somewhere like Lathams buy loads of tackle thats unfit for fishing, without a clue how to use it or what they are doing, chuck the line in, nearly rip the fishes head off or rip their mouth open if they manage to catch one, throw it on the ground to get the grappling sized hook out then throw it halfway across the Broads to put it back, I've spent many hours trying to teach adults and kids basic fishing skills when out on my boat sometimes even raiding my own kit for line, hooks and floats, and I always carry a supply of disgorgers, once they catch a few fish and get the idea they enjoy and respect the fish a bit more, I think some of the tackle shops should re-think what they stock instead of selling cheap rubbish kits the sell to holiday makers, unfortunately most only care about profit and not the fish,,

After a few minor scrapes over the years from various boats including four within one hour at Ludham bridge, (needless to say I moved the boat pretty quickly) I now keep my phone at hand all the time, even with a little bump I take a picture of the offending boat and Reg Number, plus I have my time stamp on so it gives time and date, and if I can I zoom in and get a picture of who-ever is driving, over the top maybe but on a couple of occasions if they have seen me photograph them they have come back to see if there's any damage and say sorry, thats the one thing that gets my back up! they hit you then glare back at you as if it was your fault for mooring there, I'm now at that stage in my life where I take no prisoners, genuine mistakes I can forgive, but some are so rude I won't let it go, so even if there's no damage I still report it to the yard, one little incident last year when I shouted at a hire boat and he shouted back, so effing what! I reported it to the hire yard, the first thing she said was Oh! no not again! a day later I got a call from the yard saying they had taken the boat off the hirers and sent them home, because they had a few reports of hitting boats and abusive behaviour,,

Hi Folks came across this today, I don't suppose many of us will be affected but it might be worth checking, Frank,,,

I'm not 100% sure Mark, but I think it's only the last couple of years they checked the Marinas as they were classed as private land/water, I seem to remember the ranger that checked our marina last year saying something like that,,,

I'm with Marshman! they already have the means to check without the toll plaques, now someone will correct me if I'm wrong! but wasn't it only a couple of years ago that if you were in the marina the BA couldn't touch you it was only if you went out on the river? most of the marinas I know now insist you have insurance and tax, it's in my contract but I have no idea how many inforce the rule, the easy way is if you don't show the Marina proof of river tax then you don't get a mooring, it wouldn't solve it all but I reckon it would solve 95% of it,, and probably free up a few more moorings in marinas,,

Congratulations Clive! but you do realise you could have killed Kathleen five times, done your sentance and still be a free man, and there was me thinking I'm doing well at 42 years, I would have divorced Judi years ago but neither of us wanted custody of the kids, now they are gone, I won't divorce her as I don't see why I should make her happy, Frank,,,