MauriceMynah

Yes Vaughan, but don't forget that those sockets are low wattage and will only electrocute you a tiny bit.

I wonder if I could start a "Green grp" boat meet, a sort of 'patina party'

Does a skip make a good replacement roof then? Sorry, someone had to ask :-)

Now, here's a thing. I was sitting in the wheelhouse a few minutes ago, enjoying my morning coffee with it's modest addition of Lambs, when in flew a wasp. It started buzzing about causing me to reach for a folded Telegraph, my weapon of choice on such occasions. I was yet to find the newspaper when in flew a butterfly, little brown job can't say more than that. Well, I WAS planning to swat the wasp, but certainly NOT the butterfly. This got me thinking. Notwithstanding the risk of being stung, the wasp was doing no harm, also the wasp grubs do no harm either. Whilst the butterfly was also doing no harm, caterpillars do eat things that we want, so it made more sense to eliminate the butterfly than the wasp, yet I had no wish to do so. By this time two things changed. Firstly I was holding my rolled up paper and second, both insects flew out of the open cockpit window. I had actually decided that neither beasty was going to receive the journal but leaving as they did, ensured their futures, well from me anyway. Funny how these things pan out.

Got it!!! Very clumsy of me.

I don't think Richardson's have got it quite right on which boats they sell and when, but then again, I don't have their expertise. I'm not keen on the Ideal 45, but I would agree, selling them one at a time seems a better route. The larger 8 to 10 berth boats are selling quite well but the greater demand for the 30 to 35 footer exists for both the hire and the private market. I bought a 10 berth though never having the intention of having that many on-board at any time. One needs the space for the decanters, ice buckets and other essentials for entertaining.

Nope. Says they aren't, means they aren't.

Another excuse for the BA to fail to keep access to Hickling unavailable.

Ahhh yes, a rare thing in Britain, the Patagonian tree fish. Green in colour to resemble the natural colour of GRP boats. Herons don't eat GRP.

My guess is Glasgow. Sorry, couldn't resist it.

It is, I suppose, predictable that after an incident that has already been called a "rare event" there will be a reaction by the riskaphobic groups that the BSS should include electrics and that children and dogs must not be allowed on boats that have batteries.

Yep, nit-picky it is, but if a bylaw is going to be enforced, it has to be ( well it damned well should be ) clear, precise and unarguable. Sadly these days, laws are being introduced at such a rate that I believe rarely are they properly thought out, and can prove to be unworkable if a real "jobsworth" gets involved. A genuine question. If I am moored alongside another boat at a 24hr mooring am I in law, moored to the 24hr mooring or to the other boat? Then you have the issue of the definition of "craft". Does that include tenders? How often in a 24hr period can a boats tender, or one of the Percy Islands dinghies, visit the same 24hr mooring? Finally on this question, there is the definition of "mooring" in much the same way as on the roads you have "No parking" and "No waiting". If I tie up to take on water, then move my boat to allow others to do the same, I have just left the mooring so by the rules cannot moor up again at the same mooring. Nit-picking, yes but if someone wanted to get snotty about it, who would have right on their side?

Sorry MT, I should have read your post more carefully.

HA ! Seen it all now. I'm moored at the first set of moorings as you come into Sutton Staithe. I heard a boat approaching. It throttled down, passed me throttled back up, then down again as it passed the boat moored moored 20 yards away from me, and so on and so on. What can I say?

There is a number of examples where that bylaw would be deemed ridiculous. If a boat from the moorings on Percy's Island moored at Horning staithe it would be in contravention of that rule to return to its home mooring. Any Richardson's hire craft could not spend its last night at Stalham staithe etc.etc. This is why I asked one of the questions. I know this makes me sound like a nit-picker but if one is making a bylaw, surely such anomalies should be taken into account. If "ignorance is no defence " is to be put forwards, surely "the bylaw is not workable" should equally hold water.

Is it possible/realistic to have a thin flexible solar panel tailored to the dimensions I want, and if so what company does this? As it seems the controller is the really important thing, are there any recommendations?

Right, new subject to scratch our various places over. Yesterday I was informed that when you leave a mooring, you must go at least 450 yards away from it before you can moor again. I can't remember how many yards it was but not far off 1/4 of a mile. I was told that this was a bylaw. Is this true? This had me wondering... who makes the bylaws and to whom are they accountable if the bylaw is ridiculous or unenforceable. We have the situation at Sutton staithe where there are two moorings ( Sutton Staithe 1 and Sutton staithe 2 ) and my guess is that the far end of one is about that far from the far end of the other. Anyway, I digress. I wondered how I was to know about this bylaw, and what others there might be that I could fall foul of. I can imagine someone saying " You can't moor there on a Thursday unless you strip naked, dance a jig and recite a poem by Keats " ( Don't worry folks, I don't know any Keats ) It seems to me that anyone can say anything, and if they say it's a bylaw, they are likely to get away with it. Finally, whose bylaw? Are the bylaws the same in Coltishall as they are in Stokesby? Parish Council, Town Council or County Council or of course, our magnificent BA. ?

Watford, Wayford. ... Wayford, Watford ! Yes, a rather different journey. Is using a dipstick a possibility ?

Without knowing how many RPM you expect to be doing, it's difficult to make even the roughest of guesses but how about a gallon an hour per engine. Have you considered getting the fuel guages repaired/replaced?

I am looking to have 4 panels, each being 1 metre by 2 metres ( very approximately ) I have no idea what watts/amps that could deliver

I understand Weihrauch make some pretty effective bird repellents

Robin, it is your nerdiness I'm relying on here, and yes, solar panels are being considered. I too do not care to test the batteries often. Just the once really, unless something gets changed. It is sometimes handy to know what you can do if, for example, the boat had to be left away from a power source for a few days. One day, when it's convenient to you, I'd like to have a chat over a pint or two about solar panels as I have a few ideas which may or may not be realistic.

In fairness ZimbilV, the realistic options when handling ropes would be marigolds or wetwipes. In all the near 60 years of my boating I've never come across anyone using either. Nor have I heard of anyone catching anything nasty from their ropes. No, the problem is merely that the concept of handling peed on ropes is unpleasant, and dog owners should not permit their dogs to do it.

Actually Griff, there were four wise men. Everyone is still waiting for the one to turn up whose gift was cash.

Hmmm, what do you do with the old batteries? I expect a modern battery to last nearer 10 years rather than 4. Maybe I've just been lucky. It has been interesting being moored without running the engine. I'm approaching 5 days now and the drop in voltage has been pretty consistently 0.16 per day. I'm down to 12.3 volts or 12.2 under fridge load. I shall be under way tomorrow, the batteries are holding up rather better than the poo tank. Deffo time for a pumpout. Thanks for the link to that battery website I actually understood some of it, though it basically said that without a hydrometer knowing the remaining amp hourage is the black art of guesswork and optimism.