MauriceMynah

Sorry Robin, but your sums don't quite work.. When matey returns the boat at the end of the holiday, the tank is filled (in your example with 50 litres) The cost of that fuel is then deducted from the fuel deposit if the deposit was £150, they would get back £150, less the cost of the fuel used. This is measured at the pump on filling If the price of fuel at the hire yard is Xp per litre more expensive than the "outside supplier' and the total fuel used was 50 litres, then the money saved will be 50 times X. I reckoned that the maximum value of X would be 25p. With 50 litres used, the maximum saving would be £12.50

Thanks Grendel, Yes I meant Gallons per hour, not hours per gallon. :(

Couldn't agree more Charlie, also if they took a bit more notice of what's going on around them and a little less to the whatever it is they stick in their ears these days their survival rate might increase yet more. Don't paint the fronts of trains yellow, paint them with camouflage and tell people crossing to look VERY CAREFULLY. :)

Lets just do a few calculations here to put the issue into perspective. I shall convert to metric when it's easiest! We shall say your boat runs for 1.5 hours to a gallon of fuel. That's not going to be miles off the truth. 3 hours cruising will therefore use 4.5 gallons which is near enough 10 litres. We shall say that you average 5 hours cruising a day (and that's quite a high average) That's 30 hours (I don't count 'handover day' as you don't do much cruising either of those two days) 30 hours equals 100 litres. Now, If we say the difference between the cheapest and the most expensive fuel is 25p per litre the absolute maximum you can hope to save is £25.. I've just read Vaughan's post so I'll add 3+ hours heating a day (again a lot) so 50 litres for heating giving a new maximum saving of £37.50 against that... I've looked at the boat you've hired and I'd expect it's economy to be better than I've benchmarked. I don't know how much Herbert Woods charge for fuel, but I'd wager that they are not the most expensive. I don't know who (or where) the cheapest are but you might not find then and therefore you might pay slightly more than the rock bottom price. I doubt you will cruise or heat for as long as I've estimated. All of the last three paragraphs will diminish any savings to be made, I'd guess that the most you'd be likely to save is £20 tops. My advice is ... Save up an extra £20 and say "Hang it all, I'm going to enjoy myself." Oh, and I very much hop[e yo do enjoy yourselves. Edited to add that JMs reply came up just as I was posting this. Interesting that we both think £20 :)

How many gigabytes was that VC, and how much was it?

I've just read the article, The stupidity of what's said is beyond belief. "The trust said Lynx could bring benefits to the ecology of the areas by controlling deer populations and helping to protect the ailing capercaillie." Yeah right. The cat's going to take on a deer and not touch the Dickie birds. "This is a classic example of the negative impacts that come with removing species like the lynx from an ecosystem," he said. Errm hang on a sec, a few paragraphs back it noted... "Plans to introduce Eurasian Lynx just 30 miles from Glasgow, 1,300 years after it became extinct in the UK, have been outlined in a consultation paper." 1,300 YEARS ?????... It's taken it's bloody time then. and of course the human has done nothing to effect that delicate ecosystem in all those years, Oh no, it was loosing those bloody cats. Oh just give the man a job with the BA or have him put down, I don't really care which. So much for "Natural England" as well!!! Rant over.

It's a bit "two strings to my bow" at the moment. Hickling for example is useless for O2, but I learn its good for "3". I suspect there are places where the opposite is true. I like this versatility and would be reluctant to lose it. The battery on my phone lasts over a week on the boat, Smart phones seem to have rather less battery life. Sods law dictates that the smart phone would either be on my boat on charge or in my pocked dead as a door nail while I'm in the pub. Another factor that makes me want to keep my phone and not go "smart". The laptop in question (my friends) is less of a laptop, more a tablet with a keyboard. It takes up next to no space. (I think it's a "levono" or something) my old lappy is bulky in comparison, not ideal on a boat. Whilst the chopping and changing sounds awkward, it makes sense for the few occasions per year when it would happen. I'm just not really able to justify getting my own one for those few occasions. (though I can see myself doing so eventually) This is one of those subjects where I'm ending up asking more questions the more I find out. If I get a 2Gb contract, how can I tell how quickly I'm using it up?

I'm getting the same thing, but not for all pics. I think it's something to do with the improvements. :)

Oh, so NOT Wallace Greenslade then? I suppose he must have been more recent.

Hi Ray, My situation just got complicated today. The laptop I was trying to use with it (your MiFi) belongs to a friend of mine. His old lappy died and someone gave him a spare one they had. Sadly this spare one has no USB ports so we took the sim from his dongle ("3") and put it in the wifi box you gave me. (after I finally managed to get the lid off and read the password). Meanwhile, I have a laptop that will only work if plugged into the mains. so no good on the boat, however, we've agreed that when I go to the boat, I'll lend him my laptop and take his. It seems to me only fair that when using his laptop, I use my own sim. When I set up that contract, I'll receive another MiFi unit. If "3" is good, I shall se if I can set up a sim only contract and use the Mifi you gave me, He (my friend) can put his sim back in his dongle and use one of the USB ports on my laptop. Neither of us really wishes to buy a new laptop, (tight fisted toe-rags that we are) especially as we have all we need (subject to my getting a sim). So there you have it. Your Mifi and his laptop are running well together, so he has the MiFi for now...... Simples!!!.

When I was cruising passed St. Bennet's last week I'm sure I saw a couple of people with metal detectors. Are they allowed to do that? Oh, and Mr Q sir, were you never told not to play on building sites?

Right, this is partly for the geeks and partly for the broadland locals. I am dragging myself into the 21st century at last. but I need some local and some techy type information. I'm going to set up an account for a mifi thingy (can't remember what they're called, might just be a "MIFI Modem") but I also need to know which phone company offers the best coverage on the broads. Needless to say, coverage near the Pleasure boat Inn at Hickling being particularly important. At the moment it looks like I'm going with "3". The other thing I'm going to need to know is, how many gigabytes per month will I be likely to use. I don't play on-line games or download films. Nor will I be streaming any videos or live broadcasting, so my on-line usage will be as follows. Frequent and long periods on this forum, reading e-mail, perhaps sending the occasional photo (lets say max 2 per day average). We shall say that my longest stay on the boat will be 3 weeks in any month with 1 to 2 being more likely. The Gb options I've com across thus far are 2 5 10 or 20 per month with nothing rolling over to the next month. My other question is, What happens if I exceed my monthly allowance? As ever your assistance in this matter is appreciated.

I have no Ardea Vaughan. :)

Who took the "p" ?

my pleasure.

Mr Knight seems very vocal about all this, but is he being vocal to the right people. As I understand it, he used to be on the committee, would he know the right people to raise his concerns to? If not why not? It does make me wonder if he isn't just one of those types who has complained about every minutia to the point that the appropriate bodies no longer listen to him, even when what he is saying is important ("The boy who cried wolf" sort of thing). Hoist by his own Pikeman petard perhaps.

Yes, it's a lot, but not a record. :)

Yep, thought as much :)

Yep, thought as much :)

Ahhh you are obviously one who believes that auctions speak louder than words

Did we have the same woodwork teacher Barry? "Sand paper is for budgerigars, Glass paper if you please."

Arghhh Howard, the wrath of Gracie will fall upon you any moment now. The "C" word in August.

I have to admit that not knowing the southern waters too well, I'm struggling to think where that might be. I can only think of one place with that architecture.

That's the crux of the matter, and it's why I don't have a radio (or speakers to one) in the cockpit. Lets face it, if you can hear the burble of a Beta diesel and smell "fish & chips" you know it's me anyway without your being deafened with Dvorak

Ahhh I take it Grendel that you drive a VolksWagner