FlyingFortress

Suppose you have a point. Without checking I don't think such a thing as an Oil Tanker existed 100 years before 1978 Little risk of a major oil spill then so no requirement for a risk assessment

When I first started in the marine industry in 1978 we had a QM ( Quality Management) system well established. Hardly New That was an Oil Major though.

Yes I agree. You do wonder how all these wonderful old boatyards survived.

Bit radical that K Applying modern Risk based management practices to The Broads Industry

We have a similar sized Sun Sport which I think is the old name for Waveline. We have had it 9 years now and it was only 2 years ago I had to replace a couple of valves. This year I put a patch on a leak on the air deck in a very awkward place and it seems to have worked. Considering the difference in price of the more traditional makes it has served us well. Bearing in mind of course that it is only used very lightly but it does have to endure a Labrador dog being transported in it with their sharp claws.

I was also caught up in this one but I was going towards Norwich. Managed to divert at the roundabouts. The hold up in Coltishall was a set of traffic lights that have been left over from previous work and not been taken down AGAIN.

Never boated on the Continent either but I was the subject of much teasing by some of our offshore brethren as I do not possess a CENVI or an ICC so even with my unrestricted Master Mariners certificate I would not be allowed to helm my 35' boat on continental waterways with the exception of those ports that I held a Current Pilot Exemption Certificate for. All good natured fun though

I for one am greatful for the even handed and unbiased moderation on this forum. A shining example to other less well run platforms.

That's fair enough. Maybe that's why they have never done it then.

Have long thought that it would be easy to cut the tops off the red posts to give them a square top while leaving the conical tops on the green. This kind of reflects the IALA shape of Lateral buoyage. I know only those with some kind of sea knowledge or experience would understand this but it is also helpful at times of low light or sun dazzle for them

Blimey. Wish I could afford one. Priced up a new version of mine recently. 220k 😵 Can afford but can't justify. Decision made 2 years ago when new version was 180k Stick with ours . Old but good. The boat is an NBD.

Norfolk Mountain Rescue based at The Ship in Reedham

Further links thrown up in the search just add confusion to what a Pilot Boat actually does. Pilot Boats simply put Pilots on board ships. They do not guide ships.

I think this was what you were asking. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.britishports.org.uk/londons-new-hybrid-pilot-boat/&ved=2ahUKEwjruqTEkZj3AhXDolwKHZvPAi8QFnoECAgQAQ&usg=AOvVaw0OMubXibU-LDFyn2f7vNjZ of

Thought it was fairly good myself. Obviously pitched at the first timer or occasional Broads User. There are still quite a few folks wearing masks in close proximity to others in this country and indeed there is a current thread running on here about it.

That is the more conventional/European way of doing things. The Americans tend to go with inward turning but one benefit is you can walk a vessel sideways with complete control without tide or bow thruster. A very neat trick that was shown to me when I had to take out a 4 screw crew boat out to an oil rig inThe Caspian Sea. The outboard props were outward turning and the inboard props inward. My natural instinct was to use the outboard props for manoeuvring to give me the best twin screw effect. I was shown that by using the inboard props and a combination of rudder (one for each prop) I could control the sideways movement of the bow with the props and the stern with the rudders. Fore and aft movement was controlled with variations of the throttles. Very neat. The reason I asked was if you had the American system I could have shown you this very neat trick.

That's a tad pricey

Had to look that one up. Similar to a twin Schilling (spelling?) Rudder set up or the reverse thrust deflectors on a jet aircraft. I believe the use of an individual schilling rudder in a twin set up can be used to maintain directional control whilst performing a braking function on a vessel. A very desirable function indeed. A former colleague of mine was a pilot at GTY when one of the ferries had a twin schilling set up. He did say it could be a tad challenging. I think the vessel was called The Ballard and was quite infamous for getting wedged across the river with its bow on the Gorleston side and the stern on the Yarmouth side after blacking out on a flood tide.. very similar to the situation the Ever Given Found herself in Suez but thankfully not aground so came free when the tide changed.

Outward or Inward turner's Smoggy?

I was also going to say at 4.5k I think I would have a bow thruster fitted but then thought . Can you do that on a wooden boat? Can't say I have ever seen one. Is there any reason why not? Or maybe just learn to live with the prop walk at that price.

Oops Sorry. Looks like a I was barking up the wrong tree with my post earlier. A CPP shaft does not reverse.

I was not sure which system you were asking about but now it has become clear it's Controllable Pitch Propeller CPP then I think most is covered above. There are in my experience certain know hazards in CPP with regards to handling. The ability to feather the pitch that is align the blades with the water flow is a big advantage on a sailing boat and I can imagine helpful on a multi engine power boat that sufferers a single engine failure. Never experienced this but can relate to experience on multi engine propeller aircraft. When simulating single engine failure on my multi course the instructor would pull the throttle back to idle and then when I had gone through the correct procedure would then advance that throttle about one quarter to simulate the loss of drag due to feathering. Putting aside specialized vessels there are generally 3 types of propulsion systems in ships. Gearbox very similar to what we have on our boats, tends to be smaller vessels CPP tends to be on medium sized ships that do a lot of manoeuvring. The big daddy is the big diesel directly coupled to a shaft. To stop the prop you stop the engine.To go astern you change the firing order of the pistons and the engine runs backwards. My later seagoing career was on Offshore Supply Vessels such as are seen in GTY and these are specialized vessels which are very overpowered for their size but have to be very highly manouverable .An example the lowest powered OSV I was on had 4000 shp and was 65m long. An 80m coaster may have 400shp. I became a big fan of CPP. Not so much when I became a pilot and found the pitch very slow acting. In fact I am on record saying I would prefer the stop start engines. So CPP As others have said above cost and complexity would be a major factor why these are not used on small boats. CPP does not eliminate prop walk. It can be quite violent on some ships. In others it can be unpredictable sometimes acting one way and sometimes the other. There is also major danger with CPP which needs to be known about. When the pitch is set to zero the blades do not feather but form a spinning disc in front of the rudder. This can cause the rudder to stall due to having no water flow over it this is particularly prominent if you reduce pitch quickly. Think about coming into a mooring and you put your engine into neutral you will have rudder authority for quite some time after the prop has stopped turning. With CPP you can slow right down to almost nothing and still maintain steerage PROVIDED you slow down gradually. If you don't you will stall the rudder , take a large sheer and have a heck of a job regaining control the only option may be a crash stop, easy done in a small boat but not so easy with a ship. Think about that yacht that makes an unexpected tack into your path. Very often a reduction in speed is all that is needed, not so good if you stall the rudder and sheer towards him. Hope this has been helpful.

Andy please I never for one moment suggested that every boat needed a drop test every time it went out on hire. I was merely asking does such a thing as planned maintenance exists in a large fleet. Far be it for me to suggest a PM schedule but surely the batteries can be routinely tested and certainly before early hirers go out. I was asking Vaughan what his PM schedule was and did someone have to be in a position of responsibility to sign off these boats fit for purpose. Yes I do understand that it is sometimes a box ticking excercise but you are also protecting yourself against liability. Townsend Thorenson were charged with corporate manslaughter over the Herald incident and I do fear for the outcome of the NBD death at GTY a couple of years ago. As one who turned down a job at MAIB I only hope that there is a good quality investigation but I don't hold up much hope. I will continue my discourse on another post as what I am about to say is controversial and is sure to be deleted.

Whoops off topic again

Blimey That's all a bit of a strange language to me.. It was a while since I heard it. 10 Pinter's and munchers. 40 years this week you know