alexandlorna

Better get a square one Captain Dread , you'll be charged for the corners anyway lol☺

Smellyloo , I freely admit zero knowledge of rags sheets and strings or anything else sailie, I do have a fair idea though of whats safely doable in a boat ,which at that point was propelled by one rather knackered guy with a pole☺ They were all over moored craft and some had 3 goes ,at reaching the bridge, to little avail, so perhaps discretion would have been wiser? He did not hit me but as a group they were against many moored boats ,and had I not been there mine would have been one of these. His helmsmanship was not in question ,simply because he was a passenger for much of the episode! His intentions were fine if conditions were normal But his assertion that cruisers coming through the bridge from the other side would have to give way was greatly flawed- the novice skipper coming the other way did not stop and yet more chaos ensued Is an engine-less sailing boat being quonted ,actually sailing? I personally would treat it as such and stop , regardless of what the rules say, but would a first time hirer - not all would as they struggled in the conditions themselves Another member of this forum subsequently stopped and offered to tow another such sailing boat ,but said vessel could not manage to even secure a line and the attempt was abandoned so I would say on balance novice sailors should have moored until conditions improved☺

Well whatever the rights or wrongs ,it really was merely an observation that 6.30am and running for best part of an hour is a bit much But as we are on holiday and in great spirits , well its not the end of humankind I can see how it can rapidly escalate out of hand if two belligerent types clash over it though!

A lot of the problem definitely does come from the damage waiver A few weeks ago 4 sailing boats were attempting to get under Ludham Bridge and to be fair , the conditions were awful. The first three struggled by after a few attempts, but as the last one passed our bows he got very close and his "why are you glowering down at me - I have not hit you yet" almost got him a boathook to eat!☺ He then shouted to the guy on the pole thingy " ignore the cruisers coming through the bridge , they have to give way to us" - showed his total lack of knowledge or ability but he was not at all interested in any damage caused A 500 quid deposit would have changed that for sure ☺

Sorry to say , Pauline,on Saturday, George used the last of it on Brilliant Apparently it helps identify erratic sailies flying along at the mercy of wind and tide lol ☺

To be honest , as early risers , its not exactly the crime of the year , but I do think its a sign of the general attitude that some folk have to others It still seems to be droning away but theres folk much closer than us to do the fighting lol☺ I dont know what heating they have and they may have kids on board, on a horrible morning, so perhaps understandable - if they had maybe waited an hour longer to start up

We are moored at Bramerton this morning and rudely awakened by the droning of some inconsiderate s0ds engine at 6.30 Now I know the weather aint good but this shows a total lack of thought and consideration for others A large Alphacraft bathtub is the culprit but its peeing down so not ging out to moan !

The BA would never allow that colour scheme ,it might frighten wading birds ! Then again if it was dreamt up at one of their brainstorming " stupidity councils" it will rapidly become law

Thats certainly true re the wind and tide at Surlingham I was not criticising in general, as we all get it horribly wrong from time to time Its just that some of those who think they are so good seemed to learn absolutely nothing from two or three failed attempts But then thats often the case in all walks of life I guess

We are moored at the Ferry Inn ,Surlingham and helped a large bathtub stern moor next to us ,when tide and wind were against them All credit as they took great care and problems were avoided they also turned their engine off promptly at 8pm too The worst efforts of the day were two private boats ( no we were not one of them!), which hit others and made a general hash of it I persoally would have left after the 2nd attempt wearing a bag over my head!!!☺

Yes, Pauline if that young man and his mate ever find out that the "seacocks" he was cleaning out were actually parts of a vintage boat kludgie ! .... well people are killed for less lol Never mind the workhouse mentality is alive and well here!☺

Hammerited thunder box bowls ! - that's just sooooooo wrong I cant describe my revulsion! You Navy types certainly don't flinch in" sticky" situations ,Griff

IMHO boats should not pay more for having 2 engines, that's silly, should be related to number of cylinders per engine 4 and 6 ok but what numpty would have 2 x 5 cylinder engines charge these people more as must be the most out of balance engines that have ever been produced. causing untold damage to the waterways. you know who you are I may be wrong ( and frequently am ) but are 5 cylinders not an extremely well balanced and almost perfect compromise no ? Regardless anyone with a red engine of the Beta variety should be paying half tolls as its a thing of wondrous beauty and emits exhaust purer than driven snow !

I am something of a reprobate lol , so don't be surprised if I moon as we go past lol! We draw the line at attacking locals , but our lot do have a poor reputation with posts - goal posts generally , but if you arrive at a staithe and theres nowt to tie on to ...................

Gracie , I just want to be clear its a boat name lol No Nationalist Cr*p affiliations of any kind Do hate when folks think Im one o' them lol :)

Yes, I agree and getting on and off Braveheart can cause a few trouser ripping issues You have to be quite tall or very bendy due to the high freeboard of this sort of hull design We'll need some sort of crane older !

Danm I am fresh out of likes for today , who is the hot looking bird in the pic , Griff ?????

It would be interesting to actually know if these boats use old heaters like the Webasto D2 or similar , maybe Mr Richardson could enlighten us Its probably not economical to simply dump working heaters on older boats , but would be nice to know the facts etc

Love the bit about the heater , our old one is exactly the same , on for 20 mins and its reached blast furnace temperatures Many of the older style Webasto hot air heaters cannot be controlled at all Even modern hotair units do not really like running at low settings and will constantly cause problems needing overhaul ( as told by service engineers for them ) We replaced it with hydronic heating which is much more controllable , but kept the old unit too as back up At least you can actually get heat in these cold times

Steve glad to see you actually use the destruction manuals , so many folk just don't understand how important these documents are! Spare parts are a natural product of any engineering exercise and have to be disposed of responsibly Just glad it works and I don't have to end up looking like an Ar$* lol

Griffs only fearful of his planks being stoved in lol! The yellow and orange varieties of bathtub are considered by most authorities to be the most dangereous :) Seriously though , many folk will have had great times on them and went on to hire again they do ad a bit of variety to the rivers too I guess I think the type of boat is not really related to mishaps and crashes , in fact many of the worst we see at our moorings are "posh hire boats " - they don't look so posh after a clout on Ludham Bridge though lol

Yes , that's certainly true , I bought mine through an electrical wholesaler ,so was not bad for price As soon as the marine industry gets a mention , its double price for everything

That's a fair point Ian , we have never needed more than 16A at any time even with a 2kW heater , immersion heater and a big Victron Charger running I should not really comment on voltage drop , when you see the length of cable we sometimes use It is fun to watch people trace it along the mooring and give up halfway though lol

Also voltage drop will be greater on 1.5 mm2 compared to 2.5 mm2 This is perhaps a fine point but another reason to use the heavier stuff

I love the wherries too Just hate being behind one on the Ant lol They are a fine sight to see though almost as good as scantily clad hen party on Pink Champagne !