Nearly A Bit Of A Bad Day

[Malanka]

Dear All, 

This week whilst tucked up in the shed, somehow the bulge pump for our lovely old lady was turned OFF. We have absolute trust and a first hand account that she was not left there in this condition. Without the vigilance and actions of the lovely custodians of Cornelia our Broom sister our poor old lady would very likely be sat on the bottom at this moment. 

As you can see it was a close run thing. 

If you see anyone suspicious or who looks like they don’t belong or someone being a bit furtive please report it to the guys in the office. 

We will say no more on the topic.

 

Martin and Fiona

 

[hazelgirl]

Omg this is shocking guys, who on earth would do such a thing to somebody else's pride and joy out of malice? So so glad your diligent neighbors caught it when they did  

[Regulo]

Is there CCTV? Or worth putting in wi-fi cameras? I can't believe anyone would do this. 

Though not directly related, perhaps a timely reminder to all of us to check our bilge pumps are working correctly for the winter, when our beloved will be left unattended for extended periods.

[Polly]

Not the first Malanka intrusion either, as I recall. Would one of the ‘cubes’ Stuart recommended be a good idea for keeping watch? 

Correct me if I am wrong, but the       work done on the river entrance makes it less secure that side? Maybe security fence at that end would help. 

We were in on Weds measuring Chameleon for curtains, there was no way to report in who we were etc. 

[Ray]

Well done those neighbors! Glad she is safe!

[eddybear]

Thank God you've got good neighbours so important to look out for each other especially when we can spend so much time away from our boats and probably a good few miles as well, I see from the picture She's sitting quite low in the water hope you didn't get any damage.

[CambridgeCabby]

Thank heavens for good neighbours indeed , I make a point of looking at her waterline when in the shed when I visit (usually every two weeks)

[Vaughan]

I would also wonder where the water came in from?

[MauriceMynah]

Martin, Are you sure it was a third party switching it off rather than a component failure?

[grendel]

49 minutes ago, Vaughan said:

I would also wonder where the water came in from?

its a wooden boat, water always finds a way into those.

[Vaughan]

24 minutes ago, grendel said:

ts a wooden boat, water always finds a way into those.

Can't say I would agree with that, as a general observation. It would seem to have found its way rather fast.

[annv]

You might like to check the drip from your prop shaft! on my last boat it used to drip whilst stationary i found that if i gave the grease cap a turn down then turned the shaft one complete turn by hand the dripping stopped, then when sailing the drip returned to cool/lubricate the seal just had to remember to do this before i went home, Result!!  bilges keeped dry with no drain on battery. John

[Vaughan]

Here is Malanka's normal waterline. There is an awful lot of water that has got in there from somewhere.

[Malanka]

When turned on by Cornelia’s people the pump ran for over half an hour maybe even 40 minutes. The bulge pump normally goes off once per day or every 12 or 13 hours or so. Immediately after work was done and on crossing a rough Breydon it went off every three minutes and ran for 23 seconds ( yes I was panicking )

No this is not Malankas first incursion, nor is it the first bulge pump turn off either. Last time it was spotted by the yard guys and turned on. This is why we know it was on as it is of course now part of the close down routine. As I mentioned in another thread we had lines untied twice also. Bed slept in and so on. This year between visits we had a bed sleeper who got in by removing the window, they put it back in upside down, that’s how I knew route of entry.

its not exactly a huge volume of water but Malanka is delicately balanced forwards and any water goes in that direction, she used to be balanced to the stern when we had wet planks there. After removal the opposite is now true. The rear saloon inspection area is and was before this totally dry under normal conditions. Phil has checked her for us and water did not make it past the floor planks.

As to how this can be justified or who did it and why I can’t and won’t try to fathom. 

Perhaps now people will STOP PROPPING OPEN THE SHED DOOR. 

I don’t do it and I don’t see why anyone has to do it. Yes it’s inconvenient to keep opening it . My answer to that complaint is unprintable on a public forum.

There is CCTV from another boat in the shed, unfortunately boat movement has repeatedly set off the motion detectors and there are literally thousands of trips in the 15 day period of interest. Besides which they have better things to do than trawl  through CCTV footage, proof of boat access would not be proof of switch deactivation. Even if we recognized whoever it was. Maybe a person messing about did it who knows. I don’t want to know. 

Wet  shed CCTV accessible remotely to owners a la webcam would be nice but this is as far as I know not on the cards any time soon.

Better entry control via key cards would be nice but neither of these is as cheap as the current arrangement.

IMO the best answer is not to panicked into action but to ask everyone to stay vigilant and report suspicious or nervous looking types to the office ASAP. 

Mom sure they would respond positively.

 

M&F

[BroadAmbition]

The shed does have its own dedicated cctv cameras, wether these are actually active and record or not we know not but would like to think they are.

The other boat in the shed that Martin refers to that has it’s own dedicated cctv camera system is of course us and ‘B.A’ it is fully operational.

However where our neighbour Malanka is concerned there is only a small part of her covered as we were mindful of not ‘spying’ on any of our neighbours. In hindsight now, that was a cock up. A cock up I will rectify in the morning having conversed with Martin. 

‘B.A’ also has her own onboard intruder alarm system that is active with real time alerts to our mobiles. This system is operational whether we are in the shed or out on the rivers. 

Why? Since ‘B.A’ got burgled in the wetshed a few years ago and for our future peace of mind

Griff

[Regulo]

Martin, you could always feed the bilge pump or float switch (if there is one) directly from the battery via a dedicated fuse. That would be more difficult for anyone to easily and quickly de-activate. And you couldn't forget to turn it on when leaving.

[Malanka]

Hi Ray,

They are going to be installed .

 

m

[Smoggy]

When I first read this I admit I thought don't be daft someones inadvertly knocked the switch off but the bed being slept on several times is just plain wierd, I could understand it happening on a boat moored in the middle of nowhere beside the river but not in a shed!

I would seriously consider the future of my mooring but I guess wetsheds are not that easy to come by.

P.S. Is a bulge pump some kind off liposuction device? I gotta remeber that excuse, no I'm not getting fat someones turned of my bulge pump....

[Malanka]

Don’t you just love autocorrect 

 

M

[dnks34]

4 hours ago, Smoggy said:

When I first read this I admit I thought don't be daft someones inadvertly knocked the switch off but the bed being slept on several times is just plain wierd, I could understand it happening on a boat moored in the middle of nowhere beside the river but not in a shed!

This is exactly what came to my mind, it is rather strange. 

Is it worth leaving a note for whoever it is showing the nightly rate and stating you will take cash or card!?

[YnysMon]

How horrible. We were so impressed by Malanka when we passed her on the New Cut in October. Such a beautiful boat! (And thanks for the ‘bore dda’ which we were very slow to respond to.) Hope you manage to sort out some sort of security to prevent such things happening again.

best wishes

Helen

[Polly]

I just trawled back, Stuart was posting about the uwatch Cube as being recommended by police. https://uwatch.co.uk/

[BroadAmbition]

Cctv adjusted. Malanka now under constant watch and care

Griff

[Thasarummun]

We arrived back in on Zephyr when Mike had just alerted you, the water was definitely well above the floor planks, several inches :( I was really surprised by the amount of water - we stayed until the pumps went off and went in to check she was then clear of water at floor plank level, she was, the pump was on a good 50 mins / hour. There must have been a huge volume of water coming in from somewhere - we recently had to have Zephyr taken out of the water as she was on auto bilge about every 13 minutes, thankfully Eric and co at Cox's have now sorted her out as there was very significant leaks after planking was replaced and a hole...

I am so gutted for you guys as she is truly stunning!!!

We couldn't see any signs of disturbance, forced entry etc.

[Hylander]

On 23/11/2018 at 15:56, Malanka said:

When turned on by Cornelia’s people the pump ran for over half an hour maybe even 40 minutes. The bulge pump normally goes off once per day or every 12 or 13 hours or so. Immediately after work was done and on crossing a rough Breydon it went off every three minutes and ran for 23 seconds ( yes I was panicking )

No this is not Malankas first incursion, nor is it the first bulge pump turn off either. Last time it was spotted by the yard guys and turned on. This is why we know it was on as it is of course now part of the close down routine. As I mentioned in another thread we had lines untied twice also. Bed slept in and so on. This year between visits we had a bed sleeper who got in by removing the window, they put it back in upside down, that’s how I knew route of entry.

its not exactly a huge volume of water but Malanka is delicately balanced forwards and any water goes in that direction, she used to be balanced to the stern when we had wet planks there. After removal the opposite is now true. The rear saloon inspection area is and was before this totally dry under normal conditions. Phil has checked her for us and water did not make it past the floor planks.

As to how this can be justified or who did it and why I can’t and won’t try to fathom. 

Perhaps now people will STOP PROPPING OPEN THE SHED DOOR. 

I don’t do it and I don’t see why anyone has to do it. Yes it’s inconvenient to keep opening it . My answer to that complaint is unprintable on a public forum.

There is CCTV from another boat in the shed, unfortunately boat movement has repeatedly set off the motion detectors and there are literally thousands of trips in the 15 day period of interest. Besides which they have better things to do than trawl  through CCTV footage, proof of boat access would not be proof of switch deactivation. Even if we recognized whoever it was. Maybe a person messing about did it who knows. I don’t want to know. 

Wet  shed CCTV accessible remotely to owners a la webcam would be nice but this is as far as I know not on the cards any time soon.

Better entry control via key cards would be nice but neither of these is as cheap as the current arrangement.

IMO the best answer is not to panicked into action but to ask everyone to stay vigilant and report suspicious or nervous looking types to the office ASAP. 

Mom sure they would respond positively.

 

M&F

I am so sorry to read what has happened.   My goodness me ,  what is this world coming to.   Who is this creature who has been breaking into your boat.     He wants sorting out good and proper.    I agree with you the Wet Shed door should be kept shut at all times and anyone leaving it open should be chucked out of the wet shed immediately.      Thank goodness Griff is going to have the CCTV camera covering your boat for peace of mind.   Of course the 'culprit' will be unaware of this and if he comes back you will soon see who it is.    Me thinks it cannot be anyone like a tramp etc because they would make off with your possessions not just sleep in your bed.   Is it someone from the boating fraternity ,  who would know how to take out a window,  I certainly wouldnt.   Who would turn off the bilge unless a boating person , it all smacks of someone who has a boat or has owned a boat and is now homeless or just had a row with the wife.

I do really feel upset for you.     Keep your chins up.