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Beccles Bypass Bridge


dnks34

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Just found this on Suffolk Fire Service site.

Fire Crews from Beccles and Bungay stations arrived at Waveney Quay on the Beccles Bypass to find one a 20 foot Cruiser moored at the quayside on fire. There was a propane cylinder involved in the blaze, so firefighters used foam to extinguish the flames. The owner of the boat received assistance from the officer in attendance and crews made the area safe.

Hopefully no one hurt.

Colin 

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In fairness, Speedtriple. the occupant may well have been living on a boat out of necessity rather than choice and whilst living aboard might already have been costing us local tax payers. I suspect that non of us know the exact circumstances but locally single occupants are often pretty low down on the council housing lists. 

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If the boat is taxed, bsc'd and insured then there isnt a problem. Accomodation will be temporary and our floating resident will get sorted out through their insurance in the same way we would all expect to be.

If there is no insurance and no bsc etc then perhaps we should be glad that a possibly seemingly dangerous vessel is gone without anyone being taken with it.

 

 

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Yes he has been living on it for many years, it is a concrete boat so is no danger to any body, he keeps himself tidy and doesn't clutter up the bank/moorings unlike some, he's a very likable person and doesn't cause any problems, he has now lost his home. John

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12 minutes ago, annv said:

Yes he has been living on it for many years, it is a concrete boat so is no danger to any body, he keeps himself tidy and doesn't clutter up the bank/moorings unlike some, he's a very likable person and doesn't cause any problems, he has now lost his home. John

I have liked your post and then thought I hope I havent liked the last few words!

Lets hope he gets back afloat soon and can continue to be a genuine boater.

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12 hours ago, annv said:

Yes he has been living on it for many years, it is a concrete boat so is no danger to any body, he keeps himself tidy and doesn't clutter up the bank/moorings unlike some, he's a very likable person and doesn't cause any problems, he has now lost his home. John

It sounds that he has standards and carers about his boat (his home) and probably does have the necessary licence insurance etc just prefers to live on the water, When people say what a pity he lost his home it isn't just the roof over his head it's everything under that roof his clothes personal positions and things that identify him if those are lost and he ends up in some hostel or grubby little bedsitter not good, Let's just hope things work out for him.

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59 minutes ago, JanetAnne said:

Perhaps annv (John is it?) Could keep the forum informed and we can maybe help collectively if needed?

 

I think we need a lot more information before we commit to this, although I would be for it, and would contribute if necessary. But we need to know a lot more of the detail first.

My first reaction yesterday was to the EDP article which was in-accurate in more than one respect. Those aft cockpit boats built by Windboats in the mid 60s were 26ft, not 20ft, which is quite a big difference. The hull is Seacrete but the deck and cabin top are GRP. They say that the boat was "well alight" so how much damage was done? If the deck mouldings or the cabin top have been burned then the insurance will probably write the boat off. At least it probably did not sink, which is a help!

The next thought is, what caused the fire? A 14kg gas bottle does not catch fire. Full stop. They can withstand temperatures in 4 figures before they rupture but normally these bottles are recovered intact by the fire brigade even if the boat was burned out. If it was a gas leak in the system, this would have filled the bilges with vapour and eventually caused an explosion if there was a naked flame or a spark. This does not necessarily result in a fire and it usually doesn't.

These boats were built with a BMC Vedette petrol engine. Did this boat have the original engine? This may sound unlikely but there are a lot of Freeman 22s still going around the Broads with their original petrol engines.

Was this "gas bottle" actually a portable appliance, such as a Camping Gaz stove? These are Butane, not Propane, but then you can't trust the EDP to be right on that detail either!

What I am getting at here, is whether or not the insurance will pay out, once their expert discovers the cause of the fire? They may well not.

If the boat is repairable, what will be the estimate costs?

These are the things we need to know first. Crowd funding can become an embarrassment to all concerned if it is not done for a specific purpose and for a known amount.

 

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Wise words, Vaughan, as usual!

Do we have any Beccles contributors prepared to take a toddle down the river bank and take a peep, maybe a picture or two, and possibly make contact with the owner? He may well have resigned himself to going into brick, so to speak, may even be glad to have been forced off the water. We need to make contact before making assumptions. I would be quite happy to drive over to Beccles but I would be cautious, knowing nothing whatsoever about the bloke.

Re insurance, the BA only requires third party. However a concrete hull is unlikely to have burned down to the waterline. Best stop there, I don't know enough even to speculate.

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“lost all there belongings”

Did an EDP reporter really write those words?!! :default_sad:

It’s a very sad incident, how many is that in last couple of months? I am fairly sure that these unfortunate owners would most likely only have third party insurance, and only that because they are required to. As others have said, it would be good to try and find out more facts so we can decide if crowd-funding is appropriate. 

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