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Poppy

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Whilst not strictly on theme I suspect that some of the less well kept craft have been acquired cheaply by their residents from someone wishing to dispose of an old almost worthless boat. Old Glass Fibre craft have seemingly been a Europe wide problem for well over a decade as there are EU reports on the matter going back some time.

In order to prevent those not prepared to be considerate to others and indeed the Broads it needs to be easier to arrange the collection & legal disposal of unwanted boats with a yard which does such work making themselves know to everyone (there have been a number of craft from those who have passed away or become too infirm to still use them being virtually abandoned.with other members of a family being left to sort the problem)

A modest scrapage scheme may help & I am sure some funding could be found somewhere within the governments current "green agenda" 

Could this help the situation long term? (There are also scores of abandoned caravans in gardens & on plots of land - yet another blot on the Broads)!

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2 hours ago, Bytheriver said:

Whilst not strictly on theme I suspect that some of the less well kept craft have been acquired cheaply by their residents from someone wishing to dispose of an old almost worthless boat.

The disposal of end of life boats is a growing problem. Those who have bought a boat cheaply are unlikely to be able to afford the cost of scrapping. The BA is well aware of the problem. Perhaps a time has come for the creation of an official 'graveyard' for old boats.  

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They can now have housing benefit for their Tolls .

"The boat licence fee if living aboard is rent. Specifically, the boat licence fee is a payment in respect of a licence or permission to occupy a dwelling and thus it qualifies under Regulation 12(1)(b) of the Housing Benefit Regulations."

http://www.bargee-traveller.org.uk/landmark-judgement-confirms-housing-benefit-for-boat-licence-fees/

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Had same talk to a boatyard owner here in the Medway. 
there is just no money in it.  
Sailing vessels have money in fittings but the plastic hull needs to go through a shredder and, I think there is a scheme for a certain kind of plastic but I bet it’s cheaper to make new. 
I guess even less money for cruisers because by then every thing has gone thats worth it. 
At least wooden boats had a natural life span

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11 minutes ago, Cheesey69 said:

Had same talk to a boatyard owner here in the Medway. 
there is just no money in it.  
Sailing vessels have money in fittings but the plastic hull needs to go through a shredder and, I think there is a scheme for a certain kind of plastic but I bet it’s cheaper to make new. 
I guess even less money for cruisers because by then every thing has gone thats worth it. 
At least wooden boats had a natural life span

Where there's a will....    https://www.compositesworld.com/articles/perhaps-were-getting-closer-to-fiberglass-recycling

"Their Seattle-area-based company, which has been recycling fiberglass since 2008, has invented a way to transform the old blades into products like manhole covers, building panels and pallets."

But of cours there is probably a cost  an impact on profit !  :default_cool:

 

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19 hours ago, Upcycler said:

There will always be that stigma that attach to these people, they live of the land and stuff anyone else.

In some people's minds that might be true, but not mine. I've met a good few residential boaters during my lifetime and the vast majority have been seriously decent people who just happen to live on a boat.

Some 'live-aboards' do make good.  Richard Branson used to live on a houseboat in the Chichester canal, fifty years ago, and he's done moderately well for himself!

 

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Hmm.. So where does that place myself and good lady, we are living on board for the summer or at least until the end of October, then we are off to one of the Costas and will return t'boat in February in time for summer again. We haven't got two heads..honestly, and people say that we are quite nice to talk to(we had a couple of pubs in the Lakes so we are well practised) Oh and we have a paid for mooring so all legit..we don't have any plants growing on the roof(mind you there's a spider plant in the lounge)and definitely no wheelbarrow up there, also no woodburner so no great chunks of dead wood...do wave if you see us.. :-)

ps...we are self funded.

 

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Isn't it interesting how the decent folk who live aboard, both part time and full time appear to feel that they are the subject of this thread. They are not.

Well, as the OP I can honestly say that they were nowhere near my thoughts when I posted.  I would have thught that my reference to Pelican as an example would have made that apparent.  I was going to use the term 'water gypsies', but in this PC world I wasn't sure how that would go down !

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1 hour ago, Poppy said:

Isn't it interesting how the decent folk who live aboard, both part time and full time appear to feel that they are the subject of this thread. They are not.

Poppy please be assured that I didn't take your post the wrong way, I did not think of us as being part of the subject of the post, I was merely poking a bit of light hearted fun at myself. On a personal note though,however we are looked at or thought of, I couldn't give a fig, we are far too busy living the dream..it was a long time coming. 

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Seeing as it is around the Hampton Court and Weybridge area I am not suprised the natives are in uproar! :default_ohmy:That said the vast majority would only know about it via the golf club, local papers and the pub & coffee shop grapevine where the ladies that do lunch meet on a weekly basis.
Being serious, it is wrong as is sub letting to people wanting cheap places to stay and anybody who has travelled on canals in this country will see much the same. The only big difference is that people in the main visit the broads on holiday.
Just this evening I've been advised that the slum boats on the Thames are indeed "spreading" and reports that they are now on "my" north side in Spelthorne and in Runnymede on the south, just a few miles upstream from Elmbridge..... Previously it was chiefly an Elmbridge matter in this part of the world.

Sent from the Norfolk Broads Network mobile app

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Bet that is the Egham/Staines side of Runnymead rather than the Old Windsor side. It never happened in Windsor as I recall but could be found the other side in Maidenhead & Cookham also it was a big problem in Oxon.

By spreading do you think that they have been moved on? Just remembered that there was always one lady advertising on a website "Houseboats for rent" around Hampton Court which were wrecks!

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Bet that is the Egham/Staines side of Runnymead rather than the Old Windsor side. It never happened in Windsor as I recall but could be found the other side in Maidenhead & Cookham also it was a big problem in Oxon.
By spreading do you think that they have been moved on? Just remembered that there was always one lady advertising on a website "Houseboats for rent" around Hampton Court which were wrecks!
The report expressly mentioned a nice council owned 24 hour mooring (and adjacent "no mooring" quay heading) in Shepperton, as well as a general reference to moving up stream on both sides...

Sent from the Norfolk Broads Network mobile app

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If they moved upstream to a section of riverbank in Datchet they would be in trouble as it's the Queens Windsor back garden.  A bunch of burly men in blacked out Land Rovers would soon descend on them ! :default_2gunsfiring_v1:

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We had a holiday on the Thames a couple of years ago and I must say there was a great deal more "residential boating" out on the riverbanks around Reading and towards Oxford, than I have ever seen before.  The big Tescos just outside Reading charge for customers' moorings on the riverbank at the bottom of their car park, as they were having too much trouble with "squatters".

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2 hours ago, NeilB said:

If they moved upstream to a section of riverbank in Datchet they would be in trouble as it's the Queens Windsor back garden.  A bunch of burly men in blacked out Land Rovers would soon descend on them ! :default_2gunsfiring_v1:

Nothing quite like a sidearm and an AK47 being pointed in your direction is there. :default_icon_e_surprised: Then there is the big cannon still on the back wall of the castle aimed at Datchet bridge which fired huge cannonballs if an attack was launched from that side of the river. 

There are a few private moorings on the Datchet side alongside the golf club with a couple of very nice floating log cabins two of which I have done work in.

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1 hour ago, Vaughan said:

We had a holiday on the Thames a couple of years ago and I must say there was a great deal more "residential boating" out on the riverbanks around Reading and towards Oxford, than I have ever seen before.  The big Tescos just outside Reading charge for customers' moorings on the riverbank at the bottom of their car park, as they were having too much trouble with "squatters".

As you say it is a big problem and it continues through to Lechlade and beyond. The councils like the BA have limited powers.

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