Wacked and wacked again and again

[MauriceMynah]

Please don't let this thread descend into an "Owners v Hirers" bitching contest. There are morons in both camps.

It stands to reason that a novice is more likely to have a bump than an experienced boater, though we all make mistakes.

It stands to reason that a novice is more likely to be on a hire craft.

Not all novices have bumps and not all hirecraft skippers are novices.

From the above one can reasonably deduce that statistically if your boat is hit, it will be by a novice in a hire craft.

I don't want to sound harsh but LIVE WITH IT, or move your boat to the Thames where novices are taken out and hanged if they so much as look at a private boat.

[donnygeoff]

Hi Womble,

I am not three bad at the moment, but things could change at easter......

the Thames where novices are taken out and hanged if they so much as look at a private boat.

Guess who will be on a hire boat on this little river.......

I will probably be hanged

[Hockham Admiral]

Please don't let this thread descend into an "Owners v Hirers" bitching contest. There are morons in both camps.

It stands to reason that a novice is more likely to have a bump than an experienced boater, though we all make mistakes.

It stands to reason that a novice is more likely to be on a hire craft.

Not all novices have bumps and not all hirecraft skippers are novices.

From the above one can reasonably deduce that statistically if your boat is hit, it will be by a novice in a hire craft.

I don't want to sound harsh but LIVE WITH IT, or move your boat to the Thames where novices are taken out and hanged if they so much as look at a private boat.

Well Said!

[diesel falcon]

Hello young Donald. (hows Geoff by the way?) I've been whacked loads of times I seem to bounce out of the way when it happens. I thought it was part and parcel of the the whole scheme of this boating mullarky! Just a roll of the eyes to the offender is enough to make them say sorry. But what I will say is that the majority of personages that do said cuffing are OWNERS who seem to think they can get their craft into gaps that a hirer would be too scared to attempt!

i,ll say nothing!!.....ok navlight!

[quo vadis]

poor old Jiffy

[wombat nee blownup]

i,ll say nothing!!.....ok navlight!

I seem to remember bucket loads of gel coat needed on a boat a while back

[Guest]

If you hire a car with collision damage waiver, it doesn't entitle you to bump into everyone else on the road. So why should it be the case with some hire boats? As others have said, many hirers think it's the norm to bounce off moorings and boats with not a care and rarely an apology. If you own your own boat, regardless of whtat it cost, why should you accept that knocks/damage will occur? They should be the exception and yes, you will get privates bumping privates but IMO the private boat coming in to moor next to you will do their utmost to avoid contact. Perhaps if the hire companies did away with CDW and ask hirers to stump up a £1000 damage deposit (or whatever figure), hirers might think twice about the consequences.

Having visited the Broads from the Thames for a three week stretch with our own Viking 20, we found we couldn't really relax until it was dark and the hire boats (most of them anyway) had moored up for the night. If you're in your cabin or saloon, you don't always hear the hire boats coming into moor an inch from your bow or stern and by which time it's too late to leap out and lend a hand or fend off.

As our main cruising holiday has to be taken in August and, as much as we love the Broads we're going to give it a miss in 2013 and take to the Great Ouse instead.

[Hylander]

Gosh you all make it sound like the dodgems at the fair. Dont think it is anywhere near as bad as you make out. 99% of folk do their utmost to moor as best they can and accidents do happen. I cannot imagine anyone gets up in the morning and says - oh I wonder who I can literally bump into today.

[Hockham Admiral]

Gosh you all make it sound like the dodgems at the fair. Dont think it is anywhere near as bad as you make out. 99% of folk do their utmost to moor as best they can and accidents do happen. I cannot imagine anyone gets up in the morning and says - oh I wonder who I can literally bump into today.

It's not as bad as that, but if you own a Viking 20 then it's an entirely different proposition if a 35+ft 10 ton boat mashes into you!

We know, our last boat was a 25ft Beneteau Antares 760 and we had a different prospective to now!

[Hylander]

Dont get me wrong I can get very smiffy including hubby if someone appears to be completely out of control and thundering towards our pride and joy but as hubby has pointed out to me on many occasion , he/she didnt do it deliberately you know they just dont get the proper training for difficult conditions.

Avoiding 24 hour moorings in the popular spots and mooring in the trees helps most of the time. At least mainly your only invaders are mozzies and spiders.

[Soundings]

Except when a boat thunders past at 100mph

[Hylander]

Oh you were moored there at that time as well. I sometimes wonder if some people have taken a bet on how quickly they get up the Ant or is it that the beer has been poured already and waiting for them at the pub in Stalham. Some come whizzing past Irstead as if their life depended upon it.

[Soundings]

All true Hylander and I think we may now have had enough. Bad summers, reducing "wild" moorings and he odd whack is making us wonder if owning is really cost effective - that is in terms of personal time, money and stress. I think we might well sell up and either go back to the canals (Steele boats are hardier) or just become a hirer.

[Hylander]

Oh now you dont - dont give in. I am ready for the next season. May not have that many left in the tank one never knows. You cannot beat the Broads.

I have a 92 year Mum who is in a care home with Alzheimers, no memory of anything, does not know any of us. Had a wonderful life, recalls nowt. What I would give to see my mum laugh again and enjoy the Broads. Never ever give up. We have a wonderful life us boat owners. Make the most of every moment.

[Soundings]

We are thinking hard about it, Hylander, but I am not so sure we will stay. We hardly cruised at all this year, due to the weather, and last year was not a lot better. Then there is the peak season (school hols) and I certainly do no extended cruising then - it really is hard work then. Add that lot together and it starts to look less than cost effective.

[Brigid-Mary]

Oh Dear, I seemed to have ruffled a few feathers here which is not what I had intended.

In my view, the issue here is the fact that my boat, which ever it is at the time, is a target for people to collide with. Thats fair enough. As I have said earlier, accidents happen and I concede to that. What really p---es me off is that no one will stand up and accept responsibility for their actions.

Lets look at the hirers, they pay oodles of money for a holiday on the broads, the Thames, the Shannon or where ever, they are not really interested in having lessons on boat handling. They are more interested in getting away on holiday, and I can identify with that attitude.

The boat owners are partly to blame as they do not give, or insist on giving the boat handling tuition that is required to pilot a water bourne holiday home. I know from what I have been told that a certain poster on this forum, insists that there should be an element of boat handling skills aquired before the hirers set off.

The boat that hit me at Reedham showed the scars of many collisions,and perhaps the owners should take heed of the signs a little more, and I can identify with owners who say 'Twernt my boat, I know nothing of it' BUT!!!!!

I didnt ask somone to collide with my boat, I dont expect, and dont derseve to be verbally abused because my boat was moored alongside and someone who knows no better comes along and clouts my boat, and then when I report the incident to the owners, I get more abuse and accusations of being a free loader who wants a paint job on my boat, that is why I put the claim into the insurance company, that is why I get angry, and that is why I am reluctant to venture fresh side again.

If I have offended any one, then I apologise, but please try and see things from my perspective. I think it may be time to draw a line under this topic, I shall not be posting again on it anyway. Thanks for your comments it has been interesting.

Paul

[donnygeoff]

Lets look at the hirers

AGAIN A SWEEPING STATEMENT.....

I WILL SEND YOU A PHOTO SO YOU CAN LOOK AT ME............

If I have offended any one, then I apologise

Appology NOT accepted, on behalf of the hirers that do GIVE A DAM........

[donnygeoff]

I think it may be time to draw a line under this topic, I shall not be posting again on it anyway

only having a laugh....

Cos I know bridgid will not be posting on this again....

[BroadAmbition]

Hirers and owner alike then

[senator]

PC or not, if you are in a hire boat you will be treated with suspicion until you prove that you are competent. If you are in a private boat you will be treated as competent until you arouse suspicion.

There are good and bad in both camps but novice hirers A: lack the boat handling skills required B: lack the knowledge about the implication of a collision between boats, mean they are far more likely to cause damage.

They are told not to worry about hitting another boat as long as they do it slowly they will do no damage. All perfectly correct but 5 mph is slow when it comes to speed. And if you were told in your driving lessons not to worry about running into other cars as long as you don't do it too hard the amount of damage in a car park would be dramatically higher than it is now where you tend to fail your test for hitting things.

A hire boat will be covered in scrapes and scratches so the impression they have when picking up their boat is these are normal and not a cause for concern.

As hirers gain in Knowledge and experience they become fiercely proud of their boat handling skills and I have seen many that would wipe the floor with most private owners but they do have to get through the early stages first. I know boat hire has a fairly good return customer rate but I would still wager that the majority of hire boats out on the water at any one time, especially during school holidays, are under the control of first or second time hirers.

Regardless of all of the above, there are two issues here. the honesty of the Skipper (private or hire) and the integrity of the yard.

There does seem a culture today, not just in boats but anywhere that there is cost involved, for people to try and get away with it rather than own up. Personally I think that is car related and comes from the costs involved in fixing a car today (no claims, insurance, garage prices etc.) where in the past it was £150 for a bit of filler and paint now it is £1500 for a bumper and four years of extortionate insurance costs to repair the no claims.

The integrity of the yard I find a lot harder to understand. Firstly the cost of repair to them is far lower than it is to an owner, and secondly the bad feeling that is generated between owners and hirers has to be detrimental to the yard in the long run. No doubt there are the odd spurious claims made but I am sure these are a lot rarer than the hit and run hirer, so if a reasonable id of the boat and movement can be given I think it is time for yards to step up to the mark and accept their responsibilities.

[pks1702]

Some well made points Ian.

I think it is time for yards to step up to the mark and accept their responsibilities.

Some clearly do with recent examples of good response; I think the case in point is one that does not.

[Hockham Admiral]

Some well made points Ian.

Some clearly do with recent examples of good response. I think the case in point is one that does not.

Yes, Perry.

We so often praise yards for their good qualities. But they have to have it both ways.

I think in these cases a hint as to the culprit's identity would not go amiss...

(so that you know who you're going to be involved with if anything does happen)

[MauriceMynah]

Too many "unknowns" here! What did the hirer tell the boatyard? We Don't know! Perhaps they told the boatyard that it was your fault, that the damage to your boat was there before they had the bump with you and that, in their opinion, you were going to "Try it on" to get a bit of damage to your boat sorted without paying.

In a litigation mad society, they might have said lots of things to shift any blame from themselves.

[senator]

No doubt there are the odd spurious claims made but I am sure these are a lot rarer than the hit and run hirer, so if a reasonable id of the boat and movement can be given I think it is time for yards to step up to the mark and accept their responsibilities.

The Yards know the chances are that their customer did hit the boat if someone is phoning up to complain about it.

[Dan]

PC or not, if you are in a hire boat you will be treated with suspicion until you prove that you are competent. If you are in a private boat you will be treated as competent until you arouse suspicion.

....

That's a big generalisation.

An understandable outlook, but it is only your view and not a hard and fast rule....I do not subscribe to it as I'm sure many others dont.... I just see a boat, with an unknown skillset at the helm and wait to see if it turns out to be someone competent or not

Dan