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Showing content with the highest reputation on 22/06/13 in all areas

  1. All around its coming to a sticky end; its been a good run for me and my friends; once I sat on my throne like Pharaoh king Tut; but now with boaters all wanting to get shut; bon voyage I'm off no more to pretend. With million I've salted away in my bank; was I worth it well speaking quite frank; with no inkling of the much needed work; responsibilities I buried, hid and shirk; no wonder the canal business just sank. Off to oblivion both me and the business; for ten years each day was just like Christmas; now there is a rush for the revolving door; not just me there's also one or two more; it's all gone tits up everyone is a witness. He can't hang around and just wait to retire; the water is hot with boaters stoking the fire; I want to invest in a empty canalside pub; I've proved in the past I'm stupid enough; the future for everyone could be quite dire. There is a taxi waiting with room for just the one; a sense of relief now we know you're gone; no postcards please as we don't really care; the pension pot you have more than your share; the very best of your worst is finally done! Like Elvis the bird has now flown and gone; of his achievements they amounted to none; on reflection at the end of his tenure; his employ proved a very risky venture; common sense has finally won.
    2 points
  2. We were going down the Farmers Bridge flight out of Brum the other day when a smart guy with a windlass offered to help. He obviously knew what he was doing and we made excellent progress. He also helped us down most of the Ashton flight as well and we enjoyed a good chat about boating as we went. He's not just an expert in lock operation but very pleasant company too. As we parted he gave us his card and we discovered that we had been in the company of Jim Shead the waterways writer and photographer as author of a very useful web site http://www.jim-shead.com/waterways/index.php. So Thank you Jim not only did you speed us on our way but you made our day too. When boating you meet such nice people TC
    1 point
  3. Well, 4 of a convoy of 8 boats have arrived at Arthur's Road Bridge safely while the rest, I presume, has stopped at Woking Town Center, or perhaps have been swallowed up by the mud and c..p that's at the bottom of the shallow canal! The frustrating thing is that we all have to wait about today and be ready do the 5 locks or the St Johns flight tomorrow, that will take an hour or two, and then wait about to do the 14 locks of the Brookwood flight on Monday! The other frustrating thing is that after my crew walked eastwards along the canal it seems that the St Johns flight is unlocked and ready for action now at 4.30 this afternoon! Why we can't use it is beyond me! Nipper
    1 point
  4. Glass half empty again Sue ? Tim
    1 point
  5. Depends what one means with comfort.
    1 point
  6. But as m'learned friends stand to do very well out of sorting it out, it has to be considered a triumph for the law. (Of course us unlearned need to remember that the judicial system exists to stop the law deteriorating into justice.)
    1 point
  7. Homer. Preventative maintenance is always cheaper than a complete rebuild. Because insufficient maintenance is carried out (a method that CaRT use for saving money, presumably for a rainy day) it costs much more in the long run. 16% of existing assets or 1600 items at risk of catastrophic failure is not a good place to be. Boating costs are going up much faster than the rate of inflation and the maintenance backlog is still increasing. But then at the same time millions of pounds of our money are wasted on speculative investments - money that could have been better invested in preventative maintenance of the canal infrastructure. In a perfect world all would be well, the rivers would run - the canals would have plenty of water, the silting up would be a thing of the past. Visitor moorings would be plentiful and lock gates would have no leaks. However, in the real world on the inland waterways, things are not idyllic. Vince Moran of CaRT wrote in Narrowboat World in "Condition of the waterways" about CaRT's corporate view and methods of counting, assessing the condition and then prioritising maintenance issues. I found this article gave some interesting insight and some idea of the methodology being used. Vince wrote about a scoring mechanism where the state of the waterways was classified in a range A to E. (where A is the best condition and E is where there is a very real risk that the asset is close to failure) Principal at risk assets were classified as numbering 10,000. Ten years ago 30% or 3000 of the assets were at real risk of catastrophic failure. In ten years that number has fallen to 16% of assets or 1600 which are still at real risk of catastrophic failure. Having 16% or 1600 of your most important structures in the poorest condition is still not a good place to be. One has to presume that in the next few years the numbers in D and E will continue to deteriorate. That the underfunded maintenance budget will remain the same in real terms. That the concerted effort to manage the identified ones at "real risk" continues. However, a number of assets that have been in the A,B and C categories over the last 10 years and have developed faults and conditions that have not been remedied. Some will deteriorate even further and a number of them will migrate into the D and E grouping. You then get into a state where you will start to reach equilibrium and the the fall in numbers will taper off, and then reverse. Its at this point where the methodology has to take into account a more proactive "stitch in time" rather than the current only reactive maintenance. This will require a focus change and some increase in the maintenance expenditure on more than the highest risk parts of the network. Widening the focal point to include say category C as well as D and E issues. However, CaRT are never going to reach zero or even a more acceptable figure in the D or E category. If you are underfunding the maintenance and you know you are underfunding the maintenance then what happens when it all goes wrong and someone ends up brown bread. Some may argue that a fall of 14% in the numbers of "at real risk" is not good enough over a ten year period. That argument might well be instigated by a coroner, Health and Safety Executive and then settled by the courts. That's not going to be a cheap option in cash or lives. I think that what CaRT has achieved so far has some merit, but the more visible side of the maintenance backlog will still prevail and colour peoples expectations and perceptions. Now that the recent canal breaches and lock walls failing have given the emergency fund a good kicking. Presumably, previously unidentified lock walls that fail will also fall into the remit of the emergency fund. What lies ahead? Ask yourself what will be cut to plug the funding gap so to speak. If a lock paddle is rusty, greasing and painting only the worst deep pitted rusty part and then ignoring the other is not good maintenance. Proactive inspection, problem identification, deterioration prevention all add up to a more cost effective form of maintenance. Not just waiting for the bank to crumble, or a lock wall to fall or any other type of catastrophic fail. Its like the potholes in the road. Ignore them and don't fill in the holes when they first appear and then resurface the whole road when the problem deteriorates further. Which is the cheaper option? Alternatively a more proactive scenario is when you take your car for an MOT. If the examiner identifies a fault he either issues an advisory notice which you should heed and take some preventative maintenance or he refuses to issue the certificate. Which just might save your life - I wonder what price you or your family would place upon that? regards Mick
    1 point
  8. The amount of assumptions you make here make this pretty much meaningless. The biggest one is this: if you are able to let 75% of mooring currently at over £5000 per mooring, why do you think they would go for the reserve price if it were set at £3000? It might happen occasionally, but that's all. Any regular ebayer knows the best way to generate bidding interest on an auction is to start with a low reserve. So what if existing moorers chanced their arm on a local mooring at reserve price? Seems pretty likely to me that just bidding between those local moorers would raise the price to just below what they're currently paying. That's basic economics. I honestly don't see this as a thought out strategy by CaRT. Just opportunism practised by imbeciles who can't see that they're shooting themselves in the foot. Just looked at the completed auctions first page. Ten auctions. Only four received bids. Three went for reserve. One just about made guide price. The next two auctions the make guide price are at the bottom of page 3 and half way down page 5. If CaRT were a commercial auction house, they would have gone bust!
    1 point
  9. Id like to have seen the word 'please' in this peremptory demand for information, or does that make me old fashioned.
    1 point
  10. Not sure that's a fair comment. Things do go wrong with old structures, and they do seem to be getting on with working out how to fix it. From this post in the thread about the stoppage http://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=57683&p=1093754 it would seem maybe vandalism is to blame, and that isn't CARTs fault. Let's see how long they take to sort it before condemning them. Sue
    1 point
  11. Hi David. Is your gear portable, or would boaters have to travel to you? What is the price bracket..is it based on boat length, etc? Do you have a website? Welcome to the forum. Are you a new operation or do you have references of work done on other boats. Once a boat is "shotblasted" do you provide any sealing services (doubt you'd put the boat back in the water without). Do you offer any warrantees. How do you stop shotblast from hitting any of the boats shiny paintwork. What happens if you do...is there any insurance etc. These I think would be the kind of questions some would ask. WISHING YOU ALL THE BEST IN YOUR BUSINESS.!
    1 point
  12. Completely agree with this. MB and I have a theory, metal boats are male, wooden boats are female. Hardly anyone agrees...
    1 point
  13. Hello Peter Had planned to attend this talk @ the same time as visiting family in Coventry.Thanks for the warning & i wont be attending it now as i would have been with a couple of ex working boat women & the last thing in the world i would want is for them to be offended. hope to see you both soon Jeannette
    1 point
  14. hello Peter Do you know is this the same Gentleman who arranged the exibtion Life on the Cut @ the heretige centre in Coventry last year Jeannette
    1 point
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