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Showing content with the highest reputation on 01/04/14 in Posts

  1. Apparently CRT may be considering closing some canals which are home to a rare breed of swans? The swans are facing a bleek future after a severe drop in numbers, and are traumatised by Continuous Cruisers causing too much noise and air pollution. As it's the breeding season, CRT want to protect the baby swans, and may place a restriction on the Macclesfield, Peak District and Ashton canals for a period of 8mths. Boaters in the area are up in arms.
    2 points
  2. and here is one of my sons trying to do it behind a narrow boat (on the Wissey)
    2 points
  3. When you think about it, buying and/or developing marinas is actually a pretty good move on the part of CRT. Quite frankly, I think CRT, or whoever is in charge of maintaining whatever parts of your rivers and canals should, between fees, licenses, etc. AND tax funds from the general fund, be able to pay to keep everything in tip-top shape. Unfortunately, government is shirking its responsibility and CRT has to look for other means of an income stream. If it takes the money it is given/raises and spends it, it is gone forever. If it takes that same money and invests it, it can show a return forever, and ultimately yield many times the value of the original investment, especially when you figure the canals will be there 200 years from now, and probably 500 years from now. In these early years of CRT, it is imperative that CRT invest to guarantee a perpetual income stream. Investing in marinas fits right in with CRT's business, and they can live with low-performing marinas that other marina operators might find borderline. Take Pillings Lock Marina, for example, since so much is known about it. PLM is a marina that cost about £4million to buy and build, and is probably worth £2.5million to £4million right now, depending on a number of variables, but, for this example, let's say CRT could get it for £4million. The marina, if I recall, has around 300 moorings and seems to have been about 70% full. Estimates of the rent PLM was receiving were around £400,000 to £500,000 Per Anum. Those are just slip rents. There should also be rent from a ship repair business on site and also a restaurant. The apartment on site should be used by the marina manager as his/her residence. The operators of PLM claim that PLM has not been profitable because they have not achieved the high occupancy rate they had hoped for. At the same time, they financed the lion's share of the purchase and development costs, so PLM is making some pretty hefty loan payments. If CRT were to (hypothetically) take over PLM, they would pay £4million cash and not be saddled with any loan/interest payments. They could offer the marina management to a husband/wife (husband/husband - wife/wife - who knows these days, or cares) team and lease the cafe to someone who will pay them rent for the building and equipment and run the cafe themselves. Bottom line to CRT, after salaries, maintenance and so on would probably be around £300,000 net in the early years, or a 7.5% return on investment. The ROI would go up every year as rents were increased due to inflation. CRT would have its original £4million investment back in 12 - 14 years, and from then until eternity all income is new money. Eventually it would be hoped that CRT would have enough income to cover all necessary maintenance and repairs on the rivers and canals and to keep them in excellent condition. The benefit of this to the boaters, in addition to the benefit of well-maintained canals, is that CRT may be able to keep a place like PLM open, where private owners simply could not. Having this marina space available at fair market rates would benefit all boaters, would it not? It would seem, then, that CRT owned marinas system wide would be something boaters should be in favor of. As long as they keep their rates at fair market value, and don't try to undercut private marinas, then private marinas shouldn't have any room to complain. That's my opinion, looking at this from a distance. It seems CRT owned marinas could be a good thing for boaters in general.
    2 points
  4. OMG! Hung if you do hung if you don't ! First I'm accused of lying because I'm the only one with a complaint against the Milsons. so my fellow leisure moorers hear of my post & jump at the chance to defend my tales of woe & verify that what I have said is infact true, then we are all accused of lying because there are so many joining as new members to back up the accusations & so we must be telling untruths, because there are so many of us &we are new to the forum. (Welcome I'm sure). As you state in your own words lynalldiscovery "You couldn't make it up" so why on earth then would we! Why don't yourself & dog house come down have cake & coffee listen to their propaganda & you too could join his other customers in systematically bullying the disabled elderly couple & lone females who reside on the leisure moorings here. Authorities now acting to control their anti social behaviour ie Doncaster council, CaRT & the South Yorkshire police is obviously also not proof enough. Instead in your world it's all made up &someone has gone to great lengths to create lots of accounts & post lots of lies, what sort of sad people do you encounter in your life to assume anyone would go to such great efforts as well as working full time & raising a family. Perhaps you could invite the Milsons & their coffee boat empire (tongue in cheek) to permanently trade on your moorings, because the bliss full blend in cafe & shop boats you see along the waterways they most certainly are Not!
    2 points
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  6. I am developing a new style of washing machine for boating. Without giving too much away, (patents) said machine will look something like a lobster pot into which one places one's washing. The central tunnel will have a turbine which will cause the pot to rotate as it is towed behind the boat thus washing the clothes. The unit will be fitted to hydraulic lifting arms, so, when lifted from the water it can be raised above roof level when the passing air flow will spin the turbine thereby drying the clothes. This cunning piece of equipment will be made from a solid billet of finest unobtainium carefully machined with a CNC Router! What do the panel think?
    1 point
  7. They came for the Jews, but I said nothing, because I'm not Jewish. Then they came for the gays, and I said nothing, cause I'm not gay. And when they came for me, there was nobody left to help me... Some of you may find that karma can be a real bitch.....eventually..
    1 point
  8. I get ever more intrigued by the whole BW/CaRT/BWML story. So I started to do some background reading. I started by reading some of the older press articles. I came across one article which highlighted a side of BW and cataloguing its headlong rush into acquiring marinas. It actually provides some interesting insight from around the time that the new marinas were being touted. The article of interest is entitled 'Nationalisation by Stealth: British Waterways acquisition of canal marinas, by Tim Coghlan managing director of Braunston Marina. The article was published in Boating Business on the 1st of May 2003. The main thrust of Tim's article was: It is a simple fact that for at least the last five years every single canal marina that has been sold - of any modest size or more - has been mysteriously been acquired by British Waterways (BW), and without those marinas first being offered on the open market. It is because of their deep pocket from inner city waterside property developments on land acquired on nationalisation in 1948, that BW has been able buy up everything that has - dare I say - come on the market. Robin Evans, [who was at the time] BW's new chief executive, recently admitted in a press interview that BW had now acquired 17 marinas, only building two of that total. Thus in a few years, from a standing start in the mid 1990s, BW has become by far and away the largest marina operator on the canals. Taking on board the possibly thousands of canal linear moorings which it already operates, BW is now effectively in a monopoly position on several canals. BW also now controls most of London's Docklands and, having acquired Cumberland Basin, it now has a complete monopoly of moorings - basin and linear - in central London, as boaters are already discovering, with moorings prices going through the roof. It is only in west London that the private sector still has a significant presence. And this will soon be challenged by the new large BW Marina at Cowley. However, there was one phrase used in the article that sticks out more than any other. As part of the interview with Evans, he said 'The issue is competing with the private sector on a level playing field.' That was just over eleven years ago. BW/CaRT now hold as close to a monopoly position over the inland waterways today as its possible to get. But I wonder if the Evans statement still holds good today. Is the playing field level? Tim went on: For BW, marinas are about as good a way of trading as any. This is now more so, following its recent successful challenge to paying rates on its canals, including astonishingly, its marinas - on the basis that the canals as a whole are loss makers. It is incredible that a private sector operator has to pay substantial rates on its premises, even if it leases them from BW, but if BW operates that same marina, no rates are payable! And, of course BW, does not pay itself a connection charge. You can read the whole article Here
    1 point
  9. No stone left unturned to bring you the answer; it's in Anguilla: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoney_Ground
    1 point
  10. We have just come down from Bulls Bridge through Little Venice to the Lee Navigation. We were astonished by the extent of mooring with almost every single possible mooring spot occupied many double and triple moored. To this extent it will be seen as successful but we were really worried by the prospects of moving these boats now that the winter concession has finished. After months of convenient mooring, how many will be willing to leave and where will they go? The retrospective on this may be more complex than initially expected.
    1 point
  11. Maybe they were a bit short of funds to do anything about it sooner...
    1 point
  12. Green arrow, bottom right hand corner!
    1 point
  13. I find that Unlimited amounts of Unobtaniam are Obtainable at Unobtaniam R US.
    1 point
  14. If you go to my web page http://www.mikeclarke.myzen.co.uk/canals.htm there is an overview of the early development of locks in pdf format. Much of what is written about canal history tends to be poorly researched, and the best general histories are either Edward Paget-Tomlinson's History, or Hadfield's The Canal Age, a much undervalued book, but high on my list of those which anyone interested in canals should read. It certainly puts the early period into perspective. I have rarely found mistakes or poor interpretation made by either of these two authors, and I only wish I could say the same about others. On the Fossdyke, it has been suggested that the current waterway actually runs parallel to the Roman one, of which little survives. Access was probably by a single stop gate, probably like the stop planks used today, the waterway only being accessible when the tidal level of the Trent was right. The Bridgewater was certainly an important early English canal, though there were several before, such as the Exeter Canal, and the Sankey was built as a canal, only under an Act for a navigation. One major reason for the Bridgewater's nomination as the first canal was our class system. Bridgewater came from the second most powerful family in the country, so people would always try to curry favour by promoting their work. In English terms, I would suggest that the Aire & Calder Navigation was the most important as it was the first successful waterway built by the new rising merchants, coal miners and mill owners, who were the key group behind almost all successful English canals. Most of the Canal Mania canals of the 1790s were a failure, mainly because they were finance by the London finance market who didn't, and still don't, understand money creation.
    1 point
  15. Maybe they should fix a coin-operated turnstile to the offside gates so that widebeams have to pay to go through while narrowboats can travel free.
    1 point
  16. Little wonder. Can you see the modern railway system coping with an OGLO, with all the penalty payments that would inevitably be triggered? Where's the 'don't like' button when you need it?
    1 point
  17. I think the width of the canals we have in the UK today are part of the beauty of it. Not sure i particularly liked seeing it being so wide as they have in France.
    1 point
  18. Twenty five years ago we fitted a C-Power Ford BSD3 in Wyrd. After a few initial problems owing to the inherent 3 cylinder out of balance forces, the same reason I believe that led Lister to give up on it, we bolted it down to very solid beds since when it has behaved perfectly. Why is this not a 'vintage engine' and I ask this as one who has more than most of that ilk sat in his workshop. The engine is based on the old Ford Dexta tractor engine which i believe can trace its roots back to the 1930's and has a torque rating which makes many older traditional engines look silly. It has, in our case been worked hard in our tug, used as a tug for the majority of its life. The C-Power version is responsive and powerful and not de-rated as Beta did to avoid the high end harmonic vibes.It does not of course have the brass fittings used by Beta and beloved of many but then again this does mean that more time can be spent boating and less wasted polishing. Regards, HughC.
    1 point
  19. I was speaking to a marina operator the other day. ( Not TC). At the moment he reckons demand is very patchy. One of his newer marinas is at 40 % occupancy, and is losing money another has a waiting list of over 100% of capacity. Cutting prices doesn't seem to help as much as improving facilities does. BWML have a brief to make money, and there are rumours that they are not doing so well enough to satisfy their owners. I have even heard that CRT are thinking of selling off BWML. The capital raised can apparently be better invested elsewhere. Certainly I would not like to see a CRT (or anyone else) monopoly of moorings- that way lies unaffordable moorings and probably a major NCCC problem with thousands of boats on the towpath because they can't afford moorings and the boat won't sell for lack of people who can afford the moorings. N
    1 point
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  21. Keep your 3 way fridge! Run it only on gas, service it annually and it will serve you well even though it is rather small and has an inadequate freezer compartment. If you remove it you cannot, officially, fit a gas fridge in the future and comply with BSS regulation. This subject has been discussed endlessly in previous threads. A small fridge will consume ~50Ah (600W) per day. If you are in the habit of leaving the inverter on 24/7 a 240V fridge is preferable. For either you will need to install new cables; a 12V fridge will need substantial cables to carry the compressor start-up current without excessive voltage drop; inadequate cables are a common problem that causes 12V fridges to fail to start. If I were to replace my gas fridge for a larger capacity electric one I would have a 240V A+ model. I would modify the thermostat to remotely switch a small, cheap (100W+) dedicated inverter located near to the house batteries. As suggested in other threads I would also install 12V fans to provide cooling air from the bilge. Ideally, I would fill the space to the sides and above the fridge with insulation. Alan
    1 point
  22. I see Miss Leotard says "something should be done because people who live on the river need to have rights" Do they? Really? Maybe it's actually the other way around and people who need to have rights shouldn't live on the river. If she wants security of tenure she has the right to buy herself a house or a flat (or a residential mooring) just like everyone else in the UK. However, she claims she cannot afford a flat in London. There is no automatic right in the UK for anyone to be able to afford a flat in London. Maybe there should be, but currently there isn't and I don't see that changing in the forseeable, in our free market economy. MtB
    1 point
  23. And there was me thinking it must be April 1st... MtB
    1 point
  24. It seems like he's 100% answered your question. 3 nights per week ---> leisure 4 nights per week ---> accommodation (note he's not used the word "residential"). Staying on boat then going cruising ---> leisure Staying on boat but not going anywhere ---> accommodation
    1 point
  25. 1 point
  26. Just to throw in my threepennorth, as someone who has spent a number of years trying to catch the scroats who commit these sort of crime (now retired so I don't have to be politically correct anymore and CAN call them scroats!). There are misconceptions that it may be worth considering (even you Joelsanders with your paranoia about leaving your boat '....even for one night.....') which came to mind when I read the title of the thread. The question is how many of these break-in's DO actually take place at night? Think about it from the burglars perspective, he works what hours he wants (tax free!) so why would he want to be creeping around at night when he could be in the pub with his mates spending the results of his crimes. You will probably find, as with house burglaries, most of them happen during the day. Since the burglars are already aware of the reason for this I'm not really giving any secrets away. Think of the logic of it, if you are walking back to your boat at night and you see two individuals trying to force the door of a moored boat are you going to call the Police? I would think so. On the other hand if you are walking along to towpath during the day and come across two people trying to force the door of a moored boat and, as you pass, one looks at you, smiles and shows a broken Yale key and says "Typical, bloody key broke in the lock", now what are you going to do? He seems to have given you a good explanation of what he is doing and doesn't seem 'furtive' most burglars will tell you that they usually seem to be believed. I even had personal experience of this when I went to France to sail with a friend. He came to pick me up from the ferry port but when he locked the boat up (in the middle of a marina) he attached a padlock that he later realised he no longer had a key for. When we got back to the boat he retrieved a set of bolt-croppers from the boot of his car, and in full view of anyone wanting to watch, cut the padlock off his boat. Did anyone question our actions? not a soul, it was so blatant that it was assumed that it was OK. The advice that we used to give to householders was "If you had locked yourself out of your house how would you get in?", because that it probably the same way that a burglar will get in so try to make the place as impossible to break in as you can so that even you can't get in without a key. To slightly digress, the reason that house burglaries often happen during the day is pretty much the same reason that I've given above, added to that fact that the technique is even easier. At night you may walk down a street looking at the houses, you don't know which one's are occupied, you don't know who has a dog, you can't see if they are fitted with a burglar alarm, etc etc. If you walk down the same street during the day you can see which houses are alarmed so you pick one that hasn't got an alarm, and no sign saying 'beware of the dog'. You pick one that looks empty and then go and ring the doorbell to make sure, if someone answers the door you make your apologies saying you were looking for 'Mr Smith, does he live here?'. If it does happen to be 'Mr Smith' who opens the door then it is the wrong Mr Smith and you move onto the next property and repeat the procedure, when no-one answers the door it's party time! Break a window at 2am and see how many people call the Police, break a window at 2pm and almost no-one will. I suppose what I'm saying is be suspicious whatever the time of day, and here's to hoping that my own boat, currently moored on canalside, will still be secure when I get back to it!!
    1 point
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  28. Hi where in Rotherham? I have been here 9 years but would only know them by their first name also a few years ago a boat was evicted from Doncaster town moorings it was a widebeam he was a right pain slashed my friends ctatch cover could it be the same person? Peter
    1 point
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