Lady Ga

I hope your wrong too Derek. As a person stood on the outside looking in on all this, Im wondering whether to take the plunge here or hold back and wait and see for a bit....we were'nt going to buy till November or December anyways... I did notice that on Saturday, at Crick, BW are holding a public meeting on this very subject? whether you can get any sensical answers out of them, other than them dancing round the subject, dodging verbal confrontations, is another matter...

Very very well put.... I think you covered all bases there.

if you have a bank of batteries that need you to run 5/6 hours a day to charge them up then you will need to run your engine for that amount of time a day. Anyhoo, I''ve seen all I need to see on this topic. Its getting to the stage where I think its run it course... so its over n out from me on this one

Half a lite and hour = 50 p Cruise 6 to 7 hours a day =£3 a day say, CC for the summer, seven days a week = £21 a week that totals a saving of £80 ish quid a month and over 12 months, then u do the math. Look, Im not wanting this to turn into a ruck... But for people CC for the year it adds up as we can see... if you on a low income. good grief.

I know someone with a 60 footer and a 33hp vetus and once they put a bigger prop on it, it was fine.(fuel economy v good) I also know someone with a 58 foot boat and a 55hp isuzu in it and they think it guzzles the juice, so it seems people have their views, who knows who's right or wrong all you can do is make an informed decision, isn't it?(wotever)

Well, we are at Crick this weekend so guess what my main question's going to be on the engine sales people there... If we do do this and it comes off(our planned boat), we plan on cruising every day(summer) for about 5-6 hrs a day so this could well add up to be very beneficial actually..

so, dilemma, if we get a 60 footer(new boat) do I go for a 33hp or a 42? can I save half a liter an hour? if so where do i sign? Didn't the old working boat swing a really big prop? so if you fitted say a 19x11 on a 33hp vetus lets say u should have economy and grunt?

Hi Alan, Indeed, BUT if your out for the summer then that IS a saving over say 6 months, or indeed if you live on and CC then its a good saving over a year... (half a litre an hour) hmmm food for thought!

Ah, you quite right. (Sueb) Then again, someone told me they attended a meeting once with BW, a supposed customer focus meeting and someone stood up to voice their opinion and a high ranking lady with BW stood up and said in no uncertain terms, "Well, if you don't like the increase in mooring fees then move your boat" So if thats the attitude you get from high ranking BW hirachy then were well and truly stuffed, as it were. They will probably turn round and say, if you can't afford it then sell your boat.

Okay, we surfed the net last night and found a motel type thing in Northampton(with a very odd name near some university campus)lol, for £30 a night, double room with a buffet breakfast!!!! the cheapest I found after that was at least twenty quid more with no breakfast. Yes I know what some are thinking....but the reviews on the net said it was excellent VFM comfy beds good food etc, anyhoo, fleabites aside, we are spending saturday night there and Crick the next morning. I didn't much fancy getting up at 5am to drive 3 and a half hours there, so we are all now happy campers.

As some of you may have guessed by now, me and my significant other are thinking of buying a boat, possibly a sail-a-way or possibly second hand, we aren't sure yet...BUT an article I read in one of the monthly canal mags, brings up a very very good point, given that we now pay full tax duty on cruising fuel, then maybe we ought, for economy reasons alone, consider installing a smaller engines into our new builds? given the trend, to put larger engines into boats than were origionally fitted to the old working boats(and they managed to haul massive loads with somethiung like 10hp?) The fuel economy on say, for example, a 60 footer, if u installed a 33 hp engine instead of a 42 or indeed a 55 hp engine should be very good? I suppose one could fit a larger prop, to give some extra OOOPf should you need it on rivers and the like .. It goes on to mention that most modern engines are not running efficiently until they are running at 85% capacity anyway.... So, like road cars, maybe its time to ditch the gas guzzlers and opt for a smart car?(ie., smaller engine) (this is assuming were not all priced off the canals-re my other topic)

There are some really good replies to this dilemma. When I started this topic, I wasn't sure whether this topic had already been discussed, but either way, I thought that it should be mooted....(again or not, as the case may be) Magpie Pat: you mentioned that we could be charged a few quid to empty elsan's? .....umm, straight away I saw a big problem with that....Im sure you would then end up with a certain few just emptying it into the cut instead of paying? In reality, exactly how much could BW or what is to become BW as we know it, increase licsense fees? is there a legal limit like you have with land-lords....ie, they can't just hike up the price to something like double, can they?(for their tennants) BUT if BW ceases to be, and a "new company" takes over, maybe they can start afresh with a whole lot of new charges? (omgosh, think of that prospect!) Is that a possible way round any red tape dictating how much an increase is deemed "fair"? But.... if its a case of "The licsence fees need to double or the system shuts down", then what? We pay or fold....? But what of the "Lottery Fund"? If this becomes a "Charity" would it(BW) then be able to get much higher donations from that? OR: Maybe we will end up with a "Pay as you go" boating, like on the Lower Avon, where you pay to do a stretch of canal or indeed river(as is the case on some rivers now, as mooted earlier by someone).... Well, aint this good? Nothing like not knowing what on earth is going to happen, hey? I can't help feeling that BW will use smoke and mirrors to appeas us, then do a runner leaving us to pick up the pieces(once its too late) and they have long gone.

yes that all sounds very familliar...... question: in reality what is really being said here? is it me? or is it all words dancing round trying to look like something good and nice and really, underneath and reading between the lines....this could all end in tears? what if these "local communities" don't want to be bothered "taking care" of their stretch of canal? It all seems very flaky to me, if I may be so very bold. Am I missing something here? or what...

Indeed! Me and my significant other will be going, not sure what day yet....in fact im toying with finding a motel or something, because we have a 3 hour drive to Crick and after a day trailing round I'm not sure I fancy a 3 hour drive back.

WHAT! WHAT?!! BW CE earns what? £284,041p! two hundered and eighty four thousand pounds a year! I'm flabbergasted! I'm completely gob-smacked he earns MORE than our Prime Minister! OMG this is so outrageous its funny! And he's getting away with it why? (no one noticed, perhaps?) nice job if you can get it, huh? Omgoodnessness.. phew x 30000 I was just thinking today, perhaps due to all the cut backs and savings having to be met by the new government, that this 'charity' mullarkey could well be pushed forward quicker than we think------ and as for cutting quangos (whatever they are) perhaps our dinamic duo, Nick and Dave could start by cutting BW's very outrageous wages perhaps? I can't get over those wages! I need a lay down after that shock, at this rate our licsense fees will be about 10 grand!