Tesla

Not sure I could face buying litres of baby oil but how long does it last out of interest?

Sorry, missed that point, thanks. Will try and give it a go on a sample area at some point, any particular brand you would recommend?

If I could avoid a full repaint for another 4 years by applying a coat of varnish I would be happy

Somebody recently suggested to me that yacht varnish does a great job of tarting up dull paint, anyone tried this?

That would do the trick, perhaps with solar to keep it topped up?

£300-400 should buy a self contained unit with an internal battery that would last up to 3 years without charge (you could I guess have it so the unit is only charged when the engine is running. The unit would report position once a day unless it detected motion at which point it could start reporting every 5 minutes or so? However you would need to subscribe to a service that would receive the positional data and display it on a map, plus allow you to create the geofences etc, this would likely cost £10 or so a month, perhaps more?

The aerial can be hidden or you can get externally mountable units that are fully self contained (and therefore easier to fit). Most units have motion detection, but the best approach is probably to create a "geofence" around your mooring, when the boats leaves this the system could notify you by email/SMS etc?

You can get units with external GPRS and gps antenna, but a self contained IP67 rated unit would be easier to fit, but harder to hide?

Out of interest, how many members would consider fitting a tracking unit to their boat?

Agree on both points, very distressing. There is some right scum out there....

Hmm, fine if everyone did it, but a pain in the arse for the person following you and following the guidelines... I assume most of the wear and tear on locks comes from the paddle gear rather than opening and shutting gates, or is this not the case?

I think most people agree that leaving the gates open for a boat coming in the opposite direction is the polite thing to do? By the same token shutting the gate would be the polite thing to do if you knew there was another boat traveling in the same direction? If you do not know which direction the next boat is travelling in then there is a 50% chance that it is travelling in the same direction as you and therefore by leaving the gate open you are creating more work for the crew? So wouldn't the polite thing be to shut the gate?

I recently got £120 for four socking great 220 gel batteries and one starter battery, so well worth finding a decent scrap merchant

Thanks Martin.

TBH, your link didnt work for me, what is the dongle you have. Also, now is is unlocked, whose sim do you use? Thanks

Plus, if I was "off-grid" for a few days, I would hope to be roasting dead buffalo or such over my fire, not sure this gadget could cope, the picture shows a few kids toasting marsh mellows

http://www.nauticalia.com/uk-info/product/93311.html?isouce=900A&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Nauticalia&utm_campaign=2327449_Nosilife&utm_content=Stove&dm_i=24D,1DVVD,7S3GJ1,4PAJQ,1 Novel idea...

So a bit quicker to get to the boat if it is on the Itchen, but a longer trip to Cowes? Great place to sail, although a bit busier than the South Oxford. If you need crew...

Beutiful. Where will you keep her?

I think you are right, but entrapment is generally aimed at specific criminals rather than people on the edge, although I am sure it doesn't always work that way.

I think this sums up the issue well, and I think most of us would accept that laying bait or entrapment would be perfectly acceptable if it was used, for, example, to get a serial rapist off the streets.

It is on at 5am tomorrow morning.