Dave_P
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Posts posted by Dave_P
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It may be right o'clock, but the moon's out! I can't bear having to wait to try this out. Maybe if I creep into a deep, dark wood instead of a hill-top, it will still work? I'm currently half way through a night shift so it would be lovely to spread a little dark around my boat at about 7.00am when the sun's coming up and I'm going to bed...
And I'm not skiving, I'm on my 2.00am lunch-break!
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Amen to that Brother! Sounds like you and the cut will get on famously. You have my envy. Whenever I get a bit of time off to cruise, I tend to set myself ridiculously ambitious targets which end of with me racing against time to get back to my home mooring before I have to return to the dreaded work!
Amen to that Brother! Sounds like you and the cut will get on famously. You have my envy. Whenever I get a bit of time off to cruise, I tend to set myself ridiculously ambitious targets which end of with me racing against time to get back to my home mooring before I have to return to the dreaded work!
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i dont mind a slanging match. I assumed you were planning to cc? if so, pump outs are far more spaced out then elsans.
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How would this work? Would the operator have to self-pump-out into elsan points?
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I'm far less qualified to comment than some of the posters on this thread but I do have one thought:
If it's the oldest engine your engineer has ever seen when in fact it's a relatively 'new' BMC 2.2, I would question your choice of engineer?? Before looking at shelling out thousands and thousands, I would be trying every avenue to get your current engine back up and running. There are engineers out there who would be highly skilled at repairing your engine, having worked extensively on various old BMCs. Even if you have the unit craned out and fully stripped down and re-built, it would surely still be much cheaper than looking elsewhere.
Or have I overlooked something obvious?
My boat has a BMC 1.8 and if I hit a brick wall with getting it repaired, I'd probably be talking to Calcutt Boats, since they probably know more than most about them. Maybe they can advise on a 2.2 also?
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I THINK I want pump out as I won't be in a marina.
What's your thinking here? The only time I'd consider a pump-out would be if i was in a marina and could therefore guarantee that pump-out facilities were accessible to me?
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Try Alvechurch too. Bear in mind that a 40-50ft boat at £20,000 is likely to need a bit of work doing to it. They're out there but it's definitely the cheap end of the market.
When I was buying, I originally set a budget of £25,000 for around 50ft and was consistantly dissapointed by what I found. Ended up paying over £30,000 for a boat which was leagues better.
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Looking tor live aboard boat for retirement.
Started looking at narowboats a few months ago and it's still a possibility.
However, is there a type of cruiser for larger canals and rivers that would also cross the channel on the right day?
What's the technical name for such a boat?
Would like to tour the UK and France if possible.
Only need 2 berths and used to living in compact accommodation.
Thanks
Hope I gave you some good advice the other day! Was my boat too narrow for you then?
If you get anything wider than a narrowboat, then you can't cruise around a lot of the network (see: http://www.jim-shead.com/waterways/mwp.php?wpage=Inland-Waterways-of-England.htm) but don't forget that wider boats often find things more tricky even on wide canals. There's plenty of places where you need to book in advance with a widebeam (tunnels, narrow cuts, floating towpaths) which add to the complexity of cruising with a wide-beam or dutch barge. Also, theres no way through from south to north in anything wider than a narrowboat.In my experience, people who want to continuously cruise in England and Wales buy narrowboats. People who want somewhere spacious to live and arent concerned about moving around too much buy widebeams.
Of course you were asking about something seaworthy. But why? Just to get across the channel or because you genuinly want to 'sail the seven seas'? If you just want to get across the channel, then a narrowboat is still a perfectly good choice.
You have 2 options:
1. Do lots of preparation and cruise your nb across when it's calm. There are people who have done this. Read 'Narrow dog to Carcassonne' if you don't believe me.
2. Put your boat on a lorry, as has already been suggested. And cross the channel that way.
If I were you, that's what I'd do. That way, you get to cruise the whole network over here (a lot of the best canals are narrow) and you get to have some continental adventures too. Even with the cost of lorry transport, it will probably still be much cheaper than a proper cat c barge.
Remember anything wider than 7' (and in practise often 6'10") and you will be severely restricted in your UK cruising.
Finally, i don't really know enough about grp boats to comment fully except to say that the size restrictions still apply so I'd recommend something which would fit on narrow canals, in which case get a narrowboat (which is much nicer anyway)!!
Finally: Geoff - when you finally get your boat, I'm expecting a tour and a cuppa!
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Couple of points:
1. Haggle, haggle, haggle - try in the shops and on the phone. A year ago I got an iphone 4 on the one plan with no upfront charge for £32 a month. I'd expect at least a 4s for that price now. The one plan is far and away the best phone deal if you want mobile internet and free tethering.
2. Although I can tether by wifi or cable I find the best compromise for speed and flexibility is to tether with bluetooth. Don't samsung phones allow this? I seem to get a faster and more stable download rate than with wifi and I can leave my phone on charge and put my laptop wherever I want.
finally - 100gb a month? what the hell??? I would consider myself a regular user, watch a lot of iplayer, 4od etc, download plenty of music and films and i still rarely go over 15gb a month. You guys need to get out more!
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If it was up to me, I'd prioritse keeping warm in winter above most other things.
I'm aware of boaters with no toilet or no shower or no sinks or no fridge etc. etc. but ALL of them have a decent source of heat even if they're 'bucket pooers' 'stand in a tub showerers' or they only buy powdered milk! (no fridge)
If you're getting cold in October, believe me you're gonna be a LOT colder in January.
As others have said, your boat wasn't really designed for living on. Doesn't mean you can't live in it but you have to be prepared to make sacrifices.
Isn't their anything on your boat which could make way for a small stove? With some of the smallest models shown on here, even once you've properly boxed it in with a tiled surround or similar you could probably get close to a footprint of 1-1.5 square foot.
Look at it this way, being a bit smelly wont kill you. Hypothermia could.
I've known people living in caravans and motorhomes which would have similar interior space to your boat and they all managed to find space for a small stove.
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Well you're not, you're still using the power but from a different source.
Lynn bought a small solar panel about 12 inches X 6, it's surprising how well the'll charge a mobile phone on a bright day even at a porthole window.
Possibly the latest reply ever,but I hadn't been on this thread in a while and I must protest! What I said was - "The reality is, if you don't have mains electric and you're not moving around much EVERY single little thing you can do to be more efficient with your power consumption counts. And you get to feel good about reducing your carbon footprint at the same time."
I was talking there about trying to be as efficient and frugal as possible with power in a general sense. Of course using power from a different source is still likely to involve burning fossil fuels but there's a lot more you can do to reduce the energy demands on a boat than just that! Having said that, I'd be pretty confident that charging a laptop from the mains produces less CO2 than running an engine to charge batteries, then converting the 12v to 240v via an inverter to power a laptop on a boat!
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I thought I'd share a small quote from my thesis since it amused me somewhat and i found it necessary to include it!:
"There is, however, plenty of evidence that the canal boating community was viewed with some suspicion and concern by the general population. A good example can be found in a report in the Lancet in 1877, “It appears that the condition of morals as well as of hygiene among the canal population is very unsatisfactory. A case was brought before Runcorn magistrates some days ago, when the evidence adduced showed that the marriage law was often ignored, and that the buying and selling of wives occasionally occurred. We have frequently pointed out that, on sanitary and moral grounds, the inhabitants of the floating dens ought to be the subjects of some special legislation.”"
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Water is terrible! Sign the petition to ban the nasty stuff!
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/ban-dihydrogen-oxide.html -
I have been involved in commercial filming on the canal in Birmingham and yes there are signs with a number to ring but I don't remember being charged anything. They just want to have a record of what you are doing. I don't have the number on me but a good place to start would be these guys who are always very helpful http://www.filmbirmingham.co.uk/ If it's for a wedding I'd give them a call and be sure of your position. You don't want some jobsworth coming down on the day and disrupting things.
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It does indeed. And it's never too late...
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Yes I know it's two and a half months later but I made a promise so I'm going to keep to it.
My thesis has now been marked and moderated and all that stuff so I feel it's ok to share my findings on here.
With that in mind, I'm happy to send a copy of my thesis to anyone who p.m.'s me with a request to do so.
I don't really want to post my findings on the forum as I think they are much better read in the context of the whole report, and in the light of previous posts on this thread, I have realised that small bits of information in isolation are often misinterpreted and likely to cause arguments.
Having said that, I will say this: Some of my results were somewhat predictable, whilst some were quite surprising to me. Comparisons between the health outcomes of liveaboards with moorings and those without showed some important differences. Equally, comparisons were made with liveaboards of different ages, gender and living arrangements and these also produced some statistically significant trends.
On a different note: I contacted BW and RBOA for their input, and was contacted by BSS offering theirs.
BW responded with a very standardised set of replies, some of which were clearly untrue (e.g. claiming to not know how many B.W. moorings there are), and I gave up pursuing their input - very sad but, if I'm honest, not that surprising in the light of other's experiences.
RBOA initially failed to respond at all (apart from to say that my email would be forwarded to the relevant people) and it was only after bumping into one of their senior people on the cut that they showed any interest and indicated that they were aware of previous research which had been done. It then took a fair amount of time and prodding to get anything from them. Ultimately, there turned out to be no actual previous research on offer but Ivor Caplan did send me a nice letter stating the position of the RBOA on various issues and some of his own thoughts. Thanks Ivor, I know you were very busy at the time.
The BSS actually came to me, wanting to share data and information. To cut a long story short, I agreed to send some of my raw data as a gesture of good-will and to show my intentions. BSS did not then reciprocate and eventually stopped replying to my emails despite earlier assurances. In the end I had a hell of a lot of data to work through so it didn't affect my thesis too much.
I suppose my experiences with the 'authorities' and their lack of help mirrored the findings in my thesis, namely that liveaboards aren't as well supported as house-dwellers. Interestingly, I found that many liveaboards quite like it that way, thanks very much! However, vulnerable people are at increased risk of suffering in a wide range of ways because they are 'falling through the net'. I suppose it could be said that this is a no-brainer, but without valid quantitaive data backing it up, it's far to easy for authorities to turn a blind eye to it. For this reason I will be sharing my findings with CRT etc.
Thanks again to all those who gave up their time to contribute to this.
Finally, none of the questionnairers came to claim their free pint. I'm in Huddersfield now, but the offer still stands!
Dave
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I was just outside cleaning the boat windows so I have a HIgh Definition view again of the outside.
A man walks past:
Man : " Do you own this boat?"
Me: " Yes"
Man: " Then I MUST ask a question. How do YOU own a boat like THIS?"
Me: " Then I must ALSO ask a question.. WHAT BUSINESS IS THAT OF YOURS!?"
Man continues walking....
I'm guessing the man was asking because I'm younger than a lot of 'boaters' . But gee! Talk about invasion of privacy!
Aren't some people rude!?!?!!)
Either he's jealous of your youth, in which case, take it as a compliment. or he's jealous of your boat, in which case, take it as a compliment.
In my job I have to deal with people who make this guy sound like an angel. Meet one of them and the conversation might have started "do you f'ing own this f'ing boat you f..."
On another point, I had previously considered myself a young'un when it comes to boating, but quite clearly I'm not!
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My advice is completely different from the above.
Learning enough to buy the 'right' boat first attempt is SUCH a complex task that I think no matter how much research you carry out, you are doomed to failure. Just as picture paints a thousand words, owning a narrowboat, ANY narrowboat, will teach you a million things you won't realise you wanted to know until you actually own and use a boat.
So my advice is find a boat you that you fall in love with but is cheap enough not to be a financial disaster when you come to sell it on. The first boat you buy will never be right. You second will be a close approximation, but come your third attempt you'll have a sporting chance of buying exaclty what you really want.
Hope that helps.
MtB
I'm still living on the first boat I ever bought. I love it. It's perfect. I've never seen another I'd sooner have for less than twice the price I paid. I did a LOT of research before buying.
I'm still living on the first boat I ever bought. I love it. It's perfect. I've never seen another I'd sooner have for less than twice the price I paid. I did a LOT of research before buying.
Oh, and wading into the old, old toilet debate... with much trepidation... it seems to me that if you can happily afford the charges, and moor close by to a place where you can be pumped out, and never (or hardly ever) cruise anywhere, then maybe, just maybe a pump-out would be ok. For every other scenario, you'd have to be stark raving mad to have a pump-out, in my humble opinion. There have been a few occasions where I simply would have been up the proverbial creek if I had a pump-out.
My posts on this subject are always tongue in cheek as I firmly believe that really it is for each person to make there own choice given their individual circumstances and preferences.
But in your scenario of frozen canals it really depends on capacity - a large PO tank will likely see you through a canal freeze but if it doesn't you won't be able to move the boat to empty the PO either....you may however be able to chuck the cassettes in the car and take them to get emptied.
This of course only works if you get frozen in near your car.
Exactly! The cassette in car option is annoying but much better than the pump-out situation. Yes a big tank should see you through but consider November 2010. What first appeared to be an early cold snap turned into one of the coldest winters in a long time. Where I was moored you couldn't move your boat more than a few feet until early February due to ice. In this case the cassette in car or cassette on wheely trolley option is there. But what of cc'ers who had let their pump-outs tanks get rather full earlier in November, not expecting the big freeze that followed, and more than a few feet away from a pump-out?
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Thanks. I'll try Shepley Bridge first because theyre much closer to me.
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Does anyone know of a good place to take my boat for blacking on the C&H, Huddersfield Broad, possibly Aire & Calder? I don't really want to do it myself and I'd prefer to get a recommendation on here. Prices people paid too would be good to know.
I'll be back down in Birmingham next summer and I know I can get some cheap deals there. The trouble is it really needs doing before then. It's been 3 years (I think) already....
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Dave, you are going round in a daft circle.
The owners of the site do have a responsibility to anyone on their premises, there should be a documented risk assessment for all aspects of work likely to be carried out, there should be a method statement detailing how to control the risk, and there should be a site induction highlighting any risks and the controls in place to reduce the risks. This isn't over the top knee jerk reaction to health and safety, it is the way any compyny That carries out works that could lead to injury or loss of life should operate.
The decision made in court agrees with this. Accidents can and d happen, but good health and safety policies along with management that are pro active in implementing them can reduce the chance of accidents occurring.
Simple saying a disclaimer relinquish the site operater of any responsibility is nonsense, a more sensible approach would be for anyone involved in docking operations to take the safety of people who have paid to use their facilities and equipment seriously.
Gazza - Although I've often been known to go round in daft circles, on this occasion it seems we're singing from the same hymn sheet, doesn't it? What part of what I've said is in conflict with what you've said? In fact I think you've made a series of perfectly valid points.
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You put it perfectly. Boating IS f'ing awesome!
I love that you just went for it with no previous experience. Learn by your mistakes I say.
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If the dry dock rigged the walkway, or told him that he should use it, then you may have a point.
If he merely utilised equipment that was stored in the building you do not.
He hired the premises, in order to carry out work. He was not employed by the owners to carry out work.
The owners have a duty to ensure that the premises are not in an unsafe condition, but that duty cannot extend to ensuring that he provides himself with a safe walkway.
If a dry dock owner wishes to hire out a dry dock with the proviso that the owner must provide his own equipment (pressure washer, access equipment etc) then that would be perfectly legitimate.
All I can say is that you're wrong. Not just because i say so but because the law and those who judged this case also say so. I don't want to repeat what I and others have already said which point out the ways in which you're wrong so I'll end my contribution here.
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How on earth is it the responsibility of the Dry Dock to supervise him and ensure that he works in a safe way?
I think you've missed the point here. It's not the responsibilty of the dry dock to supervise him or ensure that he works in a safe way. It's the responsibility of the dock to ensure his safely, as far as is reasonably practicable. In this case they didn't make any effort to do this. They could have done simply and cheaply by providing a suitable platform. A supervisor isn't needed. When I go to the supermarket, I'm not allocated a supervisor to protect me from objects falling off the top shelf! I'm sure the supermarkets generally find it much simpler to not overstock the shelves and cause a 'falling object' hazard.
This really isn't rocket science. Like I've said previously, it's just common sense.
Personally, having read this, I feel a certain amount of shame from remembering occassions when I've seen platforms like this being used in dry docks and not spoken to the owner about it. I will in future.
Help sought re living on a boat & finding one first!
in Living Afloat
Posted
I would say your expected costs are on the expensive side somewhat!
There are always cheaper options.
Moorings actually can cost anything from around £500 - £10,000 pa. Depending on the length of the mooring, the facilities and the location. If you have a smallish boat and arent worried about shore-line electrics and you arent in London you should be able to get something for well under £2500. I've always paid between £1500-£2000 and I've got full marina facilities for that on a 55' boat.
The license will only cost about £1000 if you have a 70' boat.
£900 for blacking sounds very expensive too! I wouldn't pay much more than £500 for that. And, of course I could do it myself and save even more.
Painting on a boat 50' or more will probably cost around £6000 for a decent job, but, unless you want the shiniest of shiny boats, 5-6 years is a very short interval. I've known boats who have gone 15-20 years with the occasional touch-up and still look fine.
Insurance - again, shop around. £350 would horrify me, if I were quoted that! In fact I'd be unhappy paying half that figure!
£500 a year for repair and maintenance fund isn't far off I guess but it all depends on how much cruising the boat does etc...
The advice I'd give to the OP is that there's many different ways to skin a cat! If you want to join the shiny boat brigade and pour all your savings into boat, you can easily do so. But, if you want to live cheaply, boating offers that too, in ways that house owners can only envy!