Chertsey
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Posts posted by Chertsey
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Set some lyrics to the 140 rpm version and you could have a Chritmas Number 1
Well, I have a son who's currently writing an A Level Music composition around a recording of a Bolinder. It's the time signature that's the killer, but that's the whole point, really. More about it here: http://nbwarrior.blogspot.com/2006/11/music-to-our-ears.html
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Well more fool you.
There's a clear case of theft or criminal damage here, someone must be made to answer for this heinous act. By not pursuing some sort of action you will only have yourself to blame if they do it again. Stand up for your rights, this should be worth six figures in compo. at the very least!
What worries me is, what if the milk had gone off, and the rat had got a tummy ache? He might have sued me then ... And what with me not having fully comp insurance ... You just can't be too careful these days ...
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It's a truism that you're never more than a few yards away from a rat, whether in town, country or canal. As far as I'm aware, a landowner can't be held legally responsible for the activities of wild animals on their land, although I think there are some species (coypu?) they have a duty to control, that's not the same as being responsible for their actions.
Just always assume that near the canal - and widdling in the water, of course - there will be rats. I put some milk (in a plastic bottle) out on the bank to keep cool one night and when I picked it up in the morning there was a neat little hole gnawed in the bottle and one perfect ratty pawprint. I must admit it didn't occur to me to sue anyone, even though I had to throw the rest of the milk away.
More importantly, ranting about 'human rights' in a situation like this is what muddies the waters around real, vital, human rights and helps the tabloid press, and even the government, dismiss and undermine them. So please don't do it.
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I didn't understand the correlation between price of premium and amount of claims made. Anyway, I don't know who you're insured with but my fully comp boat insurance is not cheap at all - more expensive than many peoples house insurance.
The more likely the insurance company thinks you are to claim, the higher the premium will be. This is how they make their money. It's why eighteen year old boys pay higher car insurance premiums than fifty year old female vicars, because statistically they have been shown to have far more accidents. This has always seemed a bit off to me, in that insurance is ideally meant to be about spreading the risk more evenly across the population, but I suppose as a beneficiary I can't complain too much (and no, I'm not a vicar!!). Insurance companies have teams of actuaries whose sole job is to work out the relative risk of various things happening so they can set the premiums accordingly.
Boat insurance and house insurance are both cheap compared to car insurance, especially when you consider it in relation to the value of the asset. Because across the country, lots more bad things happen in and to cars than to either houses or boats. The last time there were a lot of claims on houses/buildings insurance, following the storms on the south coast in 1987, the insurance industry lost a lot of money precisely because they weren't expecting it. And I'm insured with Craftinsure, of course (and Churchill for house and car).
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True, and boat insurance is so relatively cheap I suspect there are very few claims. So the original poster is probably lucky to get a response from one person who's made a claim with Craftinsure, and it was positive, so I guess that's the answer. Nice easy to navigate website they have too, seems very efficient.
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Yes I think you are - what if your actions were to maim or kill someone. I think you'd be very pleased of the liability cover, and legal assistance to help fight the criminal charge.
Most people aren't worrying about their third party cover though, but about their own boat. It's presumably because of the third party cover that insurance is a requirement, but can you get third party only for boats (like you can, and I have, for cars)? I've never seen it.
And what criminal charge? What are you suggesting I'm going to do?
Gross negligence at the very least it would surely have to be to result in a criminal charge .... Anyway, having seen at first hand the way lawyers operate I long ago decided that I'd defend myself if such a thing ever did happen. -
We too use Craftinsure but have never claimed.
But (without wanting to tempt fate here...) am I unusual in having boat insurance (like car insurance) more because I HAVE to (for licence, mooring etc) than because I think I might actually need to claim on it? My general view is by and large that insurance is an enormous scam; the only sort the insurance companies want to sell you is the sort you'll never claim on (e.g. extended warranties) or the sort that's so hedged about with conditions you can't claim even if you thought you could (e.g. unemployment). So the only insurance policies I have are the ones that I'm obliged to by law or commercial or other conditions - and I resent that. (I particularly resent that the law requires me to put money into the coffers of private profit-making organisations if I want to drive a car. If the state demands it, the state should provide it!). So I always buy the cheapest I can get away with and face the fact that if something dreadful happens I may have to stand on my own two feet ...
Now a thunderbolt will strike my house, car and boats simultaneously ...
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We've got one on Warrior and it's great, even though we can't actually sit up in it. I can never see how such a low space can be useful for storage, when you have to crawl into it. I love the idea that I'm lying there suspended below the waterline ... hard to tell what hirers would think though. For us, clothes storage isn't a problem - we pack our clothes in a big laundry bag each, chuck it on the bed during the day, out at night. Again, maybe not so good for hirers. But then there is a market out there for people who want to hire a more distinctive looking boat, isn't there? Maybe a big enough niche for one?
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To add my two penn'orth, we did the Huddersfield last August (see photo diary here), in the thick of the water shortage, and I wouldn't have missed it for the world. In fact, if that's as hard as it gets, I'd be disappointed. Yes, there are lots of locks. Don't you like locks? But contrary to what some other people were saying, they weren't particularly difficult to operate. The journey isn't just a means to an end; there is some fantastic, exhiliarating, scenery. Even though it rained nearly all the time we were doing it. The BW staff we met were all fantastic - cheerful, patient, helpful, efficient - and we were taken up by them from, IIRC, lock 26E. Yes, we went aground a fair few times; yes, we had to be dragged over a couple of cills; yes, we had to spend a few hours waiting for water (we picked blackberries. It was lovely). It was fantastic that there was hardly anyone else around. Once we couldn't get into the bank to moor - we used a plank. That's what they're for. The facilities are on the whole very good - a greater concentration of loos and showers here than at any other part of our journey, mostly new and in pretty good repair, despite signs of vandalism.
The choice isn't between the Standedge Tunnel as it is and a big wide straight tunnel that won't scratch your paintwork; it's between the Standedge Tunnel as it is or no tunnel at all - which may well be the case again before very long anyway, especially if people allow themselves to be put off from using it. I am still open mouthed with wonder at the effort and, yes, money, that went and continues to go into making and keeping the tunnel (and the canal) navigable; it is nothing short of a marvel in an age in which we're all supposed to know the price of everything and the value of nothing. (If I have a reservation about expenditure it would be the visitor centre; lovely building, loads of money thrown at it, nothing in it.)
There seem to be two basic kinds of attitude: some people enjoy a challenge and the sense of achievement you get from it, while others expect everything to be made easy for them and complain if it's not. The latter sort should really just get off their boats and stay in and watch the telly.
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How big a party do you want to have? Trad is very sociable - cosy even - for two - one in the hatch, one to the side or slightly further back. Cruisers are fine if that's what you like (I'd rather have the space inside, plus there's the aesthetics of it) but semi trad is an abomination. Since you asked.
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Well, we can all find out who built it if we want, but I am a little surprised that the builder was not named long before. It cannot be libellous to say that X built Y boat, assuming that he did build it! That is a simple fact, and as others have pointed out the truth is an absolute defense under English libel law.
If we say he is a bad builder then that is a different matter.
I also think that if someone wanted to sue, saying effectively I won't name any names but the Bad Builder is advertising on the back page of the following magazine doesn't really cover you. You might as well have said what was so and been done with it.
He said 'in the back' not 'on the back page' - now that might be libellous. Was that the November or the December issue Gary?
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Yes, yes, tres amusant. But will someone please just buy the damn boat!!
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A friend of a friend would be really interested to know the current whereabouts of Pendorric, a 58' trad nb with distinctive vertical oblong windows, last seen (by me) for sale at Whilton Marina two years ago. The whole story of why is here: http://nbwarrior.blogspot.com/2006/10/stra...-two-parts.html . Thanks!
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Small but beautifully formed
Just two items from the sale site
Yes,well, I did restrain myself from killing the guy that wrote the ad, but now I'm not so sure
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There are a few short steel boats on Apollo Duck - including this one
http://narrowboats.apolloduck.co.uk/feature.phtml?id=47762
which just happens to be mine ...
Hmmm. Hope that link's worked.
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somewhat upsettingly the red stuff has dried out and is some particularly orange rust. With some pitting underneath. Rather than risk this happening again i'm going to call in someone who knows what they are looking at see if it can't be cured.
I've had another look at the blacking and its a little odd. In places there is a distinct white layer under the top layer of black. what is it?
Get it shot blasted - then you know what you are dealing with, it is not dear and always well worth it.
Sarah and Jim
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Thanks Charles, some good pictures there. I've found the 'nb-warrior' blog very useful and interesting too. I've also re-visted your site to look at your lettering for your boat, I'll be needing to get some for mine before it goes onto the Thames.
My underdeck space will be investigated for use as a bed once I've spent some more time on the boat. the current sleeping arrangements are not very well made, so I won;t loose much by trying this.
My under deck space looks like this.....and this IRIS, my boat...
Hi Simon
Glad you liked the our Warrior blog. You look like you have plenty of headroom under there - more than us. It works for us; we have just enough headroom - about two foot. Getting in and out is the fiddliest part. Once in it's very nice and cosy, and there's plenty of room to spread out sideways. A local upholsterer should be able to make you a foam mattress cheaper than a specialist boat supplier - we gave ours detailed measurements, including the angle between the base and sides, and they did a lovely job. The ventilation is probably quite important - I imagine it would get quite stuffy otherwise. We have a hatch that was already there but you could perhaps use mushroom vents or, if you were worried about water getting in in locks etc, it might be possible to get special deck vents - I think I've seen them.
The advantages of doing it this way certainly outweigh any inconveniences. It uses otherwise wasted space - if you use it for storage you still have to crawl in and out and are unlikely to use the whole length. We still use the space for storage in a way anyway - we store most of our clothes in big bags (one each) which we chuck on the bed during the day, hidden behind the curtain, then we just chuck them out into the saloon at night. It gives you the best sized bed you are ever going to get on a narrowboat. It's ready to crawl into without any setting up, and in the morning you can just crawl out and shut the curtains on it. It doesn't take up any space or cause any disruption in the saloon or anywhere else. The only caveat really is the amount of headroom you have available and whether you have any tendency to claustrophobia. If you can, try setting something up temporarily and see how you get on with it. Roll out beds are a nightmare - we had to move all the furniture out of the way every night, and it was narrow, and the head sloped downwards.
The base was quite straightforward to build. You could maybe put a mattress straight on the floor but we put the base in for three reasons, firstly to allow some air flow round the mattress, because everyone says you should, second, because there is a water pipe running straight down the middle from the tank to the pump, and lastly because there were some sharp steel stumps where we had cut out the old roll out bed. We just put strips of 2x1 batten round the sides and a piece down the middle, raising it 2" off the floor, and went across with 6 x 3/4 cheap pine planks from Wickes leaving about a 1" gap between. We measured and cut them with angled ends to fit fairly flush to the sides of the boat and screwed them in place with drywall screws, which didn't need predrilling. It It took Jim a morning to do, with me passing him things! There's a picture of the base without the mattress, and of the building process, on the photo site http://community.webshots.com/user/nbwarrior in the album 'Working on Warrior'. I know of one other boat with the bed under the deck, and they are very happy with it too. Good luck - let us know what you decide and how you get on!
And Jim adds: In addition to what Sarah has just posted it is clearly a very good thing...... and also the fore end curves upwards towards the front so that it is very much higher at the head end. I am fairly large (16st 9lbs) and about 5'11" and I am very comfortable and despite not being in the first flush of youth(!) find getting in and out very easy, much easier in fact than getting in and out of a conventional bed in our other nb. What really was the desider was the fact that despite the fact that it would never be seen the builder had panelled it out beautifully with old pine and mouldings. I have been up to the boat twice during the recent heatwave, and it is the coolest place on the boat.
My first post! Hope it isn't too long - please forgive if so.
Sarah
Gross negligence at the very least it would surely have to be to result in a criminal charge .... Anyway, having seen at first hand the way lawyers operate I long ago decided that I'd defend myself if such a thing ever did happen.
Red diesel
in General Boating
Posted
Isn't this more or less what happened with VAT on domsetic fuel a few years back? It's levied at the EU minimum of, I think, 5 percent rather than 17.5. But there was an almighty outcry about that which probably forced the government's hand. I doubt whether we have so much clout.
Re fuel for heating, this might be a stupid suggestion, but is it the same stuff used in oil-fired agas in people's houses? If so then presumably it's directly comparable for duty purposes and there are companies with tankers who will deliver it to you. But I bet it's not the same stuff ...