John V

there is never an excuse for a shoddy job

yet another post worthy of a greeny ! Your posts and W+T's are two of the main threads that keep me returning to this site !

Yeah ! You tell em, blumin' grammer hamster ...... where's Freddy Star when you need him

That surprises me, Shapfell was unlicensed from Sept 2012 until Jan this year (on tidal waters). When I applied to license her again (on phone) I was expecting questions but there were none. I was not even asked details of her mooring (she has one, paid for until Jan next year) just if she had one. This year I have a Gold license (bloody waste of money, should have got a rivers only as unforseen factors have severely curtailed my time available for cruising this year) I wonder if this had an influence on it. or possibly because she is only 25' narrowbeam and unlikely to be a liveaboard.

Hmmmm ! I think I wasn't clear enough in my meaning. I was really pointing at the management being not fit for purpose rather than the institution ........... sorry unclear phrasing

I was suggesting that a private individual breaking the law is but an individual, liable to the failings of human nature. A public organisation should have measures in place to ensure it does not break the law. If it doesn't it's not fit for purpose, and the blame for that lies firmly with top management The private individual who breaks the law can expect a penalty of some sort. but it seems that when it's an organisation no one faces a penalty.

when a private individual "breaks the law" that is reprehensible. When a public body "breaks the law" that is totally unforgiveable. The two are not the same

thank you for the warning Mr Bizzard, I get easily confussed at my age and a shock could be very bad for me

and occasionally in the Half Crown (they like old money down here) and and Dauntless the chandlery still only takes cash

img054 by mudlarker2, on Flickr The heap at the back is some of the ballast in Sabina H 6" x 6" x 4" blocks of steel ........8 tons of it plus another 2 tons of pig iron

Dear Mr Bizzard , Sir I hope you will not mind me requesting clarification on a couple of points, (it hurts when I sit on them). Do you need to paint them different colours for either shouting or listening? or is there a special paint that will let you do both? Thank you Sir, in anticipation of your advice Puzzled of Benfleet

unfortunately its one of those jobs where you always need long arms. (either to reach awkwardly mounted isolator switches or to reach deep into your pockets)

If you are happy with the actual ballast weight (in other words your draft is more or less correct) but it is simply the amount of room it takes then simply replace the bricks with steel or iron ballast (steel is approximately 4 times as heavy per cu ft as concrete (concrete about 148lb per cu ft steel 450lb per cu ft) ok make that 3

There's fast and bloody fast. To cause a big wake on the deep water of the Yorkshire waterways sufficient to bounce a big widebeam is stupidly, inconsiderately fast. Anyone doing so should be castigated with a blunt castigator !!!!!

I would go along with Old Goat on this, The only down side I have found using a fridge freezer as opposed to two separate units is the surge requirement. Although the running power of a single unit is less than the running power of two separates the switch on surge from the bigger compressor is greater, with two units the chances of them ever switching on at exactly the same time is very very low . I have got to upgrade my inverter as after changing to a single unit, although usually ok, occasionally there will be more things running and when the fridgefreezer clicks in it goes into overload shut down. (that is using an el cheapo 1Kw unit which also was running the central heating and some lighting) the Victron Phoenix inverters have a very good surge capacity for their size and I have been thinking of buying their 1200w unit as although only a little bigger in load capacity it's surge capacity is way higher

I've just been pondering on the value of a lifejacket in that waterway, if you fell off the roof (on either side) you would land on the bank ! If by some chance you did manage to fall in the gap between the side and the bank, when it inflated you might find yourself wedged like a cork

I truly detest joystick or jog leaver steering. I am happiest standing behind a large diameter wheel. Tiller steering from the stern of a boat (IMHO) is easier for threading through tight bridge holes etc as you can see the full length. Steering from near the bow by any method is (again IMHO) the hardest of all to keep a straight course as you have no aiming point. SAM_0092 by mudlarker2, on Flickr The tug on the left is fairly easy to steer on a straight course as you can line yourself up on the bow bollard. The one on the right although great for manouvering is a swine to keep on a straight course as you can't see the bow at all from the steering position

It can also be as flat calm as this !

I was very interested in the posts about pva/canvas coverings. I've not come across that mix before. On some of the very old wooden working boats you sometimes found canvas/thick paint used as a deck or hatch covering with some success, so I imagine using PVA would be a big improvement on that. I must tell my mate about it (a wooden boat enthusiast who owns two ..... a glutton for punishment if there ever was For hulls the Westsystem of woven glass/epoxy seems to work very well, but it's costly

what on earth would be the point of having moisture readings taken from a hull that shows absolutely no evidence of osmosis or any other problems

A slight exaggeration ..................... but they are very heavily laid up

We frequently get jet skis going passed our mooring ............ if they are eejits going far too fast they cause hardly any wash, if they are being considerate and keeping their speed down they produce a whopping wake !!!!!

How about ........ because the extra duty on DERV is because of what it says ......... Diesel oil for ROAD vehicles

Shapfell has indirect raw water cooling and I used to have a lot of trouble with blocked inlet grid. My solution (very Heath Robinson compared to Scholar Gypsy's elegant solution) is a cheap plastic hand bilge pump (the type that look like an overgrown bicycle pump) and a bowl full of water to back pressure the intake. It works very well (which is more than can be said for it as a bilge pump) (At a lift out for repainting I examined the input grid and found it had very small slot openings and opened them all up with a file, since then I have had much less trouble)