Peter Thornton
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Posts posted by Peter Thornton
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21 hours ago, LadyG said:
There is a problem with self testing in that it is intrusive, and there are lots of wimps out there, so lots of false negatives.
I'm not sure what we are going to do with these test results, is it to satisfy a testing target, or to allow folks back to work if they are self isolating? There has to be a very slow return to normality, this may be one route, to be honest.
Personally I think my contribution to not spreading the disease is as restrictive as I can make it, and it is those who insist on refusing to stay at home, but go out shopping, in pairs, who are doing the most harm, not necessarily by one shopping trip, but by numerous shopping trips, ie essentially they think the rules don't apply to them, they have not got the message. Probably they are living in a bubble, it won't hit home 'till people they know get knocked out.
I am cc-ing very soon, I think that means moving 50 metres from my current home mooring!
A friend of mine went to an official testing centre. She was asked to open her back window a couple of inches and a test kit was passed in for her to use and then pass out again. i.e. a self test.
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Hi everyone
I'm closely involved in Health and Social Care issues at Cumbria County Council and have recently been appointer to the CRT Council. (But haven't been to a meeting yet due to the lockdown)
I'm wondering how you are all managing at the moment?
I had a call this morning with Matthew Symonds CRT Boating Manager who is working on all the issues we have here in Cumbria, but across a much greater area.
There are about 150 of you in the "Shielded" group. This is the group who would be severely challenged by Covid-19. Mainly with respiratory issues and also compromised immunity. If you are in this group you should already be aware and you should have been offered various extra help including food parcels.
There is then a "Vulnerable" group consisting of those who need extra help but who are not automatically on any list. CRT are supporting this group in various ways.
Matthew said that there is a concern around some of the private boatyards closing for the duration and this meaning a lack of facilities. CRT are trying to address this where possible.
I'm sure you already know, but the number to ring if you need help is 0303 0404040.
Just as with Cumbria, the main issues are currently being caused by the response rather than the Virus itself. Hopefully it doesn't get into the canal community in any serious amount.
I'm a share boater so currently looking at the possibility of a whole season off the waterways. Hopefully not!
Best wishes to you all, and stay safe.
Peter Thornton
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Interesting comments. It would seem that a weeks rest between owners/hirers would be enough to let the virus die? But if taking over the same day then extra cleaning might be advisable.
The real game changer will be when the new test is made widely available and we will all get little red or green badges to indicate whether we are immune or potential carriers.
I suppose there's also a potential risk in the infrastructure which is touched along the way. Locks etc.
I suspect that the canal system has a greater proportion of vulnerable people than the rest of the country and do wonder what would happen if the virus begins to take hold here? I suspect that banning hire and share boats would be quite high up the measures taken? So it's up to us to stay safe and keep out of trouble!
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Does anyone have any thoughts about how the hire and share boat industry will be handling changeovers in the current situation?
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2 hours ago, Allan(nb Albert) said:
Really only two routes onto Council - 'nominated'' and 'elected'. The prefered route is 'elected' but obviously that is not possible if an electorate can not easily be identified.
BTW, I remember Sunseeker very well from its Ownerships days. I can remember having my arm inside its center holding tank on more than one occassion!
Hi Allan
Did you work for Ownerships, or one of the boatyards?
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1 minute ago, alan_fincher said:
This was clearly identified as a mistake. As I understand it, it depended on what platform you were voting from. If from a phone, then initially (incorrectly) it insisted on voting for at least 4 candidates, but if on a PC it (correctly) did not.
Of course the error was only corrected after some people had been forced to vote for candidates that had not initially decided to.
The only way to fully put this right would have been to cancel the election,and rerun it with the software working correctly, (although I very much doubt it affected the final result, and I think the same candidates would almost certainly have been elected).
This was not the only error made. For example licence holders with multiple boats should have got as many votes as they have boats. Certainly if both boats are covered by the same customer number, you were wrongly only sent one voting link. When I tried to get this corrected I was initially sent a voting link identical to the first one sent,and unsurprisingly this wouldn't let you vote again.You might think if you are using a third party specialising in this kind of work they might actually get it right, but, like ERS before them, CES seemed to be pretty inept.
Yes, its pretty obvious that if you're dealing with the boating community then you are going to get a much higher proportion of mobile devices.
The multiple boats point is a bit trickier, it will depend upon what rules were set and I can see both sides of this. But whatever is decided should be clearly stated and followed.
The real worry is the small turnout compared to previous years. That should provoke some thought.
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1 minute ago, IanD said:
Classic/veteran/vintage cars are a similar "special case" to boats, the numbers are tiny compared to "normal" cars. Actually all the government has to do to save far more pollution than all the boats and "special cars" combined is to somehow persuade people that they shouldn't be using two-ton SUVs to drive their kids to school in towns...
Yes, I think we will be able to make a case for existing boats but it may be a bit tricky to build new ones on the current pattern.
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2 minutes ago, IanD said:
Hopefully the government will take a science-backed approach and look at the numbers first -- about 30,000 boats in the UK vs. 30,000,000 million cars, each averaging 10x the diesel use over a year compared to a boat, meaning boats contribute about 0.01% of the CO2 that cars do, so even if each old boat engine is 100x more polluting the effect is still completely negligible.
Unfortunately the government doesn't seem keen on making evidence-based decisions... ?
I suspect the problem will be that there are thousands of special cases to be made. i.e. If you take the total number of Ferrari's on the road then it is a tiny proportion etc.
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There are a number of routes onto Council. I’ve been appointed from the Local Government Association and am looking forward to my first meeting in March.
My initial interests will be:
1. The elections. It doesn’t sound as if they were well run, if what I’ve read here is correct. I’ve stood for lots of elections, some online, and never known of one where you have to cast a minimum number of votes.
2. Climate change issues. I’m not at all convinced that CRT appreciates what is heading our way in that canal boats are almost entirely dependent upon fossil fuels. Potentially a huge challenge.3. Council tax questions along with social care and health. We’ve all seen Tim and Pru and my wife and I sometimes refer to the canal system as a linear care home. We are both pensioners by the way........
Plus issues I see coming up on this forum. I’ve been a member for a number of years.
We are shareboaters on an ex ownership boat Sunseeker and spend 4-6 weeks a year cruising.
I’ll keep in touch.
Peter Thornton
Cumbria County Council
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Just been reading through this thread and would comment that there are two different issues which will impact boaters. Pollution and climate change.
This legislation, ref wet wood and coal, is driven by the need to reduce pollution. It can be argued that a boat in open countryside is not really harming anyone but a boat at the end of my garden, or in a town centre, is a different matter. It won’t be long before this, and the running of engines when stationary in built up areas is made very difficult and we need to be pressing for electric hook ups on town moorings.
Climate change is a much more difficult issue, whether or not you believe in it. The belief is that there is a cumulative effect and eventually someone is going to notice that canal boats have relatively inefficient diesel engines. This could potentially get very difficult for those of us who rely upon a big tank of diesel, a large bottle of gas and a dozen sacks of coal on the roof!
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3 minutes ago, Machpoint005 said:
Just a thought, but I wonder how much it has cost the EA this fiancial year (ie 10 months) to employ the people who took these nine legal actions through the Courts? My gut feeling based on experience in the civil courts is that it was probably north of 100 grand, once you take time expended, staff salaries and employment costs into account.
You are probably right. Most complex enforcement costs more than it yields in fines, the profit comes from the people who then pay their bills because of the example set.
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As a local, I can see this sort of thing working on Windermere, but Grasmere seems too small and unspoilt for something like this.
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I suppose it has an echo of a “Gentleman’s Club” which is usually nothing but........
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“Gentleman’s Yacht” sounds sort of seedy somehow.........
interestingly, this doesn’t seem to have hit the local media, I imagine it will cause quite a storm!
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Safest mooring is Gas Street at party conference time. Last time we had a policeman with a sub machine gun looking after us. No bother that night!
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At our recent Owners AGM we discussed the question of the capacity of the Diesel tank.
Our boat, Sunseeker, is one of the S class Pat Buckle built Ownership boats from the late 90’s.
Does anyone have any idea of the approx capacity? We are thinking around 200 litres.
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1 hour ago, WotEver said:
Hopefully you mean 13.1.2...
It fixes numerous issues that were affecting me personally so perhaps it will also address yours.
Oops, yes that’s right......
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That’s really strange. I have Midlands on both iPad and iPhone.
It’s working fine on the iPad on iOS 13.2. But on the iPhone, iOS 13.00 I’m getting exactly the same happening. I.e. the map is missing.
I’ve deleted and reinstalled but no change.
When we get home later I’ll be updating the iPhone to iOS 13.2 and will see what happens then.
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It’s easy. Toss a coin, whilst it’s in the air you will be wanting it to come down one way or the other.
Ignore the result and go with the result you were wishing for.
on the practicalities, I’d be driven by how marketable the other boat is if it proves to be the wrong choice.
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Did we ever find an explanation to the BMC that was apparently revving at 3000rpm?
i assumed that it had a wrongly calibrated rev counter but maybe it really was at 3000rpm and has finally melted and been replaced..........
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Yes, its a great Marina - as is nearby Overwater.
Both very tidy and helpful.
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Another thought on this: Our syndicate of 5 owners spends, on average, around £100 a year on batteries. I.e. 4 batteries that last 4-5 years. That’s £20 each, a little more than a pumpout. You can see why most owners don’t want to have to watch gauges and make calculations but just prefer a simple % readout telling them when to recharge.
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2 hours ago, Dr Bob said:
For a start, just check your charging voltage as you get over 90% SoC or near the end of your run. If it's below 14.0V then you charging will be too slow and you need to get it higher. You can see that with the kit you have.
I do have a clamp meter with me so at 94% this morning it was at 14.1 (read on the Smartgauge) and hovering around 5 or 6 amps on the clamp meter. Upon transferring to the Sterling Pro on board charger it also charges at about the same rate. So maybe our charging system isn’t that bad?
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4 minutes ago, Dr Bob said:
Absolutely, but I thought he only had a Smartgauge.?
Indeed he has!
Having read the back posts from over 10 years ago I’m amazed at the emotions that this little device stirs up ..........
I can only say that we have, for some time, just used a digital voltmeter to monitor our batteries and the Smartgauge is streets ahead of this. Remember that this is a share boat and some of our owners don’t want to have to have the interest that we have in this. They just want to enjoy the boat whilst not wrecking the batteries. Smartgauge seems to be just the job for this.
I think I might suggest that we also fit an Ammeter so that we can better monitor the charging system and decide whether we need to fit some kind of smart box to encourage a higher charging rate from the alternator - but I guess that this is a whole new subject ........
Government realises boats exist!
in General Boating
Posted
But only if you stay in their home.