frahkn

Thanks very much for the opinions so far - clockwise except for one dissenting voice. My one previous trip was clockwise but on a 40' hire boat, not on my own 70' boat. Also, I came off at Worcester (having overnighted at Upton). I imagine there have been some changes over the intervening 20 years. What about timing - is there a month which is usually free from high stream conditions?

I want to include this ring as part of next year's big trip. I did it once before but that must have been 20+ years ago. Which way should I go - what are the pros and cons of clockwise v anti-clockwise? What is the best time of year for decent river conditions (I don't do August!)? Thanks. (I want to extend the trip to Saul Junction and I plan to join or leave the Severn at Stourport).

Tax managers/finance directors of large companies are besieged by people offering to sell them various "tax mitigation" products. It is not unusual for the charge for these products to be based on the tax "saved" by their use. These products are designed to exploit "loopholes" inadvertently created by legislative changes and are certainly towards the 'complicated' end of the spectrum!

It was tongue in cheek Mike, hence the smiley. But it was exactly on point - exhaust resonances were mentioned (I have a 'through roof' exhaust) so I tried to find resonance "nodes" for my exhaust. Didn't find any.

This is an extremely irritating post. I am certain that my engine is very quiet (I have mentioned it on here previously). Having read this I have just spent 20 futile minutes wandering up and down the bank looking for "exhaust resonances". Luckily there isn't another boat within sight or I would be anticipating the arrival of the men in white coats.

Somehow I find that very reassuring. I if you can't quite keep up, how can I be expected to do so. My boat is twenty-odd miles away while your's is twenty-odd yards.

I retired 4 years ago - early because I had reached the stage where it was no longer a matter of listening to the 'management speak' but having to take part, to recite this rubbish to those who I managed. I found it impossible, I just left. Tim, I have not purchased a newspaper or taken up golf (or even considered either). You will be fine! I am considering replacing my pump-out with a compostor but everyone is allowed a little eccentricity in retirement.

Yesterday, about 5.30 I was having a few in the Greyhound at Hawkesbury Junction. Six ponies walked up by the lock and wandered around, grazing at the junction. Nobody seemed to be in charge of them and no-one intervened while I was watching. This morning, except for an inordinate amount of horse dung, there was no sign of them.

I hope you are not trying to improve your politeness, because you are not making it. I stated the obvious several posts ago, it was obvious (and correct) before you felt the need to add your tuppence worth. Nevertheless, thank you for your profound contribution to the discussion. It means a lot to me.

Well it's a point of view. If you glance back to post 76 you will see that mine is not too different. I think that if you were selling the drill, unused, next day, you would attempt to recover your £120. If I was willing to pay you £110 some of that £110 would represent the VAT which you paid although neither of us would be calling it that. If the purchase had been VAT free you would probably have asked only £100 and I paid only £90, but the drill would have been exactly the same. As to "true value" economists would give you various figures (and that's only classical economists - marxists would say the value was the 'socially necessary labour time' expended in the production of the drill). Either way, VAT influences cost but has nothing to do with value (IMHO). I can't accept that the value of goods changes every time the government changes the rate of VAT, though obviously the price does.

Perhaps you are correct about my conceptual failings, though you might have expressed it more politely. Consider this:- A builder constructs a boat, the sale price includes Material costs £100 Labour £100 Workshop overheads £100 Sundry £100 A profit margin £100 VAT £100 Total £600 He sells the boat for the £600, the costs have been honestly calculated so the builder gets only £100 on the deal. Is the boat, in the purchasers hands, worth £600 (how?), £500 (arguable) or £400 (what a buyer might say). Anyway the resale market price is what the seller says it is, the actual price is what a buyer will pay.

To me £10,000 is £10,000 whatever it's called so if a seller wants an additional £10,000 to make up for the VAT he paid, it doesn't matter a lot what he calls it.

Yes but few original owners accept that their new purchase has instantly lost 17.5%. Rather they want to base resale value on the inclusive price which they paid (understandably) so VAT is included, to one extent or another, in the asking price.

Thanks very much. The instructions seem a bit fiddly for me but I'll have a look. Which of the 2 alternators is the initial signal taken from, or does it not matter?

I'v been on the Ashby for two weeks and it's been quiet. This morning I've seen more boats than in the last 14 days combined. What's happening?

A bit hard on the toffees (but only a bit). It's noticeably only because the average football fan remembers 1966 for something else.

I lived in Ormskirk in 1965/66, you will remember the memorable football event of that year - Everton beating Sheffield Wednesday 3-2 in the cup final!

Last time I bought there I was greeted with a long and detailed argument suggesting that a 60:40 split was a gross indulgence to the taxman and that only the independently wealthy (which I was obviously not) would suggest such a thing. I wouldn't describe it as 'formal' but it was long.

My taco is at about 8000 revs at ticker. I always stop the engine first and then the ignition. Sometimes the taco falls to zero but about equally often it rises to 10,000 and sticks there. There are no other alternatives. As far as I can see, there is no link to the hours counter's behaviour, they each have their own eccentricities.

Yes Tony, the taco is ok (well except that it has never returned to zero when the engine is turned off). Parley's link is to a google page, looking at the entries I think that the main advice is to put the unit in the airing cupboard. I am going to try this - I will report back.

My digital 'odometer' or hour counter is sometimes (more often now) fading out or not appearing at all. When it doesn't appear it nevertheless keeps counting the engine hours. What is the problem and how can I fix it? It is a Beta 43 engine with the standard Beta instrument panel and the usual two alternators. Thanks.

No. Yes. Absolutely. No. Better out than in.

I was never in the market for a new Hudson or RWD so have not read their published claims. I am a little disappointed that my own maker, Orion (where I believe mine is one of only 11 surviving 70' boats) seem to have made no claims whatever. Despite searching, I have found out little about the history of my boat nor of the manufacturer generally. With non-historic boats, I wonder if even somewhat specious stories are better than none at all.