BigRoj
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Posts posted by BigRoj
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Perhaps the best solution would be to fit a 240v alternator to the main engine. Expensive maybe, but possibly the simplest way.
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When cruising the tidal section of the trent, it is recommended that you have the proper navigation and safety equipment.
It's common sense really. The trent is used as a commercial waterway by the gravel barges, so if you had a breakdown of some sort that necessitated an overnight anchor up, then an anchor light might just save you from 600tons up the stern.
Of course, the lock keepers will be aware of your predicament and hopefully will have advised the relevant barge skippers accordingly to be on the lookout for you.
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Once I had got back in full control I made to stop but noticed a following car already pulling up so continued my journey. I feel I wouldn't have been much help as a rescuer as at that time my wish was to kill him if he wasn't already dead.
I do work as a recovery driver so know only too well the dangers of the motorway hard shoulder. 5 miles later the shock had got to me and I stopped at the services and phoned for a ride home.
To reply to your original question, if you took avoiding action and weren't hit, then legally you don't have to report it.
However, in the circumstances you quote, it would be in your best interests to report it as the other party could claim that you swerved and he had to take avoiding action.
It's the old story, get one in before the other one does!
I, too, used to work as a breakdown mechanic/recovery operator,( mind you, that was when you could mend cars at the side of the road with a proper toolkit and a bit of fag paper) and have seen the aftermath of some accidents which make you shudder.
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There are few drink related incidents on the canals, and those there are, I believe, generally involve inexperienced hire-boaters, not us old hands who know our boats handling characteristics whether very slightly sober or completely off our faces.
I hope this proposal is aimed mainly at the GinPalace Coastal Patrol lot who go out once a year in their corporate owned penis extensions to see how wet the sea is and to make sure the wet-bar is still stocked up.
The sea is a far more unforgiving body of water than the waterways, and a lot less predictable too. It can catch the most sober helmsman out, so anyone with slightly more than single vision due to over-refreshment can be caught totally unaware.
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Whoever is going to police this is going to be VERY busy when it's windy with all the calls being made about boats going down the river 'in an erratic manner, swerving from side to side'!!!!!
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Forget the moral issue for now, at what point do you become legally involved?
Are you involved if you had to take avoiding action even if there was no physical contact with your vehicle?
No, because then you are a witness, not a 'party' to an accident.
Generally, you only have to report an accident if there is physical injury requiring medical attention, and then it has to be reported within 24hrs. This is injury to yourself or the other party, whether an emergency response vehicle is needed or not.
Of course, a complication to this is if someone involved in an accident says they are fine, don't need any medical attention, and go on their way, only to suffer whiplash type symptoms a day or so later which DO require a visit to hospital or a doctor, in which case the event causing the injury is then recorded, and could be used in a subsequent claim. But if the injury-causing-event is not reported to the relevant authority by both parties involved, then the party who is seen to have caused said event could be liable to prosecution for failure to report an acident.
Often, especially in this age of the compensation culture, it is best to report an incident and get a reference number for it, if only to protect yourself against a false claim.
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Surely the thing to do is fold the paper so that the personal details are hidden but the serial number and relevant (to the boat) details are on show?
Mind you, I can see it'd be a problem not actually having anywhere to put it!
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If you treat every lock as your first one and use a big helping of common sense, most problems can be avoided.
We have to treat every lock on the river Trent as our first lock as water levels vary, and this can affect the very nature of the operation of said locks considerably. Couple that with a different lock-keeper in attendance and it keeps you on your toes somewhat.
I'm not saying that some keepers are worse than others, that is definitely NOT the case, its that some have a different operating procedure to others.
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At what point is a driver obliged to stop at an accident scene?
Usually if he can't see out the windscreen for injured cyclists!!
Seriously though, you should always stop after an accident, both legally and morally, to exchange details if damage has occured to property and besides, isn't it good manners to check up on the health of the injured party?
After all, if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to lose, except maybe a bit of time.
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Hi Anthony,
Its a bit of a complicated subject, encompassing engine power, maximum hull speed and prop size.
The best way to illustrate is by example, (my own experience as it happens)
My boat, when I originally bought it, had a Mercury 15hp Big Foot engine, and the max engine speed I saw was 3300rpm, which equated to about 7mph.
So I bought a bigger engine, 30hp. The maximum engine speed I see is 3200rpm, which equates to 7 mph!!!
Which proves that the max hull speed is 7mph, I could have got away with a 10hp, or even 8hp engine, and I wasted an awful lot of money on a new engine!!!
I thought about a different prop for the 30 hp engine to get it to rev higher but all that would do is waste fuel.
And anyway, 5mph at 1800rpm means about 1 litre of fuel an hour, whereas 7mph at 3000rpm meant 2 and a half litres an hour, so no real benefit.
Hope this gives some scope for thought!!
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We had a weeks cruising to Boston during the Spring Break, from Colwick. Great fun, I love it.
However, although most of us wave and speak when we pass, and there generally is no snobbiness thankfully, I was somewhat surprised by the lack of cooperation from another boater after an incident in Lincoln, and it was this:
As you may be aware, there are no visitor moorings as such on the Brayford anymore (which in my opinion is a huge mistake), only the 48hr ones at the west end just under the new bridge, most of those taken by a couple of NBs rafted up and another alongside. We managed to get a berth on these 48hr moorings just as the weather set in on the saturday night, so we decided to stay until the rain stopped, which, with it being a bank holiday, was obviously going to be monday evening. (And it was)
On the monday afternoon, as we sloshed our way back to the boat from another soggy foray around Lincoln, we found one of the NBs at right angles to the bank, blocking the waterway. Couldn't see anyone on it, but we waited to see what was going to happen as there was a trip boat, (the larger of the two) and a cruiser coming from opposite directions. We thought the owner was out of site for a moment. It soon occured to us that the NB was adrift, without power, and fairly inaccessible from the bank.
The owner of a small cruiser was parked in front of me, and I mentioned that we ought to do something about the NB, get it in out of harms way. I may as well have been suggesting that we go and steal the Magna Charter from the Cathedral for all the response I got from this fellow boater.
So in the end I did it myself, using 2 ropes and a bit of muscle. Found out that one of the mooring ropes wasn't secured and the NB had just slipped its mooring and floated out until it came to rest against the two NBs rafted up together, but I must say I was disappointed by the lack of cooperation from the other boater.
So if you have a NB moored on the BW 48hr outside the student flats at lincoln, and it appears to be the opposite way round to the way you left it, then thats why!!!
Perhaps a knot-tying refresher course wouldn't go amiss either!
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Hello Neil, welcome from another Newbie!!
You may already have seen these boats on other websites but the Atlanta 32, or similar, may quite nicely fill your needs.
Its a similar length to a small NB but made from GRP, with an outboard. They are very well kitted out and mostly within your budget.
And most importantly, it may well appeal to your wife!!!
Good Luck with your research. Once you've bought a boat you never stop looking for another!!!!!
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So what you're saying then Bazza is get someone else to rescue your offspring/dog/relative as they will be more objective and less emotional?
Which in itself is quite possibly the best course of action, and maybe the most sensible if there are people about.
It is difficult to advise when sat in the warm and think something through, taking 15 minutes or so. When these things happen all hell lets loose and instinct takes over along with panic and worry in close attendance!!
This is one of those cases where we all should have a plan for when it happens, similar to having a plan for when you have a fire, or an engine failure, or unavoidable collision, and you're really unlucky, all 4 at once!!!
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Good heavens, that was a shock for you both, I'm sure! Thank goodness your grandson is ok, it will be something to tell his mates at school now!
It has been said before, but there's no substitute for experience, and I'm sure that this experience will stay with you both for a long time. It may be best really to insist that he wears a preserver/buoyancy aid at all times whilst on deck.
I always have within reach a long pole with a hook that I made from a piece of 30mm dowel from B&Q. It is about 10ft long, but as it is made from pine it's not that heavy. It has been used on numerous occasions for fending off, grabbing, picking stuff out the water etc. (The pole is 30mm dowel, not the hook!!)
Floating rope is another useful bit of equipment to have at hand for such an eventuality too.
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It was originally washed onto the weir at Sawley during floods !
Is that the one Les got Helicoptered off?
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You're not far wrong there!!
Those boats on the Beeston didn't have too much enviromental effect as the turtles are still there!!
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And thats still sat at Holme lock waiting to go goodness knows where!
But if its the one that was on the Beeston cut near Boots it was burnt out anyway and sunk!!!
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I understand that there is an inclined plane at Foxton that is being restored - how do these work?
Are the boats pulled up them by an engine with rollers underneath it in a similar way to a big dipper getting to the top of its run?
Apparantly there are a number of these working in Europe but I don't know of a working one in the UK.
Roger
Hi Roger,
The inclined plane at Foxton works, or worked on the balance principle. As one trough with boat and water was being raised up the incline, another trough with or without boat was being lowered down the incline, both being attached to each other by cables and chains to a, I think, 25 rated horse power steam engine. The two troughs weighed roughly the same, therefore balanced each other.
The troughs ran on rails, similar to railway track rails.
I am in danger of waffling on here and confusing you. If you go to the website of the Foxton Inclined Plane Trust I believe it explains the principle there.
www.fipt.org.uk
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Hello, this is my first post on this forum, but having read this thread I thought I'd add my two penn'orth!
There is also the option, when looking for a small reasonbly priced 'plastic' boat, of approaching your local/city/county council run marinas to see if they have any boats they are trying to dispose of under a 'sealed bid' system. These boats are generally ones that have been forfeited by the owners due to non-payment of marina fees and as such should have the advantage of still being afloat.
We have had a few recently in our City Council owned marina. All they want is to cover some of the costs incured, as I can imagine crushing and disposing of these unloved boats is pretty expensive. Its a sort of recycling really.
Just a thought!
Totally off every topic.
in Boat Equipment
Posted
I'm surprised all you nautical bods haven't mentioned the V-6 2 stroke Mercury outboard engines as used in the Formula 1, 2, and 3 racing catamarans! What a sight and sound when 20 of those let rip and go!!!
Another interesting engine thats making its way into the 2 wheeled sector is the RCV. For those unfamiliar with this engine, basically the cylinder revolves around the piston. It is a 4 stroke, with a cut-out in the top of the cylinder which lines up with the inlet, exhaust and spark plug as it rotates. The cylinder revolves at half crankshaft speed. Power can be taken from the crankshaft or from the top of the cylinder. I have a 10cc version of this engine which runs on glow fuel (Methanol/castor oil/Nitromethane) For more info, Google RCV.
As for V-twins that aren't V-twins, anyone remember the Yamaha 550 V-twin of the late 70s/early 80s that had offset crankpins to give a 90/270 degree firing pulse from a 60 degree cylinder angle? Lovely looking engine but it never really caught on.