Nige123

Below is an outline of CRT's new wheel clamping idea. http://www.watersidemooring.com/media/Enforcement/FAQs.pdf

The signs are not even consistent.... Some say 24 hours for free then £5 a night for 2 nights then £100 a night. then £9.50 for 24 hours & gone within 24 hours only 3 times in 14 days. and £100 if you stop even if you have a breakdown it would seem? Who TF is DISTRICT ENFORCEMENT & what legal powers do they have????

This is 100% caused by CRT's social cleansing on the canals & the exclusion of canal boats form it's system. You may not like that fact but it is a fact. CRT could: A. fix the problem by investing in long term affordable moorings for boats. (It has our money & enough of it to do so) B. Take a big stick & try to beat the crap out of people that have little power to fight back. CRT is like most charities in the UK it's corrupt & takes in money only to fund the wages of it's over paid staff & doing as little as possible to run the very thing it has undertaken to help. How has this helped anyone with a boat? & if this has not effected you then you are lucky, but watch out it's going to catch up with you soon, as I hear more people talking about parts of the system that "You can be left along on" expect a mooring problem near you soon................. Boat sales are good in the UK & more people are coming into boating, lots of widebeam boats are being sold every year & people are looking for a simple way of life.... More people are paying on average £1200 a year to CRT & EA to use the waterways & the fact is more boats need more moorings. If not we all loose out & boating will be a pain.

I bet one thing.... This is only the start of things & it will only effect us the ones that pay & play by the rules......

Not fixing a problem just letting it get out of hand..... The thing about a Carrot & stick is you have to go buy a bag of carrots.................................... Not just use a stick.

Coming to a mooring spot near you soon........ This is what I know would happen, all this "It's the live aboard's fault" divides us & all our boating will be over within 5 years & our boats will be worthless.

No I am using 3 boats on the Thames that I pay over £3000.00 a year on licence fee's. I also only use 1 boat at a time so I would like 3 boats worth of space in front & behind me.

I have 9 boats & pay for 2 moorings. I then pay to moor in places like Henley for 2 boats @ £110 per week & chase the guys to pay. you see I also have lots of cash.... I'm not selfish A*** hole & feel sorry for people that are not as lucky as I am.

Use a flag held in place with magnets over your boat name & remove your number plates, or use 1 name on 1 side of your boat & another on the other. Disobey don't conform....

Just don't eat a bad curry as if you get ill & over stay on day 3 you will pay £100 per day or have to move with the runs........

You are right.... it's the simple fact that every year mooring spaces are getting less & less & more & more boats are turning up. My point is live aboard Boat chasing by EA & CRT is not helping. I think making some space for live aboard boats that can't afford Thames & Kennet marina prices (£750 per month for my boat) may help the rest of us continue to find mooring spaces. like I say lets see what happens over the next few years.....

We all dream of the French water ways with electric & water points all over & this I think would be a better way to spend time & money, providing & expanding our river experience with pump outs that work, water & electric.

You must not have been out that much this year. Henley is always full now & most boats are left for a week for the very reason I have given. I have asked some of the boat owners! What I have seen in the last couple of years is boats being pushed off CRT waters in London & Bath etc that are now on the Thames, the result is CRT's unwanted boats are now on the Thames trying to find moorings. The new signs have not helped things as I have seen more "No Mooring" signs all over like Shiplake Collage & Thames Promenade in Reading & Days Lock area etc etc...... Moorings are being cut just when more boats are looking for them. Lets take Sonning you have over a mile of possible mooring space not near an poss homes that would complain about moored boats with logs on the roof. Why not have a caretaker to control that section & make sure moorings are always available for people to moor up? now it's a grab & stay until you get sh*t. & that's not just the sub £20k boats I have seen big old Dutch barges that cost upwards of £200k left for weeks here. making some more marinas that normal folk can afford is the way forward, if not all the poorer boaters will be heading North to the lower costing areas & then you will see what happened in London coming to a northern town near you....... Just saying....................

We will see how things work out over the next few years...... I just see more & more people taking part in a form of civil disobedience, so god knows what will happen if they all club together & get organised. I no longer have the problem of using my boat only at weekends & the moorings I can work round no problem. just feel sorry for other river users.

So you must just keep going non stop day & night... good for you. My local plumbing shop did just that & as all the vans had road tax I had no problem with it.....

Let me be clear (like a politicians) I have 2 home moorings that I pay for. I also work so get to use my boat (like many others) on weekends & holidays. I got into boating due to the freedom of the life aboard that I see being eroded. EA have new signs & as a result many of the boaters that can't get a council house are now not spaced out 1 every 2 or 3 miles they are in massive clumps that take over mooring spaces like outside Tesco in Reading so no other boat can stop to get shopping. EA could make more use of it's own moorings. It could also make private land owners happy to let mooring boats use land by sending out boats to clean up rubbish that is left behind. Or are we saying only retired or wealthy people can use the water ways & everyone else can PO........... CRT is kicking people off it's water ways by refusing boat licences & the next water way in many cases is the Thames, so that didn't fix a problem it just made it worse in another area, problems need fixing not moving........ I now see many of my favourite mooring's with boats dumped on for weeks & weeks. Henley has boats turn up at night left for weeks & then removed at night, & I pay been paying £55 per week or even £200 for regatta week, This upset me some what as I do play by the rules (At the moment)....... So if I disagree & say it's a civil offence so I'm gona moor & you can spend thousands trying to get rid of me & I will move a week before it gets to court, will that make things better for all? it also makes buying an EA river licence less attractive.

A very good point....

So you want the river for yourself when you want to visit? The point of a caretaker would be to provide mooring spaces to all. Yes SRB moorings seem to work well & you can always find spaces. What about all the boats that are moored up year round on the Thames very few "Brake loose & cause significant damage" The fact is more people are buying boats after seeing B list celebrates messing about on boats on our TV sets. We can look forward & accommodate the growth or beat people with a stick. If you beat folk enough they will disobey & resist...... Like Gandhi & India

So I have been onto the EA Facebook page about the new mooring signs. They now say you can stay for 24hours for free then 2 days at £5.00 then it's £100 per day...... Now the problem I and many others have with this is, I come off the K&A so I can get to Marlow or Wallingford in a weekend. I used to moor my boat & get a ride back to my starting place to pick up my car. Come back a week later & carry on my way up or down the Thames to say Windsor, then Hampton court etc etc. This will now cost me an extra £410...................................... WTF So I ask you fine folk to stop this one by also going on EA's facebook site (As they like to give a reply as it's the face of EA & you can't be fobbed off) & say No thanks EA as I have been told this a trial period for this year. & if it works you watch CRT just on the band wagon next.... I also came up with the idea below as an alternative to the pay through the nose EA idea. I have an idea. Why not let lengths of EA moorings to caretakers who would pay EA a fee to moor on a length & then they could take mooring fee's from boaters who stay on the length. rules could apply with a maximum stay like CRT of 2 weeks & people that refuse to pay or move could be reported to EA & EA could contact them to move on or have the offending boat impounded & sold if no payment is made. EA could open up more moorings & caretakers would Take care of the moorings. the better the moorings the more the care taker would get back. CRT & EA seem to think live aboard boaters are the ones making a mess on the tow paths. I say rubbish (sorry) if you turn up on a mooring after a hire boat that has a Stag or Hen party you will find it full of cans, bottles, disposable BBQ's & worse.... Why don't EA & CRT have little picker boats? No CRT wants to cut the litter bins by 40% to cut costs? I thought CRT was a charity not a profit making company..... I wonder what will happen to the money saved? wage rise for top brass maybe???

I did...... They must all die.... lets say I came up with a boating idea like this. 8 grown men will sit in a boat just as wide as our ar*e & we will sit backwards so we can't see. We will ignore the speed limit that all other boats have to abide by & our case boats will also be exempt from the speed limit. All other boats will have to get the F*** out of our way when ever we are on the water, even at night as we will not have lights.... We will block large parts of the river for our race tracks & then use the tiny part that other boats have to use also & we may just sit across this lane sideways drinking water. So what do you think? good idea St John lets do it......................???

You are in fact very right..... I have both & my wide butt boat is much better to take out single handed then my 56ft skinny... She just slips along, turns easy, stops from flat out to stop in 30ft on the Thames! (Big engine big prop) Not so good in fast flowing waters due to square back end. I run the lower K&A all the time.

Well lots of info to take on board....(sorry) I have just spent 3 days on my Narrow boat & I am now on my Fat wide ass boat with lots of room.... I can stretch my feet out without touching both walls at the same time.....Heaven.... I do use the Thames a lot & the shallow draft & wide beam (12ft) with a flat ass end makes for little wake, even at full throttle. It has more room then a dutch barge of 60ft & due to the fact it's oblong you can use all the space even above the engine (I can seat 8). It's good on fuel & not far off my narrow boat (45hp narrow 65hp fat boat) & I have 1000 watts of solar on 1/4 of the roof (lots of space). I do go slow on small rivers & canals as seeing a fat ass boat coming at you round a bend can be scary for some old boys (& girls). I do have to pay more for fee's etc etc but ha ho. & my last point is this..... No one else in the world has come up with such a stupid idea for a boat as a 72ft X 6'8" wide floating bowling alley. The rest of the world thinks we are as mad as, well "English men" I would like to see all canals dug out & be fitted with 14ft wide locks. Come on you know it makes sense. that's why we pay more to use them. if a canal is unfit for use take that up with CRT who the wide beam owner pays MORE MONEY TO.

When I am out on my narrow boat I have had some funny comments about wide beam boats by people who don't know I have one & I just wonder why so man canal/river users are split into gangs of live aboard, weekend cruisers, Traditional cravat cap & waist coaters etc etc.... I wonder why we don't get on better?