Cinimod

Guys - this was started as a Christmas cheer forum, so lets leave the mud slinging in the cut eh? I would like to raise a glass to Mick at Frouds Bridge Marina on the K&A - wonderfully helpful, full of advise, good laugh... They also have a few BBQ's and Parties each year... and are more than happy for people to organise their own.

v handy - thanks

Just spotted a new offer from 02 http://shop.o2.co.uk/promo/o2mobilebroadband/tab/1_month £15 a month for up to 3GB and UNLIMITED access to 6100 hot spots around the UK... If you already have a modem you can sign up on a 1 month rolling contract - seems like a good idea. Or you can pay £99 for the USB dongle... So if you were to sign up to the 18month contract at £15 a month and get the dongle free, that would make it equivalent to paying £99 for the dongle and then £9.50 a month for your internet...

OK so if we are talking about a cheap battery, then what about Halfords, apparently they are very good at exchanging under warranty? Halfords - 110AH - LINK - £140 + Go Collect Battery Megastore - 130AH - LINK - £135 + Free Delivery PowerMax BUdget - 110AH - LINK - £82 + Free Delv Any improvements on £82 - where do you reckon on finding the £65? I guess as long as you maintain them, don't discharge too low and top them up - most batteries should be good... Ta

On the link I gave it says elecsol give a 5 year guaruntee - can you claim?

Hi - I am sure this has been covered before, but I could not find the thread using the search, so can someone point me in the right direction? We need a full set of leisure batteries, can anyone make suggestions? What about these ones? - Elecsol We have had our current ones just over a year, and have probably ruined them ourselves by cycling them too deeply - before we got our gennie! We will be looking out the receipts and checking if we can claim on their guaruntee! Thanks for your help!

You do need to be careful who you choose - especially if you want to use some messengers or VoIP especially - I know t-mobile block VoIP, vodafone dont on their contract services - not sure about the others.

OK - We use Vodafone on the K&A, with no problems, but then I do have a card with external antenna, but the signal is SO good in some places I have to take the antenna off so as to stabilise on one receiver!... so no complaints from me...

OK - well I was bored... here is an App that does it the same as the web page, I think.. let me know... LINK to Red Diesel app

We have been there for just over a year... it is a nice enough place, with reasonable facilities. Mick (the manager) is a very helpful guy with lots of useful information and contact which he is happy to share. Aldermaston bridge also closes at Dusk... not sure exactly when that is defined! Woolhampton always makes for an exciting start, as does turning out of and into the marina when the river is in good flow!

A better analogy than restaurants is possibly hotels or air travel Both oversell their services on the basis that a percentage of people will not turn up - this is the same, so those who don't use the service are slightly subsidising those who do. IF the phone company was to price it at a level where you got EVERYTHING you had paid for they would either need to put prices up, or bring the limits down and charge for going over... I agree it is a pain it does not roll over, even if it only allowed roll over for a month, as sometimes I will use a lot more in one month and less in the next... Quick check seems to indicate NOBODY rolls over data - let me know if you find someone who does!

There are so many different options and what you need to work out is what are you going to use it for most... If you are only after email and web surfing in a very portable little package you can check out; Datawind pocketsurfer 2 - Expansys - Main website £140 and that includes 20 hours a month for the first 12 months of internet access then £40 for your 2nd year - or go unlimited for £6 a month...

Regards digging out - I think you need permission from BW if it will connect to the waterway and also you will need to consult with the local environment agency - I believe (but have not checked)

That sounds fair 'nough... so their domestic fuel price is under 80ppl - that sounds pretty good!

Blimey - this is descending into niggling almost as much as the debate on what qualifies you as a CC'er At the end of the day (same as with CC'ing) some people will blatantly flout the rules as long as they can get away with it. With regards to buying the diesel from a garage rather than at the canal side, it looks like it will be more hassle than it will save. Regards making declarations - It SHOULD be up to the boater to declare whatever they like - the seller still needs to do the same amount of calculating to work out how much to charge. HOWEVER - some of them are unable or unwilling to work this out. So as a boater you have to decide - are you prepared to buy from someone at a 60/40 split - because you have to as you are low on fuel, and then you could declare otherwise next time you fill up to balance it out. Maybe we should post a list of places that sell fuel on the cut and what they say, after all - they are the people we will be buying the fuel from. Is there somewhere to get a list of current fuel prices on the cut?

Thought I would just make a little calculator to see if I understand it correctly... Maybe HMRC could have provided something like this so people would easily be able to do the calcs... surely they could have put this on the declaration form?

But if that is what you use that is what you should declare. We invested in an LPG Generator so that we no longer have to run the engine to charge the batteries, and we have a solid fuel stove to heat the boat. SO - the majority of the time we are running the engine it is to move, with only a small amount of that then going to heat the water in the calorifier and charge the batteries. So 90p/10d (does that work p = propulsion/d = domestic) I make that a grand total of - £99.34 or £1.11 a litre (though I could be wrong) The local places around Aldermaston/Newbury appear to be still up at 95p/litre BEFORE extras, so based on this filling would come in at around £1.21/litre (Local Petrol/Diesel prices link) The pumps in the area for Diesel range from £1.07 to £1.18 - so by going white you could save between £2.70 and £12.55 which is really not worth the bother... However based on 90p/10d - I would be paying £1.34 a litre - so by going white I could save between £14.07 and £23.94 - still not really worth the bother of lugging and hassle of filling/storing Also it is good to support your local boat yard, otherwise they will stop selling diesel - there are already some smaller places on the K&A considering this which could leave long stretches without diesel.

If you do not use 60/40 then you have just made a false declaration and HMRC could come after you - from my understanding. However, from reading this - if you consistantly declare 60/40 it looks like HMRC are not going to bother you, it is the people who are delcaring a constant 90/10 and do not have a residential or other permanent mooring and hardly cruise that are going to be checked. As long as the business had all the signed declarations, which they are going to have to keep for ANY declarations (60/40 or otherwise), they are in the clear... same as HMRC checking that you are doing the correct VAT returns - and YES, I have been through a couple of those in the last 18 years... both with NO issues as I kept all the paperwork they needed.

What price did you end up paying? Can you give us a break down of your bill?

Got this today in the IWA Bulletin; So I suppose that is good news in a way... Their example of calculation; Propulsion calculation (ie 60 per cent) 60 litres @ 0.70ppl = £42 60 litres @ 0.4066 = £24.40 (additional duty) VAT @ 5% = £3.32 Propulsion Total = £69.72 Domestic calculation (ie 40 per cent) 40 litres @ 0.70ppl = £28 VAT @ 5% = £1.40 Domestic Total = £29.40 Transaction Total = £99.12 What I want to know is where do they get their diesel at 70ppl - our marina is 95ppl - so does that mean it would be £1.42 per litre??? WHY would anyone buy red at that price when white is £1.10 or lower ??? (Even their own calculation makes it £1.16 per l for propulsion) Personally I am still confused by it all...

Also - it is hard work to get it going - does anyone else have a gennie on LPG and have any tips for easy starting!

Think this one may need some diagrams to illustrate it!

Mine IS a Maplin one, just a sole sucker tho... Regards the movement of the dish - the horizontal movement may be less mounted in the middle, than at the side, but the angle of elevation will change by the same amount I would have thought - must do as the boat does not bend (unlike an aircraft wing, which is somewhat flexible )

As I mentioned previously I saw a good solution that someone had - a foot square block of wood, with a pole on the side!

Any chance of a pic? Sounds like a plan... the other thing is bringing the antenna cable in from outside... it is allowable to bring it in through those mushrooms on the roof? Not sure I am comfortable yet with drilling holes in the boat and being able to make it water tight afterwards - advice? Do you dismount it when moving along? Ta