luckyjack

yep that day is coomin rather fast me thinks wich as it goes is good news 4 all of us, I cant wait ! cheaper moorins 4 all on a serious note yep thats how much MDL charge, penton hook is a thames marina and the thames is a dyin river for that reasone. for most down that way boating is "a luxury" not a way of life, many boats in that neck of the woods burn silly amounts of now expensive fuel and are as a result now next 2 worthless (just try selling a twin engine crusier and you will find out just how worthless they are but look on the bright side less plastic gin floats means more room for steel northerners regards.

Libi if the boat in Q is a Harborough marine (ie with a high bow) and carries the name windsor. I can tell u a great deal about her from her build right upto the time she was sold off, if it is the same ex anglo welsh boat ? i grew up with her and many of her sister boats we operated her for a good number of years. there are a few tales that can be told of this boat and wilst not a "historic boat" a such her history is just as colerfull. pm if u want sum info and pics regards jack.

lifeboats Are most certanly not the ultimate seaboats ! nowadays they are designed to nip out and nip back in as quickly as possible, their motion and unganleyness ware there crews out very fast and the fatigue the hulls sufer is very very scary indeed, there surviveabilty is time limted and if u were to ask there crew wich vessel they would prefer to be at sea in for enytime it would not be a lifeboat lol.

I think the barge is doin just fine, the problem lies firmly with the lifeboat and her crew wilst the RNLI are great and should be praised for their work on the whole. THEY CANT TOW OWT FOR BUTTONS !!! in fact there bloody dangerous in some cases and this is one of them. its text book "this is not how it should be done" and I am surprised that they publised the footage, any good tugmaster would cringe seeing such a tow. they must of been rushing to get back to the messroom wich as it goes is not the smartest way of going about such a tow. and wilst the crew should of been beter prepared barges such as this are quit caperable at sea in such conditions, just look at the shape of eny large cargo vessel they are just large barges. and as for insurence lol "forget it waste of time" the insurence company would walk away laughfin if something went wrong and in enycase as soon as the "tow was made fast eny insurence you or the lifeboat has goes strait out the wheelhouse door, many offshore salvage and towing operations are conducted "at your own risk be it" thats just the way it is, after all would u invest hard cash in what is one of the most risky tasks on earth "Not bloody likely" and i am a tugmaster LOL (and former RNLI coxen).

sorry was out boating wilst i should of been at school readin and writin was not big on me list of must does LOL still i think u hav the gist of it.

i think this is the most likely outcome those navigations with issues will be "closed until further notice" as the new BW strugle to maintain the core system and wilst i hate (no I realy hate) to say this any further canal retsoration work should halt as from now and those resources should be redirected back to the maintaince backlog of the core system ( i cant belive i just said that but i see no other option)

yes he does have a point but I think many of us know who these people are and coments like this made by serving police officers are sometimes made for a very good reasone. no dowt this forum is bein watched by both sides of the law and rumors are already rife within the industery regarding certain companys and their business afairs. In deed i had a talk recently with a number of staff from a very large well know international crusier higher company who have had seraval visits from the boys in blue and barcklys marine finnance officers regarding some very strange issues serounding boat ownership/sponsership/finance, needless to say said staff are not very happy about the sitution but these cases are not new the inland waterways industery has been mared by these issues for a good 20 years now and like i say needs two things better regulation and a bloody good clear out of the edd rimers i think we can all agree on that. I do wounder thow has the boatyard near you had a visit from the police recently ?

Just ask any good dutch boatman why he has seprate tanks for heating and propulshion ? and what he thinks of low sulphur diesel fuel ? the dutch are rightly considered the cream of profesional boatmen weather inland or deepsea if they have grave conserns about low sulphur fuel there is bound to be a reasone for it.

Re-branding why bother ? if we a are serious about sorting this mess out why not "british waterways" ladys and gentalmen its now a "charity" !!! da dar job done we have just saved millions right there no new logo,no new paperwork,no new signs & lots of much needed work on the ground get rid of the fools at the top thow ! and think about who u make a trusty PLZ ow god PLZ lol think about it "british waterways" kinda says it all realy like "national trust".

Nope sorry its true fuel oil (red diesel) will no longer be sold to us the boating public it will however be replaced with low sulphur, high in bio fuel content road diesel ,wich is to be polite and diplomatic "a proper pain in the arse" and for those that have tried using the stuff will know it has the following efects 1) it cost more at base price about 1 pence more at present(however it costs the oil companys much less to produce as its made up of high volumes of bio fuel and other less costly rubish. 2)it will in most cases make the seals in your fuel system leak (re the replacement of said seals). 3)those of u with older engines will notice incresed ware on conponents within ur fuel system IE fuel pumps and injectors (also some mec lift pumps) this can be atributed to the reduced lubricant present in the fuel. 4)a rise in fuel consuptsion of between 5-15% dependent opon engine and aplication, as this "low sulphur road fuel" burns less eficently than marine fuel oil. 5)Incressed ware apon valve, valve seats and injector nibs (atomiser's) said fuel burns hoter (I should point out that the difrence on this point is very minor however there is a difrence) 6)this "low sulphur road deisel" has sevral "intank problems" which are as follows - the fuel has a tendancy to harbour incressed water content thus making it more prone to "diesel bug". - the fuel has a tendancy to break down into its constituant parts when stored for long periods in static tanks. - the fuel has in some trials conducted by shiping companys prevented the starting and running of emergancy engines,pumps and auxiralys mainly due to the above notes. so yes sorry it happening at the end of this year cus the grand EU says we must do so LOL. the shipping industry is protesting vermently stateing safty as the "main issue" at stake here infact there is so much bad feeling about this that sevral maritime countrys of the EU are refusing to comply with the directate again claiming that not only could it damage maritime industry (in terms of reliablity) but also put life at risk ! neadless to say the "uk gov has nowt to say about it" apart from we intend to comply fully LOL.

I couldnt agree more well said that man, and there are a few more bad uns still hidein in the inland waterway business, I was informed recently by a boating police officer that their are sevral inland waterway companys under close investigation regarding a range of scams they have been pulling. so i gess one down and a few more to have there day in court about time some one started to clean out the conmen from our industry.

you can bet your money on the following happening 1 BW & EA top bods get very large payouts in return for shifting side ways into some other well paid management role far away from any peeking boaters and the mess that is BW & EA. 2 BW/EA midle bods shift up onto a "save us money and will will give u a nice bonus" upper management role resulting in sod all work bein done on the ground policey. 3 BW/EAs property portfolio will be striped and sold off in return for a small goverment handout (less money at a gess). 4 The IWA in abject panick about bein left out in the cold though all of this will "throw the baby out with the bath water" and jump happily into bed with what evers left of BW/EA forming the "new IWA" or somthing to that tune and hay prestow before we as boaters know it we are left with the "worst of the old lot". 5 The new charity/BW/EA/IWA will cut back on maintenance big time and make like a "children in need plz give us all ur money way" but in a terrible after taste kind of way. 6 And lastly the whole sha bang will fail to do what we all hope it will do which is to "start to make things right for the cut" If we as boaters and canal users in genral are to prevent this sliping silently into a even worse mess we need to get it together and ensure that the controling bord of trustees is put in place and ultimately aserable to the stakeholders IE "us boaters and canal users" not the goverment or BW/EA/IWA bods of old, nor the quit nepatistik ways of some do gooders who hide behind various asoc's,companys and projects in the world of the cut wilst fethering there own nests (we all know who there are). this is a mess there can be no escapeing, it but something good may come of it if and only if we regain some controll of the sitution, if however we fail well the result will be a long forgotern muddy ditch in 100 years not the cut we all cherish and love and to add too that shame, some people will have done very nicely out of leting it get that way!!! which none of us want. Q are goin to regain controll or just let it slip from our grasp ?

well at a ges id say it wont be good the axe has been hanging now for sometime, and lets face it we as people are near bankrupt, many boating firms are near bankrupt(even thow they claim still to be doin just fine! lol gentalmen the tears in th eyes and distinct lack off meaningfull work bein done in your yard kinda gives it away !) BW are bankrupt only able to get by on a wing and a wish ( of which wings and wishes are now becomeing somewhat rare as last seasons failors and this seasons failors are painfull testament !) DEFRA are bankrupt and so, sorry to be the harbinger of doom is are blessed country! (as we speak the dept collectors hover over the last pickings of british asets) and much as it pains me to say it "boating is a luxary not a necasiaty" ! thus things are about to get sticky for us good canal loving folk. Your licence will go up in price as will ur morings followed closey by your fuel bill, maintainence will grind down to a tricle and the price of ur fine much loved aset, ur boat will fall these are things that will happen not might. BWs shift to the third sector will fail, not because of lack of effort or want but because of lack of young blood comeing onto the cut. like it or no the cut as it is, has a bleak future unless we as boaters along with BW get real and face upto some hard truths. lastly the moneys gone! we can not borrow anymore, we can not print anymore, and we dont make enything to export anymore, there fore cut or no cut somethings got to give and that means luxarys IE boating and the young blood the cut will need soon carnt aford just like many others to feed and clothe itself never mind buy narrowboats. I hate this as much as the rest of you out there, but we as country "BLEW IT BIG TIME" the games up sorry. regards

I work in the inland waterway business and I can tell u things are slowing down even now wether north or south despite the its all fine and dandy rubish that some fools in the industery are spouting LOL. the cut is a lot quieter, the thames is nearly dead most of the year and all the business in our area are down by 50% wether moorings, fuel sales or boatbuilding the only area doin ok is hire boat bookings in the south ie close to a airport mainly due to the strenth of the pound (but the warning is clear hirers from overseas dont come back to the uk again). As for us residents cost will go down but not just yet ! infact looking at the way things our goining this year will see prices rise again as the companys in the poo upto there neck fight to survive. Basicly any company that has borowed money to operate is screwed and they will try to survive by caneing us lot nice aint it lol. But the cull has begun and cost will go down just not yet so hang on for next seasone and lowercosts.