Mark W

The prop doesn't seem to be turning so well after I dropped it on the cill at Welford comming out of the pub having had a nice bottle or two of wine I must have been distracted whilst on the phone... Doorman, spot on he hates em!! M.

In answer to the OP, we have a seating arrangement on our boat which we find perfect for us. They can be installed and removed within minutes, painted to match your boat colours and D.I.Y fitted. I will say I have no connection with the person that makes them other than the fact I bought a couple about 3 yrs ago. As you can see from the images below they work for us.....they are not used often but I like the fact that I can set them up when needed. They are built very well and don't wobble about. Sometimes we just sit on the roof..... Seats removed: I just like this one..... If you want further info this is where I got them.... KM Joinery Regards Mark

Hello You will not be able to watch any recorded programs unless your sky box has a signal. I know I've tried it on my Sky+HD box. Just disconnect the signal/aerial at home to see.... When I do have a signal I get all the channels I have subscribed to including HD, all the ones I have recorded and the ones recorded by Anytime. The only thing to be carefull about is the box draws a lot of power!!! Mark.

Thanks.

. Can four of the Trojan 6v batteries wired up in series to make 2x 12v be charged up as normal with a mastervolt MBC? ie I just want to replace my current battery bank with them. I have four 12v 110ah leisure batteries and the T125's look very good. Thanks Mark.

We bought 2 bottles of Craftmaster Carnauba at the Crick show this year after speaking with Mr Speight and having a demo on its merrits. I have to say I am delighted with it so far. Our boat has a 2 pack paint finish is now approx 17 months since it first had paint and still shines after a good wash and waxing. Easy to apply and buff. Mark.

A really smart and well painted water "buckby"can ( even a badly painted one too I suppose). No use whatsoever but we just ordered one from Jane Selkirk at Crick. Looks nice though. Mark.

We would have to agree with you there. The engine room brass work, engineering and detail throughout was superb. Very classy boat. We also thought the oak charred flooring was neat too. The prism light is something we have on our boat too. Very neat should have put another one in but was a bit unsure at the time. Mark.

We are only a few boat lengths behind. Anything we can do to help please ask. I'm sure it won’t be too much trouble. Even if you need a bit of warming up in the rain or just a cuppa. We also have a car there for the weekend if needed. We will be arriving back on our boat Saturday morning. Mark nb.George

I would think that is on its way to the Crick boatshow.

If my eyes haven’t deceived me nbAlnwick was amazingly moored up with springs front and rear and looped around probably 7 mooring pins. Very securely moored apart from the fact that the bank is a little loose and soft. If this has been pulled then that’s definitely a case of going too fast. Surely being a little aware of your surroundings will be a good indication of how fast or slow you should be going i.e. if the banking looks really eroded as around Crick north of the marina entrance then slow down a bit even when there are no boats you can see the damage caused by the boats wash and erosion. I was a bit worried as we are moored up just around the corner and into the soft banking I watched very carefully over the weekend how my mooring was affected by the boats that were passing. Some boats caused way more surge than others travelling at about the same speed, (the swim must vary greatly) but luckily by the time any boat came past they had slowed enough and had hardly any pull on my pins. Lets hope she is still there when we get back.....very shallow though our back end is sticking out somewhat!!! Mark.

Thanks. We maybe coming up this Saturday so hopefully will get a fairly decent mooring. Mark

Is it busy yet? for moorings or are there plenty available? Mark.

Ooer!!! Is that the Count's web site? Scary because www."alucard".co.uk. = DRACULA spelt backwards. M

Just to put a small spanner in the works too, our registered number is 112670. Registered summer 2006. We saw another similar number to this last weekend in Stoke Bruerne. How weird is that! Mark.

Here is a simple scenario: You want a yacht, or you want a villa, or narrowboat, but you dont want to pay massive amounts of income tax on drawing the money out of your company needed to buy these items. Unfortunatley it is the company that has the money. Without getting into the whole business of the tax efficient extraction of funds from companies, there is one possible option, which is to get the company to purchase the vessel concerned. The company can get tax relief from this expense providing you can show a business purpose. For example, supposing you have a number of staff who who you feel it would motivate to allow them a week or so's sailing in the Mediterranean (Grand Union Canal). If this is a reasonable thing to do in your sort of business, you should be able to claim capitol allowances on the cost of the boat. Similarily, if the villa, boat, makes a loss because the amount staff members pay is effectivley subsidised, that loss should be treated as an allowable cost for the company against trading income. When purchaising the items you will have a VAT invoice againts which you will claim back the VAT. When you then sell the item you will of course have to add VAT to the sale price and repay that to customs and excise. Of course we use our boat as the staff canteen, and our staff love it. That reminds me I must send the Inland Revenue a thank-you card soon. Mark.

I would agree with you Charles. I would like to think our boat has a slightly different style than some built by other builders and is distinctive for that. Its not neccessay for it to function how a "tug" would have done but I am happy for it to look like it could. Just as Magnetman has just said......"The word 'tug' for me conjures up an image of a powerful beast of a boat with beauty naturally endowed to it by functionality and its ability to work" But then beauty is in the eye of the beholder and for me thats the style of my boat. Oh and I also like the term "Washer Josher" very good not heard that before I shall tell my friends. Hehe. Mark.

I love the look of our "Tug Style" boat fake rivetts and all. You make your choice and pay the money. We have been berated (jokeingley) for our fake rivetts and bow thruster by our friends but would not have it any other way. It suits us and we have great pleasure in pootling around the canals. My 2p Mark. Oh by the way it was built by Mr Hudson, and we would recommend him to anyone.

I am after one of these. Gary Peacock recomended them some time ago, 8th posting..... Linky to thread are you able to sell these Gary? How much? PM me if you want. Thanks Mark.

And if yours is anything to go by Ian then its a good testimony on how to look after it especially the two times I have seen it in the last two years. Still looks like new. Mark

I'm with Phil on this one. I do wax my boat with a carnuba wax made by Meguiars. I used to use Mer on my cars as well as previous boats but now I think it is too abrasive. My boat is only 8 months old but I hope the colours wont fade and where the rain runs of it is really easy to clean the mess left. I also have a scumbled roof over the B.M.C which our boat builder nearly refused to do but we insisted and that gets waxed as well. Only time will tell if this works but we have cleaned our boat on the outside twice this year with soapy water and all the water beads and she still looks fantastic, she is 62 feet long and it takes the two of us no more than 15 mins each side. I love the look of my boat and want to keep it that way. I dont mind using it and if it gets bashed well thats boating for you but in the mean time I like a shiny one. I know a lot of people who like to polish and wax thier cars too and the only time you would use a polish is to cut the paint then use a wax to get the shine and for protection. I still struggle with the brasses but at least the paint job looks great. Mark

It looks like a really nice boat, as we walked past at the weekend I mentioned to my wife there were no anodes but that seems to be sorted as per your earlier post. The people running the marina seem very friendly and genuine to us so I would not worry too much about the anchor, I'm sure they will put it back. Nice job of the blacking too. Good luck with your new boat. Mark