Laurie Booth
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Posts posted by Laurie Booth
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13 hours ago, LadyG said:
Foxes Afloat have just posted on YouTube, they reckon it costs £14K per annum on a boat, same as in their house. I can't believe some of their costings to be honest.
A very sensible blog from Foxes afloat. Plus they stress there are no mooring fees in their sums.
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13 hours ago, MtB said:
Just testing to see if anyone reads my posts.
No I have not read your post
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2 hours ago, VincePam said:
Hi all
I recently joined this community as I am keen to move asap on a liveaboard fed up as we are of the usual routine. I live in Cambridge at present and have a wife and several kids, the last one of which still living with us and going to college. We both work mostly remotely from home. I am a long term sailor but know very little - literally a newbie on canal and river boats.
We are looking for one where to live full time, including my college son, and work from. So needs to be comfortable enough to allow us to stick together for longer that a week, but hopefully not too big to be requiring to much maintenance time and money. We will be living in a marina, so electricity should be available.
As soon as we started looking for which is best, we got confused. Potentially narrow boats are less attractive either because too narrow or too expensive. We stumbled upon various cruisers on the web, but I am really unable to tell which could be a good choice, being a reliable one, low maintenance, with enough space for a relatively low budget (up to 50k). We saw some good priced options, including ex rentals, but I haven't got a clue what the dark side of any river boat is.Grateful if you can help me navigating this opportunity and making the right choice!
Thanks
Rent a flat
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2 hours ago, Tony Brooks said:
If that is a Lister with hydraulic valve lifters I think you are very wise as long as you keep to the oil change intervals. It is using it in an engine that you have no service fotr that gives me some concern, as illustrated by Zanattaomm
It's an Mitsubishi Inlander 60. I have owned the boat 27 years and have done the 100 hour service with engine flush every 100 hours (give or take a few hours)
The boat is a 1989 Springer Tug.
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17 minutes ago, Tony1 said:
Is your recommended service interval 100 hours, or is that your own initiative?
It is the recommended service for the engine.
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2 hours ago, Tony1 said:
This is just idle curiosity really, but I wondered whether people think this stuff is worthwhile, great, or actually potentially a bad thing?
I got a 400ml bottle of something called 'engine flush' with my service kit.
This was the stuff:
https://store.ukboatyard.uk/maintenance-silverhook-engine-flush-325-ml
After thoroughly warming up the engine, you put the engine flush in and let the engine idle for 5 minutes, then change the oil as normal.
I've no idea whether it did any good for the engine - and with idling or low revving narrowboat diesels, glazing is the main issue, right?
But as a sort of conversation starter, I would be interested in people's thoughts on it, or similar products?
After all, anything that will help to prevent issues with a narrowboat engine is worth some thought.
I use engine flush and oil change every 100 engine hours.
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19 minutes ago, Arthur Marshall said:
My house sale purchase solicitor did the job so badly that when I came to sell it five years later it turned out I hadn't finished buying it. The boatyard installing my self draing deck installed it so it drained into the boat instead of the canal, and fitted a prop tube not properly sealed so it failed and leaked water in, fast. The guy who refitted the gearbox left half the bolts out of the flexible coupling and didn't tighten the few he bothered with. The engineer who fitted a new leakoff pipe set it to rub against the rockers so it wore through into a massive hole in a week. The one who fitted a new one set them so the rocker box covers wouldn't fit. The RCR guy who came for a gearbox problem took one look, said he didn't understand Listers and went home. The electrician who rewired the engine room (a BSC examiner) did it so badly it failed the next inspection. The guy who rebuilt the engine to cure a massive oil leak left a gasket out so left me a new leak instead. All these guys came recommended and with good reputations.
Plenty more examples over the last thirty years. I now expect every job I can't do myself to have to be done at least twice, and paid for accordingly. Narrowboating is, really, a cottage industry and the art of the bodge is crucial, probably because most of us have little money and want jobs done as cheap as possible and as fast as possible. The 2 out if 3 rule applies - good, fast, cheap. All boats are different, so a yard will try to do their best bearing in mind the limits of their time, experience and competence and your ability to pay. Really, all you can do is shrug and get the latest bodge fixed to your satisfaction while bearing in mind that every single engineer who comes out will criticise the previous one's work.
At least the RCR man was honest and I assume you were not charged by RCR.
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3 hours ago, Richard10002 said:
In my experience, a moneyclaimonline is a long protracted process in these underfunded days. I entered a claim against Currys a while ago and a bit of research suggested that it would take around 9 months to get to court. Arbitration was offered, which was done over the phone, and I decided beforehand to agree to much less than I was claiming, on the basis that having it hanging was irritating, annoying, and stressful, and life is too short.
It doesn't sound like the OP has the money to do the job quoted for, nor the time to wait for the outcome of a court case, although it is always possible that the yard gives in shortly after being served, or at arbitration.
A solicitor took me to the small claims court which took 2 years and ended up in Bristol County Court, I won the case and the solicitor lost their job with the firm.
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On 28/12/2022 at 10:09, philip levy said:
OK so its taken some time but we are now exploring the idea of a new narrowboat to enjoy our retirement. I live in Burton on Trent so looking for local if possible. We really dont want an old one so looking for new only. There is a local company, Russell Narrowboats, and they have a professional looking website and some superb looking new build narrowboats for sale but other than their website we cant find much info about this compay.
As we will be investing a lot of our retirement savings I was wondering if anyone has any experience with this company?
Thanks in Advance, Philip & Sarah
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12 hours ago, Arthur Marshall said:
Most low end employees (ie the majority) are now in zero hours, minimum wage and insecure contracts that usually mean they are relying on benefits to survive. They may find it hard to fund a pension, though this may surprise you.
And low end employees include teachers. My friend is one, thirty years experience, now has to work via an agency, never knows his hours from one week to the next or where he'll be working. No chance of a permanent full time job.
Those of my age were lucky, jobs were easy to get, paid properly and relatively secure. I always thought the rot really set in when the benefit and tax systems were conflated, though of course it started with the abolition of wages councils. Tax credits subsidised low wages (and companies got used to shovelling dividends out instead of investing in training and wages), housing benefit subsidised landlords and wrecked the housing market in the process. It's hard to get the genie back into the bottle, both businesses and landlords are too used to the easy money.
When two adults are in a family, both working full time, and they are still entitled to claim benefits in order to survive, there's something wrong.
Housing benefit subsidised landlords, now discontinued years ago. Universal credits are now subsidising food outlets (Greedy supermarkets).
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On 29/12/2022 at 03:57, roland elsdon said:
Pardon?
Medicare . Open to all. Public hospital system, funded from taxation.if you choose not to have private health insurance, you pay a levy on your taxes.
if you don’t earn enough you don’t pay the levy.
Working in public health my accountant did the maths and told us not to buy private healthcare.
Course with out insurance you can pay as you go.
Ive had various surgeries in Oz. I had to pay a gap fee difference between what surgeon charged and Medicare paid, but but but. It’s tax deductible.
None of my staff in Australia worked in the hospital paying of debts.
My wife did
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1 hour ago, Machpoint005 said:
I'm sure that works out really well for the chronically sick or terminally ill.
Not allowed in the hospitals
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42 minutes ago, nicknorman said:
Obviously I realise that some may find my view distasteful, but that doesn't necessarily detract from its validity. It is all part of the decline and fall of western civilisation that we are living through.
I think you are conflating high IQ with skills. You don't need a high IQ to be a plasterer, bricklayer, plumber etc. What you do need is some training and experience in what is fairly formulaic job - a job that nevertheless is in demand and pays good money. Yes you can't just breeze up to the job interview saying "today, I have decided to be a bricklayer", which is quite dissapointing to some people!
As to your relative, there can be no doubt that some peole find themselves in unexpected difficulty through no fault of their own. That should be what we have the benefits system for. It should not be for a lifestyle choice nor should it engender a feeling in the population that they have no need to make any effort to provide for themselves as the state will do that for them.
No country can continue to function with a philosophy that individuals have no need to make best efforts to look after themselves and any children they may decide to have. It is simply untenable in the long term.
All that said I will say that any system whereby one can be in full time employment but still need state benefits (other than in exceptional circumstances) is a bad one. In this country we have the state subsidising many businesses, especially the large chains, in that there wouldn't be the people to be employed on minimum wage were it not for government subsidy aka in-work benefits. IMO any full time job should pay enough for the employees to live adequately without the state having to subsidise them. Doesn't happen in other aligned countries such as Australia.
In Australia if you can't pay the hospital fees you have to work there to pay off the bills
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1 hour ago, RLWP said:
Good question. Probably!
Richard
Hope it finishes at Fazeley
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54 minutes ago, Arthur Marshall said:
It's unlawful to use them anywhere except private land, presumably with permission. So yes. But as I've said, irrelevant. I'll give you odds on there are boaters using them.
They can be used legally in Birmingham.
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4 hours ago, roland elsdon said:
Work was something you cycled to, films were taken to boots, and a phone call involved walking to find a phone box.
communication was chalk on the lock beams.
I remember when we got cb radio on the boats!
That's a big ten four
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On 05/12/2022 at 12:16, Mad Harold said:
Yes boring.
Knew someone once who was prone to quoting Latin.
His nickname was Nurdus Cretinious. 🐸
Please note my Latin marks
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16 minutes ago, MtB said:
And they talk funny.
Like the French and that Sturgeon woman, I think they do lots of things differently specifically to be different.
What is it they say about the USA and us? "Two nations divided by a common language"?
And try getting into Warner Bros Studios with a name "Laurie" on your pass !!
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17 minutes ago, Tonka said:
And their live wire is colour coded black
And switches are up for on and down for off
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7 hours ago, Tracy D'arth said:
What? How's that then? The unleaded nozzle is/was different. Folk still manage to put the wrong fuel in cars.
When I was in America the petrol was a black hose and the diesel was a green hose, very confusing for me
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On 04/12/2022 at 12:20, matty40s said:
Are we talking 1963 or 1947 here Laurie...🙃
1963
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On 03/11/2022 at 18:23, David Mack said:
More than once, when I was in 6th form, our young Maths teacher, who was much closer in age to us than to most of his colleagues, squeezed 4 or 5 of us into his sports car and took us for a lunchtime pint in a pub far enough from school for us not to be discovered...
Can't see it happening these days.
Back in 1964 (I was 14) my headmaster took us all to the pub and got us some cider. Below a photo of the head
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My boarding school, we got cut off from the rest of the world and were running out of food. It got to the stage where the RAF were going to parachute supplies to us. Much to the dismay of us boys a farmer managed to get supplies to us with his tractor. We boys could have killed him.
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56 minutes ago, Kendorr said:
Here's episode 2
Thanks
Are Boats selling
in General Boating
Posted
What rents have rocketed ?