Jump to content

Can I visit my boat to winterise it?


Featured Posts

23 minutes ago, Paladine said:

I wasn't particularly trying to justify going to a marina to winterise a boat. I was pointing out that the guidance you quoted was so full of flaws as to be unreliable.

I totally agree, most of these interpretations are poor, and the best thing is it just look at the legislation.  The only possible reasonable excuse for visiting a boat in a marina is exercise, and I can’t see that really cutting it.

 

The fact that the legislation was published so close to the effective date, which I guess was intentional, meant that I suspect for most people they were not able to use

 

Exception 11: Returning home

(15) Exception 11 is that it is reasonably necessary for P to be outside P’s home to enable P to return home from any place where P was on holiday immediately before these Regulations came into force.

 

We were intending to go away on Tuesday on the boat for a couple of weeks, and if we had then still done that it would have been acceptable.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I completed an annual service the weekend before the first lockdown. From memory it was certainly exercise, hanging upside down working. The air filter change  was a particular workout. 

 

Marina specific rules aside,  I think if your boat needs work to stop serious potential damage and if aren’t endangering anybody then do it. You can get someone to a house to do essential repairs. Boat safety or car mot tests haven’t been suspended, as far as I know. If it needs doing then that seems to fit with the feel of things. If it’s just a jolly then probably not.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Luckily mine's on a farm where the farmer wants us to keep an eye on our boats. He's already had to rescue one that broke loose last weekend and doesn't want to do it again. I may go down in a fortnight if the weather's been bad, otherwise I'll leave it unless I get a call that something's up.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

Thanks for that, where did you find it as I would like to pass it on

I read that list of do's and don'ts, it seems not to refer to care of animals, only pets, all rather odd, as when I had horses they needed fed sometimes three tines a day, and exercised once or twice, a minimum of one return car journey, in summer and two in winter. Farmers also have to check animals, fencing, feed and provide routine veterinary care, but that's mot mentioned.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, LadyG said:

I read that list of do's and don'ts, it seems not to refer to care of animals, only pets, all rather odd, as when I had horses they needed fed sometimes three tines a day, and exercised once or twice, a minimum of one return car journey, in summer and two in winter. Farmers also have to check animals, fencing, feed and provide routine veterinary care, but that's mot mentioned.

Surely for a farmer that comes under the category of work and as the farmer can't work from home he is allowed to go out and perform his job.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, LadyG said:

Farmers also have to check animals, fencing, feed and provide routine veterinary care, but that's mot mentioned.

You are allowed out into your garden, shed, passages, etc etc.

Farmers have very big gardens. Our garden has an 2200m (1.4 miles) perimeter, so quite sufficient to exercise the horse

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, LadyG said:

Farmers also have to check animals, fencing, feed and provide routine veterinary care, but that's mot mentioned.

People can  and must continue to go to work if they cant work from home .

Link to comment
Share on other sites

51 minutes ago, Rob-M said:

Surely for a farmer that comes under the category of work and as the farmer can't work from home he is allowed to go out and perform his job.

Yes, but I was not a farmer when I was looking after my horses, it was a leisure activity, obviously animals need care, but I am surprised it is not mentioned, maybe the 'pets' bit covers hobbies like horses and gundog training and such like.

Edited by LadyG
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, LadyG said:

I read that list of do's and don'ts, it seems not to refer to care of animals, only pets, all rather odd, as when I had horses they needed fed sometimes three tines a day, and exercised once or twice, a minimum of one return car journey, in summer and two in winter. Farmers also have to check animals, fencing, feed and provide routine veterinary care, but that's mot mentioned.

The actual law does though. Always best to look at the actual law, not some random person’s interpretation of it! In amongst the list of reasonable excuses for leaving home is this:

 

b)to attend to the care of or exercise of a pet or other animal owned or cared for by P

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, nicknorman said:

The actual law does though. Always best to look at the actual law, not some random person’s interpretation of it! In amongst the list of reasonable excuses for leaving home is this:

 

b)to attend to the care of or exercise of a pet or other animal owned or cared for by P

Agreed, I assumed that was some official interpretation, 'user manual' not a random person, I should know better, this is t 'internet

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The RYA have changed their tune since earlier in the week and now withdrawn advice  suggesting boating would be acceptable activity.

 

''Recreation'' is doing anything enjoyable . 

I had thought we could at the very least go and sit on our boat and enjoy doing that , perhaps enjoy doing  a few jobs . But now not so sure . I can walk from home to the boat . Going for a walk in a while and will see if the marina gate is locked.

28 minutes ago, LadyG said:

Yes, but I was not a farmer when I was looking after my horses, it was a leisure activity, obviously animals need care, but I am surprised it is not mentioned, maybe the 'pets' bit covers hobbies like horses and gundog training and such like.

Exactly - you can exercise your pet .

I don't think we are expected to neglect animal welfare so travelling to feed or exercise a horse seems to me a reasonable excuse .

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, LadyG said:

I read that list of do's and don'ts, it seems not to refer to care of animals, only pets, all rather odd, as when I had horses they needed fed sometimes three tines a day, and exercised once or twice, a minimum of one return car journey, in summer and two in winter. Farmers also have to check animals, fencing, feed and provide routine veterinary care, but that's mot mentioned.

Look at the actual document not what the papers say:

 

Exception 10: Animal welfare (14) Exception 10 is that it is reasonably necessary for P to leave or be outside P’s home—

 

(a) to attend veterinary services to seek advice about the health and welfare of a pet or other animal owned or cared for by P, or for the treatment of such a pet or animal;

(b) to attend to the care of or exercise of a pet or other animal owned or cared for by P.

 

 

P being their abbreviation for the individual.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 hours ago, Cheshire cat said:

The definitive article is here. All 30 odd pages of it

 

The latest legislation

Restrictions on leaving home
5.—(1) No person may leave or be outside of the place where they are living without reasonable
excuse.

(2) For the purposes of paragraph (1)—
(a) the circumstances in which a person has a reasonable excuse include where one of the
exceptions set out in regulation 6 applies;

 

Offences and penalties
20.—(1) A person commits an offence if, without reasonable excuse, the person—
(a) contravenes a restriction or requirement imposed under regulation 5, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16 or
18,

 

What this says legally is that you can't leave home without a reasonable excuse and that these include the exceptions listed -- in other words, if one of these exceptions apply you're definitely in the clear.

 

What it does *not* say is that these exceptions are the only "reasonable excuses", in other words that they are an exhaustive and complete list.

 

For example in the section on property purchases it lists these "reasonable excuses":

 

(g) to undertake any of the following activities in connection with the purchase, sale, letting
or rental of a residential property—
(i) visiting estate or letting agents, developer sales offices or show homes;
(ii) viewing residential properties to look for a property to buy or to rent;
(iii) preparing a residential property to move in;
(iv) moving house;
(v) visiting a residential property to undertake any activities required for the rental or
sale of that property;

 

But this list cannot be exhaustive because there will be cases they simply haven't thought of -- for example my son is buying a house and as part of this a trust document has to be signed by both of us in the presence of witnesses so we have to meet at one of our homes, this is necessary to purchase the house but it's not in the list (i)-(v).

 

So I'd say that legally the same applies to visiting a boat to winterise it -- even though this isn't specifically listed, the question is -- is this "a reasonable excuse" if you get stopped?

 

Given that this could be necessary to keep insurance valid, it would be very difficult to say that this wasn't "a reasonable excuse".

 

I'm not in any way saying that people should take this to extremes and claim they can do anything to get round the rules, in the end it will be down to whether any police officer thinks your excuse is reasonable or not.

 

I'd have thought that most would think that taking essential pre-winter precautions (e.g. draining water system) to prevent possibly disastrous damage and keep insurance valid would be reasonable.

Edited by IanD
Link to comment
Share on other sites

In the end, it's presumably down to the courts when you appeal against unreasonable police behaviour, should you consider it so. I can see this clogging up the courts for years, which is why I suspect the police will concentrate on mass misbehaving, not individuals out and about on their own, or even in threes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, LadyG said:

I read that list of do's and don'ts, it seems not to refer to care of animals, only pets, all rather odd, as when I had horses they needed fed sometimes three tines a day, and exercised once or twice, a minimum of one return car journey, in summer and two in winter. Farmers also have to check animals, fencing, feed and provide routine veterinary care, but that's mot mentioned.

Was your horse not a pet?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

Was your horse not a pet?

It does not have to be a pat, the legislation says “a pet or other animal”

 

5 minutes ago, IanD said:

Like I said, it's a list of things which are allowed, but it doesn't mean there aren't lots of other "reasonable excuses" not on the list...

The legislation contains the specific exceptions of being outside the place that you live, other than that if you feel you have one that is not covered you would have to let a court decide, but it does seem to be a comprehensive list of things, and in some cases like the travel and click and collect is really much more generous than really is needed.  Simplest to just stop at home, only 25 days left.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, IanD said:

Like I said, it's a list of things which are allowed, but it doesn't mean there aren't lots of other "reasonable excuses" not on the list...

So if the next big freeze comes in on Nov 27th(which it did in 2010), are all these marinas and other control freaks going to stand the costs of repairing damaged boats..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

33 minutes ago, matty40s said:

So if the next big freeze comes in on Nov 27th(which it did in 2010), are all these marinas and other control freaks going to stand the costs of repairing damaged boats..

Has any marina said you can’t visit this time round, rather than just use the position of stick the government rules re travel.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, john6767 said:

Has any marina said you can’t visit this time round, rather than just use the position of stick the government rules re travel.  

I had an email from Saul Junction to say they are effectively closing except for providing essential services such as fuel and boaters should return to their primary residence.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, john6767 said:

Has any marina said you can’t visit this time round, rather than just use the position of stick the government rules re travel.  

 

Ours has, but maybe not relevant to many as it is in Wales - differemt rules.

 

  • Please do not use your boat to self-isolate. We ask that you follow government advice and stay at home and avoid all non-essential travel.
  • Our office-based staff, wherever possible are working remotely. If you wish to contact the marina office, please do so via telephone or email where our staff are on hand to answer your queries, give you an update on your boat and take payments as normal.
  • Fuel is only available for essential commercial vessels and social distancing must be strictly adhered to while fuelling is taking place.
  • At Port Dinorwic, we will only be locking out commercial vessels.
  • Our marina operatives will remain on site across all of our facilities. They will be carrying out essential work to help your boat remain safe and secure under the current circumstances. They are continuing with daily checks and essential marina maintenance as well as checking lines and fenders. If you have a specific concern you would like checked on your boat, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.