GOODBYE CRT........

[The Grey Goose]

When I phoned The CRT they quoted me £1691 , I have just used the CRT calculstor and entered my 60 x 11 and it comes back with £1656.00 , its still a diff in favour of the EA of £167. 

I can pay by DD for no charge whereas the CRT will bump the price by about 200 quid for monthly DD on top making it nearly £1900.00.

However going forwsrd its the years between now and 2028 where its gonna skyrocket.

[MtB]

8 minutes ago, The Grey Goose said:

There's a lot of high rollers out here today , as a self employed person I know exactly how hard I have to work to earn £200.00 so Im not gonna chuck it away easily.

 

Same here. I'm self employed too and like you, I can earn £200 in a flash. 

 

Other days I can earn nothing in lots of flashes. 

 

 

[The Grey Goose]

Well lucky you , there's no flashes in my world.

[MtB]

2 minutes ago, The Grey Goose said:

Well lucky you , there's no flashes in my world.

 

Yes, and I count my blessings constantly. As should anyone living in this country, with its abundance of opportunity, and lack of war and strife. 

 

 

[magnetman]

38 minutes ago, magpie patrick said:

 

I concur - if we want the canals to survive we're gonna have to pay for them

 

 

The EA will come for their money eventually - they can't run navigation works on zero cash either. 

 

 

In reality the EA is so badly funded they can't even keep on top of unlicensed Boats. There is a limit to how many court cases they can afford. How many wrecks they can pay to recover.

 

Plenty of people on the River deliberately go unlicensed and it takes ages for the EA to do anything. We had one earlier in the yar. He had a job, no house, a little Boat and asked me 'is your Boat licensed?' I said 'yes' he looked at me like I was an idiot and said 'I've been getting away with it for ages so whats the point paying for a licence?' 

 

This is what is happening. Its not ideal in fact far from it but without proper management and enforcement it is an option which people choose.

 

 

 

 

[The Grey Goose]

Could you list these opportunities for those readers out there who would like to know how to get a taste of the action.

6 minutes ago, magnetman said:

In reality the EA is so badly funded they can't even keep on top of unlicensed Boats. There is a limit to how many court cases they can afford. How many wrecks they can pay to recover.

 

Plenty of people on the River deliberately go unlicensed and it takes ages for the EA to do anything. We had one earlier in the yar. He had a job, no house, a little Boat and asked me 'is your Boat licensed?' I said 'yes' he looked at me like I was an idiot and said 'I've been getting away with it for ages so whats the point paying for a licence?' 

 

This is what is happening. Its not ideal in fact far from it but without proper management and enforcement it is an option which people choose.

 

 

 

 

Yes that is an idiot , Ive always been under the impression that without a valid licence or BSS your insurance is invalid.

[Grassman]

Hopefully the changes to CRT’s licensing system will persuade more widebeams to follow The Grey Goose’s lead and abandon their waters.

 

Even though they can fit into the locks, much of the canal system wasn’t built for wide boats and the increasing presence of widebeams in those unsuitable waters cause unnecessary hassle and inconvenience to other users.

 

Happy Xmas

 

[The Grey Goose]

I have never been on their waters but was always happy to contribute until this price hike.

[Tonka]

1 hour ago, magnetman said:

This is true to an extent. I've been coming up and down the River since the mid 90s and it has changed a LOT. 

 

You never used to see places like Cookham church and Henley mill meadows full of wide beam canal Boats. It just didn't happen. 

 

Yes a lot of people can't deal with some of these things but plenty seem to be able to and there are more and more of these Boats all the time. 

 

They even had one in one of the weir gates at Sunbury recently. Fully drawn and elevated river levels. 

Nobody aboard but it does show the general picture. 

 

To an extent it will be self controlling but there will be more and more. and more. 

 

I assume from what you have said above that the old battle axe of a lady does not collect the mooring fee at Cookham any more

[magnetman]

Yes she does still collect at Cookham. It is full of paying wide beans canal Boats. Well not completely full but there are quite a few including on the field above the sailing club. 

 

A good deal for winter but as I understand it they don't encourage people to stay all the time due to it being a popular short stay mooring in summer. 

 

I also know some locals have complained about Boats blocking the view of the River from the benches and bins being used inappropriately. 

 

 

Edited December 25, 2023 by magnetman

[Tonka]

3 minutes ago, magnetman said:

Yes she does still collect at Cookham. It is full of paying wide beans canal Boats. Well not completely full but there are quite a few including on the field above the sailing club. 

 

A good deal for winter but as I understand it they don't encourage people to stay all the time due to it being a popular short stay mooring in summer. 

 

I also know some locals have complained about Boats blocking the view of the River from the benches and bins being used inappropriately. 

 

 

Don't tell me, someone puts rubbish in the bins. Who would have thought

[magnetman]

It is impressive how wound up local people get about this problem. 

 

It might seem minor but these bins are not in fact designed for residential waste. Obviously. They are designed for irregular low density use by visitors. 

 

 

 

Its a well known conflict zone between locals and Boat occupiers. Nothing new there ! 

[DShK]

Merry Christmas lol

[magnetman]

There is that ! 

 

Seasonal greetings. 

[TheBiscuits]

1 hour ago, The Grey Goose said:

When I phoned The CRT they quoted me £1691 , I have just used the CRT calculstor and entered my 60 x 11 and it comes back with £1656.00 , its still a diff in favour of the EA of £167. 

I can pay by DD for no charge whereas the CRT will bump the price by about 200 quid for monthly DD on top making it nearly £1900.00.

However going forwsrd its the years between now and 2028 where its gonna skyrocket.

 

Out of general interest, how much would the Gold licence be for your boat?

[The Grey Goose]

With the EA for 2024. £1489

With CRT. for 2024.    £ 1656-£1691

With huge rises to come with CRT between now and 2028.

1 hour ago, Tonka said:

I assume from what you have said above that the old battle axe of a lady does not collect the mooring fee at Cookham any more

The lady you refer to is very nice and still collects on a daily basis.

Edited December 25, 2023 by The Grey Goose

[magnetman]

The first is an EA Thames licence (actually a registration) and the second is a Gold licence (CRT and EA water combined licence). 

 

For people who misunderstand what you mean. 

 

So the Gold licence is in fact very good value for people who use canals but totally pointless for those who do not.

 

Watch that Gold licence shoot up in price very soon !

 

 

24 minutes ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

Out of general interest, how much would the Gold licence be for your boat?

The 'with CRT' price is the Gold licence not a CRT standard licence. 

Edited December 25, 2023 by magnetman

[MtB]

6 minutes ago, The Grey Goose said:

With the EA for 2024. £1489

With CRT. for 2024.    £ 1656-£1691

With huge rises to come with CRT between now and 2028.

The lady you refer to is very nice and still collects on a daily basis.

 

So presumably, you should add 365 x £10 a night to the licence you have to pay on The Thames? 

 

Ok less a bit because some mooring sites are still free. Just not many.

 

 

[The Grey Goose]

Yep , they might have to rename it Platinum or something like.

1 minute ago, MtB said:

 

So presumably, you should add 365 x £10 a night to the licence you have to pay on The Thames? 

 

Ok less a bit because some mooring sites are still free. Just not many.

 

 

Possibly, however at many moorings you can winter for up to 6 months without having to move every 2 weeks and in the summer you can move about and take advantage of 24hr free moorings.

Edited December 25, 2023 by The Grey Goose

[magnetman]

I was told £30 a week for winter at Cookham. Maybe it has gone up a bit this was a couple of yars ago. 

 

Seems good value. I know other places are more. Some boatyards will do winter moorings which is a clever way for them to use their pontoons when people take Boats out for winter.

 

Hobbs and Hambleden at Henley both do this. 

 

 

 

[MtB]

12 minutes ago, The Grey Goose said:

Yep , they might have to rename it Platinum or something like.

Possibly, however at many moorings you can winter for up to 6 months without having to move every 2 weeks and in the summer you can move about and take advantage of 24hr free moorings.

 

So in saving £167 on the licence fee, another boat like yours would have to pay £30 a week in winter? 

 

I get that you never used CRT canals so maybe you've always paid to moor, so you still save the £200 (or £167) 

 

Thing is, I'm still not really convinced Thames boating works out cheaper than CCing on canals. 

 

 

Edited December 25, 2023 by MtB

[Alan de Enfield]

3 hours ago, The Grey Goose said:

 

A gravel pit ?

 

No - just unlimited cruising - I did over 3000 miles one month (100 miles a day) option of free moorings, or use a marina with full facilities, one marina we use even has a full bathroom/toilet for each of the visitors moorings.

[ditchcrawler]

It may be a daft question but if you are always on the Thames and not CRT waters why did you buy a Gold Licence. As I don't plan on going on EA waters I have a CRT only licence not a gold one..

[magnetman]

6 minutes ago, MtB said:

 

So in saving £167 on the licence fee, another boat like yours would have to pay £30 a week in winter? 

 

I get that you never used CRT canals so maybe you've always paid to moor, so you still save the £200 (or £167) 

 

 

There are still places one can moor for free but they are getting fewer all the time. An example is the council owned wall at Maidenhead but its risky due to the low level walkway in fact a narrow Boat, which was not abandoned and had been moored there for a long time, was rolled over and sunk there earlier this winter. 

 

Various risks associated with Thames in winter. When there is a proper flood it all gets quite interesting. 

 

Councils are gradually tightening up using byelaws or PSPO to control moorings on their land. 

 

Interestingly a PSPO appears to also apply to public right of ways across private land. So it seems to me, having not checked, that if a council acquires a PSPO for their borough which includes mooring controls (Elmbridge is trying to do this) it could also mean mooring to private land where there is a footpath might be an interesting question. 

Of course the footpath is probably not all the way to the waters edge. 

 

 

 

3 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

It may be a daft question but if you are always on the Thames and not CRT waters why did you buy a Gold Licence. As I don't plan on going on EA waters I have a CRT only licence not a gold one..

Philanthropy? Didn't realise? Changed plans? All sorts of potential reasons. 

[MtB]

5 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

It may be a daft question but if you are always on the Thames and not CRT waters why did you buy a Gold Licence. As I don't plan on going on EA waters I have a CRT only licence not a gold one..

 

I thin k the OP says early in the thread it was specifically to support CRT. But next year the extra cost will become too much.