Good Boat Bad Boat?

[OldGoat]

I've actually read the posts between my last and this one, so I won't elaborate on details which I think are clear. However:-

 

I think a slow revving chuffy engine works best in a deep draughted boat because the former has oodles of torque at a low speed which is best translated to the water by a large propeller - hence the deep draught - over 2ft. 6" might satisfy. The joy of a chuffy engine in use is that when you need to stop quickly or to wind you through the mud it does it effortlessly without plumes of water.

 

I have seen several Beta Marine propgen engines on the cut. They have been cocooned and were virtually silent - even quieter than my own. Not a lot of point perhaps as the propgen was primarily designed to deliver constant 240V. Quite expensive initially so finding one could be be a challenge.

 

In my boat the engine is well forward of the rear step and I built a frame and decking over it to make access easier. General maintenance is easy, especially if the basic layout of the engine was designed to be maintained from the top - as a proper installation should be. That's what Beta now do (unashamed plug). Some of their competitors just adapt a vehicle or light duty industrial engine, without paying much attention to access or layout.

Don't be fazed by engine accessibility, you'll probably get someone else to do any major work.

At least with the engine inboard - as it were I can tinker without getting wet or cold. I can lift a section of the cover, kneel on the companion way and tinker.

 

We hired a 70 footer in the 80's with an offset engine. Lovely and quiet from the rear deck. The engine was cocooned in what would have been a proper engine room, but the space around it was not terribly useful. I doubt whether there are many examples around.

 

 

[Ally Charlton]

Ok I appreciate someone at some point is gonna tell me off for changing the topic of a thread. Should I start a new one? However I'll go with it this once until someone does tell me off!

 

To all the brokers on canal world forums

 

I think that all the naughty brokers out there should stop PMing newbies and not owning up to being brokers and telling us you have the perfect boat for us.

 

I'm green, but not that green and I can spot you a mile off

[Neil2]

Ok I appreciate someone at some point is gonna tell me off for changing the topic of a thread. Should I start a new one? However I'll go with it this once until someone does tell me off!

 

To all the brokers on canal world forums

 

I think that all the naughty brokers out there should stop PMing newbies and not owning up to being brokers and telling us you have the perfect boat for us.

 

I'm green, but not that green and I can spot you a mile off

Shows you how desperate the market is at the moment though.

[Ally Charlton]

Indeed it does Neil 2. However perhaps the naughty brokers should realise that it doesn't take a huge brain capacity to figure out who they are and then I just PM everyone I've met on this forum and say the naughty broker is not to be trusted. I think a broker naughty or otherwise must be an incredibly short-sighted businessman not to realise the detrimental effect that this silly, silly behaviour has upon his business. You "follow my thread?" naughty, silly broker, well I hope you followed that.

[Tuscan]

Sounds like a switched on broker to me but suspect it could have been a forum member keen to sell their boat. Once you start visiting them you will soon get a feel for those you trust.

[Guest]

Trouble is that by not naming the actual broker you potentially cast aspersions on brokers who are members on here.

 

If you feel you have had an inappropriate approach just report the PM to the mods.

 

When we were buying I got a few PM's from builders but I just thought these guys are just trying to make a living and responded appropriately.

[Athy]

It's been a couple of weeks now, and no further news of the Quest For The Chuffy Engine. Any further developments? I imagine Ally and Mr. Ally slogging around the boatyards of Middle England, where sooner (one hopes) or later they will find the ideal boat. I wonder if they have just put down a deposit on the one which Junior is interested in.

 

Surely that round lens-shaped thing in a cabin roof is an ox eye, not a bull's eye?

[junior]

It's been a couple of weeks now, and no further news of the Quest For The Chuffy Engine. Any further developments? I imagine Ally and Mr. Ally slogging around the boatyards of Middle England, where sooner (one hopes) or later they will find the ideal boat. I wonder if they have just put down a deposit on the one which Junior is interested in.

 

Surely that round lens-shaped thing in a cabin roof is an ox eye, not a bull's eye?

Better bloody not have!!

[Ally Charlton]

Unfortunately not. But wey hey Junior!!! you have put down a deposit!

 

Nope we are still like children with noses pressed against sweet shop windows. Except the sweet shop in question is usually some nice marina/mooring with a two year waiting list. I keep turning up to these places and banging on the gates to get someone's attention then smiling as sweetly as I can until someone let's me in so I can look around.

 

However, the result is always the same, register interest and wait and wait and wait.......

 

I must admit that even using my feminine wiles to a quite shameless degree does not move me up the list any faster

 

There is a lovely mooring we like the look of (I've literally just seen it on the CRT website), now I have learnt something about the "dark art of moorings" as someone put it, and the idea that those offering leisure moorings don't always puritanically stick to the number of weeks you have to vacate it, however a CRT mooring labelled as "leisure" would they be really strict about this?

 

ox eye/bulls eye, tomato, potaaaato, their both domesticated ungulates aren't they? (oooh I just Wikipedia'd that so I'd sound clever!!!)

[Athy]

Show me a bull that's domesticated, I'll show you a bull that ain't no bull no mo'. (Sorry, just been listening to some blues, the use of language in such music can be infectious).

 

Nice that you've taken your head out of that engine room for long enough to check in here! So you're taking the route of securing a mooring first then buying a boat? Sounds sensible.

At least one marina offers a parking place, whoops, mooring, in their marina if you buy a boat from them. Braunston, I think it is. There may be others

Edited August 18, 2013 by Athy

[Athy]

. But wey hey Junior!!! you have put down a deposit!

 

 

Thinking back to Junior's account of his reaction to hearing the Petter engine on Albion, you could be more accurate than you realise.

[junior]

Unfortunately not. But wey hey Junior!!! you have put down a deposit!

 

Nope we are still like children with noses pressed against sweet shop windows. Except the sweet shop in question is usually some nice marina/mooring with a two year waiting list. I keep turning up to these places and banging on the gates to get someone's attention then smiling as sweetly as I can until someone let's me in so I can look around.

 

However, the result is always the same, register interest and wait and wait and wait.......

 

I must admit that even using my feminine wiles to a quite shameless degree does not move me up the list any faster

 

There is a lovely mooring we like the look of (I've literally just seen it on the CRT website), now I have learnt something about the "dark art of moorings" as someone put it, and the idea that those offering leisure moorings don't always puritanically stick to the number of weeks you have to vacate it, however a CRT mooring labelled as "leisure" would they be really strict about this?

 

ox eye/bulls eye, tomato, potaaaato, their both domesticated ungulates aren't they? (oooh I just Wikipedia'd that so I'd sound clever!!!)

If I have read your question correctly, then the answer is....

 

As far as I know CRT couldn't care less (at the moment) wether you live on your leisure mooring or not. The local council may have a different view but if you could satisfy them you are not living full time on the mooring, should they ever ask, then I doubt you'd have many problems.

 

The reason I said 'at the moment' is because from what I can gather CRT seem to go through phases of cracking down on different things. There's nothing to say they won't have a clamp down in the future of people living on leisure moorings.