Pump out service on carrier boats

[MustyBoat]

Hello! Having a bit of trouble at the moment, our regular pump-out boat service who comes by on a regular basis has stopped coming...

 

So, does anyone have contact details for a carrier boat in central London (near Kings Cross) that offers a pump-out service?

 

Thanks!

 

 

[Graham Davis]

I'm going to guess that someone will mention the Facebook London boaters page, perhaps.

[MustyBoat]

I'm not on facebook, unfortunately. Does anyone on this forum have these contact details?

[Erin42]

I believe there is only the one boat that does pump out, Dom on Baron, and he is swamped with orders. He is unlikely to visit you if you only require pump out, and not coal etc.

[Graham Davis]

Looks like you will have to take your boat to somewhere that does it.

Is that a problem?

[junior]

Dom on BARON is the only boat doing pump-outs in London. He is struggling to keep up with demand and I would imagine is saving his pump out capacity for regular/high spending customers.

 

Little Venice is only a few hours cruise West from Kings Cross and there is a CRT pump out facility. Not sure if SPCC have one or not, but if they do they would be closer.

[Lady Muck]

There is only one pump out boat as mentioned.

You can book the pump out at St Pancras Cruising club in Kings X but the only offer it to the public one weekend a month, I think (they are a private club, not a public marina).

So, as Junior says - Little Venice is the nearest, if I were you I'd be headed that way asap.

[Alan de Enfield]

Looks like you will have to take your boat to somewhere that does it.

Is that a problem?

 

I cannot imagine why it should be - boats are designed to move.

 

( advantage : cassette)

[junior]

 

I cannot imagine why it should be - boats are designed to move.

 

( advantage : cassette)

There are a lot of 'house boat' type boats in London on moorings that are actually designed to be floating dwellings rather than boats. I can think of several at places like Cumberland Basin, Maida Vale etc that must rely on the fuel boats for pumping out the toilet.

[WJM]

There is pump-out in Limehouse Basin too.

[Lady Muck]

Junior - I doubt it, pump out boats are such a new thing, there were two for a while, but there's no money in it and it's a horrible job. In any case how on earth can you get the hose to reach if boats are moored four deep from the bank?

 

I do find it amusing that Dom is refusing to pump out the airbnb boats, though. Just imagining guests arriving, guests who forked out £150 a night and the poo tank is full. Oh dear.

Edited October 15, 2014 by Lady Muck

[Wanted]

Just to let you know, there are actually 3 pump out boats, all Wakehams.

 

Ash is running between Brentford and Bulls bridge.

Tom Tug pushing Taurus runs between bulls bridge and little Venice and Dom on Baron runs the east side.

 

What I think people have forgotten is that we have had an unusually (albeit becoming less so) mild autumn and start of winter.

If the boats can't sell coal then there is no point loading them and traipsing them around the cut for a few pump outs. Instead, and in this case, the 'down time' has been used to do some maintenance on the fleet.

 

With the colder weather people will start to see more fuel boats.

 

My advice? Always have a plan B.

[midnight cowboy]

There is also a pump out station in the marina at Battlebridge basin, near the Canal Museum which is close to you - you need to see the Marina manager at the far end for tokens.

[Alan de Enfield]

There is also a pump out station in the marina at Battlebridge basin, near the Canal Museum which is close to you - you need to see the Marina manager at the far end for tokens.

 

If Junior is correct and these boats are unable to move (ie to be classed as a Houseboats it cannot have an engine) then a pump-out even 50 yards away is of no use.

[dmr]

Junior - I doubt it, pump out boats are such a new thing, there were two for a while, but there's no money in it and it's a horrible job. In any case how on earth can you get the hose to reach if boats are moored four deep from the bank?

 

I do find it amusing that Dom is refusing to pump out the airbnb boats, though. Just imagining guests arriving, guests who forked out £150 a night and the poo tank is full. Oh dear.

 

I'm with Dom on this one, the mobile pump out is almost certainly a loss making service to help out boaters (customers) and not to help other people run lucrative businesses. However maybe he should pump them at a special "business rate".

 

.............Dave

[serenility]

Where do pump out boats deposit their spoils?

[dmr]

Where do pump out boats deposit their spoils

 

Unless they have a proper base I imagine that like the more switched on self pumpout users that they are away of a few manhole covers conveniently close to the cut.

 

.............Dave

[junior]

Where do pump out boats deposit their spoils?

I believe a dedicated lorry is ordered to come and empty the tank on the boat. This isn't cheap hence the little if any money made on doing a single pump out. I also know that the dedicated pooh tank on the fuels boats don't hold a huge amount of pump outs hence I guess why I have previously heard London fuel boat operators state that they like to keep the space for their regular customers who who use the full range of services available from the coal boat.

[Alan de Enfield]

Not having one - what actually happens when a pump out is full, and the toilet is used ?

 

Does it just not flush, does the bowl overflow, is there a 'blow-back' ?

Edited October 15, 2014 by Alan de Enfield

[junior]

 

Unless they have a proper base I imagine that like the more switched on self pumpout users that they are away of a few manhole covers conveniently close to the cut.

 

.............Dave

I'm not sure of the legalities of that, but I can imagine it being hard to do that in London.

[Alan de Enfield]

 

Unless they have a proper base I imagine that like the more switched on self pumpout users that they are away of a few manhole covers conveniently close to the cut.

 

.............Dave

 

If they are licensed waste carriers (which I assume they will need to be) then they will need to dispose of the waste 'legally' and get a receipt to prove they have done so - I would think that the suggestion of a tanker lorry coming and pumping out the pump-out is the most realistic method.

[Thorfast]

So all the 'residential' boaters in London (who presumably do not pay Local Authority rates, but need some of the services) may begin to find it is not always a cheap and easy way of living.

Convert a widebeam into a pumpout tanker and use that....charging a realistic commercial price - £50, £60 or £100 a pumpout ?

[junior]

So all the 'residential' boaters in London (who presumably do not pay Local Authority rates, but need some of the services) may begin to find it is not always a cheap and easy way of living.

Convert a widebeam into a pumpout tanker and use that....charging a realistic commercial price - £50, £60 or £100 a pumpout ?

Actually I think most residential boaters in London DO pay local authority rates. Certainly all the vacancy details for the moorings state that 'Council Tax is due to the local authority' or words to that effect. I doubt CRT police this, but I bet the local councils do!

[RLWP]

Actually I think most residential boaters in London DO pay local authority rates. Certainly all the vacancy details for the moorings state that 'Council Tax is due to the local authority' or words to that effect. I doubt CRT police this, but I bet the local councils do!

How?

 

Richard

[Thorfast]

Actually I think most residential boaters in London DO pay local authority rates. Certainly all the vacancy details for the moorings state that 'Council Tax is due to the local authority' or words to that effect. I doubt CRT police this, but I bet the local councils do!

 

But aren't residential boaters in the minority when it comes to premanent liveaboard boaters in London?....that's why I wrote 'residential' not residential