Poll - Would you ...?

[zenataomm]

Realising that we have the odd (?) contributor who understands only what they think you said and not what you actually said. And then resorts to personal insults......

 

I've decided to separate the conversation about a service for keeping an eye on your boat when you've had to leave it somewhere unattended.

It needed moving anyway as it emerged from a different thread concerning a sunken boat.

 

I'm enclosing a poll to garner objective views.

 

This is the scenario .......

 

You have had to leave your boat unattended away from your home mooring, maybe on public moorings, a pub mooring or between bridges X and Y of The Trent & Misery.

The reasons you've done this could be various.....

 

* You or your partner's health.

* Mechanical breakdown and you have to wait for a part.

* Emergency at home has meant you had to rush back.

* Your route shortly takes you onto a river in flood and you've run out of holiday.

 

Whatever; you've left your pride and joy locked up but unattended, perhaps it's been raining for days non stop, perhaps the bank was soft and muddy when you hammered in your pins.

You are understandably concerned about how it is.

Assuming you don't know anyone in that area to call upon, would you ........

 

Use a Service as outlined in the poll above?

 

I tried to get this post above the poll, but they reversed.

Edited January 26, 2015 by zenataomm

[Emerald Fox]

I think 10 or 20 Pounds would be better, but 40 is not bad for that kind of service - mechanics charge 35 Pounds/hour.

 

But... does this kind of service exist already? If not, why not? - has no-one thought of this before?

[Dar Kuma]

Some people I've met over the last couple of years I wouldn't trust them with a barge pole let alone keep an eye on my boat.

Edited January 26, 2015 by Dar Kuma

[b0atman]

Why not put boat in a marina on a temporary basis £10 usually ?

[Dar Kuma]

cause it could be broken down and be 5/10/15 miles from the nearest marina....

[Galeomma]

If the person stayed on the boat for an hour or so and made it look inhabited - yes

[Arthur Marshall]

The fee would only really cover petrol if you had to go any distance. Would be simpler I suppose to say on here what had happened and ask if anyone could go and have a look - you could PM all the details so wouldn't have to advertise the boat was empty. Most of us are fairly helpful people...

[Machpoint005]

If I was able to help another boater in the way suggested, I'd expect the following process or something like it:

 

(1) An open request on this forum for anyone on a certain canal to look over an unspecified boat.

(2) I'd reply by PM in order to say yes, I'll be in the area.

(3) Private exchange of phone numbers

(4) I'd then go and look as requested.

 

Personally, I wouldn't want any payment -- I'd just expect somebody to do the same for me at some stage in the future, if necessary. Security is the key here -- no need to advertise boat ID or location in public.

[David Mack]

Are you proposing a one off visit and report or a series of regular visits over a period of time? £40 for a single visit sounds a bit steep to me, but it wouldn't pay for many visits.

 

If this is to be a commercial service you would have to have clear rules about what is and isn't covered. There is another thread running on here about a boat which sank in a matter of minutes after being neglected for some time, but not apparently looking to be in any danger beforehand. How would you protect yourself against that sort of scenario? As a minimum you would need some insurance cover, and for that the insurers would need to be able to quantify the risk. Not sure how they would do that.

[Pete & Helen]

Id rather pay to have someone tow mine to a place of safety where it could be monitored 24/7 rather than leave it abandoned on the cut. Someone may report back that it was ok but its a bit like an MOT its only valid at that point in time

[magpie patrick]

Lutine Bell is currently in the marina at Scholar Green for precisely the reasons identified - gearbox failure and alternator failure mean abandoning the trip at the end of September. I am paying about £55 a week to moor her here, which would be prohibitive if I was already paying for a mooring elsewhere, but I'm not.

 

I could have taken her back to High Lane to the EOG mooring I had, but that mooring belongs to (and is supervised by) an 87 year old gentlemen - fit as he is he wouldn't have been able to do much more than ring me if there is a problem. Moored here I had warning that the automatic bilge pump had failed and authorised the boatyard to fix it.

 

However, had the gearbox just not been up to limping the last few miles I'd have ended up with the boat on the visitor moorings at Congleton.

 

When the boat was on the EOG moorings I paid one of my subconsultants £10 an hour plus expenses to boat sit for the BSC - she complained that it was too much (I paid her from the time she left home to the time she got back - about £40) but as I pointed out I would have had a £90 train fare plus 2 days off work to cover it.

 

So yes, I probably would pay someone to keep an eye on my boat.

[canals are us?]

I ticked no to both options as if someone asked me to check on their boat In say a 10 mile radius of where I live I would do it for free.

 

 

James

[peterboat]

If I was able to help another boater in the way suggested, I'd expect the following process or something like it:

 

(1) An open request on this forum for anyone on a certain canal to look over an unspecified boat.

(2) I'd reply by PM in order to say yes, I'll be in the area.

(3) Private exchange of phone numbers

(4) I'd then go and look as requested.

 

Personally, I wouldn't want any payment -- I'd just expect somebody to do the same for me at some stage in the future, if necessary. Security is the key here -- no need to advertise boat ID or location in public.

I am with you Ian I have looked over a number of boats in the past and would never want paying

 

Peter

[Loafer]

I would but don't have a car!

[DHutch]

I voted no for both, as only twice had call to visit the boat at a time I would rather not, and both times it would have needed more than a photo taking and more than I would be prepared to delegate. And for the return, quite simply, I have less time than almost anything else.

 

That said, I think there is scope for such a service, and if someone was really up the spout, I would always do what I could to help.

 

 

Daniel

[Emerald Fox]

...slightly disappointed but not surprised by lack of enthusiasm for such a clever idea. Asking people on this forum to (once in a while) check on your boat is really not the same as someone who's buzzing round all the time who is happy to take your messages and requests.

 

I suppose I sometimes live in my own fantasy world - but it is a nice place

 

(of course I understand that people don't want 'nosey parkers' examining their boats, but the idea was that it'd be a simple check - 'Yes, looks untampered with and still floating' - that sort of thing.)

 

...back to the Fox's set, then.

Edited January 26, 2015 by Emerald Fox

[luctor et emergo]

...slightly disappointed but not surprised by lack of enthusiasm for such a clever idea. Asking people on this forum to (once in a while) check on your boat is really not the same as someone who's buzzing round all the time who is happy to take your messages and requests.

 

I suppose I sometimes live in my own fantasy world - but it is a nice place

 

(of course I understand that people don't want 'nosey parkers' examining their boats, but the idea was that it'd be a simple check - 'Yes, looks untampered with and still floating' - that sort of thing.)

 

...back to the Fox's set, then.

 

but how would you cover the cost of the plane ticket?

[Tom Richmond]

Yes, but what about when there's a problem?

 

Mooring pins pulled out, sure, the person could deal with that. And open window in heavy rain, or a plant pot blown over, these could be fixed. But what about finding the boat half submerged, or having been broken in to? Or what about if the boat is no longer there? Is this person then required to rectify? Doubtless any boater would do their best in any situation, but how far is your £40 supposed to take you?

[Wanted]

I would sooner buy £40 worth of food and beer and have a BBQ for my near neighbours. If we all did that then we'd all know each other and look after boats as friends.

[luctor et emergo]

These people trying to make money out of something that boaters have been doing for free for generations, is rather like some boaters wondering why they had to pay for me emptying their toilet tanks.

 

Not worth bothering with.

 

yeah.. I know.. their. there... they're...

Edited January 26, 2015 by luctor et emergo

[Ange]

I'm confident that we've made enough friends and done enough favours to find someone to help us out without expecting payment. Just as I hope we've got a lot of friends out there who wouldn't hesitate to call on us if they knew we were in the area.

 

I've called it a boatie favour pool before when we've refused petrol money

Edited January 26, 2015 by Ange

[Paul C]

Its a good idea but I suspect its a solution looking for a problem. If you can't get to the boat at least semi-regularly to check on it, wouldn't it be on a home mooring somewhere and there be others moored there who'd walk past it regularly etc? Or are we talking about non-liveaboard CCers?

[magpie patrick]

Its a good idea but I suspect its a solution looking for a problem. If you can't get to the boat at least semi-regularly to check on it, wouldn't it be on a home mooring somewhere and there be others moored there who'd walk past it regularly etc? Or are we talking about non-liveaboard CCers?

It's a problem that only occasionally arises, and one that has led me to have Lutine Bell at Scholar Green since last October - in effect I'm paying £55 a week to have her looked after. However I can think of bits of the canal system where I may have had to limp a lot further than the 4 miles from Congleton when trouble

 

I'm a non-liveaboard trying to become a liveaboard, but the boat is at the wrong end of the country. I also intend to cruise each summer so the situation may arise again having to leave the boat because I must get back to work and it isn't on it's home mooring. It isn't the planned leaving it that's the problem, it's the unplanned stoppage due to breakdown or canal closure or river flood. I've one eye on that given I will be using the Thames to get on and off the K and A most years.

[Machpoint005]

 

I'm a non-liveaboard trying to become a liveaboard, but the boat is at the wrong end of the country. I also intend to cruise each summer so the situation may arise again having to leave the boat because I must get back to work and it isn't on it's home mooring. It isn't the planned leaving it that's the problem, it's the unplanned stoppage due to breakdown or canal closure or river flood. I've one eye on that given I will be using the Thames to get on and off the K and A most years.

 

Point of order: the boat is fine, but you are at the wrong end of the country!

[Jay4424]

been watching this and the other thread, umming and arring over for or against.

 

 

I'm afraid, I've decided on NO for both questions as:

 

A ) I have friends up and down the waterways and up and down the country not on the water ways who would/have helped when I've been in trouble,

B ) I would help anyone who asked nicely if I was in the area/able within reason to reach the area, help out to the best of my abilities with out asking a fee, but expecting the mutual respect and help should I ever require it in return.

 

 

to date I've required help as much as I've given it (stupid shopping trolleys), but luckerly have "just been in the right place at the right time" to help out other boaters... with the exception of bolinders,, I have travel 2 hours for them!!

 

 

Jay