Recent content by Seven Spades

I don't understand Langston harbour. Why is it more expensive than Chichester and so regulated. You are not allowed to anchor without permission they say it is because of ship movements but I suspect it is so that you have to pay the extortionate fees. I have so far refused to visit the place on...

If you enter the EU from a non-Eu destination you have to clear in no matter what your passport is. My wife has an Irish passport and that was explained to us when I tried to check out of Roscoff and they would not check me out without my fife also being in attendance with her passport.

I paid over £50 for a buoy in the Beaulieu a week ago :( They are charging £3.50 /m scandalous.

Ok honestly apart from the obvious depth of keel problem. I can tell you that whilst marinas have fewer berths for large boats the demand is lower. the result is that we usually are able to get in when smaller boats are being turned away. There are exceptions, we have never been able to pick up...

I have 2 X MMPT controllers. One is connected to 3 X 60W panels in series and the other 2 X 100W in series. The 3 X 60W are mounted on the deck and the 2 X 100W on the sprayhood. They are no in optimal position because it is almost impossible to avoid some shading from the mast or boom. However...

We installed 600aH at 24V Victron batteries and our experience reflects the comments of others. We only have 380W of solar and when we took the boat to the med we ran the generator for only one hour the whole season. However the cost to us was considerable. We had to replace our alternator and...

Umm, I woudl do some reading if I were you. I would contend that the Ultra is the best anchor you can buy, I haven't seen a single bad report of this anchor and every test I have seen has put it t or near the top.

I can't agree with that. For example the Ultra Anchor is only available in Stainless and I woudl love one for two reasons. Firstly I think it is the best anchor on the market for holding and setting and secondly because it will come us clean and I won't need to hose off glutenous mud and have to...

Hang on if you own a property and give it away and continue to live in it then, they say it is a gift with reservation because you have not really parted with it. My understanding is that with a house if you pay a full market rent then it is not seen as a gift with reservation. But with a boat...

Fixed

I always use clove hitches but with a hitch. Without a hitch the work there way undone so that the fenders will drop.

With a pontoon on one side and a boat on the other you are going into a box mooring. Just put fenders on both sides. If you have to lie alonside the other boat that's ok. There is nothing to go wrong really.

The problem is that in reality we bought the right to use the charts forever. It is only the viewer app that has changed. How long will it be before your charts on your Raymarine & B&G etc only work for a year?

I still carry (every day) the pen knife my father bought me when I was 11. I have carried it almost every day since, it is small, slim, made in Sheffield it has a bone handle and carbon steel blades. It is now over 50 years old. Interestingly I have carried it everywhere throught many airports...

I am sorry to say that the rules on knives is applied very strictly. It is legal to buy a locking knife and to have it at home but not n public. But if you carry it from the shop to hime you are ok but you are not ok if you go from the shop to a resturant and then home. You can be prosecuted of...