Nearly there

[Sammo]

I seem to have been working on the boat forever ….but….Yippee!!

Last Wednesday saw me out of Seaborne on the Severn just as the flood waters started lapping at my bottom bits and soon with the noise of a powerful diesel engine in my ears she rose gently up on the trailer and weaving her way out of the boatyard set a course south, effortlessly making a steady 56mph down the M5 heading for the first waypoint at the junction of the M4…The plan then was to go due east and make for Reading …arriving around opening time.
Although I had got a weather forecast the night before it turned out to be a lot worse than any of us could have imagined and one time we lost sight of her completely in the wind and spray, as she passed through a squall. thrown up by an Intercity bus……
Midday saw us out of the rough stuff on the motorway and entering the outskirts of Reading we just had to negotiate the race before we could enjoy the relative calm of the ring road…..
Running late I had to leave as I had other commitments to attend to and so I left the arrival and docking at Better Boats to the professionals…er, and legged it to the “Big brunch breakfast bar”

Allowing a respectable length of time for all the work to be done, I duly arrived to see my pride and joy rafted up next to the crane…none the worse for her 100 mile trip …

Now I have a busy week ahead getting the licence and all sorts of boaty stuff that needs doing….antifouling , bunkering and provisions,

So here we are …just 25 foot away …I can smell the seaweed (or is it the chickens)…
I love it here …the natives are friendly and the river is nice and quiet…not like the Severn with all it’s moods…..

First job this weekend saw me fitting essential navigational aids which I have been informed are absolutely essential for cruising the Thames……the windscreen wipers.


.....

 

[Brayman]

Well it will be good to welcome you onto the river after all we've heard about you.

 

[byron]

Let us hope and pray that when you do finally bring your boat up to the mooring you bring good weather with you. I can't remember when the next Oxford Ditch do is here but it isn't that long away, I hope you are booked in for it.
You can virtually walk across the river and get your licence while you wait.

 

[Sammo]

Thanks for the welcome …it`s good to be here on the Thames at last ….as for the weather perhaps that’s on the turn. This morning the sun is shinning…
It was pretty bad around Worcester when I left, with the river just about to spill over into the boatyard and the fast flow in the river bringing down all sorts of debris….whole trees are the worst, also pallets and big gas bottles with the occasional garden shed…..still the locals seem to take it all in their stride.
As you can see the boat is still a bit sparse and although it is tempting to launch her now I know if I do, a lot of the work will never get done….
Hopefully another couple of weeks should see her up and running.



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[ms1]

what a nice looking boat

 

[apollo]

Oh I wouldnt worry, give it a couple more days and it will be afloat anyway!

 

[Captain Coochie]

OOoooo Welcome to the Thames /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Sammo]

Had a full day working on her yesterday….met the young lad who works in the yard …very helpful and friendly ..he sorted out my electric supply gave me a sealed for life 13 amp plug for my lead…then later went to a lot of trouble to get me a jubilee clip so I could fit my bilge pump….. later he did a great job jet washing the bottom of a boat that came out …covering me in crud…but , hey..never mind he did it with a smile, so I said nothing and later the rain (monsoon?) washed me clean again….

As it’s a working boatyard there’s people all over the place doing all sorts of stuff….
About mid morning an arctic boat transport backed into the yard loaded with a powerboat, stopping just under my bows…. then with a roar the crane sprung into life and before you knew it they had lifted the 30 footer right over the top of me and dropped her into the water…..bit unnerving.

Later answering some pretty irate banging on my hull I was confronted by a chap from the outboard centre who had found his steps at the stern of my boat, so preceded to give me a full and frank bollocking for removing them from the boat he was working on ….he seemed to be enjoying himself so much I hadn’t the heart to tell him that the slingers had used his steps and I was in fact climbing on board with a ladder over on the other side….

The staff are very friendly …but the gates are locked at 6 pm so there is no chance of staying on the boat while I work on her …. Of course I went to leave about 6-30 and found the gates padlocked with me on the wrong side ….so I had to go and get someone to let me out…so…...another bollocking…



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[Steve Clayton]

[ QUOTE ]
The staff are very friendly

[/ QUOTE ]
You're in the yard where the ex-owner was, ahem, found to be very friendly with young children. Assume he is still in prison?

 

[apollo]

Nope, thats not THAT boatyard, thats further up above Caversham lock.

I wont name it, prefer to get my facts right!

 

[byron]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
The staff are very friendly

[/ QUOTE ]
You're in the yard where the ex-owner was, ahem, found to be very friendly with young children. Assume he is still in prison?

[/ QUOTE ]
No! That was a hire boat yard and the child was his grand daughter but before that he had interfered with his daughters when they were little. He got 11 years.

 

[Sammo]

Well I should be back down there tomorrow ….I`ll ask him..

Couldn’t make it today as I had to see the specialist about my eyes …he told me I have catamarans and need an operation… so I`m now on the list.

Anyone passing or in the area tomorrow I have the stuff on board to make coffee ....

 

[Sammo]

Had a good day yesterday wiring nav and saloon lights……Ha..so had a day on “light duties”…….Met a nice couple who have had their narrowboat in the yard for the last 3 weeks….we chatted as we watched them launch his boat……..his missus came from Malta originally and they have a three year old and a mongrel dog, he works in Reading…er him, not the dog……..I asked about his mooring and although he was a bit vague it was quite clear that his preference was for the Thames over the canals…….I asked him if he’d seen Byron’s table but unfortunately he hadn’t……Seems that last year he had moored at Tescos on the flood and had been stuck there for two months when the level dropped….He didn`t rate the mooring at all as the place seemed to attract some right seedy charactors who hung around in the bushes, whatever that means…..

Later they used the crane to put an engine into a boat next to me and with the jib across my sundeck I had to open my curtains and clear away some clutter so the crane driver could see through across my saloon for directions …..

I need to sort out my licence….as I intend to take the boat back out at the end of the season to fit a bow thruster I will probably only have it in for about 3 months this year…… but looking at the licensing details it seems that I can only do it for a full year…..this has got to be wrong…….Now I’m not one to complain but it’s a bit much to make someone pay a twelve month fee for just three months……How can they justify that….and who do I see to sort it….


...

 

[boatone]

[ QUOTE ]
I need to sort out my licence….as I intend to take the boat back out at the end of the season to fit a bow thruster I will probably only have it in for about 3 months this year…… but looking at the licensing details it seems that I can only do it for a full year…..this has got to be wrong…….Now I’m not one to complain but it’s a bit much to make someone pay a twelve month fee for just three months……How can they justify that….and who do I see to sort it….

[/ QUOTE ]

The only way you can save on this years licence is by not registering until 1st September when you will be able to buy a licence up to 31st December for 50% of the full year fee......but that means you wouldnt be able to use the boat in August.

As you have come to the Thames from elswhere there may be a way you could swing a visitors licence for 30 days which would get you through August but I doubt it.
You need to apply to the EA at Reading.

 

[Sammo]

I contacted the environment agency at Reading and was told that even though it was now July I had to licence the boat from 1st January this year…I was dumbfounded …but the chap on the phone was adamant …he seemed to think this was perfectly acceptable practice …….even when I explained that If I bought a house or a car in July I wouldn`t be expected to pay rates or car tax from 1st January…..crafty bleeders won`t let you have a visitor licence for a couple of months either as the rules say if you have had a visitors licence you CAN`T follow it with 50% off licence that starts in Sept….I have to pay the full year..
It gets worse

On the application form they say they are going to forward your details to third parties as they see fit…there is no boxes to tick to say they cant….

I have always been against all this human rights legislation rubbish …but now I`m beginning to wonder if we need protecting from these sorts of organisations
It gets worser

Having bit the bullet, filled in my licence application and filled out my cheque….I discovered my boat safety certificate has lapsed ( June 6th)

Grrrrrrr.

 

[BrendanS]

Do you have a link to the form, or can you scan and copy it here. No company or organisation can use your details to forward to others without consent, so I'd like to see it before I comment further.

 

[Sammo]

Here it is Brendan.....

Application forms and conditions..pdf file

Bottom of page 7

 

[BrendanS]

It's within the law. They are not passing on information to third parties, other than to perform functions that are within their remit.

If you think they are abusing this, you can report them, but the terms of what they state are reasonable in law. At least to my understanding of it. I'm not a lawyer, but their interpretation has probably been passed by lawyers, and seems reasonable

 

[Sammo]

Fair comment ....meantime I think perhaps I will add a code to my name and/or address on the application and see if I start to receive junk mail.

....

 

[BrendanS]

Be very careful before you cast allegations, spammers these days are very sophisticated, and will use many multiple variations of your username to spam you, and even if they are whiter than white, if you've ever given out your information to anyone else and servers have been hacked, the same details can come back at you from innocent causes not of their issue.