BLUEMOMENT

put up with ...

for years the boat's been on a marina pontoon with shore access to all usual facilities. However, for a variety of reasons I'm looking at shifting to a mooring on a pontoon but without shore access. So, hersel' will have to get in the dinghy and off we go.

Now, I think that if we can't afford to be goudged every year to the tune of £5k, and rising, then we'd better get a cheaper mooring or get rid of the boat (jings ... ah've said it) and if we keep the boat, better get used to our arses getting wet from time to time.

Any of youse suave geezers have the words to smooth the upcoming path? eg its only a short row to the boat (it is); we're at the head of the river so its very quite (mind, its added 3mls to the journey to France) etc etc

I'm assuming that most on here have spouses who aren't as keen as we are and have to be careful in these matters .... no? oh well ....

ParaHandy wrote: for years the boat's been on a marina pontoon with shore access to all usual facilities. However, for a variety of reasons I'm looking at shifting to a mooring on a pontoon but without shore access. So, hersel' will have to get in the dinghy and off we go.

Can you leave your dinghy on the pontoon when you're away? In which case, with a wee bit of juggling on departure and arrival, perhaps you could get something respectably big and comfy to ferry her out. I see ,for example, a solid looking Dell Quay dory plus 20hp outboard not going for a grand on eBay at this very moment.

Has yer recent experience in ma eBay bathtub bin influencing ye?

ubergeekian wrote:Can you leave ..... something respectably big and comfy to ferry her out.

The problem is that the dinghy might have 'gone' by the time we get back - even the strongest lock won't deter them. The distance is about 1c which we ought to be able to row an inflatable, lug it onboard, deflate it etc We can keep the dinghy in a reasonably safe place ashore.

A new dinghy has been purchased, not for this but the complaints about the old one were becoming pressing and the new job has a 'wave deflector' or so it says.

Your ideas do give some ideas and thanks.

claymore wrote:Has yer recent experience in ma eBay bathtub bin influencing ye?

Huv ye seen ma new avatart ... sums that idea up

Mrs FC was never keen on any of the dinghies I subjected her to, until the Walker Bay 8 with the inflatable tubes. Now she is as happy as Larry. We park it on the foredeck upside down, get it on board with a spinny halyard.
We are moving to a swinging mooring next season, Hurrah! I really don't like pontoons, even the rather quaint ancient wooden device we are on at the moment.

Sahona lives on an island pontoon. We have a fiberglass punt. It is visually undesirable although as safe as these rather unstable things can be. Nobody has coveted it since it was new about 20 years ago.
However, the Soup-Dragon will not go in anything but the rib - an XM Brig270, if she can possibly help it. It occasionally means I go out in the punt alone, come back in the rib.....etc. The rib lives on davits and has been one of the most appreciated things we have on this boat, definately a big plus for her.
The ability to take a biggish outboard is an advantage on those days when a normal rig doesn't make much headway, more brownie points.

I solved the "6 trips in a dinghy to ferry all the passengers & luggage aboard" problem by the simple expedient of going out to the boat on my own & then bringing the boat back to a convenient jetty or quayside for all the passengers to carry their own luggage aboard. It also tends to self-regulate the ladies to just bringing what they can carry, which is a useful side benefit.

No wet bums, no aching shoulders, nothing left behind to row back for & no dodgy passing heavy stuff over the guardrails while struggling to stand in the dinghy as the current sluices by.

claymore wrote:Has yer recent experience in ma eBay bathtub bin influencing ye?

She thinks yon thing wull fit the bill jist nicely. Huv youse a name fer it?

Arghiro wrote:I solved the "6 trips in a dinghy to ferry all the passengers & luggage aboard" problem by the simple expedient of going out to the boat on my own & then bringing the boat back to a convenient jetty or quayside for all the passengers to carry their own luggage aboard.

The nearest jetty is 6 miles away, in the right direction, but is the place we're trying to get away from.

the new place is actually 30min closer to home and no less than 25 sets of traffic lights are between the new and old place ....

ParaHandy wrote:no less than 25 sets of traffic lights are between the new and old place ....

I've been counting them over the last 12 years .. sounds terrible ...

Many thanks to all. it seems hersel is convinced so the birds are singing, the corks are popping and christmas has come early ...

ParaHandy wrote:

claymore wrote:Has yer recent experience in ma eBay bathtub bin influencing ye?

She thinks yon thing wull fit the bill jist nicely. Huv youse a name fer it?

Germaine.

claymore wrote:Germaine.

undoubtedly relevant but ...

Did you - or did you not ask for it's name?

Plastimo prs210

eBay has a few

ta .. ah saw yin, £12 the ad said but thon wis fer a set of plans. jings ....