It's enough to drive a man to drink!

[Andy G]

For the last couple of months I have been planning a big Working Bee Weekend for the old boat. I have lined up three mates ,bought the sandpaper paint, new bilge pumps etc, all is ready. Today is the day.

I woke up this morning & it is absolutely pouring with rain, the wind is blowing the smaller dogs off the dock, not to mention thunder & lighting.

Not only won't much work be done, but to get my labourers to volunteer for the weekend I have had to promise them unlimited beer, food & dancing girls etc, unconditionally! Being all 'right bastards' to a man, they will take great delight in this unexpected free boozy boys weekend, all without having to lift a paintbrush in compensation.

What a week! First Trump, then losing poor old Leonard Cohen yesterday, now this....the god's have it in for me I fear.

 

[BruceK]

At 10.43 Aust Eastern Summer Time in Sydney, its sunny as despite predictions of rain thunder wind pestilence and US election aftermath. Put down the beers, burgers and dancing girls and get to work!

 

[Lou_tribal]

What do you complain about? Here it is -3degreC, windy and my boat is on the hard, freezing into the wind. Well I am not complaining either as I need no excuse to abuse of beer, food and dancing girl. Ok ok my admiral, no dancing girl!

 

[RT Firefly]

 

[healhustler]

Well, at least you've got the lots of Vet's Day war movies and the Godzilla Marathon on cable this today.

 

[Al]

What a week! First Trump, then losing poor old Leonard Cohen yesterday, now this....the god's have it in for me I fear.

Two out of three ain't bad! Trump-16

 

[Peter B]

Here is Brisbane we had a fine start to the day, got up to 35ºC by midday, then gloomied all over, went dark as the insides of one of Andy's dogs, (after retrieved from the water of course), and now vicious thunderstorm and rain. 31.5mm in about 30 mins. That'll save watering the lawns and garden for a bit. Good job I was going down to the boat tomorrow, eh Andy..?

Hey, that Tassie cricket wicket must be a real douzy. Aussie were all out for 85 odd, now Sth Africa are 4 for 96.. Unbelievable...but then again so everyone thought re the Trump..?

 

[BruceK]

According to the (modified) Beaufort scale:
Wind blowing small dogs off dock - Force 6
Wind blowing large dogs off chain - Force 8
Wind blowing oysters off rocks - Force 10
At Riverview(no,there isn`t), in northern Sydney, fine, no rain, humid like thunderstorms coming, but none so far. Andy,no excuses, the sanding(? windows)should be progressing and new pumps pumping. Then it`s time for a beer!

 

[Peter B]

According to the (modified) Beaufort scale:
Wind blowing small dogs off dock - Force 6
Wind blowing large dogs off chain - Force 8
Wind blowing oysters off rocks - Force 10
At Riverview(no,there isn`t), in northern Sydney, fine, no rain, humid like thunderstorms coming, but none so far. Andy,no excuses, the sanding(? windows)should be progressing and new pumps pumping. Then it`s time for a beer!

Maybe things are very different up at Pittwater, where I think his boat is berthed or moored. I know often they report massive storms in areas quite close to us, and where we are we get nothing.

 

[Pgitug]

We love our Donald.

 

[Andy G]

At 10.43 Aust Eastern Summer Time in Sydney, its sunny as despite predictions of rain thunder wind pestilence and US election aftermath. Put down the beers, burgers and dancing girls and get to work!

You were right Bruce, we put in a big day yesterday, moderate beer consumption only. Actually more suntan cream than beer. The gods relented.

PS don't know what happened to the dancing girls though. The old peoples home must have double booked us.

 

[RT Firefly]

 

[markpierce]

...

What a week! First Trump, then losing poor old Leonard Cohen yesterday, now this....the god's have it in for me I fear.

A political statement by a TF official!! Well, OK. But why are Australians that concerned with American politics? Not like this has anything to do with trawler stuff, our common joy.

 

[BruceK]

But why are Australians that concerned with American politics?....

You asked, so here`s one. USA imposes a 45% tariff on Chinese imports. China is our biggest coal & iron ore export market,(it saved us from the GFC which had almost zero effect here). China goes into manufacturing/general recession, demand for our coal and iron ore plummets, our mining exports plummet, and so on.
Right or wrong? Not sure, but it`s certainly a valid concern.

 

[markpierce]

You asked, so here`s one. USA imposes a 45% tariff on Chinese imports. China is our biggest coal & iron ore export market,(it saved us from the GFC which had almost zero effect here). China goes into manufacturing/general recession, demand for our coal and iron ore plummets, our mining exports plummet, and so on.
Right or wrong? Not sure, but it`s certainly a valid concern.

Strange, and I do not believe your figure on Chinese exports to the USA. The import duty of my Chinese-built boat was something like 3.5%. Further, the USA exports coal to China. Official US policy is to eschew coal use in the USA.

 

[markpierce]

In a perfect world, shouldn't tariffs monetize the relative pollution production? More pollution; the higher the tariff.

 

[FlyWright]

A political statement by a TF official!! Well, OK.

How so? Andy's not on the 'payroll'. We tried to put him under contract, but could not afford his high pay demands. But that's OK...one more donut available for the rest of us in the TF company breakroom.

 

[BruceK]

Strange, and I do not believe your figure on Chinese exports to the USA. The import duty of my Chinese-built boat was something like 3.5%. Further, the USA exports coal to China. Official US policy is to eschew coal use in the USA.

Your expression is unfortunate, keep up with current proposals and "strange" should evaporate.

 

[Donsan]

You asked, so here`s one. USA imposes a 45% tariff on Chinese imports.

Is this a Trump proposal? Certainly, it isn't current policy. The US consumer could not afford the increase in the price of goods if this occurred and inflation would go through the roof.

 

[bilge53]

Back to the OP; why is an excuse needed to drink beer?

 

[ufish2]

Two out of three ain't bad! Trump-16

There you go Al!

 

[sunchaser]

Possibly, just possibly, Aussies should focus internally on economic issues. Of course the politicians will do all possible to pin the tail on a different beast, this time Trump. As Pogo said, "I have seen the enemy and he is us!"

 

[Codger2]

Of course the politicians will do all possible to pin the tail on a different beast, this time Trump.

Couldn't agree more!

 

[CPseudonym]

Possibly, just possibly, Aussies should focus internally on economic issues. Of course the politicians will do all possible to pin the tail on a different beast, this time Trump. As Pogo said, "I have seen the enemy and he is us!"

Identity politics in a nutshell

 

[Andy G]

Well, I'll leave the above comments for other threads, suffice to say the weekend panned out well despite the disappointment of the dancing girls no show & burning out my dock neighbour's orbital sander. (well not so bad for him as he gets a new sander out of it)

So all in all, the weather gods were kind, & I played my favourite Leonard Cohen songs to the sound of the clanking of the occasional beers with a bunch of good mates, and our talk about the craziness of world events ( of course I am referring to those wacky New Zealanders & their rugby team)

Cheers

Andy

 

[78puget-trawler]

Not gonna comment on this political stuff..uh uh, not me...not me brother!:lol:

 

[Peter B]

Well, I'll leave the above comments for other threads, suffice to say the weekend panned out well despite the disappointment of the dancing girls no show & burning out my dock neighbour's orbital sander. (well not so bad for him as he gets a new sander out of it)

So all in all, the weather gods were kind, & I played my favourite Leonard Cohen songs to the sound of the clanking of the occasional beers with a bunch of good mates, and our talk about the craziness of world events ( of course I am referring to those wacky New Zealanders & their rugby team)

Cheers

Andy

You're right Andy. I'm sure you never intended to stir up a bit of a Trumpets nest with your innocent commentary about a weird weekend. Mark, what were you thinking..? As to the All Blacks, they blot their unbroken win record copybook (19 tests) losing to Ireland, who have never beaten them before - ever - during what was basically a publicity stunt to advertise Rugby Union in the US, by playing it in Chicago, then thrash Italy by a cricket score, and interestingly meet Ireland again soon in Ireland. That game WILL be interesting..!

For mine, my weekend was not so much bizarre as immensely satisfying.

I bit the bullet this weekend, closed off the thru-hulls, blanked off the inlet and outlets pipes to my holding tank and TMC electric toilet on the boat, removed said toilet, and installed a mobile home type portable toilet. Problem solved. Never again will I have to grovel and curse trying to sort out toilet issues..!

Nothing has caused me more grief, than trying to keep the whole thing, holding tank included functioning, which new legislation in about 2004 forced upon us all. My boat is 1975 vintage..! These things were unheard of back then, but I tried..! Not helped, of course, by the paucity of land based pump-out facilities. How dumb of the politicians to mandate no overboard pump-out, and the need for holding tanks, without considering the issues that would cause making legislation so retrospective, but also not mandating at the same time, that marinas had to provide the pump-out facilities - which most have not therefore, ours included.

My frustration has been added to by pump-out motors not self-priming like they were supposed to, and seizing and corroding, and blockages developing, all aggravated by the horribly confined spaces one is forced to worn into to try and fix these faults. The last straw was, having replaced both toilet and holding tank macerator pumps, there was still a blockage somewhere I cannot find, so still nothing worked..! and I refuse to strip out and replace all the plumbing. Because even if I did, I would still be forced to operate the system illegally - what a bizarre situation - I was over it..! If a subsequent owner ever wants to revisit the issue, the bits are all still in place.

For me to legally pump out my holding tank, there being no pump-out at our marina, it would take me 4 hours travel to get far enough away from land to do it. Net outcome, nearly everyone is having to be illegal, and the authorities, recognising the bright sparks in Govt created an unenforcable law, have been turning a blind eye. Howevever that won't go in forever.

So, now nice new and cheap as chips portable, which I can fill from the reserve fresh water tank, and dispose of waste legally into the domestic sewerage back at the marina. NOICE..!

PS. Peggie, if you ever see this, I'm sorry, I tried, I really did. Fortunately, as it's not on a toilet ID'd thread, she probably won't, unless someone dobs me in...

 

[Andy G]

Y

For me to legally pump out my holding tank, there being no pump-out at our marina, it would take me 4 hours travel to get far enough away from land to do it. Net outcome, nearly everyone is having to be illegal, and the authorities, recognising the bright sparks in Govt created an unenforcable law, have been turning a blind eye. Howevever that won't go in forever.

Peter,

Couldn't agree more. Down here in Pittwater we have I would think close to 1,000-1,500 boats moored or in berths.As far as I know we have two operational pump out facilities in the whole waterway. Our club has one & my berth is about 100' from it. very, very rarely do I see it being used, and I have been at the club for about 20 years now.

The powers to be are aware of this & we operate on the same broad regulatory system as you do I think. Talk about stupid law makers. They really seem to believe that if you legislate that solves the issue, don't bother about working out the logistics of implementing the legislation.

What we need is a grass roots uprising to sort out this s..... Opps, there I go again.

 

[BruceK]

With so few Pittwater pump-out facilities, where do the holding tank contents go now? . Don`t ask don`t tell?
There is one public pump-out at Brooklyn. Brooklyn Marina(one of five marinas in Sandbrook Inlet, appropriately aka "The Gut") has several pump-out connections on the marina for its houseboat berths. Impressive, Brooklyn only got sewerage the last few years. Not many people know this, the banjo music is louder than the pumps.

 

[Andy G]

Bruce, do you ever pop over to Dangar island, it's a hoot. Grab a bite to eat & cold beer at the bowling club(depending who the current chef is)and pay your $5 for an afternoon of barefoot bowling in a great setting.

The only problem with Dangar is anchoring and getting ashore. We normally anchor off the western side, putting out a lot of chain and carefully dodge the rocks and Oysters on the way in, in the RIB.