On 21/08/2010 23:20, Brian on Harnser wrote: > Adrian Stott formulated on Saturday : >> Does that help? >> > I doubt it as he wants to know how long to run the engine so I think > its a good bet he doesn't own a generator and smart charger at hand. > I had a guy this evening (Saturday), hands on hips, complete with well trimmed 'tache, white 'boating trousers', all the 'proper' cruising gear .. lol .. the absolute lot, knocking on my roof and demanding to know if I was going to stop my genny. To be honest I was more interested in finishing my supper than having an argument so I said 'when the batteries are charged' as I glanced down at the watch I wasn't wearing.
Having a slight twinge of conscience, I then asked if he had the time on him and he told me that it was 8.00pm (it wasn't, quite) so I then said 'Ah, OK, I'll stop it now' - but this was said to his back as he had stalked off in an obvious 'huff' :-( I'm well aware that there is a general antipathy towards people who have petrol gennies running on their stern (though I personally find the 'drumming' of inboard engines far more annoying), I fully appreciate that portables can be noisy, especially of a quiet evening, and because of that I have a permanent alarm set up on my phone to remind me to stop it by 8pm - which I will almost invariably do, unless there is a *very* good, and *very* exceptional, reason why I might need to keep it running longer; I think that this has only happened twice in 14 months (and one of those was on an otherwise deserted mooring). I also try to make sure that I am as far away from any other boats as possible, and also down-wind if that can be done. Why this guy chose to moor almost immediately behind me, the 48hour moorings at Irthlingborough must be a good 100+metres long, I've really no idea - and my genny was plain to see as it was sitting on the stern when he came in (I'm attempting to build a soundproofing 'box', in order to try reduce the noise nuisance but without causing it to overheat). I would add that there was half a gale of wind, blowing down the moorings towards me, at the time. I guess what I'm trying to say is that (most!) folk using portable gennies are not running them to deliberately annoy other people, and that there *are* things which you can do yourselves to mitigate the noise nuisance - one of them being by giving them the space that the majority of responsible owners try to leave between boats. A small chunk of politeness (if you really do need to watch 'East Enders', and the noise is causing you a problem, then a pleasant request for me to shut down will usually bring forth the silence you desire), together with an accurate watch if you are going to take on the role of official timekeeper, will also help quite a lot! As an aside, has anybody managed to build a decent soundproofing box without needing to install an extra cooling fan? Trevor nb 'Wyrd' Irthlingborough, on the River Nene. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
