Dan White

Just noticed this thread too. Thoughts are with you and your family Rich.

Cheers Jon! She's come a long way from a rolling chassis 18 month ago, but always more to do. No room for chip in the back but the side kitchen locker might come in handy as my future arbtruck! Which winch did you go for in the end Jon? I've a Husky up forward but thinking about fitting hydraulics in place of the aircon.

Roadtrip from Newcastle to Herefordshire; via N Yorks Moors, Dales and Peaks!

Plymouth! I've been based there most of my career & I used to live in the Barbican - I love the place. Family are all Cornish so Hereford is practically northern and I'll probably end up back south.

Fair one. Reminds me of one of the Netherlands Landrover Clubs whose nickname is the Dutch Mountain Rescue team! Hereford is hopefully only temporary, looking at moving back to Janner Cove this year!

Yep, definitely not the Lifeboats. I'm fine down sea or rolling, but put the nose in to a swell and pitch and Navs does his watch from the bridge wing! I know my limits and have seen first hand what you go out in and as such have a very deep respect for you chaps.

I'm really looking forward to some sort of call out volunteering once I'm fully out of the RN. I think its part of our nature for some to want to react to emergencies and assist those in need if we can. Also can be a massive buzz, particularly on a Ship or with a worked up team when everyone focuses on the job and it turns out successfully. We helped salvage a tug last year that stopped too quickly and its tow crashed into it and sank off Torbay. Two of our diesel pumps going for 6 hours and three lifeboats holding it up kept the tug (& its diesel) out of the oggin. I'd would love to get involved with either CG or MR, this Disaster Arborist Team sounds hoofing too. Depends where I end up, technically homeless when I leave my Ship in a few weeks! The 4x4 response network is also picking up around my folk's neck of the woods - particularly in the floods every spring.

Jeesh! What was the commercial vessel Rich? Was the tug in the TSS and the other chap crossing? What a clown!

Totally agree.

Fair one, but not this week thank you very much. Our sister ship drew that short straw this patrol. Spent more than enough time down on the continental shelf boarding the Spaniards and kicking the French out of the scillies this autumn just gone. Not pleasant in some of those leftover hurricanes! But the Thames estuary is still equally miserable tonightI

Close, River! Fishery Protection Squadron - who needs the excitement of Afghan when you've got the North Sea in January.

Evening again All, this time from a very windy anchorage off the Thames. Thanks for the advice. Its very interesting as a newcomer to listen to these discussions and try and glean as much as I can. Particularly when a similar question arises in another 'new groundy' thread. I'd like to think I'm pretty mechanically minded - I've kept my Landrover running sweet for 6 years with considerable effort but limited small petrol engine experience. But I'm also a bit of a magpie for shiny kit & new tech (caveat - as long as it's quality & fit for purpose) so I'm going to take the recommendations and look for a recent 560XPG. Googling Echo and Dolmar in Herefordshire does bring up one possible source so I wont rule them out yet. But the ability to easily get something fixed under warranty is a must. I'll take the advice of various other threads to deal with any auto tune problems if they arise! Thanks all - I'll keep you posted when I can get home and do some shopping.

Glad I'm not out west this week, had enough of that sort of weather in the run up to Christmas! This was racing home on the 22nd. http://web.stagram.com/p/615712852125026915_39895897

Thanks brushcutter, that's exactly the type of thinking I was after. Can anybody recommend a dealer in my neck of the woods?

Thanks guys, I was looking at the 560 to start with for that very reason. But based on the 'choose only one saw' type threads my thinking was for versatility with the payoff of a heavier saw? I did like someone's quote that its only the 18 year old wants to use an 880 all day!

Evening All, After trawling loads of threads here, I'm pretty set on a 372XP or 576XP (G - any duffer can be cold!) as my 'first' proper saw. Since doing my CS30/31 last summer I've realized how knackered my hand-me-down 1970's Husky is and how crap my selection of B&Q specials are! I'm doing the four week MOD leavers course at Kingswood this spring prior to looking for any description of tree work & climbing experience; so my decision is based on versatility/longevity and with a few different length bars I'm hoping I should have a saw capable of most jobs thrown at a groundie, forestry novice or trainee Arborist! Of course I'd love to pair it with a T540 in time but not yet! Is there anywhere in Herefordshire/Worcestershire/Shropshire that I could get my hands on some saws and talk to someone face to face who knows what they're talking about. There's only so far I can go by asking online! And in answer to the inevitable 'why not an MS 4##?', I'm open to all advice - just always had Husky's! Cheers! Dan

Awesome band! UK dates in April 14. And Sarah Blackwood is downright lovely.

Evening, Very definitely a member of this thread! <== That's Nessie, TD5 110 CSW. Currently draining my bank account as I convert her into a daily driveable camper.

!? Seen a few references to that, is it an affiliated charity?

Evening all, Snotty faced midshipman at 19, driven Frigates and Minehunters around the Gulf, Falklands & Somalia and now navigating a Patrol Ship back here. TX on the glorious 1st June next year, but staying RNR for a bit of security!

Hi Dude, Are you ever back down south? I'll stand you a few pints once you've finished the course and bend your ear about it. I'm booking on for the Spring. Good luck!

Thanks NFG, Hopefully I can get some of those skills across to Arb; good admin and looking after my kit comes second nature, although I'm not so sure about astro navigation?!

I'm toppers with enthusiasm, hopefully common sense too! Cheers for all the feedback, I'm now thinking that a good pair of boots, trousers and helmet are an obvious start. I'll then start saving for a decent ground saw, harness and basic climbing gear over the next 6-8 months.

Yes Please Coleman! Standby PM!