Tony1

She'll be joining the NBTA next. Bloody freeloading plesiosaurs.

If you cant find a volunteer to visit the boat with you, I think it would be a great idea to post a link to the boat sellers website, and let the members here take a look at the photos and the specifications. That way you'll get a wealth of advice about the things that might need looking at. If it's a private sale then post the details of the boat: The year it was built, the builders name, the engine make and model, and whatever photos and information that you do have of the boat at the moment. Also think about the budget range. If it's costing you ten grand, it will very likely be a project boat and will need really major work and a few thousand quid to fix it up. Even if it's costing you twenty grand, it will still probably need some work (and money). So in addition the sale fee, bear in mind that you'll need another 5k as a minimum to get it into full working order, and comfortable to live on. For anyone buying at less than 15 grand who can't afford a survey or an experienced person to check the boat over, I would always suggest the option of a glass fibre cruiser like the Viking 32cc. With GRP you dont have to worry about the hull being rusted to bits and needing a 10 grand overplating job. And if you are spending more than 30k and the boat is more that 20 years old, I would suggest getting a hull survey, unless there is a detailed record of the boat being blacked very 2/3 years. In fact, if its an older boat, some insurance companies insist on a hull survey before they will cover it. The bottom end of the boat market is an absolute minefield, and lots of people have had to pour thousands of pounds in, after buying a leaking rust bucket with worn out equipment.

I can quite believe that. I have a brother who was a career cop and he was one of the best people I've seen at tackling tense situations and de-escalating them (despite being basically a controlled nutter himself). I was just relaying some towpath hearsay and gossip from a few months ago, but it goes to show you cant take gossip too seriously.

Fair comment, and I'm not going to try and defend my post. I regret writing it in the way I did, and I think it was pretty tasteless now that I've read it back. The actual details were related here as best I can remember them from several months ago. And I'm not 100% on this bit, but if I recall correctly, the story was that the death was caused during the incident, but it wasn't a direct and deliberate attempt at murder. It was a violent attack that somehow got out of hand - perhaps the spotter fell and hit his head, for example. If the version I was told is true, then the CRT employee was just unlucky, in being the first person to come along and create stress to the mentally ill boater. If he hadn't, the guy would probably have assaulted a boater a few weeks later. But its worth reiterating that we don't know the details of the incident for sure. None of us have seen the court records or spoken to first hand witnesses, and any argument here is largely based on assumptions about the details.

That part is just a joke Steve. I've noticed that most boaters tend to have a look into my boat windows as they pass, and I often do the same thing as I pass other boats. It's such a common thing that its almost seems like a compulsion, or a compulsory action - that's why I joked about being legally obliged to gawp into other people's boats as you pass.

As I said a few times in the post, I'm simply relaying the version of the story that was given to me by a local boater in MK, who heard it from another boater further south where it actually happened. So it may be just bush telegraph, and I am not vouching for the accuracy of it in any way. I was told it was the spotter himself who was attacked, and the guy who told me said the man was generally disliked by the boaters who cruised in the area, and mostly because he took it upon himself to inform them of overstays. He was quite clear about that part of his account. But regardless of the CRT man's character, I'm absolutely not trying to excuse the attack in any way. The attacker was clearly a mental powder keg waiting to explode, and if the CRT guy hadn't been the victim, its very likely another boater would have been the victim instead. I was given a personal reminder of the high volatility and aggressiveness of some boaters myself, just last week, and its not an issue I normally take lightly.

If my post on that has caused offence then I apologise, and I admit it was probably too light in tone for the seriousness of the matter in question. I was trying to relay the story with the same tone that it was conveyed to me, and not put my own 'colour' on it. But I do I think the general attractiveness and tranquility of the waterways can lull one into a false sense of security. So if a confrontation develops, its worth bearing in mind that there are some highly unpredictable characters out there - and if I had reacted differently to that shouting boater last week, its possible that I might have become a victim of violence myself.

My boating friend in MK spoke about an incident somewhere to the south of here, involving the murder of a spotter by a boater. To be fair, his account was heard from someone else, so it may be just the old bush telegraph, but the story was that the spotter was rather more pro-active than I think the role calls for. Apparently he would inform the boaters in person when they were overstaying. His manner was reportedly quite unpleasant, and he was regularly involved in somewhat heated discussions - instead of simply recording the boat number and location, and then moving on. I understand that one of these exchanges escalated. The boater he was talking to had some very serious mental health issues, and he suddenly attacked the spotter, and ultimately it ended in the spotter being killed. Or at least, that is the report I heard. But as a liveaboard, you do sometimes have to be a bit cautious. There are many boaters knocking around who do seem to have some mental health issues. On my way up here, about a week ago, I passed a narrowboat with a wide open side hatch, and I gawped inside - as one is legally obliged to do in these situations. I couldnt really see anything of the interior, but a few seconds later I heard something being shouted from the boat. The only phrase I could make out was something about invading privacy. Realising I was dealing with someone very prone to aggression, I shouted that I was sorry. But the chap was not to be mollified. "You f***ng will be!" was his reply. Hopefully I'll have moved on northwards before the guy's cruising pattern brings him up to this area, but the point is that one does have to be a tad cautious in dealing with some of the boaters one meets. The canals do seem to be accumulating a population of folks who have various issues going on.

I think there might be a few fugitives spotted by CRT during the lock closures. I was stuck in Rugby for nearly 3 weeks when both my alternators broke one after the other (and hats off to RCR for sorting me out with new ones). During my prolonged stay, I noticed a GRP boat moored nearby. I noticed that every Tuesday morning it would disappear before I was up and about, but it always returned to the same spot around teatime. I realised later that Tuesday was the usual day for the CRT spotter to visit. I suspect the GRP guy cruised off somewhere for the day to avoid being spotted, whether to north or south. He would probably have travelled as far as he knew the spotter would walk that day, and he returned when he knew the spotter had completed his route. Because the spotters walk in the same direction every time, the GRP was able to permanently avoid them, and thus able to moor permanently in the same spot. CRT do what they can with the resources they have, but I am absolutely convinced there are a significant number of small boats on the canals that are not registered. And even if they were spotted, there is no identification number and no way to contact the boat owner. It would normally be an anonymous looking GRP without a name, or a model/type anywhere on the hull. CRT will probably start spotting these boats in the next month or two during the closures, but with no identification I'm not sure how they would deal with them.

Firstly, I think its important to state that I am at no point stalking you, Mrs M, despite my sudden interest in replying to your posts. But since you will be looking for a boat at some point, I wondered I might be able to interest you in a svelte, low mileage 50ft boat that might be up for sale next Spring (ish). It has a ghastly cheap fitout more suited to a 1970s caravan, and all sorts of very cheap and nasty materials, with numerous bodged DIY upgrades. And a recently bodged paint job too. I think the ferret hairs will come out, but the bloodstains might need a degree of determination.

Rog, I make a point of never disagreeing with you! But I think you've hit the key issue - I should have asked for a call back from the area officer, as was suggested further up the thread. They will have more local knowledge and probably more common sense. I think I'll do that tomorrow. I see no point in a pointless cruise up to the SB locks when I know I cant through them, and just like your friends near the Hatton flight, I will refuse to take the risk of going south through more locks, and then possibly getting stuck behind them in a remote spot where there isn't a pie shop for miles. I'll tell them Roger told me it was ok. We didnt fight two world wars to get stuck behind closed locks. Yes, in fact I would be amazed if the spotters arent doing their job exactly as normal. CRT will still want to know exactly where all the boats are, even if they are temporarily relaxing the rules in some areas.

The problem they have with not calling CRT is that they are risking getting an overstay email. CRT probably will be a bit more lenient than usual, I can definitely see that. But even so, I would not risk staying in one spot for maybe 6 weeks when there is an open canal behind me. Not without checking. And I dont believe the act of calling them has committed me to a course of action - the guy didnt even take my boat details, as I recall. I totally agree with your logic - it makes no sense to make people use tons of water at a time like this, but the chap I spoke to wasn't interested in common sense or logic. He insisted that if the locks were open, I had to move that way as if everything was normal. Thankfully I wont have to waste time and water doing that. And if they close Cosgrove Lock behind me whilst I am at Stoke Bruerne, I will make another phone call to them to express my disappointment. And it will be much less polite than the first call.

I think it would be very unwise for them to assume that the movement rules are suspended. That is absolutely not the case, from what I was told. If the chap I spoke to at CRT was correct in what he told me, then those people not moving will receive reminder emails for any overstay, IF they are not in a section of canal directly that is affected by a lock closure, e.g. in between Stoke Bruerne and Braunston. As most will know, if you get three such reminders within 6 months, you are given a 6 month license. If there is an open section of canal available, you are expected to use it, just as you would if you ran into a normal lock closure. The folks who don't move much will probably already have a few of these reminders in their inbox already, so the last thing they need is to make a false assumption and then get another one. I honestly dont know Rog, if I were in their shoes I'd make a call to check CRT are ok with their intentions. There are about 10-15 locks between me and Tring, but the guy I spoke to said that since those locks all have normal status at the moment, I am expected to go up through all of them, if that is what's needed to satisfy the normal movement rules. If one of those locks is closed, that will change everything, and I will be allowed to stay put. But in reality, CRT allow for a 20 miles cruising range anyway as we know. So if I want to, I'll be able to cruise to Stoke Bruerne locks, make sure my boat is spotted there by CRT, and then begin a slow cruise back south through MK, moving one mile at a time and stopping for a week or two in each decent place. At that rate I wont even reach Leighton Buzzard before the locks reopen (hopefully in October), and I can get into gear and get north in the 3 or 4 week window I think we'll get before the winter closures start. My hope is to get from Stoke Bruerne to Nantwich in a 2 or 3 week window that I think we'll get. For me that is a very rushed cruise, but it might be quite fun being a macho long distance cruiser for a change 🤣 (That's the cue for 25 posts saying how they got from Watford to Lancaster in 3 days)

I honestly dont enjoy being negative, but I don't feel one can fairly describe this summer as being 'a bit worse' than normal. With the big caveat that I've only been been afloat for 5 years, I must say this large scale closure is worse than anything I've seen before, at least in August. One of the biggest boating routes between north and south has been shut, with all the locks that are now closed. If we're lucky, we'll get a few weeks of open locks during October, and then in November the winter closures will mostly prevent long distance travel until February or March. Then we'll get a few months of boating again, as long as the winter rainfall is half decent. But will next summer be this bad? Well put it this way - would you bet against that? If the current pattern continues, we could be looking at a fully-open boating season that lasts from April to July, or maybe into August. For me, its no longer a debate about fixing the crumbling infrastructure, and about CRT getting a big enough budget. If there's not enough rainfall, then it doesnt matter whether they fix the locks - we won't be able to cruise a decent distance because so many key locks will be closed for maybe 8 months of the year.

Just to check - are the locks closed to the north and south of Stone? If they are, then boats can barely move anyway, right? The thing about MK is that the locks to the south are open all the way to Watford, and boaters are therefore expected by CRT to use the available option of going southwards, if they need to do that to fulfil their CCing obligations. I suspect that water shortages and stoppages will become more common over the next few years, and bear in mind we already have the winter stoppages anyway that seriously limit navigation. I cant help but wonder, going forwards, how much of the year are boats actually going to be able to travel the system without major hindrances? I'm finding it hard to be optimistic about the future of long distance cruising around the network.