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This post should be starred and pinned so it can be easily found (and quoted) every time this subject comes up. Moderators?

They just mean they are external to the casing of the router and are screwed on to ports, you'd unscrew these and attach what you'd call external aerials (some models have the aerials internal on the circuit board and no sockets on the outside).

In that case we agree, and I did misinterpret what you said 🙂 I was arguing with the posts that came across as boater-as-victim (and CART-as-villain) complaints, whether that was the intended meaning or not. I reckon boaters have got off more lightly than many other people (e.g. renters, people hit by massive mortgage increases) in recent years -- which isn't saying they're not suffering, but so is everyone else. Well, except Sunak and Rees-Smugg and his mates, they're in the gravy... 😞

I think @David Mack summed up the situation perfectly. I've got a campervan now which I pay a licence (road tax) for, and yet I don't expect to be able to park up and stay wherever I want in it. I accept there are rules I must adhere to. The big difference being that I know these rules will be enforced and I will be penalised if I break them. Edited to add: I'm not implying this is what the OP is planning to do as she has clearly stated she is actively seeking a mooring. Just a comment on the general air of entitlement displayed by some boaters.

OK, so this am I managed to pick up my new battery for the mifi, and miraculously the tablet is working, something I've had problems with for a quite while, I think the mifi stopped working ages ago and I've mostly been getting Internet off my phone,, Three turned of my phone Internet earlier today due to overuse , one assumes, but now I have the mifi its kicked back in to life. The new mains router has arrived, but I think it needs a sim card, my idea was to use a pay as you go EE sim, and hope that the indoor aerials would work sat in the windows as a back to Three problems, Saturday afternoon, particularly. Unfortunately I'm in the last outpost of civilisation, where only one trader speaks fluent English, he sells mops and toilet paper, nothing technical. So, iwas going to return the new router when I noticed it has come with an O2 sim, is this piggyback with Three or EE network.? It says its " Eternal, and is sims4homes" Would this be suitable as emergency backup. PS interpreting the Quck Start Guide, the new router has picked up mifi and might be working, without the use of what they refer to as external aerials, these are stumpy things and are not waterproof. PS I have two Three contracts, I think each sim card needs one, Im out of my comfort zone, but im sure I don't have Gorilla bites

Whilst the current arrangement allows you to do a longer (7 day) outward trip and a quick (3 day) return, it doesn't appear to allow you to do the opposite i.e. 3 day outward & 7 day return, or if it does I couldn't see how to do it.

I'm afraid you have completely misinterpreted 'my reasoning', Ian. As you now say, all holiday costs have increased, and this is the underlying reason why there are fewer moving boats around. For those on lower and/or fixed incomes, the impact has been greater. That doesn't mean we are tired of boating, not even after many years in some cases, just that we have to budget more carefully.

PU18 is a pretty good PU sealant/adhesive. Available for a low price if you buy 4. I used it once to stick two pieces of wood together and when I later attempted to separate them it was the wood which split not the sealant bond. Good stuff. Available on Fleabay.

Which is not surprising since new they cost about a third (£70k) of what a hire narrowboat does. Boat hire *is* expensive nowadays, as is anything else where you rent something expensive e.g. a holiday cottage, or a stately home. If you rent something cheaper (e.g. a motorhome or caravan), it's cheaper to rent. Not much surprise there... Which may well explain why there are fewer hire boats out there -- and also why holiday cottage rentals have dropped considerably, according to a friend who owns one. When people have less money or feel more uncertain with what's happening in the country/world, they take fewer/cheaper holidays.

I’ve always used acetone for epoxy. You can actually thin epoxy with acetone though it’s not recommended. I wipe down for most paints with whatever thinners is applicable for that paint eg white spirit for oil based paints. If I don’t know what to use I generally use acetone. though sometimes panel wipe just because I’ve got it. You can wash acetone off as it’s soluble in water. Anything critical or used a lot I would seek advice off the manufacturer For cleaning off uncured Sikaflex I use white spirit or decorators big wipes The pretreatments available for Sikaflex are expensive for small jobs but I have used them on a very fancy hatch I made for a yacht in teak. The teak cost a fortune in any case 20 years ago so I didn’t want anything to go wrong. There are so many wonderful adhesives and sealants around now but they can operate far below par if you don’t pretreat/postreat correctly so I think it’s important not to take general advice but to read the data sheets carefully and if necessary contact the manufacturer. I have had my share of “frights” with stuff not going right due to my inappropriate use of wonder chemicals for cleaning, painting, bonding, sealing…..

One more comparison, I'm hiring a campervan in June to go to the Download festival, it's a brand new RollerTeam 707 or something, not entirely sure, never hired one before, Wednesday to a Monday in June, everything (apart from diesel) included £750.

Interest rate rises are a big problem for the people coming off cheap fixed-rate mortgages that they took on before 2020 before Covid hit and Ukraine happened and Brexit bit -- especially if they took out huge mortgages at rock-bottom rates which are unaffordable at higher rates, with payments anything up to doubling. This has hammered the finances of a lot of people, who suddenly haven't got the spare cash any more for things like home improvements or refits. There's also the fact that in uncertain times people are less inclined to spend money, which hits businesses which rely one this -- including gas bods, but also pubs and restaurants... 😞 Though it has to be said not boaters, who are not suffering from this particular problem, just the general cost increases to everything else... 😞

Something has however, in my opinion, happened recently. The "Combustion Chamber" forum for gas bods is full of people saying the phone has stopped ringing this last month or two and they are all scratching about for work. I'm wondering if the 13 interest rate rises we've had recently are finally beginning to bite. It is often said that a base rate rise takes a year to work through and affect the spending habits of the Hoi poloi. If this is correct then we've seen nothing yet in terms of people reigning in their personal spending. I wouldn't mind betting the boat builders if asked, would say they've had fewer (or no) orders in recently than they expected.

I've not had a lot of experience with the 203 and it's an unusual system. I used to deal with them on later Bristol buses, but where Bristol buses are concerned, "later" is a relative term. One thing I do remember is a conversation with a guy who wanted to sell me a gauss meter particularly for the AC 203. According to him, they are prone to a partial winding failure which leaves the rotor unable to achieve magnetic saturation. This may just be sales talk, I can't comment further except to say that a nice bright warning lamp may well cure the problem.

I'm arguing with your reasoning, which seems to be that boater costs have gone up much more than everybody else's costs -- and this doesn't seem to be true, *everybody* is paying more for almost *everything* nowadays, boaters aren't being especially hard done by. Unless you can come up with some specific cases -- like red diesel -- all the others are just a general cost-of-living complaint. So making out that boaters are somehow a special type of victim (and it's all CART's fault...) doesn't stand up to scrutiny. Many other leisure activities have also seen fewer numbers recently, it's what happens when people's finances get squeezed. Blame the UK economic situation if you want a culprit. I've been hiring narrowboats and holiday cottages for many years. They've both got considerably more expensive in recent years, by roughly the same amount.

I just had a look on Waterways Holidays.com and for the same weekend that I am going to Belgium, I'd be looking at a minimum of £900, up to £1200 for a 4 berth, which is what I'd normally book. That is for a weekend. I then looked at Le Boat in France, more or less the same price. Has boating always been relatively expensive but I've not noticed it before?

Especially if you play the kind of instrument that roughly doubles in length when in use... 😉

There could be that many innuendos with regards to sleeping with a member of the Horn section or blowing said member, that the thread could turn in to a bigger Joke Thread then the Ch4 programme/participants the Thread is about🎺🎺🎺

The original question was 'why are there fewer boats about?' Several of us have given you a response based on long term boat ownership used recreationally and, in some cases at least, their pensioner status. Please consider why you are arguing with us.