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I though it was mandatory to have a dog . Seriously LOTS of boats have dogs and other pets, and yes I have seen a few with caged birds.

As mentioned, you can find out a lot of this by using the search function. But I'll bite... Any of the above. It very much depends on your usage. Relatively well thought out water points, advanced planning makes it simple. Buying from marinas or fuel stations on the canal, various other means... That depends... If you have a residential mooring on a marina, you can have post delivered just like you would at home. Some marina's will let you have post there even if you don't have a residential berth. Some people have a po box, some use a mail holding/ forwarding service, some use a relative or friend's address, some have nothing. Actually I don't know, as I don't have a tv. You will not neccesarily be expemt from council tax. If you have a residential mooring you pay council tax like everyone else. I am not sure what other 'taxes' you are referring to... You still pay everything else as normal... **Gets popcorn and waits for the others** I'll let you know in the Spring... People with stoves on board don't seem to complain much though... Again, I'll let you know... http://www.britishwaterways.co.uk/media/documents/boat-licensing/BW-Long-Term-Fees-2011.pdf Also take into account moorings (if wanted) insurance, and the other associated costs of running the boat.

Stem and bar rails perhaps? Fish mincers are another one and the we haven't even approached the Galvanic Isolator Question or indeed entered the Dread World of the Lav. Sterns don't seem to elicit the same degree of opprobrium but there are some shockers out there. The vexed question of the tug deck has yet to raise it's ugly head. It seems to me that you build the boat that you want, all these things are a matter of taste, it's your boat in the end. You can take opinions from people but it's your money and your choice. My first narrowboat was a 36' Springer, much mucked about with and dangerously derelict, but she looked like a dream to me.

I think we need to SHOUT from the rooftops to catch the bastards that did this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, he would say that, wouldn't he? He doesn't sell generators. Tony

I watched a series of working boats go through Ian Kemp's loving care and not one looked like a Hudson or Trotter, rivets in straight lines or not. Cobbett doesn't have washers because she doesn't need them, being a welded boat. Doesn't explain the fish mincer though

Hi Guys. Yes im still here, and boy have i stired up a hornets nest, lol. ok a few coments to posters, first im not great with computers so i will look into getting a spell checker but i dont think i have one at the moment. second i am dyslexic and as for the lazy comment that post took me four or five times longer to write and get into a readable state than it would have taken any of you so if i were truly lazy i just wouldent have bothered. but i suppose all the best fammilys bikker so are we just one big fammily and last thank you to all the guys with possative comments especialy the communty boating link i will study that aspect in much more detail later tonight. keep boating. pete

I wonder if this is a way of you establishing your elevated position in the pecking order, or just a plain old fashioned attempt at bullying.

It must be frustrating, seeing people not remedy their easily solvable weaknesses when you know there is no cure for your own. (edited for spelling)

Using a spellchecker is a way of making up for a weakness, and we all have weaknesses. And apologising in advance for being lazy does not excuse the laziness! I picked up on this because it is symptomatic of the sentiment of the thread. The OP will never achieve his big dream if he is apologetic. Life does not reward apologists. Essentially I am giving him some advice, going through life apologising for weaknesses that can easily be overcome wont get you a boat!

Higgs, it appears you are seeking not just a source of help in terms of physical work done on a maintenance basis, but time and money also. You acknowledge an impasse twixt a management structure and the work structure, yet that will always remain unless the canal system and its industrial artefacts are 'protected' by some form of lottery backed finance. There are certainly enough people buying lottery tickets to provide the likes of Camelot with sufficient monetory clout to do some impressive things, but there are limits. What they are I do not know. Comparing the railway enthusiast with steam on main line and preserved does not take into account that the railway is still an operational network providing transport, whereas most of the canal system is not. We can 'play' - and even still 'work' some of the system, whereas the railway enthusiast is severely restricted in what can be used. As such, the railways are supported by huge public subsidies to keep going. The canals in the main were almost abandoned completely, though others will have the figures, and the history is well documented. The existence of the canal network relied upon it supplying a demand - and industrial demand. That has now been usurped. What should be retained, why and where? Much has been lost, not only to the vandal in isolated places where manpower had been contracted or removed, but corporate vandalism also - the selling off of the 'family silver' has taken place piecemeal. Some of the latter can be seen in the Historic Narrow Boat Owners Club booklet 'Our Disappearing Heritage', but when does a working warehouse, stable block, or maintenance yard become uneconomical to retain in their original format or purpose? And what does one do with it to retain its infrastructure reflecting its original use and at the same time allow it to 'move on' to keep economically viable. Only the bottom line on an account sheet will decide - money. Some of the canalside property never had road access nor the facilities expected by todays generations, and so they become lost to some expensive development, or the JCB. As the sack barrow was replaced by the pallet, fork lift and container, so those fine warehouses became redundant. There are active pockets of industrial preservation, but it's the paying public that supports them, and mostly the private boater supplying the floating element at rallies and gatherings. Attempting to see higher than the monetory stakes will alas find you landing with a hefty bump. The nations economic situation will see to that. Much will only ever be captured in art form. Ink, paint and the historic photographic medium may be the penultimate protectors, and even they can be lost to the flame. That leaves memory, and none lives forever.

Instead of apologising for bad spelling why not try using a spell checker?

I plan to climb a tree and do a large turd onto a birds nest. Perhaps that will show them how it feels!

Frightening! If accuracy is important to you, I very strongly suggest you stay away from Narrowboatworld.

Corrected should have read 'converted'. I was led to believe from some of your comments to me and a pm that you would be visiting Dadford's - I recall pm'ing you with telephone numbers for Ian Kemp during your interest in Gazelle and Dave Harris - if I was mistaken, so be it - my apologies, perhaps I've confused you with another Bard. I'm not entirely sure why you're being so rude and if I offended you with my 'ramblings' I'm sorry; I do believe this to be a 'Discussion Forum' and therefore we are allowed to ramble on about our various obsessions. I am offended by your tone of post and apparent lack of manners although I wish you well and hope you have the same enjoyable experience that I have had. Stangely, I do have respect for your choice of builder and his boats are built to a good standard but they're not to my taste and SMH's sense of humour meant that I wouldn't be able to work with him. So there we are - agree to disagree and be more polite? Excellent! I'm off to bed now - sweet dreams.

So, let's help the lady with her shopping First a couple of questions for the lady Are you going to be using lots of mains gadgets at the same time (fridge, freezer, microwave, vacuum cleaner, kettle, TV, dishwasher, hairdrier, curling tongs, make up warmer...) or will you only be using a couple? The answer to this determines how complicated the wiring is beyond the "safety barrier". Will you want to use some, or all of these gadgets when away from your nice warm marina mooring? You've already identified the need for a cable to get the power from the shore to your boat, but don't exactly know what it will look like. Then you are confused by lots of jargon. Keeping it as simple as possible. First, the cable, as has been said this should be a good quality "arctic grade" one - use BLUE, because other colours mean other voltages. Most marina posts use a "16A outlet", this has three round pins. At the boat end it is customary to use a "16A socket" - this is so when the shore end is plugged in its hard (not impossible). The cable itself should be 2.5sqmm. You can buy made up cables in various lengths between 5 and 25m, and they cost about the same as buying the bits. Next we come onto the boat. Lets start from scratch and assume you've nothing. You will need a place to plug your shore line in, this will have PINS on it. Locate this so you want kick it, or trip over the cable. This will almost certainly be on the boat, so you need a hole, which is bunged up by the thing you plug your cable into. Move inside. I will list the bits you need, and explain what they do in simple terms. An earth bonding point - this is where the earth of the outside world and you boat meet. and either a glavanic isolator or an isolation transformer (lots of discussion earlier about what these do, so ...) A special sort of breaker called a Residual Current Breaker - this detects current flowing into the earth circuit and breaks the incoming supply These first three bits are all there to protect you as far as possible from getting mains electric shocks. Now, depending on the complexity of your mains system we may have one, or more, overload breakers. The idea of this is to prevent you blowing the shore line, or the marina supply. For anything more than a very simple "single mains socket" (well probably a double...) system you need to have a simple distribution box to hold all the breakers in one place, indeed for tidiness you may decide have one any way. You will then have the mains wiring around the boat, properly installed, using the correct types of cable and sockets. I have NOT mentioned "nice things" like inverters, generators, solar....... as it is obvious that the OP is working to a tight budget. BUT, sometimes by thinking about them, and making provision for them when the sheet of paper is clean, you can make life easier in the future. I have DELIBERATELY NOT said how the bits on the boat are connected together, this list is to say what goes onto the boat, not how to fix it to the boat. I hope this helps you understand the words and phrases you will read and hear. As someone very early on said, mains electricity on boats is a subject best installed by those who know what they are doing, as while it is "easy" to do, it is easy to do it wrong.

Hi Joshua, I have 18 years' experience living on narrowboats - a Hudson & Farrington to be precise. 14 of those years were spent CC'ing until I finally settled on my present residential mooring. If you would like to chat directly, I can save you a lot of time, money & disillusionment. I have an answer to, (or at least an opinion on), just about every point raised on this thread. My answers may not be the only valid ones, but they have been proved to work in the real world of all- year - round CC'ing, & provide comfortable & practical solutions to problems that you probably don't even realise exist! For example, how to keep your boat cool in summer & warm in winter? If you are using a pump out toilet, have you thought what you will do when the canal or the marina pump out machines are frozen solid? Do you know how long your water capacity will last you or where you will store the bulky garbage you will accumulate between rubbish points? Do you know the favoured break - in methods of boat thieves & how to design in protection? How will you wash, dry & air your laundry? Keep the boat from running with condensation without being icily draughty in winter? Keep the cupboards & wardrobes from getting damp? Store all the rarely used items such as documentation & tools, that would go in the loft or garage in a house? Because living on a boat is YOUR LIFE & you need so much more with you than on even the most extended holiday! If you want to contact me I would be happy to chat on the phone. I don't know it all bu I have learned an awful lot the hard & expensive way. Living on board can be done & it can be a great way of life, so go for it! Good luck.