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it is only for visiting boats eg not kept on bwb water and not kept in marinas attached to bwb water, I did all the reserch for the "caraboat club" some time ago and I have just done a "dummy run" on line to make sure and I was still able to licence without a BSS. hope this is helpful

There was some sort of pin or pulley at the mouth of Lock One, Hawford, Droitwich Barge Canal which enabled a salt laden barge to be launched at speed into the River Severn while the horse pulled up the towpath.This fine detail is so important to the history of our waterways.I only know because Tom Cartwright junior in his eighties told me. He and his father worked the makeweight narrow boat "The Three Brothers" bringing 30 tons of extra salt cargo down to the Severn to load the trows which were restricted to 60 tons by the lock cills depth.Lock One cills are 10feet to allow for the tide until Bevere lock was buit in the 1840's.Imagine shovelling 30 tons plus of salt into wheelbarrows, pushing them along the towpath to the Trow in the lock before it rained.The good old days!From the start I said this should be Lock One, Brindleys first construction but was ignored when it was numbered eight. Fotunately the BW workmen restoring the brickwork found the blue enameled Lock One sign in the bottom of the lock.This is historically a most important site. Brindley must have had some nervousness as he built his first Droitwich Lock in the garden of his home Newhall in Stafford, sadly recently demolished by developers.If you glean some canal history record it before it is too late. Sister Mary, the boaters nurse at Stoke Bruerne told me several of the early boaters and navvies were redundant Cornish Tin Miners because the industry collapsed with foreign competition. She said the bridge on canal decoration was Looe bridge now demolished and replaced, anybody know of a picture? A well designed watercan will float upside down if knocked off the cabin roof, so Les Allen told me. Some time later as we boated through Wasthill ( Kings Norton ) Tunnel the children in the bows cried out " Theres a water can" which was floating submerged but the diagonal marks were visible. It could have been there for years as it was an early Braunston design. End of Max's ramblings!

That's pretty much what happened to me about thi stime last year - although I bought a couple of months before moving on. I find the people are great - friendly and helpful Being so much closer to nature Waking up in winter and hearing the ice crack as your boat rocks is fantastic Falling asleep to the sound of creaking ropes Mostly the feeling of being on holiday as soon as I get home - seven days a week and 52 weeks a year

I'm surprised the discussion on preventing condensation still comes up every Winter as I thought all the information and discussion on this had been pinned in the FAQ section for the last couple of years Condensation It's down to basic physics and understanding of why you get condensation. Single glazing isn't the answer unless you want to increase condensation and heating requirement. It's about eliminating the surfaces that promote condensation and keeping a good supply of ventilated air, whilst at the same time minimising heat loss and maintaining warmth and comfort. It's also essential to minimise the unneccesary production of moisture by not keeping a kettle permanently on the stove, avoiding drying washing inside the boat when possible, extracting steam and moisture from the bathroom etc. If you eliminate cold surfaces for moisture to condense onto, minimise moisture in the air and maintain a steady temperature, any remaining moisture will stay in the air as long as it remains above the dewpoint of the air mass and doesn't reach saturation, where the air can't absorb any more moisture. That saturation point will always be much sooner than in a house, because of the minute volume of air in a boat compared to a house. Roger