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In the present climate the boat would be a good starter for somebody on a limited budget, the hull pitting is probably the result of a lack of anodes. A fair bit of money and a lot of time needs to be invested by the purchaser, they could end up with a tidy looking narrowboat. Realisticaly I would suggest a price of £3/£4k. Albert.

This question of the maximum speed of a narrowboat is a tricky one. It'll depend on a whole host of variables, size of engine, shape of hull, displacement etc. I know, empirically, 5.3 mph is the fastest I can get. That's with a K2 Kelvin and a 70' josher weighing 28 tons. Any attempt to go faster than this simply causes the back of the boat to dig into the water. For example, when opening it up on the Severn, I have had the back deck awash, but there has been no increase in speed – just a waste of fuel. :(When trying to move as efficiently as possible – and that's not the same as moving as fast as possible, I look and see how far the uxter plate is under water. The optimum depth, for me at any rate, is 9”. Incidentally, some of the fastest craft around on the Tring Summit are those strung-together tin can rafts beloved of the local pub team and the Berkhamsted School sculls.

I think its ok to speed if the banks are piled and campshedded otherwise the banks will be damaged on narrow waterways.

Having seen this thread only on the Blackberry, I have now had a chance to view the OP's ad on a laptop screen. The text of the ad is much improved from the original version. BUT: That is not a station boat. It does not date from 1921. The hull is a fairly nondescript shape, so will not appeal to buyers looking for a stylish boat. The survey may show adequate plate thickness, but the pitting below the waterline is clearly evident The cabin looks to need major work, if not complete replacement. On that basis, IMHO, even with a nice engine, the boat is worth nowhere near the advertised price. Anyone taking that boat on with a view to replacing the cabin and then fitting out the whole would do better buying a sailaway. Sorry Cap'n L if you're still reading this, but that's the way I see it! David

Car radios may be 50w (but more likely not, as it's rated in PMPO a lot of the times!), plus you wouldn't have it on full all the time, that and older car radios would have used more (Mine has valves! ). Blower fan, can't see it been used, after a few minutes it would have gone cold without the engine running. Even if you had a PSP, smartphones and the likes plugged in (unless a few), I would still expect a modern car to start unless the battery was already ucked.

I'm often a pedestrian in London and find the cyclists there to be oblivious to the rules of the road, in particular pedestrian crossings. I have to confess that when on the towpath I do my absolute best to inconvenience speeding lycra clad tosspots on the grounds that it's one back for the walkers. Not big, not clever, but very satisfying.

All good stuff, I use a chain to clean out the Rayburn and the Squirrel once a month. I'd second Alan's advice to check where the soot and crud has gone though. When I bought Surprise, not only was the flue completely detached from the stove collar but the back boiler baffle was totally sooted up with only a 2'' hole with which to vent into the cabin. She'd passed her BSC only 2 days before .....

brill, you just stay moored up in your lovely kitchen and leave the horrible winter weather to us masochists........

Restating what has been said many times before, but probably worth repeating. If you do get one of those flue brushes and work it up and down the flue from outside, you may well dislodge loads of crud down into the stove, which can then fall on top of any combination of ledge, diverter or back-boiler, rather than falling right down into the grate or ash-pan. It is very important that you don't create a blockage somewhere at the "back top" of your stove, which is just as detrimental, or perhaps even more so to it burning properly. Often these "important little places" are quite hard to reach and keep clear of debris, but you do need to check regularly.