Leaderboard

Having been lurking for quite some time with the occasional post I thought I would like to express my views as a new post, this is connected to quite a few posts so I apologise for not posting in that particular post. I now moor in a marina and my boat is a lot shinier than when I moored along the canal in a paid for mooring, simply because I now have a fresh water supply and a pontoon where I can polish and wash my boat and just turn it round without having to go to a winding place so I can do the other side. All the posters who refer to marina moorings in unfavourable terms should appreciate that people use these marinas, as if everyone decided to moor along the canal bank I do not think there would be a lot of room for moorings when travelling. Bless the people who do not use their boats much for cruising as it means more room for me when out in my boat and more upkeep money for the canals. Continual cruisers should be really reporting any boat who flaunts the system as there is always a chance that this benefit could be withdrawn if Cart thinks they cannot work the system, I have a campervan and how good would it be if I could just pay my road tax and tour around Britain and stop for free wherever I want. (Occasional overnight in a layby but trust me you do get moved on and not a nice place to stop.) I do not mind anyone taking a photo of my boat or writing down registration details whoever they are, the same as I do not mind being on Jims site, if it means people who think its ok not to licence a boat can get found out. I love being on my boat and perhaps in a while I may even move on it, but at present I am involved with hobbies that take up to much room , but my point is I do not always move, and stay quite happily in the marina just being on the water is good enough for me, and having a really nice crowd of folk to natter to is really nice. To say you might as well have a mobile home is rubbish 2 totally different ways of enjoying what you like to do. I have no problem with the way anyone uses their boats but I do have a problem with unlicensed boats and people who think its ok to stay for free in moorings and abuse a system, exactly the same way I would not think twice of reporting a untaxed car or someone who is drink driving. To keep canals up it needs to bring in revenue, so the more marinas the better not only does it sort the bad ones out and bring more revenue to CART but despite the weird comments about a hole in the ground , the abundance of wildlife and plants both in and out of the water that a new marina brings far out ways any so called damage that can be caused. Also I remember a discussion a long while ago about the way canals and marinas can go a long way to help prevent flooding, I cannot find it now so if anyone knows anything about this I would love to know. So to everyone keep posting I love the sometimes heated discussions and to all the good boat people life is to short to really take things said so seriously, and it takes 35 muscles to smile and only 4 to smack someone.

Being relatively new comers to the system, (approx 4 years), I find it unbelievable in this day and age with housing shortages etc plus canal network being clogged by some boat owners (residential??) who are just trying to find a mooring to call home. i have a suggestion to all those in authority including local authorities to come down off their high horse and assist those boaters who are looking for permanent residential moorings i.e. when marinas renew their licence to trade as marinas, may I suggest before licence is granted that 10% of all berths be allocated for residential. This, I feel, would reduce some congestion on the canal system and fill some of these empty berths in these marinas with an acceptable fee. This to include all new marinas being built. I can hear the cries now from local authorities, its green belt etc etc and you can't have residential moorings. My reply to this is, the marinas are already there, it's not 'rocket science' so help the boat owners and the marina owners to get on with their lives. Win win situation. Would also suggest that these residential moorings be priced at a reasonable affordable rate.

I'm sure some of you have discovered 3's "one plan" with unlimited data and may be using a mobile telephonic device (such as a Samsung Galexy) as a wi-fi hotspot, distributing lots of lovely broadband throughout your boat. For best results inside a narrow steel tube it's a good idea to put the phone in a window.....but how to hold it there? Well make a call to the CaRT customer services and request a new licence holder. They will send a pair of them FOC, meaning if you bugger one up while making your phone holder, you'll have a spare! Now peel the back off the sticky side and carefully fold the sides in on themselves by about a cm or so, and stick them down. Then bend them out, making a little phone shaped pocket rather than a flat licence shaped pocket. Cut a little hole in the bottom for the charger cable, because using your phone as a hotspot gobbles up the battery! Then stick your new phone pocket to the window (make sure it's in a spot that the charger can reach) Thats it! Jobs a good'un.

Rent space in a storage unit and keep all your really important and essential stuff there. In the first year you might need to go there once or twice to get a couple of things that you really need on the boat. In the second year you will not go there at all. In the third year you will not even remember what is there or why you thought you needed it, and realise that it would have been cheaper to have got rid of the whole lot and saved the money. ..........Dave

I am baffled by luctor et emergo quote about moaning , I had to read my post again just to make sure it had not been rewritten, I can assure you my knickers are not in a twist and as for my shinier boat if you read the posting correctley I was just pointing out it is easier to keep a boat clean in a marina not bragging about how clean it looked, than when you are moored by the towpath, notice I say easier not impossible,Whoopidoo what is that about, not heard that since I was at school. There are some fantastic boats moored on the canal that put my own to shame. Anyway thats it now going off to polish my boat , have a walk down the towpath to check for unlicenced boats and to make sure no ones overstaying their mooring then I am going to get some shut eye under my bridge Whoopidoo ( Better just say that is a joke )

Chop! I think I know the bloke who took the shot of you & Grunt with the B33. Da boch chi. taslim.

Just click on See Facebook Link on Steve Hayes reply dated 05 February 2013 at top of page You don't need to log in to facebook, Mr. George's page should come up once you have clicked on the link! Also have look at www.narrowboat.com 'CaRT Reneges on George's'. My link I hope this link works! Never used the link icon before. Chloe

I think the point is, without resi PP, one shouldn't live there ANY of the time. The problem lies in enforcement. The powers that be find it difficult to differentiate between a long holiday and actually living there. In addition, enforcement generally leads to an increase in homeless people the council are obliged to accommodate, so one dept at the council leans on the other NOT to enforce. MtB

I could be wrong but in BWML terms I believe that to be wrong. As I understand it they offer 3 types ofmooring. 'Residential' is exactly what it says on the tin and doesn't seem to be available at all of it's marinas. 'Grade 1' is extended or high usage, I.e. somebody who wants to spend say 3 or 4 nights a week on their boat but has an address elsewhere. 'Grade 2' is for the equivalent of a CRT leisure mooring. I can see how it is difficult for the Grade 1 occupation to be enforced and I would imaging that people are taking up grade 1 and grade 2 moorings and in fact being unofficially fully residential on them. I would imagine they have decided to try and cra k down on this and are using the planing permission situation as their reason. It's more likely to be because they have realised people are getting away with paying less than they should be and want the extra money. I recently went to a BWML marina to ask about a mooring vacancy. I plan to be 'living' on my boat week on week off and on the weeks I am not on the boat I will be at work out of the country. For the time I am in the UK the boat will in fact be where I 'live' but will use my parents address for post and official purposes. BWML told me I would be fine with a grade 1 mooring but not a grade 2 as it would be outside the terms of use. I also rang my local CRT mooring manager who also told me with myplanned usage for the boat, I could 'live' on a CRT leisure mooring week on week off.

So, lets see, 6 greenies for Scrunch so far, the miseries only get 2 between them. So I would say that Scrunch wins the popular vote with the miseries put well in their place! Well done, keep it up!

STREISAND EFFECT