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We saw a Narrow boat on the Peak Forrest Canal with a similar canopy. Having had 9 days of solid rain during our fortnight cruise around the 'Four Counties ring we last July thought .... what a good idea ! ( Probably wouldn't use it in a gale !! ) Before any cover was made the frame was taped into position so that measurements could be taken. The frame was then taken home where the material was laid out on the kitchen floor & cut to size. My daughter then worked wonders with her sewing machine. This is mainly made using the 8mm fiberglass poles from a 2nd hand Igloo tent. The material that we used is best described as a robust umbrella type, we had it as a car cover many years ago. The Igloo tent actually had enough material available but it was the wrong colour. The plastic 'T' pieces are from plant irrigation apparatus & have a 10mm internal diameter. A slot can be cut easily along the length to allow it to be clipped on / off the pole. The cable glands are a very convenient way of allowing adjustment, simply nip them up when in the required position. The 27mm awning pole clamps were modified to fit onto the roof hand rail & can be moved / tightened up before the pole is dropped into position. Out on the canal it works really well, on passing through our many low bridge arches on the Peak Forest you simply ' push' it sidewards to avoid scraping the side of the arch. Unclipping the front end allows the frame to flatten out so it is possible to pass under low square bridges where you may have to duck down. Since making the cover we have come across some 'khyam' manual joints which is best described as working like an elbow. This allows the frame to fold up more quickly. Hope you like ............ Mark

why should I have to join anything else. I signed up to this forum years ago as I needed to ask questions about my engine and living aboard after being made redundant. That is the limit of my internet joining stuff. The thought of joining friendsreunited, be known, facebook etc just doesn't appeal to me,and after seeing it in action, I want no part. Wait for the big meltdown, there will be be so many folks bashing their electronic devices to death not knowing whether Aunt Aggie has managed to complete her round Morrisons Shopping trolley trip in one piece after taking her new medication. you can't like or follow this

aww.. Nik I only wish that I could offer more help for your friend right now, but I am stuck in South Wales for the next couple of weeks and cannot get up to help you all. I can understand just how he is feeling right now as my boat sank last November and its an horrendous situation to find yourself in and I know its not much help, but if you could pm me your friends contact details I would like to send him a cheque for £100.00 to try and help. I know its not a lot but I am having to completely refit out my boat and until it is completed I will not be working. I had a lot of support from the folks on here and it stopped me getting too depressed, he will come through this and I am sure the same folk who offered me help and support will do the same for him. We are boaters and we look after each other no matter what best of luck and help him keep his chin up by being there ... as it might not seem much but its a lot Lorraine.

If the surveyor was recommended by Whilton, cancel and get your own, I can't say anything more...... The survey can be quite long winded and boring to watch, however, you are paying for that surveyor, and any decent one will tell you what he is doing and looking for as he does it. My boat survey was done in the most before I got there, and didn't know what I was looking for, nowadays, I would be there before he gets there!! Pitting above waterline may indicate more issues. It sounds like the boat has been permanently hooked up and you have no sockets /kitchen/ anything else you may need once you are out cruising, therefore budget for an inverter with associated wiring costs straight away.

I love this stuff. I understood the word "the".

Thought this was worth copying and pasting: All of You who had dreams of living on a narrowboat may be interested in my saga. I had no idea that I would spend, hopefully, the rest of my life on a boat when my life turned upside down and I found myself looking for somewhere to live. I was then with my daughter on her catamaran one evening when several of her friends were there and chatting about my lack of home when I suddenly came out with "I'm going to buy a narrowboat!!" Silence filled the boat and then the advice started to be given. Despite being in and out of hospital for the next three weeks, we all studied the lists of boats for sale and decided to visit some. I left that bit to my daughter and friends and joined in when they got the list shortened. Now I had never been on a narrowboat so I was very open minded. This seems a fairytale now! The very first boat I went on said a warm welcome to me. After looking at others I knew that first one was going to be my home. My daughter and my new boating friends set to and checked the boat over. Its history and and servicing etc. and had the boat surveyed. Meanwhile I was working out things I thought could be done to make my life as easy as possible and we found a marina where I could stay for a period of time. I took the plunge and the boat was taken out of the water and the necessary work done. She went back into the water and I took possession on the 1st of November last year. Yes it has been a speedy change of life but it can be done with help from knowledgeable friends! I guess that getting it as I want it will never be finished but I am having so much fun and satisfaction in doing it and we have been out cruising this weekend. Dare I say it but I was at the helm for a lot of the time guided by one of my experienced boating friends. This may not sound very exciting to a reader, but I will now add a bit of info about me. I am writing this just after my 86th birthday and in the last six months I have gone through a divorce, a cancer operation and broken my jaw in a fall. So I'm saying to anyone dithering – take the plunge while you can! LIFE ON BOARD is great. New way of life, great new friends and so PEACEFUL.

Evening all Or is it good morning???. Being a publican I've just locked up for the night and am now scouring the forum, whilst watching antiques roadshow with a lovely chilled glass of white. Anyway....... A fellow boater friend of mine has unfortunately had the misfortune of his boat sinking on the Llangollen canal at Trevor (or is it Trefor?), Basically the boat sank due to the horrendous snow that fell a couple of weeks ago in the area, that coupled With the fact the boat has big vents in the engine bay to keep the lister cool, the driving snow entered through these holes and the weight took the boat down, obviously the bilge pump wouldn't have been able to pump out snow the boat got lower and lower in the water until the canal water eventually breached the boat. She is not sat on the bottom of the canal in the basin end of the Llan just past the Anglo welsh hire base. The owner is distraught as can be imagined, to his own admission of daftness he only insured the boat as third party so has no claim on his insurance. All friends from his mooring location have and are rallying round to try and help raise the boat for him, we've got huge pumps. And tarps, plus some ply to try and stem the water coming in as. We try to raise her. We had a go last week but due to her stern and bow being completely submerged and the fact that she has no steel bulkhead between the engine bay and the cabin she wouldn't lift, the plan this Saturday is to get a lot of sandbags and place them on the stern and bow to try and build a wall then set the pumps going again, hopefully this will raise her and we can tow her back to the moorings where she will be dried out and refitted. In all three boats went down in the area one is up bit the other two are still down, If any members on here can offer any help with raising her be it sand bags, muscle, or just a bit of a Gongoozle then feel free to post a reply, As with all sinkings this is a terrible time for the owner, he is a lovely chap and I'm appealing to anyone that can offer their time or expertise or even a few kind words of encouragement Many thanks Nik

You are getting all moist over sod all mate, I just think it might be a good idea to try and move the problem. Obstructions to the cut affect us all don't they? It really is as simple as this!

you don't need to shin up a lamp post the wiring is in the base, just croc clip onto the fuse, and put the cover back on. you need to be off line when they light up, or your chosen lamp might not start, ( if it's sodium vapor) then it will flicker all night alerting the bods who replace the bulbs. Street lights are not metered. all that is just a guess, i would never do anything like that !

That would be the normal arrangement. The calorifier circuit is before the thermostat - ie always circulates even with the thermostat closed, whereas the skin tank circuit only circulates as the thermostat opens. So normally 4 pipes connected to the engine.

How long ago did he cancel his IWA membership, just wondering if we can blame them as apparently the lurgy symptoms are - makes you feel down, full of snot, not able to do anything useful, stay in bed and moan rather than cruise and babble nonsensical statements.

It always is.

Scuse what may be a stupid question due to lack of local knowledge, but was this near to a Silentnight factory or something? Ie, why do you think it is Silentnight that did it, and not just someone dumping their old mattress or even some other company dumping a load of old mattresses, like might happen if a hotel was being refurbished or something? Seems odd that a company would be dumping their own stock at all, much less into the cut?!

Not got much time, sorry not to give you answer you deserve. I am not trying to propose something that makes cheap housing cheaper. Most of the small area liveaboards wouldn't want to be in a marina (certainly) or in a fixed spot (almost certainly) and if it is cheap housing they're after I have no problems with vast marinas with moorings at £4,000. What I don't see any more is the middle rank of boats, that you will remember, smaller, cheaper family boats that used to abound on the system. I propose (as strongly as is my wont) a drastic reduction in licence fees for smaller boats (£550 is ridiculous for 25 foot boat) and cheap short moorings (at most the price of a licence). This will bring a whole tranche of boaters and canal enthusiasts back to the canals and - most importantly - bung that huge divide between the liveaboards, the cheap housing boats and the wealthy boaters. Do you think it's right that the canals should be reserved for those two groups? Wealthy leisure boaters and cheap housing?

Seek out a convenient lampost. Moor next to it and when the coast is clear shin up it replace the bulb with a twin bulb adapter, shove the bulb back into one socket so the lamp still works, with your extension lead plugged into the other socket, stick the lead to the post camouflaging it with the same colour paint as the post. Now just be patient until lighting up time and you can do all your work and charging overnight. Sleep during the day.

Wow an invisible greenie. Phil