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Here is a "cover all" post for this thread - feel free to copy/paste it as many times as the "long standing members", or budding thereof feel fit.... "As I post regularly on here - ergo - I am an EXPERT boater, and anyone who wants to do things differently must be a fool, and should be pitied, or merely ridiculed. Recently, I did something or other on water, and someone disagreed with my actions, or simply misunderstood my wild gesturing, which was obviously indicating to any SANE person what I was doing. This perfectly illustrates that the other person (not ME obviously) was, at the very least, a fool, or at worst, a total idiot. Hopefully, they will eventually see the light, and join this happy band of like-minded EXPERT boaters, and then they too can cast aspersions at fellow boaters, just like we do. Happy days!!"

Ok, my shortened interpretation: We want to engage more with boaters as a whole. We are taking great steps to ensure that CC’ers understand what is required of them, including targeting people who are planning to buy boats and may be considering CC’ing. We will publish maps showing suggestions of routes that we would accept as compliant CC’ing. We will continue to work on options for hotspot areas where there is a large amount of long term non complaint cc’ing, to reach solutions for permits etc., for people who have bridge-hopped or moored there forever non-compliantly. We’re going to keep fecking about with visitor mooring stay times and signage. We are cracking down on ghost moorings and people who declare a mooring but apparently never use it. We will be more transparent about how enforcement works. More surveys, feedback panels and general consultation of boaters. We will do what we can to talk to and work with boaters who are having difficulties CCing. We’ve employed several new staff with new titles to help us do all of this at ground level. Though boaters are fecking hard work to talk to and deal with on occasion, we find that getting feedback and opening dialogue with boaters is over all beneficial to both parties. From Jan 14, all new CC’ers will get a letter within a month of declaring as a CC’er (how?!) explaining what is expected of them and how we monitor boat movements. We will also “give them feedback” throughout their first year to tell them what we think of their cruising pattern. We’re changing the CC1 letter to be more user-friendly. We’re going to sell short-term permits for staying on vacant (presumably unsold) long term moorings. The roving mooring permits in Cowley will begin in April 2014 Boaters on the Western end of the KandA are impossible and we are no closer to reaching a solution to overstaying. London is also full of non compliant CC’ers, we’re going to have lots of meetings about this, and arrange meetings between boaters and local residents in problem areas. If you’re a CC’er and getting in a pickle, we recommend talking to the waterways chaplain. We’re looking for places to put in more long term resi mooring berths in London, and are opening 19 in total during 2014. We are investigating 30 more potential spots too.

Is this the kind of post normaly found on " Kiddie book " ? Tim

I had to wake up and get the fire going in the frosty cold this morning...used a whole box of fire lighters and then had to go out and fetch my saw, and cut up a few dry bits I had lying around....took ages to get the fire to catch.... and I had to empty the elsans yesterday ....oooo it was cold..... What's more I probably have to go get new gas soon, and my water tank needs refilling. Apparently it's going to get colder in the next 2 months..... I dont know if this boating thing is for me.... It's such a hard life..... ROFL!!!!!!

You may find that is all you are going to get at this time of year unless you tilt the panel much further. If the panel is 24v or 36v, you may find an MPPT controller will give you more A from your rays, get a 30A one and you have room to extend your array to 2 panels. You have 5m cabling , I would say this has to be minimum 4mm2. You state standard electrical wire from homebase....if single core,you must replace as soon as possible with a decent thickness multicore cable. There should be a fuse (24A plus) between the controller and the batteries on the positive side. If your batteries are almost fully charged, expect to see the A drop off, even in bright sunshine, as the controller enters the final charging stage.

OY you !! Why did the fire go out in the first place.....................they NEVER go out from lighting until next June !! Tim

Absolutely no offence meant here. But............. .......I always seem to picture Hodges out of Dads Army when I read some of your posts.

Pre Planning means having kindling drying near the stove and being disciplined enough not to use it up on a cosy evening.

I think it was, it was called "legging"

Looking at it logically, you could build or buy a boat suitable for all British canals. Maximum 50 feet long (Leeds & Liverpool), 7 feet wide (The narrow bit in the middle), drawing no more than 2 feet of water (Most canals in various places) and sticking out no more than about five feet above the water (The River Lee, among others). That boat would also work on the European system, as long as you could live with the size as a permanent dwelling. Unfortunately, to make her safe in a blue water seaway would be nearly impossible. Among other things, you'd need a mast tall enough to make radar and a radar reflector worthwhile. You *could* add a lifting wheelhouse, but you'd lose a lot of space and it'd cost a fortune. A possibility to make her more stable would be bolt on outriggers, or possibly a cradle which could be sunk to take her, then raised, but that's getting into the realms of fantasy.... Unless you're planning on Channel hopping every couple of months, it shouldn't be prohibitively expensive to build a widebeam capable of coastal cruising, to and use a cargo ship or lorry on a standard car ferry to move her from over <---- here to over ----> there. Call it about £1500 a pop. Just my two penn'orth... Bye! John.

Of narrowboats, probably no more than a handful, though Jim Macdonald (Elizabeth) has been both ways and Chris Coburn (Progress) ditto more than once. The OP doesn't specify a narrowboat of course, and may even have a cruiser in mind. In truth though trying to find a vessel that is sea-worthy and also canal-friendly means you inevitably fetch up with something that is the worst of both worlds. Looking at something that will last 30+ years adds another dimension. Most ex-trading Dutch barges such as ours were built in the 1920s or even earlier, and suitably equipped will make the crossing in good weather. They can cruise throughout continental waterways with no bother, but are pretty limited in the UK. Tam

Those are not really portholes - they are round windows!

Better than what? Better at taking a fairly large commercial ship on a commercial waterway with sufficient way on to maintain control of his empty vessel and take it through a fairlly tight gap with inches to spare? If he had been going too fast he would have drawn down in the narrows there and lost control - that looked like a professional doing a professional job to me. Tam

Mmmmm its back to the continuous moorers again I pay to moor which in one way or tother goes to the upkeep of the canals and rivers which we all love and use. If you dont want to pay to moor go and CC or leave the cut simple Peter

It's like an irregular verb. Good luck if i do it, naughty if you do it, and fraud if he does it.... MtB

sawing the Alde in half will not reduce the gas consumption..

Hi ya, I think that if you have a total battery capacity of approx 460amp hr. Hopefully it would be safe to say that they will at worst be depleted to approx 50%. So Lets say 230 to 250 amp. It's fair to say that a good charger should reflect 10 / 15% of expected requirements (I think). So I would look at a minimum of 30 / 40amp allowing for upgrades should be fine.( What size did you have ?). But that's just me. Happy hunting & let us know the outcome.