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I hate to say it, but from my regular observations, particularly on the Southern Grand Union, it certainly looks like a shiny, well kept boat, without a load of clutter on the roof is far less likely to grab the attention of patrol officers than a particularly unkempt live-aboard, with stacks of broken pallets on the roof and sacks for curtains. As far as the law goes, (or CRT's interpretation of it), each should be treated equally, but the distinct impression I get is that the owner of a posh boat breaking the rules in exactly the same way as the owner of a scruffy one is far more likely to remain untroubled.

I usually walk my dogs along the towpath at Barrow upon soar on the 2nd Monday in April during even numbered years, so I will be there as well!

Knock yourself out, it's on teh interwebz and therefore free to all comers as far as I'm concerned.

Uncle Richard said it might be a nice thing to update my planner, I imagine to give some of the newer peeps a guide to which junction is where and what not. So I have. Quite a task given the rule changes from the last time it was done, but I think I've got them all. Let me know if it plays up. It probably will. http://www.thecatwhowalksbyhimself.co.uk/bcnChallenge.php NB: Don't bother with the rest of the site too much, I set about re-vamping it in 2011 and never quite finished... The road to hell, etc.

Actually I have to take issue with this. I am a mechanical engineer, I have a degree to prove it. I am not a mechanic in that I don't work on cars etc. (I used to, my Dad taught me that's probably how I got interested, but now I have Richard or my sons to do it for me.) Richard is also a qualified Mechanical engineer. A trained mechanic will be able to fix the cars / machinery he's been trained to fix. In my experience present them with a problem a bit out of the ordinary and they'll be stumped. An engineer can design things or come up with answers to problems they haven't seen before. For instance Richard had just installed an engine in a boat which had a different type of engine before. A mechanic could have put back an engine that he took out, connected everything back up and got it running. It needed an engineer to look at the space round the engine, and design and produce the exhaust system, diesel pipes and cooling pipes and wiring. I'm not saying you have to have a degree to do that, but you have to be able to think problems through, rather than just follow instructions. There are lots of god engineers on this forum, and you can tell by the type of answers they give. That's why I get cross about the misuse of the term engineer, and engineers not getting the respect as a profession they deserve. I'm sue you'd get a lot of trouble if you called a "housewife" a domestic lawyer, but domestic engineer seems to be an acceptable term. I had problems with a BT "engineer" who was trying to install something for a customer of mine. Because we weren't using a BT router they couldn't do the job. They couldn't tell me how to set the parameters on the router we had as they'd only been told to plug wire a into port a etc, and if there was no port a they were stuck. That's not an engineer that's a technician. Sorry about the rant, it's one of my hobby horses. Sue

That argument is just as valid for excusing sexism and racism. It's a valid argument to silence any dissent, or to basically tell anyone that doesn't agree with the status quo to shut up. Is that what you would have told Martin Luther King Jr. back when the south had Jim crow laws? "If you don't like it you can leave" is a fallacy, because its core implication "love it or leave it" is a false dichotomy, quite manipulative and corrupt in nature. When a person rightfully complains about something he perceives as immoral. "Loving it" and "leaving it" are not the only options -- other valid options are decrying "it" or seeking to end "it" without going anywhere too.

Why? I am not aware of any requirement from CRT or in law that says I ever have to move my boat off it's home mooring.

ok, there is a long term mooring near me at the moment, one of the boats occupies a 48 hour mooring across from his LTM - and has done for two years- although he did move back when kindly requested by Smudgie before the October Banter. Another of the LTM boats has been occupying the 48 hour moorings for just over a month, until this week. There are also two CC-ing boats, that have been on the 48 hour moorings for over 7 days now. If CRT cannot enforce 48 hour moorings at a very popular cruising destination spot - and also not move on the hire boats which have moored on either of the water points for 8 out of the last 12 days, then what do we really expect??

So it would be equally acceptable for me to say all CC-ers are bad boys because some behave badly? That's precisely what you are implying about dog walkers in my town, at least 90% of which I am sure are responsible. Actually I wouldn't be at all surprised if all the crap on the tow-paths in Berkhamsted is left by dogs that belong to CC-ers who just let them roam and shit!

Ok, let's get to the nitty gritty with this. All of these problems can be related to enforcement, lack of consistency, lack of patrols, lack of enforcement. I live on the cut 365 days of the year. The only time I have seen an enforcement officer in the last 8 months, was at CRT offices Milton Keynes. Before tinkering and fiddling to get a result, perhaps some good old enforcement wandering up and down the towpath, being seen, and interacting with boat owners would go a long way to solving many of the issues.

Its going to be shut on Monday! 100%. I can't envisage anything happening quickly enough to stop the works going ahead!

It would have been nice, if he'd just said yes. I could support an association that decided to finally get rules we could follow rather than us all making our own ones up, saying we think they fit in to what the law says. Casp'

Would the associations like these legal points clarified so they knew what was legally expected of their members with regards to movement? or do they prefer the current ambiguity? Casp'

Why? Your boat is your home, not your mooring. If you spend lots of time away from your mooring then there is no need for it to be "residential" which is a matter between boater and local authority, nothing to do with CRT.

I have yet to read anyone on this thread who has done anything other than advocate their choice. Sorry, I'll rephrase that "I have yet to read anyone on this forum who has done anything other than advocate their choice."

Genuine Question. Isn't the above a self Pumpout, or have I got it wrong again ?. If it is,what's wrong with using this in an Elson ?

The only way To make it Easier & fairer, Ban all self Emptying,,Cassette Users, Composer users and SPo. Make everyone use Boat yards & Marinas and Supervised Elson points,That charge and monitor use. Make everyone 'Pay for Poo' , like us pumpout have had to do for ages, that's fairer.and better for the local business, impose HEAVY fines on people caught self Emptying / Digging. Not ideal,but Fairer.

Need to get Ostrich Eggs in pairs

It won't be as easy for the boat servicing business to find another canal side or marina based workshop. Rather than castigating them for foolishness, perhaps you can suggest an alternative location for their business. I imagine that rather than burying their heads in the sand as you suggest, they've been looking, but I suspect such openings are of the hen's teeth variety?

I will bite at this one Martin, not at you......but at something she planned and tried to put in place with NO research, ILLEGAL term of consultation and No dialogue with any users of the Lee and Stort waterways. The notices went up on Feb 18th, I was pretty much the first to find and highlight on here. The consultation was set to close in the first week of April. The Proposals suggested would have resulted in boat movements NEVER brfore seen on the L&S given the numbers of boats affected - or planned in the water supplys. Suddenly we were trying to get hold of Anglers in close season,cyslists out of season, visitors/towpath walkers who liked the fact that boats made them feel safe in the southern areas, canoeists, rowing clubs who have regular regattas - NONE OF WHICH HAD A CLUE what was being put in place. Her first public meeting in Stanstead Abbots ended with a vibrant atmosphere, the following one, hosted by a rowing club, was even more fruity. Major research was undertaken by the LondonBoaters, and Upper Lee and Stort Boaters Groups, - canvassing every group, inviting them to meeings, enviromental people were horrified, Anglers who stock some stretches were horrified, Cruising clubs said no, even after the consultation period was lengthened to allow them to be targetted directly by BW. It was a disgrace, it was a draconian initiative designed to force people to move regardless of the public/enviromental/ecological/security and leisure impacts. ...it was her baby, and was withdrawn.

I don't agree with the some of the personal attacks, but I will not be sorry to see Sally go we need to break away from the old civil service "we have a problem lets introduce some new rules" to " let's go and have a look and see if we really have a problem and if we do let's find a practical solution"

When I was first taught to boat we never closed gates unless we knew there was a need to or we were told by a lock keeper to do so. When I hotel boated on the GU and Oxford it was the same, now we have locks without working side ponds, without gate paddles but with a nice ladder to get out of the chamber. I cannot see why it is necessary to close gates on a busy waterway when the odds of traffic coming at you is high, its courtesy to close them if someone's following (and draw half a paddle for them sometimes) as it makes sense. If CRT maintained its gates well ie no major leaks then we wouldn't get a soaking and they wouldn't drain off their pounds. I do think we need to look back, in many ways BW did a better job in the early years than the over sanitized enviro friendly crap we experience today. Forget "volunteers" who need a H&S briefing to pull up weeds and get proper employed lengthsmen back who know their waterway and can structure the maintenance required, As the French Waterways described BW after a visit "a micky mouse operation" and so it is today imho.