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Many are, I agree. I find it a shame that a good percentage of current canal users have no interest in the traditions that drew me to the cut over half a century ago...but I wouldn't care at all for a wide beam. Having just come down the Thames from Oxford, I've seen plenty and remain unconvinced. Sorry

There are a number of serious engine problems that "might" be caused by running at very light load. Bore glazing, a hard varnish that forms in the cylinder Bore polishing; the cylinder becomes too smooth and shiney Ring sticking; a sticky gum stops the rings moving and pressing against the cylinder wall Bore wear; not many people appear to worry about this and its the most serious problem. These things can all cause poor compression and burning of engine oil (blue exhaust smoke) because the cylinder wall needs an amount of microscopic roughness to work correctly. Its not easy to work out just how much light running really contributes to these problems, there are many experts (some real experts and some self appointed experts) and they have different views. Here is one of many articles: http://coxengineering.sharepoint.com/Pages/Boreglazing.aspx The choice of engine oil MIGHT also be a factor which is why some boaters use API CC oil in older engines. So...some boaters run in gear to load the engine just to be safe. As said above its against the rules and anti social. The best approach is to fit a reasonably large alternator and a temperature guage. A big alternator will load the engine as much as the propeller. Run the engine quite fast at first till it gets up to temperature then ease off to a bit above tickover. If your running for a long time then maybe give it a few revs every hour. An engine running at tickover will most likely never warm up and this is a bad thing. ...........Dave

But you have a bidet though, right? Surely?

Is this for the book or for you? If you've heard arguments for all options i guess you are about to get the same arguments again.

No, but it does make me very glad that you're normally occupied counting bedpans and don't have a say in running our waterways.

Bottle opener.

If you go down the K&A towards Bath, you enter a time dilation field whereby time slows down to the external observer. Therefore you need to book at least a year to go the last 20km. Whilst you and those around you will think time and boats are moving normally, to the external observer all the boats seem stationary for long periods.

You're a delicate little flower if you think Tony's posts up there are abuse or is that an accusation that you only throw at posters you don't like?

Here's the email address for a Sea Otter owner who lives in Braunston. If he doesn't know the answer I doubt anyone will! info@e-canalmapp.co

It wasn't a compliment, just an observation. Consistently abusing posters who ask you challenging questions is not something to be proud of, if this is your intention. MtB

Venus is the second planet from the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days.[11] It has no natural satellite. It is named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty. After the Moon, it is the brightest natural object in the night sky, reaching an apparent magnitude of −4.6, bright enough to cast shadows.[12] Because Venus is an inferior planet from Earth, it never appears to venture far from the Sun: its elongation reaches a maximum of 47.8°.

Consistent with Tony's tendency to respond with abuse to posts/posters he doesn't like. MtB

OH loves a bath, I don't but we had the room with the walk through and he planned the plumbing to cope when we fitted out Snail's bathroom. It does double as a shower tray too. And a Jacuzzi is wonderful therapy for tired,aching bodies.....

Is the last bit from the Judge, or is it your precis? I would agree that "bona fide for navigation" must mean the same thing regardless of whether a boat has a home mooring or not. What is different is how that plays out due to the period over which the boater is engaged in navigation. The boater with a home mooring may engage in bona fide navigation whilst away from their home mooring. He or she will navigate whether with particular places to visit in mind, or without any particular plans (beyond a plan to return to the home mooring when no longer navigating). During the periods that he is navigating, he will do so, constrained by a limited period of navigation and need to return to a home mooring. The boater without a home mooring is unconstrained by the end of the period of navigation, because he intends to continue to do so "throughout.

If you go on apolloduck & go to the narrowboats section , down the left hand side there are names of boat builders so you could click on the one at the top for instance & look thru those , noting what you like , don t like & the asking price etc . Some " makes " will appeal , some won t for all sorts of different reasons but slowly you ' ll develop an idea of what you want from your boat . Really , the most important thing is simply to just go out as often as poss to look at boats that fit your criteria of length , stern type , builder , fitter outer , etc etc . Its important you do this , as opposed to just looking at photos on websites because the difference is often staggering & i viewed a number of lovely looking boats on tinternet & in real life they were terrible . So look on the duck , broker websites - see what you like but then go & look at as many as you can as often as you can . Go to whilton marina & look at lots - even the ones beyond your budget so you gain an insight as to whats out there . I m not suggesting you buy from them but they let you look at boats at your own pace & you can have a proper nose around . Theres alot to think about regarding the technical stuff - engines , hulls , electrics etc but i simply asked myself this question when i went looking at boats . " Could i live in this boat "? Was it laid out right , is there enough storage , do i need to do lots of work to it or is it more or less right ? Do i need to spend £££ or is there a big enough inverter to run various electrical items , is the bathroom / bedroom / kitchen big enough etc . This is very simple stuff of course but to me that first question above was the most important one because if the answer is " no , i don t think i could live here " then thats game over & carry on looking . When the answer was " yes " i then set about finding out more about the engine , hull , etc etc . I walked onto the boat i now live on & within 1 minute thought " yes , this suits me in here , i think i could make this home " . From there it became then about the mechanical stuff because this too had to be acceptable , which fortunately it was & my boat was a , i think , a good price . Also be prepared to end up with something thats the opposite of what you initially wanted . I was adamant : cruiser stern , no longer than 50 ft . I bought a 58ft Trad ! . It happens - thats boats & different things appeal to different folk . Theyre not like cars as there not made to a bog standard design , theyre " commissioned " by individuals & built to that individuals requirements - thats why there are such a bewildering number of styles , inside & out , when u look on tinternet & this is why its so so important to get out there & get looking at lots of boats . Its probably the most repeated bit of advice that gets given on this forum & its 100% accurate . Anyway , these are just my thoughts & how i began the process . I too received a good deal of advice on here & your boat WILL try your patience , it will annoy you , it will cost more money than you imagine as things will go wrong & break down from to time . BUT you WILL learn new skills & abilities you may never have known were within you & this learning curve doesn t end & theres always something to learn & always something to do as a boat is never finished - but thats part of the appeal . So don t rush to buy any boat , take your time , look at lots so your decision is as informed as possible & then ultimately you have to hand over a massive wedge to buy it so you need to be confident you ve got right . I love my boat to bits & would hate having to go back ashore . I m sure you will too but the buying process can be a minefield so proceed with caution & only buy once youre sure , cheers

Then if there is enough canal to be a legitimate Ccer the issue doesn't arise does it. You argument seems to be that some people are forced to make a commitment they have no intention of fulfilling because of the lack of a waterway that does not set such conditions the only way they can obtain a licence is by deception. The conditions are the conditions and lying to get a licence is hardly excused by pleading that you are FORCED to lie because you wouldn't have got the licence honestly. By the way, there are NO waterways in "my area," should CaRT be forced to supply sufficient for me to cruise?