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well all packed (well almost..) cakes baked (1 already eaten by neighbours) and off to boat tomorrow.. Decided to head for whaley bridge and I set up a calendar system so friends and family could mark in dates they would like to visit... they have been brilliant and i already feel like a hotel boat!! I have planned it so that I will have a few days on my own and then visitors for the flights of locks so all being well I will gain confidence on the single locks but not hold anyone up on the flights.. so if you see me out and about make yourself known... beer and cake for everyone !! x

My twenty two year old Beta BV2203 has thrown the pulley off the crankshaft, stripping the thread and meaning the engine must come out. Trying to get my boat into Brinklow I was tied up at Rugby, single handed and thinking how to get the six miles to Stretton Stop. The first boat that passed yesterday morning agreed to tow me without question, so thanks very much to Kelvin and Carol on their boat the Evening Standard. It was crowded and busy at Stretton Stop and I had to get the boat into the arm backwards so was unable to say a proper goodbye and thank you to them. A great example of boaters helping each other just because "that's what we do".

I think Naughty Cal is the best person to answer this.

We took a picture of it this year being pushed to Uxb boat ctr by a wood & Hall tug for a check over, blacking and tarting up. Quite a site to see a boat with 3/4 of its bow missing travelling along. Darren

Was it paired with Sterreow?

Bet you keep the rope on the cabin top from now on.

But then again one less generator on the cut can't be a bad thing.

Best news I've heard today. Good luck.

Personally the Thames and Severn canal to give a route from Gloucester to Oxford without having to come round the tidal stretch to Bristol giving a good long ring to cruise.

Hi Tommy, So basically it's a suspended floor spanning around 2m and anout 1m wide? If it was in a building then you'd want 3 off 6x2 (150 x 50) joists with noggings between them at 400mm centres (so 4 noggings between each joist). The above would give a solid, non-bouncing floor but would be very heavy and virtually impossible to remove for engine maintenance. For those reasons you'll probably want to de-spec it somewhat. Does that help?

The correct method, which works, is to grind the rearmost edges of each blade down at about 30 degree angle starting just below the tip curve on the leading edge of each blade, round the tip and finishing about half way down each trailing edge. This is the method used by Jooren in Holland (well respected manufactures of props: http://www.scheepsschroeven.nl/uk_bedrijf.html) I have once done it with a file working through the weed hatch of my barge but it took two attempts to cure it completely and about 4 hours of hard work in total. Roger

The best you can do is use a listening stick or very long screwdriver to test various parts of the gearbox and stern gland. One end (handle end) against ear and touch the other end on likely sources. Normally the sound will be the loudest closest to the problem. About the only think in the gearbox I think is likely to cause this sort of sound would be a worn/damaged/incorrectly shimmed ahead gear thrust bearing but that depends upon the design and f you have some kind of thrust block on the shaft.

Anyone here boat alone with a dog? Full time CC'ing?

Wide lock? I was talking about proper canals!

Some photos from the move: Thunderbirds are GO! When this thing turned up I realised why it was costing so much money. Over at an angle - so glad I packed everything in boxes and put it on the floor. Tight squeeze. Took us an hour to get down this street in Evesham, knocking on doors and asking people to move their cars and vans. The open road... Boat being overtaken by caravan. WTF! Northampton services - Driver's wife needs the toilet! Arriving at Billing to the chaos of a car park which hadn't been cleared...

tagulablue... I am very very sorry for your loss and I truly understand how you feel because I lost my husband in May 2012 and became a widow at the grand old age of 37. I know from experience that no two people will grieve in the same way, but I too had a massive loss of confidence to the point where I was so scared of the dark I would wake up in the night having panic attacks and would sit in the front room wrapped in a blanket with every single light on in the house. I would be willing to bet my mortgage that if someone hasn't yet told you that 'time heals', then they will very soon! But let me give you the only piece of advice that stuck with me (and this is a direct quote) "Time won't necessarily heal, but it will definitely make things feel different. You have only 2 real choices to make... you can curl up in a ball and hope the world goes away, or you can stand up and face this totally s*** situation and make sure it doesn't mean the end of 2 lives." I'm 4 years on from where you are, and my life has changed. There are some things which I just stopped doing because I had enjoyed them with my husband and it didn't feel right without him. There are some things which I have taken up as new hobbies and thoroughly enjoy (some got ditched along the way... the rowing club was a bad move ;-)). There are other things which I had given up but have returned to since with fresh enjoyment. There will be times when you are just a soggy bundle of snotty tears. Let it come, allow yourself some moments of completely justifiable self-pity. BUT, remember that you are strong, your confidence WILL return and because of what you have been through you will take absolute pleasure in the tiniest of things. Your forumite friends on here are completely right about not making big decisions yet. Can I just add to that... don't let anyone else make them for you yet either! They may do so with the best intentions, but it's not their life it's yours. Feel free to bore everyone by talking. I did, and by telling people over and over again I started to feel like it was real and I was facing it and it genuinely helped. BTW, I'm new on here... I've been watching the forum for a short time because I have met someone new (well, known 'em for years, but it's funny what's under your nose and you don't realise) and together we are searching for our first narrowboat. I'm not really one for forum's usually, but really wanted to let you know that you are not alone.

And he was big, but not as big as your old man.