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Don't worry I caught my boat before the centre line fell in the water. Luckily for me the boat won't fit side ways in the canal so it got stuck and helpful people watched me pull it back. This mooring spot is a blooming wind tunnel Only one person is honourable to confess ( he can have a bottle of Babycham) I blame the forum illuminati for everything that is going wrong. I have water sloshing about in my engine room at the blunt end and I've bent my nail the wrong way. Hope you are all proud of yourselves

I did not introduce HS2 into this thread but I will take every opportunity to dispel the nonsense spouted by the anti HS2 brigade whenever and wherever it appears. As for going elsewhere, I am not about to be told where I can and cannot post by a newbie with 10 posts to their name. However I do thank you for apologising to everyone for your intemperate outburst. George ex nb Alton retired

Might be worth saying although splicing is straightforward , attempting your first splice on an old rope can make it awkward, the rope has lost its flexibility. Not impossible by a long shot just more difficult, anyway good luck its a very satisfying thing to do

You should have asked us whilst going down Hatton, Gillie would have showed you how, though probably not done it for you due to the broken wrist. As several here have said, splicing is relatively easy and can be quite satisfying, but a visit to Tradline is an essential boating experience, ideally repeated every year. Note that although some of their stuff looks a bit costly it is generally of better quality than that from some big chandlers. ................Dave

Tradline is in the marina - which, in case you haven't been before, has some interesting historic buildings and is well worth a look round.

Everyone wants different things from their boats. Most of my neighbours are highly amused to learn of the large amounts of creature comforts I have on-board, but they are happy with just the basics. If you are retired and have the time and energy to do things, then you probably won't need so many electrical gizmos. But I work outside all year round and whilst most things are 12v, tv laptop, tablet, fridge and freezer, I also have a decent battery bank, Solars and a large inverter. I have better things to do with my time than sit in a launderette for hours, for example, so throw my dirty clothes in the machine and do several loads a week, for which i need the inverter. No one way is right or wrong, just what works for you, I have invested in everything I can afford to make my life easier and for me it works.

One of the best things you can do is too make a power usage sheet, and decide how your going to charge the batteries effectively.. it doesn't really matter if you use 30ah's or 200ah's a day it's charging the batteries to 100% on a regular occasion that's key. There is a chap on here that's designed a monitoring system using a Pi..

I do like it when new users tell established members what they can and cannot discuss on the forums. Anyway, back to buried boats.

Well at least with Chertsey I made all the bends and bridges through the Parks without any "refusals"! Not so successful, unfortunately, this year with Flamingo, (which is a whole lot less nimble than Chertsey), and some of the floating flats made getting 72 feet of ex working boat around the tight bends a real nightmare. None more so than the massive monster that seems to now be permanently moored just beyond the mill stream on the offside at one of the tightest bends, and which I came close to "modifying". IMO, the biggest problem with the growing number of ultra-wide beams on the Southern GU is where people choose to "park" them, which often involves some random combination of bridge, bend and heavily overhanging offside vegetation. It is getting to be a lot more than a regular annoyance, it is now often actively making things dangerous.

Without wishing to sound critical , i just don t get this . I have a cheap twin tub . its performance is way beyond what one might initially think when looking at it . If u have a " proper" washing machine that you fill with water yourself then its the same as my cheapy except i actually can and fo use the drier . Even if i handwash something it still goes thru the dryer as it performs so well . It seems to me that folk want " a built in washing machine "'so its like at home and this need is driven by aeshetics . I don t get it all . My twin tub cost virtually bugger all . No hassles , sits in the engine room when not used so not wasting otherwise usable space , sits on the front deck when used ( or shower tray ) so no power used to drain it . Theyre just completely pukka and i expect folk dont like them cos they look cheap ..... which they are ! This isn t a criticism of other peoples opinions but with so much else that has the potential to cause strife on a boat why have anything more complicated ?

A GRP cruiser is likely to have much worse thermal insulation than a steel narrowboat but with a £10k narrowboat that might not be true. Poor thermal insulation leads to condensation and feeling damp & cold in the winter. Although it is done safely fitting a solid fuel stove is much harder in a typical GRP cruiser because of the distance required from flammable materials and also because GRP burns well. It is generally accepted that the most cost effective form of winter heating is a solid fuel stove. Such stoves also help to draw damp air out of the boat as well. The cooker and any other fuel burning devices that are not flued WILL make any condensation worse. It is impossible to quantify the maintenance costs, especially at that price level. The engine may or may not be in good order, ditto the gearbox and shaft. The batteries will almost certainly require replacement and unless you get a reliable means of fully charging them at least once a week and never discharge below 50%ish you could find you replace them every few weeks/months. Get the charging right and they could last from two years upwards. Typical cheapish leisure batteries cost around £75 each and the boat may well have two or more. Unless you are in a marine with a mains hookup and a battery charger battery charging involves running the engine for hours. Solar charging may do much of the charging in the summer but will almost certainly not in the winter. You can declare that you will continuously cruise but that requires you to be making a journey of some undisclosed length and never stay anywhere for longer than 14 days or less if so signed. Tying to bend this rule for any length of time to fit in with working is likely to get you into trouble with CaRT in many areas of the country. I understand the northern waterways are better served with public transport so CCing and working may be a bit easier. That £10K concerns me because at that price you are likely to be buying junk that requires possibly thousands spending on it if its an all steel narrowboat. See my replay just above my last one. Edited to add: Many narrow beam canal cruisers use an outboard motor. By and large these do not provide sufficient charging for livaboard batteries in the winter. They also involve obtaining petrol at the full pump price (no lower rate of duty for battery charging diesel fuel)

When I first read the original post, I wasn't sure whether the OP wasn't under the impression that the power used at 12 volts was somehow less than that used at 240 volts (and I'm not thinking just inverter efficiency being the difference). He did say he wanted all mod cons, so it's not a simple 'will I be able to manage with just a 12 volt supply' lifestyle question. We've probably answered all permutations now anyway, but it would be interesting to know.

And, as one of our recently departed forum members pointed out, in the transition from BW to C&RT, the obligation for maintenance was conveniently left out of the requirements. There may be an 'expectation', but it is difficult to criticise someone for not doing what there is no requirement for them to do.

no it is not, this scheme will ruin hundreds of peoples lives and its NOT only my area that i am concerned about. The oxford canal will be ruined and the chilterns among others. Come and see the places and people affected and look at both sides of the story, before you make these nasty unnecessary comments. This forum is to do with sunk boats so i suggest you go elsewhere. Apologies to others having to read this

Unfortunately for the last few years the cost of securing this 'new income' (from friends, Chuggers etc) has actually cost over £1,000,000 PER YEAR* more than it has raised - therefore it could be said that boaters are actually paying an ever increasing part in funding C&RT. Without all of this fund raising there would have been another £1 million per annum to spend on maintenance, duck lanes, Voles, court cases and signage. *Figures readily available for confirmation from C&RT.

oh good and oh darn - i thought we may be about to have a robust but reasonable discussion - just to show we could

Yep, the general consensus from other threads recommend before. To do with getting all the nasties out. But also wont it be nice to come back to one less job to do!

To store a line and dry it from the heat of the cabin stove. Bearing in mind the ropes were made from an organic material, cotton I believe, and would rot if not cared for. url],