Leaderboard

How true. If a boat builder (As opposed to a steel fabricator) built a canal boat suitable for wide canals then he could make a decent job of it. Side decks you could walk along instead of silly little ledges, a cabin that was contained within the cross section of a bridge arch, a front deck you could work from safely, a stern that tapered to a decent counter so you didn't bash brickwork with the corners and if you didn't actually hate boats then why not build in a bit of sheer and shape? All that steel wasted on a monster that must have been 'designed' by a bloke with a ruler and a set square. These things are the boat equivalent of 1960's crap architecture.

My mum used to say generosity is a lucky charm. She was right. And, those walkers didn't go away thinking what a soft touch you were, they went on their way with an enhanced opinion of canal boaters. All for a couple of gallons of water.

London

Whilst I understand your cautionary note about being answerable for its quality, I see little point in having a system comprising potable water pipework, potable water pump and accumulator and a tank in stainless steel, potable water plastic or painted with potable water paint, filling it through a potable water hose from a tap providing potable water and then not using that system to provide potable water for personal use as intended.

Our lovely newly purchased 50 ft narrowboat resides in Newbury. We are typical of those who have watched the Tv programmes, hired something for a few days (complete with 20 minutes tuition) and then after many viewing and lots of 'newbie questions' decide to purchase something. Anyway....after a few months of ownership with lots of rubbing down, painting, polishing etc , we recently took delivery of our new, somewhat expensive 2 piece mattress (crossover bed) and set off on our first mini cruise which featured our first night afloat! All went swimningly well with our cruise from Newbury to Kintbury and back. Beautiful peacefull mooring at bridge 73 and the chance to use our brand new mooring pins! Very very dark and a spectacular night sky...watched Line of Duty on our new flat screen tv and enjoyed Macaroni Cheese, garlic bread and a bottle of Merlot on front of the blazing log burner. Woke to the morning chorus at 6am, walked Wobbly Ollie (ships spaniel) up the hill while Mrs F cooked up bacon sarnies and Lavazza. Relaxing, beautiful at times and just want to do it all over again . Bloody brilliant and i think we're totally hooked!!

My 23 foot Springer rotted from the inside out as the flooring was fixed, and there had been water leaks over the years. Not now! Painted the inside of the hull again this week. It was overplated a couple of years ago and it cost £3000. I was happy to do this as the surveyor said it was worth it. Insurance Co. had requested a survey as it was 25 years old then. Also I have an inboard engine, the interior is virtually untouched, and I've had it 12 years now and love it! I got a survey when I first bought it, and the survey saved me £3-4000! Depends how much you like it!

And you can take the side colour onto the roof to give a 1" border if you like, which will avoid trying to cut a neat line against a scraggy weld.

During my military service in the RAF in the early 1950's the ammunition & ordnance store/dumps in the Middle East had a 6 or 8 cylinder Gardner driving a water pump used to boost the water pressure for fire fighting equipment also a 2 or 3 cyl model with a generator attached to light the unit in the case of failure of the "leccy" supply The ones I came in contact with were all 8l3b's & 3LW's

That idea gels with my thinking.

I agree with your advisor . Batteries are certainly a good idea . Hope this helps cheers

Once you have filled all their bottles, just observe quietly, "You will boil it before you drink it, won't you?".

Didn't you have any scissors on board then?

The lock at Cowley is quite generous but I don't think the boat in question has a counter, and as such can't take advantage of this overhanging the cill, I'm sure that the barges built for the gravel run were slightly longer at around 73 1/2 feet. Another thing for the op to consider is that the dimensions would mean that this boat hasn't seen a dry dock for at least 35-40 years.

Dont forget the measure what leg length you need aswell, Is the transom height ok for a long shaft ? If need be and you have access then you could bolt a section of 18mm ply to the transom and then get a bracket fitted to that fo the new engine to sit on. This way you get a choice of what leg you can use as you can sit it any height. Dont forget remote cable length also Dotn know why flk are saying it is way to much for that size boat. I have had 15 foot boats with 60hp yammy on and flew along at 25 knots. So that engine cant be to big for the boat aslong as it is built strong enough as Phil says. Being inboard it could have a weak transom for the outboard. To push that along at 4 knots and and a bit more for the windy days i reckon a 30hp give or take will doto be safe but the 60hp will be ok, if its a good price see how it goes, you can always sell it to get a smaller one. Just keep back on the revs Nice boat hope that helps aswell. wayne :

There are cranes that will easily lift the boat. The biggest problem is finding places where the crane can safely get close enough both lift it out and return it to the water. The road between the two lifts will also have to be able to take the wide load. Tim

There are around 3500 miles of navigable waterway in the UK, and only 1200 of those are narrow. You may feel confined to rivers in the south, but there are plenty of wide canals in the north, where canal engineers and promoters had a better idea of what they were doing. I wouldn't want one of those slab-sided wide narrow boats though, whose constructors seem to have little idea about how to build a shapely easy-moving boat, as built historically in the north.

depends on which Bata panel you have - sometimes the alternator lamb bulb fails, but the buzzer sounds (the lamp is needed to kick the alternator into life. Other times the plug on the wiring loom has poor contact and needs to be pulled apart - spoken-severely-to and reconnected firmly. That's what happens on mine.......

Generally a house : 1) Don't potentially sink 2) Don't need gas bottles fetching and connecting every week or two 3) Don't need lifting up and having their foundations painted every couple of years 4) Don't need their electricity replenished every day 5) Don't need their toilet contents emptying every few days 6) Don't need their water tanks filling every few days 7) Don't have engines that need servicing every 1000/200 hours 8) Don't have engines / gearboxes that can break down Yes - a house can be a 'difficult' entity but it is really just a 'turn-on and use' lifestyle whereas as boat living requires much more 'interaction' & involvement from its occupier.

Well I enjoyed the footage.

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Hi bobbey, welcome to the forum, Do you know the builder of your boat? Any photos?