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If you convert your dog to gas you will have it CORGI registered.

Did I not mention it's a 12V dc dog, fitted with a 240V AC adaptor? I'm thinking of converting it to gas as long as I can use non standard chocolate pipework. The bloke who going to do it is not quite gas safe registered, but I will have a home made papier-mache fire blanket which I knitted myself standing by in case of problems (I'm currently using the fire extinguishers to store petrol in). Fortunately, the boat came with 25 years left on the BSS certificate, so I've been able to wire the anodes to the shore supply with bell wire which I think should reverse the minor pitting. Since I did that, the mice have been less of a problem, so maybe I'll not modify the dog as I don't like messing with things I don't understand. To be fair, the wine bottle corks had pretty much solved most of the leaks, but I'm off to do the blacking now with roofing felt which is on offer at B&Q. I'm hoping that will stop the leaks and preserve the hull, since it worked pretty well on my shed. It's true what they say, boating is a really cheap way of life, isn't it!

Just to close the loop, I thought I would reply to close this thread. Ray T kindly offered to come out with us on Sunday and show us the ropes (well more how to steer and do locks). He did an absolutely fantastic job including doing some prep ahead of the day with some 'must read' literature. As a result we have a good grounding in what to do - and what not to do - so the first delivery trip up to Knowle went really well with no dramas at all. Well done Ray T. I am really glad I posted on here to ask if someone was willing to spend some time with us as it could have taken us a month of screwing up if we hadnt asked. I would really recommend any newcomers do the same. I will offer my services in a similar way once I have picked up the necessary experience (in 35 years time!). What a great forum this is!!!!

You need a catalytic converter.

I would literally bet the farm that Richard Saillet had been operating for decades before I ever had the misfortune to know him. The way he operated during the time I rented his mooring and lived next to him and his wife/business partner was insane. He had about six scrappy cars off the road parked all over the compound, and burner mobiles in each. You'd come in after dark and he'd be sat in one of the cars on a phone laughing and making hand gestures, and would look like a rabbit caught in the headlights when he spotted you. He was prolific on dating sites (Plenty of Fish and likely others) and would always be getting caught out by his wife trying to arrange meets with some seriously elderly women. He and his wife had only been married a few months at that point, and they had only been together a couple of years-having met on a dating site. One memorable time as he was driving out of the car park to go to a trade show, one of the shop staff had just found one of these burners and taken it to his wife. She went through it and found that this "trade show" overnighter was actually a meet from a dating site, and chased him out of the car park as he pulled away, waving the phone behind him as he burned off and screaming at him. All this was totally standard behavior for him, and that I witnessed first with my own eyes, not rumours from the towpath. I left his mooring in 2015 when the business was spiralling down-the shop was half empty because the suppliers had all cut him off for non-payment, and the shop staff weren't being paid, despite him going to Gambia (where he has a house) regularly for holidays. The office was full of piled up final demands and court notices, you literally couldn't miss spotting them as soon as you walked in it was so bad. The admin girls used to spend pretty much all day lying to creditors on the phone. At that point they were working hard at separating EcoToilets both on paper and in practice, moving it to a new premises in Leicester, presumably to avoid it being taken down by the Canal Shop's debt as it went. But the EcoToilets business was/is 100% him, his baby, his grand plan to retire rich. I left the moorings in 2015, because I didn't feel safe there and I was very clear with Richard that that was the reason. He had three online moorings adjacent to the shop in a row nose to tail with no other boats or people within shouting distance after shop hours, with me in the middle. He was moored on the one side of me, and for a while (although not at the time that I left-he had been booted out for being too gobby about the shit Richard got up to) moored on the other side was a convicted sex offender. He also had a friendship/business dealings with a man that I in no way ironically refer to as the devil, who had previously physically threatened me over (no seriously) my asking him to return a plate he had borrowed. When I was eventually told that the guy behind me is a convicted sex offender who has to sign in but please don't tell anyone, I confronted Richard about mooring me (a single woman) next to him, knowing that the only way off my boat was past his, and that often he and I were the only ones there. Richard Saillet asked me why I was worried about being moored next a paedophile given that I was hardly in his target demographic (I did not know until that point that the guy had been convicted of child sex offences) and finished off with something along the lines of "and look at you, you should be so lucky anyway." When I went to tell him I was leaving the moorings and sort out my shop tab, he went literally mental-like a Jekyll and Hyde thing, and stood over me screaming and threatening me (right in front of his wife, two admin staff and with a client on the phone), and told me he would chain my boat up if I tried to leave. I went to tell the owner of the entire compound ( who didn't care, because you know, that's how Saillet got away with his bullshit for years etc.,) and after, phoned a friend in a panic. While I was on the phone to her, he came running (literally running) across the yard screaming and threatening me again. He has been getting away with his badness for years, and I have no doubt that he has come off very lucky to get just eight years after having finally been caught for what I can only dream are the worst offences in a long career as a professional scumbag. In the time that I knew him and his wife, she was horribly unhappy and in poor health having just begun to really see what kind of man she married. She had thrown her money into his business, and could not walk away without losing everything at 70-something. From the picture I have of it all, she was a victim too, albeit I have had no contact with her since I left. It's all horrible and grubby and disgusting but I am very glad that now it is all out in the open. So many people thought he was awesome and defended him rigorously when some of this genie first started to break out of the bottle.

A nasty piece of work. They should however have added ten years on for supplying composting toilets to gullible people also.

I think you should work hard until you are 50 or 60 and build up a good pension plan, or one day you will find your savings gone and your health failing. Then what will you do? Unless you already have a property worth one million plus that can fund your dream long term? Nothing wrong with dreams but sometimes that's all they are. Some people's dream is to retire on a massive lottery win but this needs a 'plan b' because they never win it.

I spend the rest of the day arguing with my wife who demands to know why the **** we haven't got another means of heating the water..

You may jest, but No. 1 Son has just that! From the University of Loughborough. Degree in Water and Environmental Waste Engineering, WEWE. You couldn't make it up.

Sometimes you can be a total twat , we have one and are happy with it different folks like different thing ....maybe you will enjoy the outer rings of Saturn ...;-)

I sincerely hope that there were no other victims aswell that didn't get in touch with the justice, as it will be very difficult having to tell what happened to you when you were abused by this terrible bast..d. 8 years doesn't sound long for distroying some elderly single womans peace and quiet, they will suffer from sleepless nights and nightmares for the rest of their lives. Peter.

Oh dear. I said you would get the negatives didnt I. Living on a boat in the winter is not at all dreary, it can be considerably harder if you dont plan than it can in a flat but properly looked into and making sure you are somewhere with basics like water and toilet disposal facilities and its lovely. I have never been to the ops flat but I know it will be much colder than my boat which sits at about 30 degrees in the front cabin whatever the weather. Like living in a flat I have my slippers on walking on my wilton carpets and its just lovely. I do agree with Tony that it CAN be dreary if you do not set your stall out and get caught out in the middle of nowhere but in this day and age plonking in a marine for 3/4 months such as nov to march is easily done as you already realise that its not a cheap option. May I suggest ( op ) you contact some of us that have LIVED aboard over many many winters and summers to get the jist of it so to speak the trouble with forums is some of the advice re living aboard will probably be given by hobby boaters who have never done it. Just remember you cant do it when your dead and your dead for a hell of a long time. So to sum up you do need a boat well sorted for living aboard and you have to WANT to live aboard and yes you need to be able to climb on and off it so mobility has to be factored in. I had a knee problem a couple of years ago and could not get onto my boat so had to move into a b and b for a fortnight but after that the confines of the boat made it easier to hobble around in than if I had been in a house. If you do hire just remember that hire boats are kitted out for short term use and hire in January not august.

So that's at least two forum members imprisoned for sex offences:

But the sounds of Winter mornings are just as nice - just 'different' Canal Frozen and you cannot move so just watch the ducks skidding along the ice, The toilet tank is full, listen to your 'partner' cry out as they get a 'blow-back'. The water tank is empty, howls of misery, no cup of tea The gas is 'frozen', no cup of tea You need to get some food in before you starve - breakout the lifeboat emergency rations, don't forget to knock-out the weevils.

Thank you guys.

I suspect that initially your mobility may well improve because that is what I find after a summer on the boat BUT I am sure that eventually you will find not only moving the boat but also routine maintenance of the boat and its equipment will get beyond you. Then the boat will become more and more difficult to live on and have a decent quality of life. I am sure many of us on here have seen boats where for one reason or another the owner has lost the ability to care for it and in many cases themselves adequately. How many years that will take is of course unknowable but what I will say is that I will be selling the boat in the next few years because I recognise boating will become dangerous with an increasing lack of mobility and strength AND that suggest I will not longer be able to look after it. I am 73. Then there are the increasing appointments for doctors & hospitals etc. Please give this lots of thought. At least with a flat you have a Local Authority who more or less are obliged to take some care of you. I bet if you are living on a boat in a way that means that you do not pay council tax it would be very difficult to access the small amount of help a Local Authority will give. Still if you think that you will remain active and with good health and strength until almost the last then go for it but please give it lost of thought.

Wow..........well thank you to all those who have replied. Im sorry for repeating questions you have all been asked a million times over but its peoples thoughts i wanted rather than a page of information on subjects. It is clear some folk are not fans of those looking to change their lives in the way you all have.......... perhaps due to the overcrowding or idiots on the waterways. Im a boat owner at current a sea fishing boat with an outboard so im not totaly naive to controling boats on water and have spent alot of time on a friends narrow boat who has also made the move to the cut K&A from the land locked life and he sais its the best thing he has done but thats not necceserily meaning i also will love it. Perhaps you guys are correct and i and my wife should not make the move, you have all given me food for thought for sure. Ive been advised to work hard and save up to live on the canals in the future perhaps but are you all millionaires?? If so well done on making it. Thanks again for all your info and thoughts

http://www.buypvdirect.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=273 £199 + VAT

If you were more switched on I think you would know watt has sparked Mr Dog's current outage. I think it's just a phase he's going through.

Must be your age

The way you phrase your questions suggests that you already know all the answers to the questions and are in reality struggling to bring them all together and make a decision. If it were not the K & A then I would not make any recommendation, but it is, so I would say Don't.

He's not in the frame, apparently the thieves were strong and stable..

sorry to be unhelpful, but all of these questions have been discussed to the point of exhaustion and a search should provide all the information you want. Probably at least 30% of the threads on CWDF address one or other of the issues you have raised. There are no yes/no answers, the answer is always a compromise or an adaptation to conditions and situations, which is what living aboard is all about.

Countrywide cruisers at brewood have "sir melleaus" hired earlier in the year lovely boat 58 foot trad stern, solid fuel stove and pullman dinnete and cratch cover. It was aparantly built by them for a customer who then had to give up boating and sold it back to them so it really is a private boat in style and facilities highly recomend. Edited to add i have nothing to do with them just a satisfied hirer.

This thread has gone from wild speculation to wild accusation. I have Portuguese friends who tell me they're frequently mistaken for Russian speakers - how many British folk could discern a Polish accent from one of many similar accents from other eastern European countries and many outside of the area? Still, let's not let such a minor detail stand in the way, eh?

Union Carriers at Braunston have several http://www.unioncanalcarriers.co.uk/our boats.htm I thought Willow Wren in rugby had some, but I can't see any on their website.

I had a 4 berth trad stern narrowboat out last year from Claymore Navigation at Preston Brook, Cheshire.

Norbury wharf on the Shropshire Union canal have trad boats for hire.

I'm curious about who is claiming it has been stolen. is it only Blissworth Tunnel Boats? Given their comment about it not being licenced for five years I'd have thought the most likely culprits were CRT towing it to a place they can lift it out and impound it.

My definition is anyone whose sense of entitlement outweighs their common sense.

Although not binding on any other Court, the words of one of the few Judges, HHJ Halbert in CRT-v-Mayers, to see through CRT's disingenuous utterances on this subject are probably the most authoritative available to you. Canal and River Trust v Geoffrey Douglas Mayers Chester County Court 22 November 2013 In paras 7.21 to 7.22.4 of his Judgment, HHJ Halbert stated:- 7.21. It seems to me that the expression ‘navigation’ clearly means the process of undertaking any purposeful journey from one specific point to another by water. The addition of the words ‘bona fide’ import an entirely subjective element and merely mean that the journey must be undertaken for genuine purposes and not for the purpose of circumventing the legislation, when in reality the intention of the boat owner is to stay as nearly as possible in the same place. 7.22.1. It is, as I have already said several times, unnecessary for me to comment on whether the guidelines match the legislation. I do so in only two respects and with the express proviso that this does not form part of the decision. 7.22.2. I think the guideline’s interpretation of ‘in the same place’ is correct. It cannot be taken to mean ‘in exactly the same position’ because to do so would drive, perhaps not a coach and four but at least a horse drawn narrow boat through the purpose of the legislation. The requirement not to stay in the same place for more than 14 days is imposed on boats with either form of licence so if it could be satisfied by moving 50 yards the legislation would be wholly ineffective. I agree that it only makes sense if it is interpreted in a much more general sense. If a boat were moved 500 metres within the Parish of Anderton it would in my view be in the same place. If it were moved to Northwich, over 2 miles away, it would not. 7.22.3. I consider the requirement imposed by CRT that a substantial part of the network is used cannot be justified by relying solely on section 17 (3). That section requires ‘bona fide navigation throughout the period of the licence’ not ‘bona fide navigation throughout the canal network’. The requirement is temporal not geographical. In my view it does NOT follow from:- ‘Such journey or cruise must take place throughout the period of the licence’. that it ‘therefore requires progression round the network or at least a significant part of it.’ 7.22.4. If a person who lived permanently on his or her boat had specific reason for making repeated journeys over the same stretch of canal between two points sufficiently far apart to be regarded as different places, it would in my view be purposeful movement by water from one place to another and hence ‘bona fide navigation’. In the course of argument I used the example of someone who lived on his boat and was also using the vessel commercially to move coal from a mine to an iron foundry only a few miles away and then returning empty for another load.