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I have it in my left ear but have you called the Tinnitus helpline? I tried it once but it just kept ringing......................

It seems a fairly pointless exercise to canvas a boat forum about whether the numbers of such boats are increasing (or decreasing) as without proper statistical data all you will get is heresay and the anecdotes of a handful of respondents which is never going to be representative. On the other hand, if it's just an excuse for another moan carry on by all means if that's your thing.

I think you'll find that if the Composters are doing it properly they stir more shit, more often than almost anyone else

I walked by the Reading Tesco moorings this morning. Boats that have been tied up on the public moorings there for three years are still there, along with a variety of other boats breasted up to them. This pointless effort by Reading Council of having a 'parking enforcement' contractor put up outrageous signs full of threats and endless legal-ese is just another over-the-top reaction to the problem of a tiny minority of boaters colonising public moorings. CRT and the EA have done the same thing in miscellaneous places around the system. Unless these various authorities actually follow through and enforce those signs nothing will change. But we all know that it's a fool's errand (expensive, tiring, lengthy) trying to get payment or movement from people who have no intention of either.The only people who suffer are the vast majority of boaters who love these waterways and follow the spirit of responsibly cruising and living on them. They will be the ones who don't stop and visit and enjoy these places, and the communities posting the idiotic signs will be left with colonies of anti-social boaters. A lose-lose situation. BTW, cruise round the corner and up to the Reading Gaol moorings ... and you find similar signs requesting £9.50/night, payable over the phone. And lots of other warnings. Nice one Reading.

Relax, as Bob Marley said, evra liddle ting gonna be alright.

A trip from Bourne End, to just shy of Marlow from the air. Cheers, Mike

The Highway Code is quite clear on the point of not driving along in the RH lane just because you are on the speed limit. The method of driving you are supporting is contrary to the Highway Code and that makes it BAD DRIVING. I quote: "You should always drive in the left-hand lane when the road ahead is clear. If you are overtaking a number of slower-moving vehicles, you should return to the left-hand lane as soon as you are safely past. Slow-moving or speed-restricted vehicles should always remain in the left-hand lane of the carriageway unless overtaking.

I have a slight theory about using motorways ( which are still considered the safest form of driving!). For each lane you should have a 'speed range' this would help in keeping the traffic flowing. Eg Lane 1: 55-65 mph ( allow for joining traffic as well as slow moving lorries etc) Lane 2: 60-70 Mph ( allow for overtaking lorries) Lane 3: 65-75 mph. Plenty of putfalls i am I am sure as well as how to enforce, allow for merging lanes etc.

Opening the black door behind the steps in the car park of the Golden Fleece in Lymm revealed this today. It was clean and tidy but didn't look that recently used. A couple of crisp packets had blown in. There is no lock on the door, just a slide bolt. I imagine calling for a drink in the pub might not go amiss if this is a private Elsan sluice. The pub was closed this morning and I couldn't find anyone to ask. This facility is not listed on the Bridgewater Canal web site listing the facilities available. The water tap and a piece of hose are there to rinse your container. One other water tap for boaters passing is on the west wall of Marsland Road Bridge (34) in Sale just before you reach the Sale Cruising Club site. Its reasonably easy to tie up there.

Agreed! Lol , you are in their garden, bar a Mtr strip, just 1.9 mtrs you can sit down at their kitchen table!!! whats for breakfast then!!!

With all due respect it comes down to how good the air curtain is running up the front of your glass, my aarrow stove would do with just a wipe from a wet cloth or baby wipe like yours but the villager is a nightmare ... Rick

Reading this topic makes me think how much liveaboard life has changed over the years. In 1969 we were living on an old 42ft Mororsailer and spent the winter in Malta with no electric connection and only one battery for starting the engine. Our power audit needed to be zero so we used the following combination: Light and heat was provided by a Tilley lamp using paraffin under pressure. This was enough to keep the boat warm in the evening. I fitted Whale foot operated water pumps in front of the basins. Cooking was by gas and I refilled the Calor cylinders by hanging a local one upside down connected by polythene pipe and Jubilee clips. Hot water by solar shower, a black plastic bag on deck and hose through a porthole, still available from Argos. Malta was going over to mains electricity so we bought a paraffin fridge from the Electrolux warehouse which took hundreds in part exchange. This I installed in the wheelhouse above deck and it made lots of ice even in extreme heat outside when we transited the Canal du Midi in August. Electric consumption zero.

East coast, muddy bottom. West coast rocky bottom. Own bottom, crinkly.

Did you see my post re: Ed Shiers sussing out the problem? I knew it wasn't getting enough diesel but I didn't understand the mechanics of how it all went together, i thought perhaps the pipe bringing diesel to the Ebi didn't reach far enough down into the main tank with the result that the Ebi runs fine when the diesel has just been topped up, but fowls as soon as the fuel level drops appreciably. It turns out that the pipework bringing the diesel to the Ebi has developed scale over the last 11 years, narrowing the pipe sufficiently that without the pressure of a full diesel tank, the fuel cannot actually make its way to the Ebi. Pipework replaced, and its all good. I ken what you mean about owners trying to undertake the measures you list above. I could never do all that. I am not mechanically inclined in the least. I have had to take notes on every system on this boat so I can review them and follow each step as it is written. I don't ever have low batteries. I have a fantastic solar array on the roof that keeps my batteries charged even in very overcast rainy weather, but it is good to know that this is one reason why an Ebi might fail to work.

I see there is now a historic canal layer on Railmap Online (http://www.railmaponline.com/Canals.php). I don't now if this has any useful data?

You are all wrong about motorway lane discipline. The inside lane is for those queuing to leave at the next junction, the middle lane is for those jumping the queue to leave at the next junction and the outside lane is for everyone else plus a few jumping the queue of queue jumpers. They will sort themselves out by all suddenly veering left on the basis that a gap will open because nobody wants an accident.

Acorn joose or WW2 Gurman ersatz coughy.

Aye - sounds good. With layers I've found that although there is supposedly a 10 layer limit in practice it doesn't work with more than 8 layers - causes random errors. I've now got quite a lot of the locks in the user contribution layer (from non CRT waters) – these can be moved into the base layers once they are set to the correct angle. On the data licence for user contributions I think we just want to pick the one that has most flexibly - i.e. free use with modifications for commercial / non commercial use and no need to attribute the data to any author - something like that anyway - no restriction on data.

Like a lot of people with poor hearing it's the high frequencies that I can't hear so something with a range of frequencies would be better - provided it's not a klaxon.

I think the Springer escaped at high speed and deployed a smoke screen

Grammar - yes I suppose the sort is singular but I think it flows better with "those" for some reason. Just like fanatically refusing to split infinitives can be painful! As to 70mph I don't think it's the place of motorists to try to regulate other people's speeds. Think about the overall safety, not just an arbitrary speed limit. Which is safer, allowing the chap past at 75 or having him up your chuff getting more and more frustrated? And, as the illuminated road signs often say, "frustration causes accidents". So by blocking someone you are substantially increasing the probability of an accident. Is that a good thing? But a more fundamental point that most people don't seem to appreciate is that most cars' speedos over-read. My Subaru did so by a full 10% so I know that when it was indicating 77 I was on the limit. When it was indicating 70 (stuck behind some self-righteous person with a lack of appreciation of their speedo accuracy) I was only doing about 64.

Just one thing that may help. If you buy a narrowboat an ex hire still fitted as such would probably be best for you. Most will have two bathrooms/toilets and enough beds without messing around with the fitout.

irritating, however gives other towpath users good advance warning of a bike coming and then they can decided what action they want to take without a 'ting-ting' from two feet behind them!

Here is a reply I received from Simarine. as promised, please find attached a history statistic screen. For the moment is statistic screen locked in Pico, because we made a better one and will be automatically updated with next firmware update in about 10-14 days. You will see a statistic for the every consumer or generator separately, also for all of them together and see it for up to 3 months back.

It might be do-able as a continuous cruiser without breaking the rules, if you are prepared to spend some money on rail fares. With railway stations at Tackley, Heyford. Kings Sutton, Banbury and Leamington Spa which have direct links to Oxford, you could spend at least 20 weeks travelling but mooring for 14 days within range of these. With a bit of imagination and a bicycle, this could be stretched out legitimately for the entire academic year.

Then you will have no problems with 'business' licences, insurance or BSS - carry on 'as you were'. It sounds as if you provide a valuable service to those in need.

I'm just waiting on my watt meter to arrive and then I will hopefully be able to calculate a much more accurate audit. Again, I can only apologise for my inaccuracies so far. And I'm honestly not intentionally being uncooperative. I'm sorry that you've taken the questions I've asked in that way. And on this point, they are neither paid for courses, nor will they be held aboard. Basically I volunteer run a workshop for vulnerable single mothers and their children in collaboration with an art gallery in south london, and one of the workshops we run involves baking little items into bread for them to find in their loaves. This means the kids making things during one workshop and then me going home (alone) and sticking them into the bread maker surrounded by flour. Most of them don't even eat them or manage to get them home to mum and dad but just tear them open at the next workshop and play with them. I choose to do it with a bread maker because it would be more time consuming to make the bread by hand than just stick it in the machine, and as I say I do this as a volunteer. As I'd mentioned before I am willing to just not run this workshop anymore, or not cook it from the boat etc. etc. if the electricity would be too much for it, but as others have mentioned they are able to run these sorts of items then I have just been trying to understand the best solution to enable me to run them too. It would not, as I understand it, require any further insurance or licensing. Thank you so much to everyone who has shared information about generators - I will sit and have a good read through that victron test and look at the Fischer Panda's, so thank you to those who shared that

That is very interesting and may well be the issue with mine, I will now strip it down and check and maybe replace. Glad to hear you are carrying on boating, everything seems daunting the first time until you do it, then you have a sense of great achievement and think ...what was I worries about.

Yes but what exactly is your point. We've agreed some people never do anything right. So............. What..............? Conclusion.............? This thread is set to run and run. Keeps everyone happy, the composters get to promote their wares, they are happy, the usual shit stirrers get to whinge, whine and be negative, they are happy too! The mods should be on overtime monitoring this thread, time and a turd.

Right, prejudices aside, I think composting bogs attempt to do the same sort of shit processing that sewage farms do. Fine if the processing really IS the same but it obviously isn't. Yer average user prolly properly composts a few buckets full then runs out of storage space and atarts compromising. Eventually the compromising gets so big they end up dumping virtually raw shit in the bins as they can't be arsed to spend 3-6 months having all the buckets littering up the fordeck.

To a degree I agree with you, considered disposal of properly composted waste in your own garden is a fine achievement. Throwing anything into a landfill is a backward step, apart from possibly Blackburn Lancashire, holes in the ground are a finite resource

If you want a matching light fitting do you think a picture of the old one might help ? Just a thought.