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And let's not forget the members of this forum who frown on those living on boats, especially if they are deemed to be doing so as a cheaper and more viable lifestyle rather than a purist love of boating and the waterways. Personally I think that peoples' basic need for shelter and accommodation is far more important than an affluent property owning boater's hobby, and their desire for fewer moored boats and a visitor mooring.

As far as I can see, wandering around the system, there are - as with any market - different levels of facility for different customers. There are the destination marinas (like Mercia) which, as with gastro pubs, have found a market well beyond just offering a safe haven for boats. Others, such as where we are at the moment at Droitwich, provide just what boaters need - above all a friendly location with water, elsan and rubbish disposal and good laundry facilities. For some the option of a 'proper' shower is also welcome. Others, sometimes just otherwise disused side arms or backwaters, appear to be the home to boats that are mostly liveaboard and perhaps fall into the category that b0atman suggests would be unwelcome elsewhere. The more modern marinas are often the more expensive as they have to carry the cost of the NAA whilst older established ones do not although I suspect that this is only marginal. More likely the variation depends on the capital cost of the facilities offered. I for one would not want our canal network to be an imitation of the plastic, g&t boat palace places that extend along many coastlines. Whilst I have no wish to be in a state that imperils my welcome in a marina, I am more than happy for the canals to be proper reflection of life across all of society. Yes, some boats cost well into the six figure sum (at least when new) whilst others next to nothing (there is one lying in Diglis basin that we saw an advert on the facility block door with the strapline Boat for Free although the details were honest about its current state and the work needed!) That said, my prejudices do lie in the direction of wanting to limit the number of boats moored on-line at any one location, just for variety whilst cruising.

I also think the boating community in London is completely different from the wider boating community up and down the canals and rivers.

Isn’t it expensive to keep that contractor on call just so that he’s ready to connect the genny 30 secs after you start it?

A good article in the Morning Star of all places on the perils and pitfalls of living on board in London as an alternative to that cities insane rents and house prices. Written by someone who has clearly been there and done that. Unusual for a newspaper article in actually being quiet well researched and with few obvious howlers. Worth reading for those new to boating and thinking it is a cheap and easy way of living. Jen (who can't be a red under the bed as the space is filled with boxes!)

I have no idea if I've done this right but I think I've just up loaded a picture - this is the Inverness end.

From another ad it sounds like it's 485 serial, so won't talk to a PC but can do a lot more than the 5 metres that the USB PC protocol maxes out at: 'The following shows a wired connection, we have a standard USB extension cable (0.8 m long) if you feel that is not long enough, we can provide an optional 3-meter USB extension cable; since we are using a wired connection 485 communication, Therefore, the maximum length of this line can be extended to 1200 meters. ' ETA: A couple of youtube reviews on similar ones:

Found it - Its in the rules & guidelines : As part of member validation process, new members are not permitted to post in the ‘Virtual Pub’ area until a minimum of 10 posts have been made elsewhere on the forum and to the satisfaction of the moderation team. Posts made in the Virtual Pub area do not count towards a users post count.

Hi Smileypete Many thanks for posting. I had just investigated the Allen screw, which sorted it and then read your post. Pressure is reduced and it’s working fine. Why on earth does it not mention the adjustment in the installation manual?

It may be useful if someone who has experienc of commercial towing on the inland waterways gave their proffesional opinion. It might avoid the element of "armchair quarterbacking" which sometime cofuses the issue on this site. Howard

Not bad, colour's a bit fugly though.

Its not but as some kind of engineer I find it very difficult to give sensible or helpful answers to hypothetical cases. For instance the price quoted to fix an engine could easily be an "I don't want the job" price or it could be a very fair one. The diagnosis undertaken to arrive at that price could have been extensive and thorough or it could have been an "off the top of the head" price. Hence myself and others asking for more information. The there is the boat, some makes hold their value well and age well while others were shoddy to start with and realistically would be worthless now. The original question was really unanswerable until you explained what you had in mind. How many times have we seen questions without much, if any, background information where we have to ask for answers that we sometimes do not get. It all gets a bit wearing over time and you got the inevitable responses.

or one of these https://www.ebay.co.uk/i/142530508702?chn=ps&adgroupid=46622246639&rlsatarget=pla-380277475171&abcId=1128946&adtype=pla&merchantid=114993827&poi=&googleloc=9041111&device=c&campaignid=857250873&crdt=0

If the boat had some form of drive in place then I'd potentially consider having a crack a transplanting the engine out of a small diesel car into it. I met a guy with a Freeman 22 with a 2 litre Passat engine with the turbo blanked off, seemed like a reasonable boat and apparently wasn't too much work. If it didn't have a drive then I'd bulk up the transom and bang an outboard on it.

One of my neighbours runs a small building firm. It is his opinion that politicians of whatever colour are living in a dream land if they think that sufficient housing could be built in a decade to cover the shortfall, even if the costs could be met. There simply aren’t enough skilled brickies, chippies and sparks in this country to build them. Certainly I have noticed posters at the entrance to large house building sites around here calling out for experienced trades people, which would seem to support his opinion. There is no point in arguing what should or shouldn’t be done if the country doesn’t have the labour to achieve it. See this article from nearly 3 years ago: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/feb/10/uk-plumbers-builders-engineers-skill-crisis-economy

Bilge blowers are ignition protected. They’d not be a lot of use if they caused the very thing they’re designed to avoid.

Having lived on a fat narrowboat for 3 years and several narrowboats for many more years along the way I can from first hand experience categoricaly state that for living aboard a widebeam is HUGELY more comfortable in so many ways. We loved ours and if the uk had sensible locks throughout no one would buy a narrowboat. HOWEVER we decided we wanted to go cruising again and the ONLY way to make use of the bigger part of the joined up system is a beam of 7 feet or less. Yes we all know that we can confine ourselves to either the northern waterways or the southern waterways but to move one to the other without a couple of cranes and a truck is not possible over 7 feet. Next spring we are going to York then turning round and going to Bristol visiting fab places such as Fradley and Bath on the way so it must be 7 feet or less and that's why we sold the widebeam. I wouldn't want to be anywhere near London personaly but if you are unlucky enough to have to be there then a fat boat may suffice if you never want to go far. The good news is that all boats be they fat or narrow sell instantly if priced accordingly, they always have done so you will not be stuck with your boat whatever you buy unless someone mugs you over on the purchase price in the first place. Edit to add that running costa at present are less for a widebeam than narrow for space involved, this may well soon change.

It certainly was ... I was involved in both ... If you remember them I actually Had a blog on the rebuild of my Dawncraft as when i bought it it was a total basket case, sat on blocks in a boatyard in Yorkshire looking like it would never float again, the rubbing strakes were hanging off as all the screws had all but dissolved with rust so between them and the corner fenders i had to repair 108 holes in the hull! then i put a few coats of toplac on it and it came away looking like a new boat, ran it on a 9.9 high thrust yamaha 4 stroke and it managed the tidal Trent in flood from Keadby Cromwell in one hit, I was still in the Paras then, so it was the ideal boat for weekending and the odd week or two away... so many great memories! Rick Very good! ... in the words of Basil Faulty " read a lot of Oscar Wilde do you?" Rick

This item looks the same as yours - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DC-Battery-120V-200A-Voltage-LCD-Digital-Current-Power-Capacity-Combo-Watt-Meter/162258794836?epid=1087116125&hash=item25c760b954:g:5oIAAOSw5cNYOonh Towards the end of the listing are some 'instructions' are these the same as yours?

I believe that if you built 1 million affordable houses (which could be bought on min wage) there would still be a housing crisis in London as more and more will move into the capital. The answer is to force employers out of London and into the regions.

My 2LW will not get above 40C on tick over, even fast tick over and thats with the skin tank shut off. After an hour it may crawl up to 60C on the canal, if I come to a lock it soon drops back to 40Cish. The only way to get it hot is give it a spanking up a river. I am sure the engine appreciates this treatment as it runs so sweet for the next 2-300hrs. Must be difficult to get a 4LW up to temperature in a small boat/yacht.

He was possibly not wearing his black beret with a red star or indeed the che Guevara t shirt given the publication lol

And there was me thinking you had a battery powered boat

Thank you very much for those pubs on the Coventry. As a newbie I have watched loads of YouTube videos and the Coventry sounds very appealing. Win win.

Yep. I only use it at the weekends (well, not at the moment as it's freezing) and I'm off-grid all the time. I never use shore power. I've already got a CM monitor with a display as sometimes I was using a butane camping stove for a couple of hours at a time. It never even registered on the monitor. I think I'll go with the £50 one and mount it to the wall myself with two hefty metal brackets. Behind, beside and below it would all be covered with aluminium just to be extra safe. I can get flexible car exhaust pipes. That'll come in handy with getting the flue to the window. It'd save in buying a lot of angle pieces.

They're all pretty good to decent. None exceptional. The Two Gates is a very busy pub, with a good turn over of beer. Half dozen choices, all good, perhaps best kept out of all ? And under £3 a pint. The back bar is friendly and not so foody. And you can't moor closer to a pub than this one. Maybe the Barlow too

It might be worth having a word with Mr Burge regarding an engine. I'm sure he's still got the 9hp pup out of Antarctic, it's probably in the brambles next to the 15hp from Jaguar! Catch him on a good day and play the heritage card.. You never know.

Can i just say tho if it were not for the good people on this forum liveaboards or not who may of been negative towards me innitialy helping out when they realise this is something i have thought about read and read and read about then i would be stuck and potential naiver then currently and buying a bad egg perhaps.......so thanks to all who have helped me.

I suppose that depends upon the cost of the boat. I would have thought that he value of an OB powered boat woodlouse be rather less than in inboard diesel so as long as you got the boat for a price that having bought the outboard, sorted the transom if needed, and in the case of an older, smaller outboard sorted alternative/additional battery charging that kept the final total to what such a boat would then be worth it would be worth doing. However it seems many people overestimate the value of their boat so getting one for a realistic price may not be easy. I would hope that an old GRP boat with a dead inboard would only fetch a very few hundred pounds or less because it would cost the owner money to get it scrapped but owners often do not seem to appreciate that. I would hope that such a boat may be available for nothing as long as you transport it.

Black smokey or white smokey?

If he wants. Might be a bit cold for the one in the cockpit at the moment though!

My 5.8kW Refleks oil heater burns 0.8 litres/hr at maximum and 0.18 litres/hr at minimum So after having the heat turned up full blast for about an hour it ticks over costing about 13p per hour. This may be a bit pricey, but the convenience is well worth it.