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I'm sorry you took that observation as an insult Jen; I have given you helpful advice.

I don't believe it for a minute. Getting a plumber at such short notice sounds unlikely to me!

4.You don't respond at all.

It was the russians it was a Porton Down employee killing weeds Donald Trump is a russian Teresa May has a mandate to govern the uk. all may have elements of truth but the last

There are further top stories on the BBC news about "pound goes even lower", but surprisingly that seems to be something quite different to this incident!

I gave you sound advice in an earlier post and again in the one where I said "If you don't mind me saying so, it sounds like you've taken a bit of a flyer here if you're fitting out a boat and yet this stuff confuses you. ". A sensible reply to that would have given us an insight into your skills and abilities so the advice could be better targeted. I've always found this forum helpful to both the skilled and the unskilled, but the help required can be very different. Anyway, I already apologised if you had taken my remark the wrong way and received this terse reply; now you've taken to shouting at others who are normally really helpful, so I'll not bother you further.

Can I have some? One of my fenders squeaked once so it would be handy to have some of this just in case it ever happens again. I'm not worried about the expense as I have more money than sense. Where shall I send the money?

Having just struggled up the Huddersfield Narrow and now moored at the tunnel entrance, I can only agree with the OP. Obviously this is an old and formerly abandoned canal, which has always had water problems, but nevertheless it is incredibly shallow, the old stone canal walls have mostly collapsed with the stones in the middle of the cut, some of the locks are pretty dire (though in fairness, most are pretty leak free) and in order to compensate for the leaky banks the bywash levels have been lowered so that even with the level up to the bywash, there is barely 2’8” over some of the sills. Of course it all needs more money throwing at it which CRT don’t have, but what really pisses me off is that I have never seen so many new bright blue signs on a stretch of canal. The place is crawling with them. A complete lack of any concept of priority, rendering CRT’s judgement unfit for purpose IMO.

I've seen quite a few Hudsons designed like this.

Try Sileby Mill boatyard on the Soar. They are pretty good with most things.

That's never stopped you!

Used Vactan on the rust in my engine bay (cruiser stern) 10 years ago, it is now time to do it again, just bought a new bottle. I have been pleased with it as it has lasted well on the whole.

Wife wanted us to have one - I refused and that's just reminded me why. Turn Key and go, boatings about boating not spending an hour oiling the engine before you can start it - once its running it sounds like you are squeezing a duck. Horrid. UUUUUUUUURRRRRRRRRRGGGGGG A pair of proper engines, in their proper place (under the floor)

Well, its repacked, after a lot more faffing than should have been necessary. Whats wrong with simplicity these days? Simple works, requires no special tools, and no swearing!

BMC "A" series bypass hose? Easy! Squash a later convoluted one with new thin type hose clips on using a vice , and tie it with fishing line in 3 places. On a mini/1100 etc. take stabiliser bar off and rock engine forward and chock. Put hose on head spigot ,use a soaped narrow bolster chisel to work the bottom onto the water pump spigot. Cut ties, pull out, tighten clips, done. 10 minutes tops. Refit bar, top up water, make out bill for 3 hours work.

Take the two long bolts out of the thrust bearing, turn it round till you can remove the 2 rubbers between it and the thrust plate, you will then have enough room. I hate these "c" spanner glands, give me the old threaded and nuts type anyday.

No when MTB takes water from the canal it is usually by punching a hole through the bottom of his boat! (Or more accurately, paying someone else to do so! )

Just on the portholes thing, quite a lot of boats including ours have bus windows in the living area and portholes for the bedroom and bathroom. This seems a good compromise to me and I have never quite seen the point of wanting to be on a boat where you can’t easily see out of the windows. Or, you could buy a boat with bus windows and then fit curtains or blinds, cutting a hole in the centre to the same diameter as a porthole. Sorted!

True, but only if I am bigger than them.

If it was Steve Wright it'd be serious lockin, without the "g".

It is simple. You (and I mean everybody) are one of three types: you respond to any hint of aggression with exactly the same level of aggression you respond to any hint of aggression with a lower level or no aggression you respond to any hint of aggression with a greater level of aggression I find no difference between the OP and NN, they are both in the third category.

May I just add a comment in mitigation. I am not stupid but after some medical issues I do now have some cognitive deficiencies and sometimes I do not express myself clearly. I often think that what I have said or written is clear but obviously that is not the case and I miss material facts out. This also leads to poor decision making and costly mistakes. ?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-44873510 1953 and 2017.

You have contributed nothing to this forum. You come on here asking questions (fair enough) but as soon as you get an answer, given in good faith, that you don’t like, you get all tantrums and sulks. We see this relatively often, unfortunately there are quite a few people around who think they are owed something for nothing by others, I think “overburdened with a sense of entitlement” is the phrase. How annoying, I just missed the deadline to delete my earlier post where I spent some time helping the ungrateful OP.

We have that type of fender but they don't squeak :-) . Perhaps if you moor with springs the boat won't be able to move and the squeak will stop. Or maybe very tight ropes so that the fender is well and truly trapped. We put the fenders down before we do the last tighten to the mooring ropes and we often have to loosen a rope in the morning to get the fender out.# Perhaps you are being too kind to your fenders :-)] We prefer rope fenders (Iain makes them) but the plastic ones came with the boat. haggis

I'd suggest you also avoid the rather smarter looking long round ones which are air filled. A month after fitting 6 nice shiny new ones, 3 of mine are split. I'll be replacing them with the less aesthetically pleasing solid rubber ones again shortly.

Round ones squeek too. Rope ones are best.

Lowest cost would be a calorifier warmed by the engine, plus an immersion heater for if a shore line is available. The engine will need running near every day to keep batteries charged when not on land line, so free hot water anyway. Solid fuel stove for heating. All simple and reliable. Add in diesel or gas heaters, back boiler to the stove for more refinement and back up but extra money. Leave space for these in the system while money is tight and add once you get experience living on the boat and have a better idea what the problems are you want to solve. Recommendations for someone to fit a system will depend on where the boat is located. Where are you? Jen

There are so many possibilities! i think most people are of the opinion that a solid fuel stove is best for live aboard. Obviously they need “feeding” and are a bit messy, but equally there's nothing nicer than a coal stove on a cold winter’s day. Try to have it near the middle of the boat. You might also want a short term heating system eg a diesel webasto heater and radiators, for those spring and autumn days when it is chilly in the morning and evening but you don’t want the stove on all day. A back boiler on the stove and radiators helps to distribute the heat around the boat, but ensuring circulation can be tricky. Pumped systems use power and can fail resulting in the water in the back boiler boiling, and gravity circulation systems can be tricky to get right (but are ultimately better). For hot water an instant gas heater is good, but equally a calorifier gives “free” hot water from the engine. Some people have both, with a selector valve to allow the hot taps to get their water from either the calorifier or the gas heater. Anyway, a general rule of liveaboard is to try to have secondary / backup systems for when things fail.

Engine heated Calorifier + A N other (instantaneous gas heater in our case)

I have used both and much preferred Vactan. It does not need washing off and does not bleed through primer!!

If the surveyor (who is your agent) causes damage through negligence while a-surveying, he is liable for his actions, and that's why he has, or should have, professional indemnity insurance. But he probably won't be taking the boat out of the water. If the yard who are taking the boat out of the water cause damage through negligence, they would be liable, and should be suitably insured as well. They are taking the boat out of the water on the instructions of the owner (or his agent, the broker). not you; you are in no position to give instructions regarding what is still someone else's property. If the boat really does fall to bits when being pulled out, I expect there will be an almighty row between the owner, their insurer and the yard as to whether this was negligent, or foreseeable, and who is to blame, but that's not you. if the owner is reluctant to allow a survey, or claims the boat is too frail to come out of the water for a survey, then either it it really is, or he has something to hide that he doesn't want you or your surveyor to see. Either way, don't walk away, run!

Are you saying that being by water is not enchancing your (and Jeff's) welllness Nick? We got bollocked earlier this year for saying the HNC isn't fit for the purpose of navigation. We were told to be 'more creative' in how to moor to use the locks etc (Ha Ha!) I've never seen top lock gates so leak free as those last half dozen or so up to the summit but I can't help feeling that the money spent on maintaining that navigation would have been better spent elsewhere.

I just look at the green stuff showing on the waterline at the bow, if there is 2 inches time to fill up.

What DonCorleone, Higgs and co habitually ignore is that no matter how hard they argue that this charge by CRT or that charge by CRT is wrong, and we shouldn't pay it, in the final analysis, CRT can't just say "fair enough" if half their boater income vanishes. All that would happen is that they would increase the licence fee to get that income back. The impact on boaters overall would be nil. The impact on individual boaters might not be nil.

It doesn't matter who it's aimed at. The point is it, along with many other 'new' signs are a waste of valuable resources which could have been directed to more pressing matters. We were told these new signs would be rolled out as the old ones needed replacing. It seems CaRT lied to us! At the rate canals are closing it's likely hire boat companies will suffer severely and we boaters won't be able to plan cruises with any certainty. They current regime is not fit for purpose.

The way things are going they'll have to stop spending - there is no water left

Yes, I am pondering whether to see if my insurer will let me nip down to the pontoons at Kings Lynn without a pilot.

Another recent repair that has gone bad again. Do they get anything right these days? The old guys fixed things with a pick, shovel and wheelbarrow, and they stayed fixed.

Or know what a red traffic light means.