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Had a transit van on bridge 32 of the L+L last year. Driver ignored red lights and kept coming. He stopped on the bridge with both barriers down hurling abuse at me. I spotted a police car in the queue behind him so I called the PC over. White van man was later prosecuted for failing to conform to a red traffic signal. Yeah !!!!

Never keep hot ash under your cratch, it will give of CO which could well drift through the vents into the accommodation

First, the right to buy wasted a lot of capital whilst not adding a single dwelling to the housing stock. No-one knows the extent to which money spent on tenure transfer affected new building, but for sure some of the capital would have been invested in additional dwellings. Of course local authorities were not able to reinvest the capital receipts from sales so the effect of the right to buy must have been a reduction in the provision of new housing. Second, one of the arguments put forward by those who only saw the RTB as a win win policy was that most of the buyers would have remained in their houses anyway, whether they bought or remained as tenants, so the overall effect on supply would be minimal. As Blackadder put it, there was one fatal flaw with this argument, it was bollocks. Legions of tenants bought houses for massive discounts and now these houses have entered the private sector it has skewed the options for many folk trying to secure a place to live. For example, out of several hundred former council houses in my village there are now I believe only six left. Ironically the victims of this fallout are the offspring of those who chose to buy their houses years ago. The geographical distribution of tenure types is a major factor in the housing problem in the uk, ie it does matter who owns what. Third, once a property is transferred to the private sector it can stand empty/unused with no penalty. The same property in the public sector (assuming there is demand) will be continually occupied. There are former council houses in my village that are now second homes. Fourth, the dogmatic nature of the original right to buy provisions effectively prevented local authorities from reinvesting in the remaining housing stock which contributed to the falling standard of many estates and a rise in empty properties. Lastly, a factor not widely acknowledged once local authorities stopped building houses was the effect on the building industry. For many small scale builders the constant supply of council housing projects kept them afloat and allowed them the security of maintaining a workforce. The fact that as a nation we simply don't have the skilled labour we need to address the housing shortage could be said to have its roots in the ill thought out government policies of the 1980's.

Oxfordshire Narrowboats are particularly well situated between locks, about a mile one way and a mile and a quarter the other way. Whoever does the first show out north, goes to the lock to do lock demos for all the northbound boats and whoever does the first show out south does the same for boats in that direction. They rest of the show outs are given steering tuition to the first bridge and then sent on their merry way to the lock, the guy doing the show out then walks back to base to do another show out. all customers are sent by email a copy of our hand book and a link to the CRT boating video. On check in they are asked if they have read and understood the hand book and sign in to say that they have, or asked to read it then sign. they are then shown through how every thing on the boat works, given a demos on how to tie up etc and boat handling tuition whilst underway. whilst 70-80% of customers do what is told to them the rest seem to think they know better. Many boats come back to Heyford for their last night, as they are due back at 8:30-9:00am; when I walk the dog of an evening it is quite unbelievable how many of them are using bow, stern and centre lines to moor up; with ropes at 90% to the boat instead of the 45% they were instructed to do and with ropes tied to the mooring pins instead of going around the pin and tying to the boat, again as instructed. Often this is done next to Armco railing with the nappy pins left in the lockers. So whilst some may say certain hire boat companies don't do enough training you also need to realise that some people don't or won't listen and a vast proportion of people are so terminally thick that is a miracle we ever managed to climb out of the Stone Age

My batteries are not doing as well as they should and investigation revealed that one of my Trojans T105's is totally dead, one of its cells has completely run out of those specific gravity thingies! I noted that the other cells in the pair all read quite high. These two old Trojans have been using a LOT of water for a while now so this failure was not a big surprise. I purchased and fitted these batteries in October 2011 so they have just failed to last a full seven years. With the exception of a holiday in Cornwall each year, and a week or two on shore power in Liverpool, these batteries have been in use every day and cycled to varying degrees most days. Two new T125's will hopefully arrive on Tuesday to supplement the existing 4 T105s. .................Dave

I have no wish to attack volunteers. All that is required is that they stop imposing their assistance on people who may not want it. It isn't OK to assume that because YOU want to play with the locks, all those on boats want you to do so when they are going through the locks. After all, given that volunteers choose to give up their free time to operate locks, they must see it as an enjoyable activity, and it seems not to be such a leap to expect them to understand that boaters might actually enjoy it too. It isn't OK to impose your assistance by default, in such a way as to require the boater to go out of his way to let them know that they aren't to help. If you want to offer your help, go and offer it. It isn't OK to sulk if your assistance is declined when offered. Still less is it OK to do so when you imposed your assistance and had to be told to stop. It isn't OK to get all affronted when somebody suggests that volunteers are actually doing it as much for themselves as for others. It is actually very instructive to consider the motivations that people have for working (whether paid or unpaid). Too often, we assume that the motivations are different. In truth they aren't (and I speak as somebody who has a significant number of current and past unpaid roles under my belt) Clearly paid work comes with the motivator of money, but consider the jobs that you do, or used to do. Can you hand on heart say that you would have switched to ANY other job that paid more if the money was offered. I certainly can't. All roles, paid and unpaid, come with a complex mix of material benefits, and intangible benefits. I have a job that pays well, but it is also doing work that I enjoy, because it engages my brain. That is part of the package. My job is with the NHS. I could get another role in the private sector in a similar field that pays more, but I don't. That is for two fairly contrasting reasons. First I have a stable job that is more likely to endure. Second (and this may be somewhat vain of me), I believe that I am VERY good at what I do, and that my being here brings considerable benefits to society. Big headed or not, I know that if somebody else did my job they wouldn't do it as well as I do, and that the benefit to society would be less. There you go, even a git like me has an altruistic streak, but is there such a thing as true altruism? I suggest not. Altruism, helping others, makes us feel better about ourselves. Even the most apparently selfless act benefits the giver.

Also when topping up the stove with fuel open the door very very slowly, open it quickly and the vacuum, suction will draw out smoke and dust.

Or take your batteries and charger to a pub. Unplug the Jukebox and plug it in there.

Can anyone attest to the use of Craftmaster Raddle Red on their garage floor?

Be sure to treat that perfect system with the same respect and care that you are so concerned about with a more automated approach... ? For someday, it too, may fail. I installed seven cameras in my home a few years back... not only to keep an eye on the house, but to be able to check in with my wife (of 30+ years), who was in the middle of an 8 year battle with cancer. She lost that battle a little over a year ago, and I lost her. But before she passed, I automated the house heater and air conditioner so she could adjust it from her bed. I automated her sprinklers so she could set in the front window of the house and water her yard and garden from her phone. I automated the garage doors so they could be opened and closed from anywhere in the world at any time, and close themselves securely each night. I got our dog a collar that reported to us by text message and email anytime he left our secured area (I admit I still love this when it tells me that my daughter Stephanie and my dog Doogan have gone on a walk). Of all the home automation that I installed, the one camera that kept a private eye on our bedroom was the best. I could log in from anywhere and see how my wife was fairing. And it worked both ways... there were times toward the end when my wife was called to stay in the hospital for various treatments, that she would ask me to pull up the home cameras so she could see how her house and dog were getting along in her absence. Then at times from work, logging in to the cameras was like being able to go home for lunch... which I couldn't actually do because of distance. My cameras are on a secure network and even if someone hacked it... I'm not sure I would care much. We were pretty simple people. If there was any downside to the constant personal surveillance that became such a part of the last few years... it's that I have years of stored video clips of the woman I loved, getting weaker and weaker as the time passed... including April 10th, 2017, at 4:15am... when she took her final breath. I may be completely out of line for posting this. Especially as my second post on the forum. But I was following this thread because of my interest in home automation and just wanted to share a different perspective on its value. If I am someday able to fulfill my fantasy of retirement on the water... there will be cameras. Jim

Front steps? Step for side hatch on a hinge? https://hideawaysolutions.com/ Only available in USA. No connection just looks a useful idea.

Borrowed from elsewhere...... So you can stay for up to 24 hours for £3. But if you park overnight you are agreeing to pay a parking charge notice of £60. So how do I get to stay 24 hours, without parking overnight then?

So have many since Duncan Smith came up with it, but dogma rules once again. Just as a correction, I've been calling it Universal Benefit when in fact it is called Universal Credit also replacing Child tax Credits and Working Tax Credits, given it's complexity it is merely a matter of time before it collapses.

Given the name of your boat have you thought about solar panels?

Ah, I see - I always sail early from those because there always seems to be folk running their engines...

Yeah still quicker than the M62 though.

https://thepigplace.co.uk/

I came to the same conclusion after weighing up the pros and cons financially, it's a wash as far as I'm concerned. For the leisure boater it's cheapos all day long if you have solar which you obviously should have, but for most liveaboards who don't have a rigorous charging and maintaining routine I reckon expensive batteries don't make much sense. Also, a while ago I worked out very roughly you would have to get 7-8 years out of a set of, say, Trojans to justify the extra cost so you need to be sure you will hang on to the boat that long. Our old boat came with a set of top notch Trojans three years old, I've had that boat getting on for five years so the previous owner wasted his money.

We whizzed up Lapworth flight yesterday. It was pretty quiet. Well very quiet, actually. One went ahead to set all the locks for us on the “main flight” so bottom gates were open, and the other helped close gates and wound the other paddle. Being a competent boater I am quite capable of controlling the boat when both paddles are opened simultaneously and fully, which they were. Well after the first one anyway - on the first one the volockie only opened it 1/2 way and I had to gesticulate to him to wind it fully open. We are proper boaters, not incompetent and slightly petrified ones with constant pans of boiling water on the stove waiting to be spilled. The only thing I’d say in regard to this thread is that when you traverse Hillmorton, you do rather get the impression that the volockies think they are in charge. Can’t say I’ve had that problem anywhere else recently though.

You are asking all the right questions - ie the ones difficult to answer! A lead acid battery is never quite fully charged. The current gradually decreases. When you think it is fully charged, had you carried on charging for another hour the current would have decreased slightly and the battery would be slightly more charged. But it is a thing of diminishing return so at some point you have to say “it’s fully charged”. There is no “right answer” to this. Some say 2% of capacity, some say 1%, some say more or less. Personally I think 1% is as close to fully charged as no matter. But it takes an hour or two to get from 2% to 1% and you have added hardly any charge. What a lot of people do is charge to perhaps 4-5 % daily, then once a week do a long charge and try to get it nearer 1%. By 1% of capacity I mean that if you have battery capacity of 100AH, it would be 1A. As to measuring current, you can get a DC clamp meter for around £30. They are not very accurate at low currents below a couple of amps, but that might be OK. But it is a hassle as it means you have to put the thing on the right lead in order to measure it. Alternatively you can permanently install a shunt-based battery monitor like a NASA BM2 (around £100) or Victron BMV 700 series (around£130 depending on model). These give ease of reading current and count AH in and out. They also give an approximation to State of Charge if they are set up correctly. If you want to stick with the clamp meter idea, the UNI-t UT203 is popular. Be very careful when buying a different model that it does DC current. Plenty only do AC current and that is no use to you.

Virtually all coal merchants store their coals outside in open to the weather staithes, on purpose perhaps, it makes the coals heavier when they bag it. Multifuels should really look a light black or dark grey colour if nice and dry, not jet black. When your using the oven to bake a meal put a few shovel fulls on the bottom shelf. to make sure its dry.

Tippy ash cans are the mutts, we have them on the boat and in the cottage, ash out of the stove into the can in front of the stove. House one gets placed in the porch, boat one in the cratch until cold/full then emptied. Both stoves are emptied morning and night and run on low heat all the time. Not had any of our CO alarms trigger because of ash in 12 years.

If you're getting a 4-sided ash pan, can you get a lid for it as well? All you need is an offcut of galvanised steel sheet from you local tin basher -- the sort of thing they chuck into the skip very day.

Mostly because tenants are being moved onto Universal Credit, which means their housing benefit often stops completely for months (the system is notoriously inefficient) so the tenant ends up in arrears, which odds on he'll never be able to catch up with. And then, unless the tenant requests it strenuously, it's paid direct to the tenant while HB went to the landlord - which means sometimes the tenant will use that bit of money to buy food instead and not pay the rent. Either way, arrears mount up quickly. Not too bad if the landlord is just renting one house and has other income, but if it's a business it's likely to go bust. Which is a good thing for the housing market, but not for the landlord. And most parliamentarians just happen to be landlords...

Yes, its the plate area that gives high current, but plate thickness that gives lots of deep discharge cycles, so starters have lots of thin plates and Trojans have fewer but thicker plates. Better batteries usually have bigger cells but I don't fully understand the advantage, though having more space at the bottom to collect the "sheddings" is a factor. The 12volts Trojans have an inferior cycle life to the 6v Trojans, and proper 2v Tractions have huge cells. Warped plates will be a failure but its just loss of material from thin plates that usually defines battery life. ................Dave

I must confess that we have a tippy box and keep in inside the boat right next to the stove. We have a digital readout CO meter and have never seen the slightest trace of CO. I am obviously not suggesting that others follow this bad example but suspect that type of coal, type of stove, and the way that its used are probably big factors. I do note that when we empty the ash pan that it contains just ash, I suspect its the still burning fragments of fuel that are the real danger. No matter what you do, if you have a solid fuel stove in a boat its going to make some muck and dust. ..............Dave

Just go into any marina for 24 hours and plug in. Doesn't cost much, plenty of em around and you don't need to visit the wife ?

Probably intended for short runs in a relatively small urban area?

Was that to assist the spiders climbing the walls?

And another point, I wouldn't bother getting solar until next spring now, rather than shelling out for it next month. God turns the solar electricity OFF in the winter months so yours will just sit there doing nothing. People say it just drops off a bit in winter but no this is not in my experience. My 560W of solar is brilliant in summer but delivers negligible charge in the four shortest months of the year.

One would hope all exterior boat paint (including Raddle) is impervious to water so I’m not sure that reasoning follows. More likely slippery when wet if gloss finish.

and cover the battens with parcel tape before you spray foam.

Excellent - thank you. This particular shot has captured the sartorial elegance of my chosen steerer's attire almost perfectly!

We have just had it reprinted, and it is now available again on Amazon or from us. CanalBookShop, Audlem Mill

Have never understood why Kathmandu and Dog Man just Won't?

How many 12ft widebeams have you actually handled? Mine handles better than most of the narrowboats I've steered. I've taken it down the thames through London and into Limehouse several times. Most narrowboaters are too scared to attempt that on their boats. And crossing the Bristol Channel was a breeze.... I guess looks are a matter of personal taste but I don't think it looks too bad.

A bit like the hire saling cruiser tacking, going from bank to bank up the river Bure on the Broads with the wind blowig from astern. When asked why, they said, ''We know this stretch, we had to tack up here last year''.

I do. You talk the talk - somewhat unrealistically IMO. But I ask you this. If there was an emergency life-threatening situation in which people were going to die, and you had to choose between saving the life of your own child and leaving another child to die, or saving the other child and leaving your own to die, which would you choose? I think we can be fairly confident that it would be the former. And that is the nub of the issue. People will always want what is best for their own little clan and are prepared to sacrifice the wellbeing of other clans to achieve it. That is human nature. The “let’s all be pals and share nicely” idea only works when there is plenty to share. When there isn’t, it immediately goes back to dog eat dog and survival of the fittest.

I would love to build my own boat but,I don't have the knowledge,the skill,or the courage.You're a braver man than me,Ludy. Perhaps listening to the music of Anton Dvorak with the volume turned up,while you work will help and also cover the noise of hammering and sawing. Suggest his Slavonic Dances.

It's an odd thing. The same number of people are chasing the same national stock of accommodation whichever way you cut it. If there were no property available to rent them everyone would have to buy, and the price would rocket. The govt NEEDS private landlords to take the risk of renting to those who are uncreditworthy for a mortgage to buy.

IRONIC REALLY While this forum carries on having a go at volunteer lock-keepers, I can report that a few minutes ago, a boater who insisted on working the locks at Hillmorton himself, slipped and fell into the lock and went under his boat but thankfully was pulled out by the lady volunteer lock-keeper whom, I assume was the target of the OP in this thread. The boater survived and has been taken to hospital with a broken collar bone. Police praised her actions. The other volunteer lock-keepers who are at the locks raising money for MacMillan Nurses, took care of his boat and moored it safely. Perhaps the OP would like to make a donation.

Very helpful...not, sad really that you've even spent time typing the hub cap allegation.