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Narrow canals were built where the promoters were trying to keep down costs - it is about a third cheaper to build a narrow canal as opposed to a wide one, the main saving being in the price of land. In the late 18th century, few people knew if canals were going to be a financial success, so many canal promoters in the Midlands looked at narrow canals as the most cost-effective way forward. This may have been because their canals were, to a great extent, isolated from coastal seas. In Lancashire and Yorkshire, they were much closer to the seas, so they had more incentive to build canals suitable for coastal vessels, despite the additional cost. You have to bear in mind that our canals were not built as a system, but as a solution to local or regional transport problems. Only the narrow canals had much in the way of through traffic, with boats passing over several canals when making a single journey.

Yes, I have not quite lost all my cognitive abilities yet.?

Quite remarkable they were able to decipher the inscription on the stern of the Hoo ship - "Warning - this boat has been in this location for more than the permitted 14 days ... " but the contact details were illegible.

Actually somebody with a vintage engine told me exactly that, they don't use modern horsepower but proper British brake horsepower. .............Dave

Typical woman...

A cut above the rest!

It wasn't lower than either though. Oh for an extra mm.

You said it was certain to be higher than 0.78 by the end of the day and it was not. Your certainty was proven to be wrong. The river level is well up now though !

I think you’d be wise to avoid Trojans or their like for your usage. If a user doesn’t have the equipment/ability/inclination to charge them exactly as advised by the manufacturer then they’re likely to perform more poorly than other, cheaper makes. Most (many? some?) boaters with Trojans achieve the equalisation with Solar which, with a decent controller, can give the 15.5V as and when required.

If you want a third, how about sawing one blade off?

Probably behind you..

Lets hope RAWSONDR managed to either get off the river in time or is moored somewhere nice and safe.

There used to be only one when it was Titford

There must be two, surely?

I elected to go for an Ikea good-sized mattress 1400 x 2000mm because I've lived with unfixed beds and they rapidly become extremely tedious to erect and because I've lived with small beds and they soon become a pain. In a NB this means a narrow side passage, not suitable for heavily-oversized people. I chose the particular Ikea one because they did the sprung-slats in that size. It also fixes the width. I chose the tanks because they are high quality & much cheaper than "marine" supplied tanks. They were from Smiths of the Dean: I went for two so this fixed the length. The width is bigger than the tanks so the tanks sit inside the frame nearest the passage to keep the centre of mass of the tank water as close to the centre of the boat as possible to minimise listing. I filled the space on the other side with spare celotex as it is not big enough to find a use for. The length is about 6" longer than the bed and I have just covered it to make a shelf? Yes, each tank has one inch celotex on all 6 sides. The frame sits on the floor not on the celotex. The slats structure sits on rails attached to the insides of the frame and onto a central beam. The roll is the Ikea mattress. I don't get any condensation.

It's a free download in Tony's post above too It's a free, downl - oh never mind

That is unlucky. We has 21 years of shared ownership and only had to stay put for 2 days. Glad to see you have found your original log in details again, so Dharl2 will be out to bed?

River Soar well up this morning with a very fast flow.

What I want to know is why do CRT always plant nettles just where you want to kneel to fix the goat chains? Howard

Yep, spot on. At present we have very few, very easy to comply with rules but theres nowt surer than the pee takers will eventualy ruin it for everyone else.

Thank you all for your very kind comments and suggestions. Nice to have a subject where, as sometimes happens, the replies do not go off topic or get out of hand! He has now got a girl friend so things are slowly improving. Time seems to be the main healer.

Our Rusty (no not that one, it's the very hairy one I'm talking about) has been having an intermittent tummy upset. It's been becoming more frequent, despite being careful about what food he has. He's been really good, we've not had any accidents in the boat, though he has been in distress, padding up and down the boat. The last bout was when we were iced up on Tixel Wide, having to get off the boat every half hour or so throughout the night. We thought it time to seek help. The reason for the post is to recommend the Rivermeet Vets, it's a short walk from the bottom of Lock 5 on the Atherstone flight. We had an appointment with a brilliant lady vet there (Jordan). She wanted to conduct investigations to rule out anything nasty. She planned to see us today at Riversmeet Vets (their other facility) near Tamworth for ultrasound and blood tests. But to get there we needed transport. We discovered 'Animals At Home ', it's a specialist taxi service (amongst other services) for pets. The service is nationwide (franchised), and the driver that took Rusty and my OH to the vets was brilliant. He even waited with my OH in the reception as they'd arrived half an hour too early (thanks to light road traffic because of half term). Cost of the pet's taxi £60 for two journeys. Well worth it we thought, and it's reassuring knowing this company can get us out of a possible horrible situation anywhere on the canal system. We can always phone 999 in an emergency if we get into trouble, we can't do that for Rusty. Pleased to report the Vet didn't find anything horrible, just a couple of non-worrying strange points, like a large spleen and a high red cell count. We're hanging around for a while for blood test results re pancreatic anomalies. Other good points, the vet knows we're on a boat and said that wouldn't be a problem, if Rusty has to have regular medication, the vet can provide a prescription, to be picked up from the nearest vet to where we're moored.

Heya, moving onto our boat soon with our boy Bowser. Any advice for pups on the cut? EDIT: jesus is there a way to edit image size on here?

I think that's as small as it gets - but judging by the paws it'll be a lot bigger soon!

Awwww my word, what a beaut! Love those eyes, he's got the look that's guaranteed to get him all he wants. Have you got a jacket or harness for him, if he falls in the canal he'll find it difficult to get out, you'll need a 'handle' on him to pull him out! Enjoy!