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No offence taken should maybe have posted and introduced ourselves earlier as do read these forums, however you all seem to be boaters with boats and didn't want to "rock the boat" pitching to the wrong audience a hire boat proposition our cover is blown though so in all honesty any questions or concerns just ask and let me know. Paul

Hi All My wife and I are the operators of Floating Holidays, I guess until now the Macclesfield canals' best kept secret. To answer a few questions we are fully compliant with CRT licence for holiday boats and hire boat Bss certified. We have permanent moorings nearby which are purely for our storage of the boats when not on hire (which certainly aren't sub leased out at all and never will be) The CRT requested that we conduct handovers to customers on the visitor moorings by bridge 15 when we started operating to minimise any disruption to permanent moorers. This is also a handy location as there are two winding holes either side of those moorings for demonstrating boat navigation to customers. We are only on those moorings temporarily whilst prepping and handing over boats, this week the whole fleet had been with customers and therefore you may have spotted a couple boats there all at once. Hope that answers any questions but anything else just let us know. Paul

Greetings to the forum members and their boats from myself, narrow boat Sara, and my young crew. Spring has come in fits and starts here in the fens but it was finally time for our first outing of the year. Actually, the crew wanted to go out last weekend but I felt the day would be much better spent scrubbing my covers and ropes where they had gone a little green over winter - one must look ones best. So I refused to start. Young master was a little ungracious and called me a few choice names whilst he hunted around for that voltmeter he remembered buying last year and instead found the two drills he had no recollection of and three separate, half full, tubs of varnish that no one admitted to ever seeing before. Eventually it was deduced that my starter battery had not made it through the harsh winter. There may have been one or two dark mutterings about refitting a starting handle to my shiny green engine... Yesterday therefore I was treated to many gifts - a new starter battery (black - just my colour!), a new leisure battery and various bits and bobs to encourage the magic electrons to nest and stay put. Young master had only intended to change the starter battery (I'll be an hour or so dear) but then the good ideas kept coming and before he realises it six hours have gone by and he's relocated a bunch of cables, fuse boxes and chargers into one of my little cupboards. I didn't mind - it kept him busy and out of mischief, and the look on his face when he realised the mother-in-law had arrived was priceless. Given that they had made such an effort (and young master had a rather sore back from a day spent bent over the battery hole) I decided that the time had come for a little jaunt. When I was young (and queen Vic still on the throne!) I relied on a horse to get me around, but now I have an engine of my own. The Lister Petter caught on the button and with a gentle bop-bop-bop we nosed out of the marina on idle and headed off down the Ouse out of Ely and towards the Old West. We passed a few coots and moorhens sat tight on nests and watched the grebes doing their best to woo. A couple of cormorants sat at the waters edge, wings outstretched, as we came past. "I'm a pterodactyl" they cried after us. Eventually we made it to the old West without seeing another boat on the move, where young master decided he was cold and handed the tiller to my young lady, who deftly swept me round the bends whilst he crashed about inside looking for some winter motorcycle gloves. Whilst inside the vents were opened so the Lister Petter could blow warm air into the cabin. It was decided by all that the day was failing to live up to its morning clear blue sky promises. Eventually we moored up at Streatham. Here I am with my young lady. There are only 137 years between us. Give or take. I've forgotten quite when my birthday is. Young master took this naughty photo of my bottom when I wasn't looking. The cheek of it! It turned out he likes watching things go round and around repetitively. I think there might be something wrong with him. This is Streatham Pumping engine, built 1836. This bit went up and down. Young lady humoured him. Here is a picture he took of me from the top of the engine house. The clouds have started to gather in the distance. The crew enjoyed their visit very much, but after a few hours decided it was time to head back before the weather caught us. At least you can see it coming out here in the fens. On our return we bumped into another old lady, Andromeda. Young master says he needs to train his wife in how to use the viewfinder so that, next time, she gets the bows into shot too. Our attempt to outrun the approaching weather failed and Young Master enjoyed the hail. It passed through though and the sun was weakly shining by the time we returned to Ely. They've put my covers back on now and I'm all snug. Everything went well today and I was a grand old girl, so they promise we can go out for a long Easter adventure. SARA

Seen near Gailey this morning

I met her on Saturday when I was walking the dog along the cut. She is well and still living on a boat.

He said he'd give them a bell if he needed them.

Mike, if you would just let us know the reg. nos. we could buy your old van/s and save a fortune into the bargain.

If everyone was like you, this world would be a whole lot better place. That's my opinion anyway......

It's one I've reposted a few times too it's brilliant, and it has a sequel. Assuming that's not the sequel then it has a prequel. It is a sad loss to the forum that women like her felt they could no longer stay - which is saying something rather monumental considering just how well loved she was/is.

Just had a peek at the Beeb to see what was happening, that is just heartbreaking, it must be soul destroying for the People of France. To our friends in France I am so sorry I hope she can be saved.

In disguise as a princess ?

I refer the honourable gentlemen to my post elsewhere of afew minutes ago...

Such a pity. I first met her at thev Alvecote Historic Boat Gathering the year we moved here (2014) along with several other CWDF members, including your good self and then met her at a banter the next year. She is as witty and charming in real life as on here.

This reminded me to remove my old car. Assuming you are on auto pay: Log into your account at https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/congestion-charge, Click the 'Manage Auto Pay' box, In the list of vehicles in the 'Vehicles active on Auto Pay' area there is an 'x' by each one. Click on this to remove the vehicle. Worked for me This also reminded me to do the same for my Dartford Crossing account Tim

Hello Paul & Sam and welcome to the forum. It's very sad that your first post on the forum has been to explain away misunderstandings and conclusions that may have been over zealously jumped to. I'm very sorry that you have felt the need to do that. I apologise if any of my comments have caused you any upset.

I have a wife with that feature

I think it's only IT folk who expect to be given a complete, comprehensive, achievable specification that accurately represents their clients intentions Richard

Ah, then you admit that you were a naughty boy! You probably got to polish the portholes in your part of ship because you were the most experienced! Anyway, my boat paintwork is not highly polished, it's battleship grey because I have a supply in my garage that I was given as a retirement present. Well, not exactly a present, or on my retirement - I liberated a 5 gallon drum every Christmas and didn't have a boat 'til I retired so by the time I found a use for it I had 170 gallons. I never comment on anchor threads either, because mine came from the Ark Royal and I'm not sure they've stopped looking for it yet. There's also a reason why my Eberspacher sounds like a gas turbine out of a Lynx helicopter...

I know the feeling

I think this one took a wrong turn somewhere :

I don't think that gurls are outnumbered (certainly not among readers even if they are among contributors) I suspect that many gurls fit into one of these categories: Do not feel they have relevant experience to add to a thread Do not feel they have relevant qualifications to add to a thread Do not feel their relevant experience and qualification will be taken seriously by a small proportion of the membership Spend their time reading and learning so that when they do feel ready to contribute they won't be spouting nonsense Unlike a proportion of the non-gurls

Hmmm, well, we moored there for a couple of nights last summer. We survived, as did the boat, but I won't be rushing back. Actually, never mind the rushing part, I won't be going back. There's little point in carrying out improvements if you then just leave the place to the drunks, junkies and dealers. In my recent experience, the entire Manchester waterfront is a disgrace.

She rene is, isn't she?

Let us know - we will show you the good pubs if you like proper beer.

There isn't! Spread the word - lock your boats in the marina (remember to keep your licence up to date) and stay at home!!

This morning before the pubs opened I thought I’d take a couple of vents off and take them inside (so no-one could see me polishing). Anyway the dark greens of the patina all came up lovely. So I’m gonna leave them. Why remove or paint over years of patina? Some things are best left. ?

Yeah, ok Jen, you're right, but let me have a bit of artistic licence then I won't fee obliged to point out that... they'll be toadstool vents!

...then you'd be talking about something even less efficient than a diesel/battery parallel hybrid ? [which do save some energy compared to a simple diesel, but nothing like enough to make up for the increased build cost]

I did! Also Bolinder made mincers (the clamp on the kitchen table type) . Actually I'm not sure if it was the same Bolinder but unless somebody knows better then I'm sticking to my version.

Another vote for Westport Lake. Its also useful as if you have dogs, you won’t need to feed them. There’s enough goose poo around to satisfy the most hungry Labrador.

That's the very one!

Could have been a cricket bat, or does that now introduce kennels for insects?

The Union Steam Ship Company a cadet training ship whose bridge had more brass then Admiralty HQ. Polishing this brass formed a major part of life at sea for the new cadets. But over the years, on this ship, more and more of this brass was "polished" with white paint instead of brasso. Until a new officer was posted onboard. One who had been on the original intake of cadets on her maiden voyage and knew from much first hand experience where all the brass was hidden. The new shipboard task for the next few cadet intakes then became stripping paint prior to polishing brass.

Sigh

That's OK, I edit them back in

Sorry but in many caess not so. The vast majority, if not all, so called dual purpose batteries are (as Gibbo described them) starting batteries with handles and when you look at their specks often give both an Ah capacity and CCA. Actually to be 100% correct that should be MCCA which is a slightly different standard.For instance my Exides that have now done 6 years in domestic use are rated at 115Ah @ 20 hour rate and 760 CCA. The quote is far too general. Flooded lead calcium batteries need no more maintenance than sealed types until they age and the topping them up may extend their life a little where as sealed batteries in the same state will quickly dry out and fail. If lead calciums are needing a lot of topping up then there is almost certainly a charging fault. Wet open cell batteries are far easier for ordinary boaters to diagnose than any sealed battery. The batteries that do need looking after to protect your investment are the so called deep cycle ones and the 2v cells because if you don't keep them charged and from what I hear also equalise them regularly they will fail just as quickly as any other lead acid battery. For the OP - By all means change them to 115 Ah batteries as long as they fit. If you do not know if your battery bank is split and the method by which it is split and the charge distributed do not buy expensive batteries, sub £100 dual purpose leisure batteries will do the job. Only buy expensive when you KNOW all about your charging system and KNOW you can keep the batteries all but fully charged the vast majority of the time. Otherwise view batteries as consumables.

You could just skin them and use mofur instead.