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For £50,000 to £60,000 in Widebeam terms you would either be looking at a Sailaway where you have to do the fit out yourself or something older which had already been done by someone else A quick check of the website Apollo Duck will show you both the layouts of the various Boats and more importantly the Prices being asked . For the amount of People you are attempting to accommodate I think on a narrowboat you would be looking at 70 foot . I know a Divorcee at Cosgrove in a similar position to yourself who assures me that even with 70 foot , where Teenagers are concerned she often finds herself on a Deckchair outside just to get some " me time " As for renting out I would simply forget it , nobody takes care of your Property in the way that you do and the idea of some renter who is perhaps aboard only for financial reasons rather than any affinity with the environment or the Boat simply fills me with dread . It can often be a Tragedy waiting to happen . My advice for what its worth is to take a walk down to the Canal and speak with some Boaters who are actually already living the lifestyle that you aspire to . People are very decent and kind and many will only be too happy to give you their experiences both good and bad , its essential you purchase the correct Boat and dont simply buy blind , this is where taking a regular walk along the " cut " and making a few acquaintances in your locale will prove invaluable .

That's a big machine gun ... wasn't .303 a more common size?

My first boss was fond of saying how easy it was to run a successful business, The same applies to a business plan or business case. All you have to do is: (1) Get work; (2) Do work; (3) Get paid. Failure to achieve any one of the three means total failure.

Quite right. Alan Fincher says he drinks the water from his boat tank and it's done him no harm, has it!

Yes that one is difficult isn't it. Everyone likes working the locks, so a chance to 'help you out' by working your lock is often enthusiastically proposed. The "stay on the boat" instruction often given particularly irks me as it is so presumptive and I get off anyway for safety reasons. I once got the bow fender caught and no amount of hooting the horn could draw anyone's attention on the bank as they were all gassing to each other. None of them was looking out for my boat (understandably)as it wasn't theirs. Fortunately the chain broke but since then I always get off in locks so I can keep an eye on the boat, windlass in hand.

And you can get decent fish and chips.

Thanks. It still seems to be shining still and I no longer get green hands when i touch the paint. One side I did using a brush that went on much better than the other side where I used a cloth not so good, I may have a go at redoing it soon.

From Tony Lewery's Narrow Boat Painting.

Oh bugger!! Check it again, again!! (Mind you don't get RickRolled though.... ) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rickrolling

Oh lead carbon batteries! Yes they've been discussed on here, and at one point I was gonna buy some as there are some pretty impressive claims for them made by Leoch. The I remembered they cost £300 each, twice the price of Trojans....

Found this photo of when we were stuck for several weeks at Naburn in 2008. There's a lock under there somewhere.

Having a name, or number/name, is a means of identification. It helps where issues arise. Imagine a fisherman on the bank as a boat come past at speed and drags the rod away. that fisherman might want to find out who was steering at the time. In another instance a boater passes another unmanned moored boat and notices that it had been vandalised. A name would assist with finding the owner.

Just had the emails saying cranfleet and sawley are now open.

I bought four of the 130Ah ones back in October. They have noticeably lost capacity quite quickly. Not recommended.

Teacher, innit....

The routers will be good enough: the question is whether the 4g signal is good enough. (posted from Lymm, with one bar out of five showing on the 4g. Much of the last week , it's been 3G only) Although, I suppose the 4g signal might be better if there were fewer people wasting bandwidth by streaming TV ?

Hmm! Great theory but how come my boat keeps bumping into things??

The boats on the Caldon were for the transport of Pottery between sites - and were of a special design.... This one appears to have been battery powered ?

After sending the crap ones back, I ordered a set of these from Advanced Battery Supplies. 12V 115AH ABS XD31 Ultra Deep Cycle Battery

Ooh, that's an interesting take on doing reviews! Could you buy lots of other things and tell us you haven't used them?

Yep agree. But if you are new to the boating life, a little caution in your use of electrical items, is no bad thing. Got to learn to walk before you can run and all that. ?

Basically the piece by Wotever (another Tony) says is just what I told you. Use voltage (off load) to tell you when you should start recharging ASAP but try to recharge every day and use Amps going into the battery to tell you when they are "fully" charged. That way is the simplest. In a year or so when your head stop hurting and you have got a handle on a lot more by all means start to try to set the thing up so the lies it tells will be far smaller ones but for now only use volts and amps - they are accurate. Lets say you have 4 x 110 Amp hour batteries (a very common set-up) that gives a total of 440 Ah. 1% of 440 is 4.4 amps so recharge until the ammeter says between 4.4 and 8.8 amps (say 4 to 8 amps) with no significant loads running. This is the simplest and easiest to grasp way of using that meter. Edited to add: for now I would advise you to totally ignore the discussion of lithium batteries in this topic because it will be of almost no help to you at this time. Certainly do not think buying them will solve your charging problems at a stroke. To get the best life and long term use out of then requires more knowledge than the batteries you have now and probably more equipment.

Do as you wish but pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeese dont put so and so and family on the side no one realy cares what you are called and its as naff as so called " Private number plates " on a car!!