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I mark mine by tying a narrowboat to them with thick ropes. It really helps to draw attention to the small bits of metal if you have a colourful boat, with obvious decoration on it, left near the path in the wet bit ...

The biggest, of course, is that your boat has a name and number, is easily identifiable and cannot run away at speed. The same cannot be said for cyclists. I was astounded during a recent to Birmingham, to see the number of cyclists trying to weave their way through throngs ( and I use the word in its literal sense) of pedestrians, many pushchairs and prams, mobility scooters and the canalside tables and chairs. The Sustrans map clearly shows that cyclists should walk through this area. The Lycra Louts are first to moan when they are threatened by bigger vehicles, but have no cogniscence of their effect on less vulnerable people.

There are two options for mooring : 1) Residential This has planning permission from the Council for residential use and will be subject to Council Tax. You can liveaboard (just as you can live in a house) You will be entitled to an 'address' so can vote, register with a Doctor, have a postal address etc etc. 2) Leisure. This has planning permission to be used for leisure use only and usually the Planning permission will stipulate the maximum number of days that the boat can be 'slept-on' You cannot use the address for any 'official' documents, or receive mail. You cannot register to vote, or at the Doctors etc etc. You don't pay council tax. The other option is not to have a mooring and to "CC", this saves you money but does have commitments that must be honoured (particularly the distance travelled, and not staying in one area due to work, schools etc)

Its worse than that. To CRT boaters are a constant pain in the arse and running the canals would be SO much easier with no boats. Boaters as a breed don't help themselves. The moaning minority never satisfied with anything CRT do or say put all of us in a bad light and I'm not surprised CRT don't put boaters' needs top of their priority list.

More like Penelope Keith

This is the problem - inconsistency. Some volockies are fine, some are awful, with shades in between. You should have just stopped your boat in the lock after the first event and refused to move until they cleared off. But that is the second problem - one is caught off guard and unprepared.

Right, I feel obliged to join in again. I have spent years defending volunteer lock keepers against grumpy old boaters, with just cause. For clarity, I consider many of my "local" vollies personal friends - I would buy all of them a beer, and some of them get invited to family parties.. Yesterday I came across a bad vollie, and I am launching a formal complaint to CRT about him. We were coming up Grindley Brook Staircase on the Llangollen yesterday, and I was struggling with walking due to an injury to my knee caused by tripping over sticking out bolt threads on Hack Green locks. The first vollie we came across was seemingly upset that I wasn't being fast enough to suit him. I had to limp up the steps at the bottom of the staircase, and I pushed the lock gate open just before the (moving) boat hit it, and then limped back down to get on the boat before it disappeared into the lock. This upset the vollie, presumably because I wasn't doing enough work at his speed. He then asked if I was working on my own , and I answered yes - Mrs Biscuits was inside the boat looking after our toddler, so I was indeed working the locks singlehanded, but with very fragile passengers. He then stomped up to the next set of gates and before I was in position wound up the paddles, slamming our boat forward and knocking our two-year old off his feet. I chose to assume that he was merely careless in the first case, so gritted my teeth and continued into the next part of the staircase. At the next set of gates, he had a word with another vollie, and they both slapped the paddles up before I was in position with my boat, and neither of them checked with me or even made eye contact. This was repeated in the third lock, and they even managed to rip a holding line around the ladder out of my hands while I had my boat in emergency astern - 3000 rpm in reverse. At no point did they ask me if I wanted any assistance, at no point did they check that I was in the correct position to open the paddles, and they worked the locks to suit themselves, not my boat. Our boat was slammed into the gates by the undertow from the upper lock chamber on every single lock on the staircase. For clarity, we usually ride the bow up the plate on the head gates so the boat can never slam forward into the gate. We have done over 500 locks this year, and those three were the only ones that flipped little Bob Biscuits off his feet, specifically including the ones on the BCN Challenge when we were racing and trying to work locks as fast as they can cycle. (under 4 minutes average across the whole BCN if it matters.) Hotwash: I should have leaned on the horn button until they stopped doing what they were doing in the bottom lock of the staircase, not trusted them to work "their" locks. I should have formally refused them permission to "help" anymore going up the flight through the next sets of gates. It is not a mistake I will make on the way down the staircase, and I do not care how busy the staircase is. I will formally and on video refuse their "help" on the paddles. If they still want to push gate beams that is fantastic, but if they take the hump I will work the staircase singlehanded., and I won't care if that upsets the waiting boats. It is the most unprofessional "assistance" we have ever had from CRT volunteers, and it put my child at risk. I say that as a formerly keen supporter of CRT volunteers, who until yesterday was delighted to see a blue T-shirt at a lock.

All these boats that pass of lock into West Stockwith without venturing up The Chesterfield Canal. Perhaps someday people will realise it is worth allowing some extra time to explore without locking out again the next day

I usually push a cyclist over one or both of them, it warns other cyclists off, but does mean you have to move on after a couple of days when the carcasses start to rot, the lycra wont hold for ever you know.....

What Matty doesn't say/didn't know was that the boat behind us had left while we were in the pub !

When I was a lad I served a term As office boy to an Attorney's firm. I cleaned the windows and I swept the floor, And I polished up the handle of the big front door . Chorus. He polished up the handle of the big front door. I polished up that handle so carefullee That now I am the Ruler of the Queen's Navee! All together now - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mS85wS3bupo

If it's a completed brand new boat, I don't see any reason not to have a survey. It might have been built so bad that you decide not to buy it after the survey, or the survey might point out a few things that aren't quite right, and the builder might fix them or make an allowance, or you may accept as no big deal, or it might say that it's a great well built boat with no issues withing the constraints of the survey. Given your experiences, and the fact that you are thinking of a survey, suggests that it will be money well spent, even if it serves "only" to give you peace of mind. If you buy the boat without a survey, and find something wrong after the event, the law may be on your side in terms of providing for things to be put right, but the aggro of making that happen would be a real PIA... even if the builder agrees but requires you to return it the yard which is typical of second hand car dealers. ETA: Just noted the dates of this thread, so a bit belated, but probably still good advice. IMHO There is more chance of you kicking yourself for not having a survey than not, and you obviously have the money to pay for one, otherwise I don't think you would be asking. It is always possible that the builder wont want you to have a survey, (for some reason), which might tell its' own story.

There were none when I was trying to get from Long Itchington to Lapworth, solo, in the rain last year. ? I can't answer your question but I get really cross when people say "It's a contact sport". Well yes, contact with locksides etc is unavoidable but the object of the exercise is to try and avoid it.

Maybe they'll do like the vollies we met at both Braunston and Bosley last year. On each occasion we were held up for a few hours because a vollie at the top of the flight was determined not to let anyone start down until a boat had come up, while a vollie at the bottom of the flight was equally determined not to let anyone start up until a boat had come down. There were queues top and bottom, and each time it took a very strong complaint to CRT before a proper locky was sent to sort things out.

I didn't want to ask.

Now you're just being naughty, you know full well what happened last time someone followed that advice. The good news is after 2 months he can finally walk without a limp

Now that’s really taking the piss.

I would presume they're useful in preventing infection after BWML have removed your arm and leg (so they can get the others next year).

On another Bugbear of ours I was walking the Jack Russell earlier this morning by some ramshackle Boatyard south of Leighton Buzzard , four Brand New Widebeams just recently been lifted onto the Water , where is Buster Crabb when you need him ? ?

The Free Women and the Lovely Lifestyle are now very expensive.

bushes and trees? are you sure? as stated in the reports mentioned previously, the last inspection found there is no evidence that CRT is not keeping harmful vegetation under control, and did not consider that weeds growing from the joints between the slabs represented a risk.

It depends on who you mean by "the Selby guy." Simon Banks is still around, sort of, at Selby boatyard but he can be difficult to catch and I don't know whether he still does gas fitting. There is also Dave at Selby boatyard of DB Marine but I don't know whether they have a gas safe fitter. https://www.facebook.com/dbmarine/ 07770 987716 Selby Boat Center 01757 212211 There is no chandlery or gas or diesel at Selby Boat Center any more.

Most use someone elses address. I have used many on occasion when it has suited me, the local pub for one. Many people fib as our silly systems cannot cope in the UK with anyone who doesnt comply and have a postcode. You could tell your employer precisely the facts and they should be able to accomodate. I take it you have to have a crb check for the new job so you will have given an address to get that done? I can give you advice on how to deal with that silly system if not as it happened to me.

Blimey, that comment seemed to have touched a nerve, prompting a first ever post. And finishing with a "Whatever" as well, I so love that ending to a disagreement. Anyway, I never said it was a rip-off, athough I can see my words could be interpreted that way. My throwaway comment was about paying for something when the exact same thing is free just a few yards further on. No doubt without access to the marina's facilities but I wasn't going to be using them anyway. I'm pleased to hear it is a good marina, although I never doubted it, as I haven't ruled out moving to it from my current marina of 4 years at some point in the future. Anyway, I'm probably banned now.

welcome to the forums

I haven't got any Autosol but I have got a tube of Anusol. It sounds similar so maybe that would work?

So am I going to walk to the nearest supermarket 3 miles away (2 hours there and back)? or hop on the bike (20 minutes each way if I take it leisurely)? and can carry more stuff, difficult call really innit

Particularly so when the result is “we paid so much to the engineer that we now can’t afford the blacking”. What on earth has this “engineer” done that cost many hundreds of pounds?

I just wish this sort of thing was far less common than it is. There is very little an individual can do about this sort of thing apart from relying on personal recommendations. It does make RCR membership look like a good idea because at least they have a reputation to care for and are likely to take steps against a contractor who appears to be indulging in what it looks like went on here.

Double glazing and boats is essential in my book, it's been getting me out of supermarkets unmolested for about 8 years now. That point where everyone else leaving is trying to avoid the bored looking woman with too much makeup standing by the pop up display, that's when I make eye contact with her and steam through the ditherers. Without fail she offers me a leaflet and (like a robot) utters "Have you thought about investing in new double glazing at home ….." before she can call me sir I reply ….. "I live on a canal boat" You can see the cogs whirring behind the eyes as they try to recall where on the training day they covered such eventualities. I'm normally out the door and half way to my car before they return to planet Earth. I've had so much success with it I'm considering extending my repertoire. "PPI? We can check immediately, what's your post code?" - "I live on a canal boat" "Special offer today on Stair lifts" - "I live on a canal boat" "Let us find you a cheaper Power Supplier" - "I live on a canal boat" I am prepared to offer this to you all on free use licence, all I require is you give me credit every time you use it.

https://www.sciencemediacentre.org/expert-reaction-to-news-that-the-whaley-bridge-dam-has-been-damaged/ may be of interest.

Well, I like it!! I ignore all the incorrect ways of saying things and the clatters and bangs and the wrong information about this and that. What I'm seeing is a pretty mismatched group of people who are discovering what a joy it is to be on the water, on a boat and be part of the landscape, the community, the history. Good old John Prescott is genuinely impressed with all the engineering side and I love that. Michael Buerk is astonished at how much he's come to enjoy it all. And I don't believe either of those two are putting it on. So it makes me remember my earliest days on the water. I was hooked after a week and I probably did most of the things they've been doing. But I don't care; I still feel exactly the same about going out on the boat as I did a couple of decades ago, so if they are picking up on just a tiny bit of what we all feel then I'm really pleased for them. Jo

If you'r still in Selby I'm just down thne road. I more than happy to pick ypu up in my car and take you to Faifax or Jewsons. I don't think the garage near the boatyard sells it. Obviously Jewsons and Fairfax are closwed today but I can get you sorted whenever you want tomorrow (Monday). To be honest Fairfax is your better bet for gas as Jewsons don't have boat sized bottles in stock sometimes. Sending a PM.

Exactly. I have no problem with, in fact am grateful for, Volocky assistance. But not when they take control and stop you operating the lock in the usual way. So quite clearly you are a Volocky. And seemingly with a bit of a chip, unable to see that not everyone wants help let alone to be controlled. If you regularly encounter boaters who give you grief, perhaps that is a clue that your approach is wrong?

I bought a sailaway some eleven years ago. I engaged a surveyor to oversee the build. This included him visiting the boatyard during the fabrication of the shell, visiting me during my fitting out and doing all the RCD documentation (all for £650!). He did pick up a couple of things during the fabrication, and had them re-weld some of the sections and had them doing some more work to pull in the sides as the width of the boat in places was over 7 feet (it still finished up as 6' 11" - first thing i did was put through Hurleston Locks). This was an experienced boat builder, so no guarantee that a new shell will be fully up to scratch.