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From a fairly quick look, I couldn't see any other access than from the stern doors. Is there any other fire exit? I noticed that the shower tray doesn't extend all round the are where shower water will fall - like where the loo is - and the sealant looks new. Might be worth checking that water hasn't been getting below the shower tray or vinyl and that the floor below is not "spongy" from getting damp. if you are going to be cruising and away from shore power, you might like to think about putting in another battery, or two. Tidy looking boat though haggis

You appear to think that direct labour is good and comtracting out is bad. It is not that simple. Both need proper direction (job specification) and supervising if the outcome is to be successful. Owning equipment which requires annual testing and certification but which is rarely used incurs significant cost and make it more difficult to assess the true cost of a job. Best to hire if possible in that case. This is why even high usage companies like the construction industry now hire even frequently used plant. Direct labour is best suited to jobs needing a rapid response, jobs requiring highly specialised skills, job design and supervision. Most issues that CRT are experiencing could be readily resolved with appropriate job specification and contract supervision. That way the work could be done to an acceptable standard at a reasonable cost. However without a sea change in the management culture that is never going to happen.

Basically 12V fridges use between about 30Ah to 50Ah per day. Whereabouts on that scale any particular fridge will lay depends upon how cold you run it, how often you open the door, how long you keep the door open, which compressor you have, how well insulated the cabinet is, how good the ventilation around the cooling fins is, how ‘full’ the fridge is, and the ambient temperature of the boat. Yup. See above for an explanation.

Yippee!!! Yes, a result! Agreement!

One problem with canals is that there are often no specifications for what has been built, making it impossible to produce accurate job specifications for work today. Another is that engineers are taught about modern methods of construction, and sometimes do not understand the historical aspects of the technology they are trying to repair. When there were staff who stayed with a business for many years, the necessary knowledge was built up through on-the-job learning. Todays management systems seem to disregard this knowledge, with management thinking that everything is written down, often because they have never done the job they are managing. I am not saying that all we need are long-serving staff, but that the balance between academic and on-the-job learning has become distorted, with the latter becoming undervalued. It is a national problem, not just a CRT one.

What I mean is, I think it will revert to looking old and grubby, really quickly.

I already have a custom stream which excludes non-boating content like the VP but it's a real faff to set up - you have to select all the forums you do want to see instead of just the one you don't and also suffers from the duplicate topic bug in the results list. At a minimum, there should be a one-click option to block the new forum.

My experience of contracts with public bodies (from the contractors side - two contracts with the NHS to provide combined power and heating and one with a local authority to provide district heating) is that they don't really know what they want, and thus keep changing their minds and asking for extras when the contact has been let. Although the initial contract is let at a very competitive price, the contractor doesn't have to charge competitive prices for the extras, (unless the specification writer had the foresight to ask for agreed labour rates per trade and materials at cost plus which public bodies dont seem routinely to). This results in extras being charged at truly eye watering rates and the additional work prevents the contract from being completed on time. The main problem is that public bodies usually promote from within, rather than actively seeking those from outside industry with the relevant skills.

And as an aside, I'd point out again that threads about split calorifiers seem always to be about those with no expansion vessel on enquiry. I'm not sure I've ever seen a thread on here about a split calorifier that had an expansion vessel fitted. Adding one seems a sensible precaution but whenever I suggest it, I seem to get a stream of responses saying theirs has no expansion vessel and it has been fine for 20 years. Well it would be, until it splits! Just sayin', in case anyone wants to listen

You can pay £65 a year these days, and then £45 + Parts for each visit. So you would have saved about £400 in your 5 years on the cheapest deal. Personally, if I were to break down in the arse end of nowhere, and called "the local boatyard", it would be my luck that they they would be very busy but might get around to it within a week or so, or just cant help. Whereas, with RCR, you can be pretty sure someone will come and, in most cases they will get you going for not too much money, if any. If they suggested a fix that was somewhat over the top, in terms of money, I'd take advantage of the tow they offer, and get taken somewhere accessible where other opinions could be sought.

I'd ban CWDF, the other place and Facebook. Then no one would read about CRT doing things wrong.

That is what happened to the couple riding along on tandem, a dog came out and threw a bucket of water over them.

Would you like the view from an expert? For background, I spent 10 years as Technical manager of a group developing surface tolerant 2 pack epoxy coatings for BP Chemicals in the 80's and have significant field experience of applying them in difficult environments (ie offshore splash zone etc). I know 2 pack epoxies. I know how they need to be applied. 2 pack epoxy is the best coating for a narrow boat. When applied to the manufacturers specs, the coatings should last 10 years. YES. 10 years and maybe more .......as long as they are applied right. Blacking lasts up to 2 years and can look pretty naff after just a few months. The only saving grace of blacking is that the steel is thick and boats last a long time as there is a lot of steel to corrode away. We bought our boat over 2 years ago and had it blacked after a few months. We've just had it blacked again. Why? It wasnt the cost. This time it was more the convenience of a quick 'in and out'. I think though now having seen how our first blacking survived and now the 2nd one (which was applied by a yard in good weather) is deteriorating...although will be ok for another year or so...... I will go for a two pack in a few years time. It's not urgent to me though. There is lots of steel left. I do not worry at all about my blacking (and I know coatings). Yes, we will switch to 2 pack but my biggest worry is finding a yard that will do it properly. I spent 10 years watching professional coating companies screwing up many many jobs even with paint inspectors monitoring the work. Temperature/moisture when applying is very difficult in the UK and the source of many problems. Last year there was an enquiry on here by someone who had a soft coating after their 2 packing and I organised some 3rd party testing of the coating in a UK based lab to check state of cure etc. The results clearly showed something had gone wrong in the application. An expensive mistake. It really does make me worry about finding a yard I can be convinced with who really knows what they are doing and don't cut corners which is the main cause of problems.

Things are better nowadays with far fewer boats being cut, and those that are unfortunate are much better documented than they were 40 or 50 years ago. As far as profiteering by switching Plates is concerned this is almost unheard of now as there are not that many Plates around or unknown boats to stick them on. Loose B.C.N. gauge Plates do come up for sale now and then and there are collectors of these in their own right

The trouble is that 'they' do sell - because most folks don't come on here and ask. Given that most of the comments are negative, I suspect that the OP may uitter some uncouth words and walk away from HERE. That would be a shame as it's poor value. Quite apart from the existing comments methinks that for a liveaboard without 'leccy and even a moderate demand for onboard power an SR2 is NOT a suitable generator of power, not the least that getting any 'power' out of that sort of engine is a very real challenge as the pulleys etc don't make for spinning an alternator very fast. Enough - My Management as summoned me for our evening repast...

It's a pound bewtween the two locks, that happens to have a dry dock there, as well as office blocks etc.. there are mooring rings available! Nipper

Mercia is nothing short of horrific!!

Cuthound I,m up in Yorkshire these days , but if I had been back home I would have been perfectly safe I was born and lived at the top of the hill above the dam on the right ,,

I know, they are my local restoration trust ?. I hope they manage to complete it, because if they do it not only adds a new canal to the system, but will encourage people to use the much underused BCN backwater canals such as the Wyrley and Essington and canals off it being almost unused.

While you're having a look around, compare prices with these people https://advancedbatterysupplies.co.uk/product-category/leisure-batteries/agm-leisure-batteries/ Next day delivery via Yodel is included. They were really helpful.

It is Herefordshire and Gloucestershire Canal Trust. Nothing to do with the County Councils, though they work closely with them on planning etc. As to if it is sustainable, that is their plan. Are they going to succeed? Ask me again in 100 years! ? Councils in general have suffered huge funding cuts in the last nine years and have statutory calls on their money that they can't ignore. Not organisations to go to for money at the moment. Agreed. It is all down to money. A national body would be ideal. If there isn't enough, do we try and save part of the network, or allow much of it to decline in to an unusable state? In many ways the network is already fragmented. You'll need a trailable, or hire boat to use the Brecon and Monmouth, or the western end of the Chesterfield. If you have a wide beam, or 70' narrow boat, then huge chunks of the system are not available to you. Walkers can only walk ten, fifteen miles or so in a day and if the owner/maintainer changes it makes no difference. Prior to nationalisation, the network was fragmented and was not dissimilar. For a boat, the only difference was the presence of more stop locks than there are now and tolls. It worked OK, but pre and post nationalisation, it couldn't make enough money, so gradually ran down and closed. It is all down to money and if enough of society agree they are worth saving. Jen

oh! WTF ?? sorry, I thought this was something to do with the consequences of internet dating. ............................. must get a better coat, but this one will have to do until the winter really sets in .

Haing just read the title is there not a possibility CRT are somewhere between a raging success and a dismall failure?

Outstanding information - thanks Richard10002

Exactly this. A PRV will reduce neither the amplitude nor the frequency of the pressure cycles in the calorifier. Fitting a decent sized accumulator smooths out the pressure swings and reduces the number of them too, so the inevitable metal fatigue split in the copper arrives so very much later than it otherwise would - years and years later.

Probably the difficulty is that the sign doesn't say anything like that.

I have a feeling that SB is one place you wouldnt get away with it. I was once just starting to go down the top lock when I got grilled by an ancient resident as to my ability to be able to shut the bottom gates behind me as I was a single hander!

In my view the key to securing the future of our inland waterways is to secure sufficient funding to eliminate the maintenance backlog and keep up to date with ongoing maintenance, whilst having a large enough contingency fund to deal with the inevitable unexpected age related failures. An impossible task in the current political and financial climates.

Hob Black pads as used to er, black hob hot plates surprisingly, work great and are easier than paint.

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.

Yes it IS worth complaining as it goes against their training or shows they haven't been trained. The lock operation is down to the boat owners responsibility - who may or may not wish to accept help and advice.