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I suspect the word “houseboat” in a newspaper story simply means a boat that houses people, ie their home, I very much doubt it has anything to do with the licence status of that craft.

But it's his religion Sam. He converted to C of E (Church of Electric) ?

Each to their own but I can never understand the mentality of choosing whether heat is needed by the calendar and not the thermometer. They don't award medals you know.

Update. Contacted Staffs Police, asking to speak to the Wildlife Crime Officer. Spoke to a nice guy, explained, and gave him directions, he was very sympathetic and said it wouldn't be very nice for people to see wildlife in distress on the towpath. He said he's going to get someone down there tomorrow. Not much more we can do, As an exercise, I might ring CRT to see what their thoughts are. Thanks for you advice everyone

You did it, in itself that's an achievement if you're scared of heights, during the time I moored the boat there it was common to see people gripping the railings frozen in place unable to move. Saw one or two crawling back on hands and knees as well

Lol.... I saw the word "stove". Our bote has a couple of stoves too. Jenga fan.

It must have bought tears to the eyes when the lad passed this : Lucky to be alive !!

They velcro the same one on every boat, take a picture....and then ... Only joking. ?

Housing? Its not a house? You are about to make a horrendous mistake. A bit of poor paperwork is the least of your problems. mooring, licence, insurance address ?

I'd have thought captured wild ducks are as 'Organic' as one can get.

Well done, Jen. There might not be much more you can do now but you did a lot by passing the ball into the hands that can do something constructive. It would be interesting to hear what CRT say because they do seem to consider the the welfare of the wildlife on the canals quite highly.

How many keys are on the ring with the boat ignition key? I have known ignition switches, wrecked by the shear weight of excess keys/fobs etc. hanging from them. The cork ball type fobs will only float 1 key, not the Pentonville Warders collections that are often seen. Bod

Farming has welfare standards so if they are being farmed then they are probbly not meeting those standards. Farmed birds must have a minimum amount to space to move around in. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/poultry-on-farm-welfare/ducks-mallard-and-pekin-welfare-recommendations

Genuine question, as asked by my darling astute wife. Where do you post it from?

One of our sons, for whom we are house, dog and duck sitting, has four Indian running ducks. They have the pleasure of a long wide run complete with a duck house in which they are secured at dusk. In addition they are 'let out' into the main garden every day. I think a good life is being enjoyed. if I were to see the above mentioned situation, I'm not convinced my behaviouroukd be acceptable by all. Seems odd to have a wild animal in confined captivity.

I think it would, yes. The housing problems are likely to get worse, not better, and with a recession imminent, boats are going to get cheaper. Whether an explosion of canal dossers is a good or bad thing rather depends on whether you think people are better off under a bridge or in a crappy boat. I know what I think, but I'm biased. Ultimately, the use of the canal system changes to follow social change, and I suspect it turning into a housing system is only a matter of time. As a navigation, its days are probably numbered, anyway.

I believe this short 1952 Shell film was only uploaded to YouTube this summer. At 15:23 there is a familiar looking injector pump. (I know - I should get out more!?)

As a statement of fact. Personally I find OP's methods more questionable than the brockers' I can only imagine the stress of spending so much money at a distance on something so central to life, but surely this isn't the way to go about it?

Reported to CRT. I have nothing against broad craft, on suitable navigation... But they are spreading onto narrow canals and as in this instance , impeding navigation.

I would say a big part of the trip is to take the boat to Llangollen and moor in the basin, each to their own!

I'm glad you can laugh. Have you ever tried the Napton to Braunston stretch on a sunny weekend following a fat bote? When you're 20th in the queue behind it, it is not funny. A one hour trip can take three hours. Zenataoman is quite right. If he isn't why has this thread gone on so long? Many peeps see this as a serious problem. You laugh it off. We can't.