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A friend of mine Tony Thurlow has written up the following and emailed me copies of his photos, Quality isnt good but still I include them and hope you enjoy them. About 1956-7 through the YHA I learned of a canal trip from Oxford to Llangollen which was to be horse drawn. Being an apprentice boat builder (on the Essex coast) and having ridden and driven farm horses as a teenager I thought I would give it a go. We started just outside Oxford, meeting the owner/crew and was told this was the first trial trip. As far as I can remember there was about 12 to 14 of us. The barge (the Glendower) was 70 feet in length having bunks each side, a cooking/dining area. The cook, come chaperon, called "Beth" looked after all of us. One lad from a narrow boat family made up the crew. The horse named "Nigger" came from British Rail and was used for shunting in the goods yard. He was on "holiday" for a fortnight and used to moving 21 ton trucks. When he put his shoulders into the job once moving he just strolled along. Once we had all settled down we did jobs to help like going ahead opening paddles on locks, or leading "Nigger" along the towpath. I cannot remember the route but do recall turnover bridges and a hinged bridge just like the Dutch have, taking on water, provisions from village stores. We stopped at Banbury to see the famous cross. Getting to the aquaduct in Wales was fun walking the horse over this, he was very staedy and done well. The canal into there was very shallow and took some navigating. When we got to Llangollen they were having an Eisteddfod, oh what a sight! Coming back I had made friends with the owner and was invited back for working holidays which I did later take up. Hope you enjoy my memories. Cheers. Tony Unfortunately Tony cannot recall the boatmans name, perhaps someone mighty know and remind him ! Hope you enjoy it.

not having a smartphone and avoiding twittering and facebookering and instantgramming I had no idea about all this nonsense. is it any wonder that half the world goes around with their face stuck in a screenwatching pose, whether they are driving, walking the dog, crossing a zebra crossing or having a meal with friends? they should all be struck with a reality cosh.

Not trying to defend his action but I said this close to the beginning of this topic and it seemed to have been ignored. Sad, but we all risk going that way.

If Steve had admitted his boo-boo, at any time, or showed one ounce of contrition for his awful behaviour, I could agree. However, from day 1 he has aimed at, hit, blamed, swore at the plastic boat crew, then lied about the circumstances, and continued on social media to shout his"in his mind, blameless" corner. If the video wasn't so clear, you could say you hadn't seen both sides of the story, but it is very clear. Half the posts will be non relevant anyway so its only 13 1/2 pages.

As a single hander, I've found the most important thing is to make sure you really are out of gear as you step ashore...

There are some interesting photos and interviews about inland shipping on the River Odra in Poland on the website: http://www.statekdomem.fomt.pl/ It is in Polish, so really needs a web translator. I worked with the museum in Wroclaw (Breslau) some years ago, and put on an exhibition of some of the photos. May were taken in the 1950s, and give a very good insight into inland navigation on the river at that time. The museum's preserved steam tug is shown at work in the 1950s below.

It’s moderately in character with his writing, but of course I can’t comment whether his column writing bears any resemblance to the real person. Even if it is, I’m not sure that a mental problem is an excuse for that sort of behaviour - at least, failing to understand and admit the bad behaviour in the cold light of the next day. If we as a society accept that “a mental problem” is a valid excuse for any behaviour without remorse, society collapses.

I like Charlotte Church. She has the Voice of a Hand Gel.

Survey back and.... She was a mess Thanks for your input, everyone and for the important lesson learned! Keep on searching x

Wow - 27 pages of bile and vitriol; folks need to get a life. So what if SH made a boo boo, I suppose nobody on here ever has. Sorry, but this all smells like bullying to me...

Good idea. Ours is mounted vertically, with the motor at the top, over a tupperware (remove sandwiches first) that catches any leaks before they hit the bilge. You probably don't need the container and the water detector, as any leak will be quickly evident through the noise of the pump ( a good reason not to make it silent), and any water in the container. Also worth turning the pump off at the switch if you leave the boat unattended for any length of time as advised by uncle Bizzard.

Rice ? If it swells up you have a water leak.

From the first picture, it looks like the main cause of noise is because they have removed the rubber feet/screw mounts from the pump to lower it down more. Added to the pipes actually resting on the wood, then any vibration will transfer itself through the boat. Lift the piping off the plank, use the rubber feet supplied, pump on a rubber sheet, and it will all help.

I screwed my pump down to a small sheet of ply about a foot square to stop it rattling around and then left that "floating" on top of a carpet tile on the floor.

That's interesting, could you confirm that with him as I have seen nothing regarding it. I'm not surprised as the examples of non-compliances on 'sewer tubes' is amazing. I can find nothing about it. The last amendment that was approved by parliament was at the end of 2017, with the changes being : Annex I.A.2.3. Protection from falling overboard and means of re-boarding – means of re-boarding shall be accessible to, or deployable by a person in the water unaided. Annex I.A.2.4 Visibility from the main steering position now applicable to all craft (changed to include sailing vessels) Annex I.A.3.3. Buoyancy and flotation/3.8 Escape – new wording introducing stability assessment for multihulls Annex I.A.5.1.6. – Kill cord requirement for tiller steered OB engines Annex I.A.5.1.6. – Deletion of mandatory tank ventilation for all tanks applicable only to petrol fuel tank spaces Annex I.A.5.3. Electrical system – changes addressing electric propulsion Annex I.A.5.5. Gas system – appliance requirement of flame failure deleted (covered by gas appliance directive) Annex I.5.8. – Water protection – holding tank / treatment system requirement Annex I.B – New engine emission limits – alignment with EPA 2010/CARB including test cycles and test fuels

People also use two of these to add flexible hose from the Speedfit pipe to the supplied hose tail fitment that should come with your new pump, also handy for connecting Thetford toilets to Speedfit. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/John-Guest-Speedfit-Tube-To-Hose-Connector-15mm-Tube-OD-x-1-2-Hose-ID-NC448/302748305589?epid=1162641458&hash=item467d3488b5:g:agAAAOSwOFFdU~Zn

As an apprentice engineer I was taught to wash my hands before going to toilet. You may have something on your hands which you don't want on your tackle

Couldn't agree more. The worlds finances will never recover properly whilst folk keep playing with these devices and social media. I look at facebook but don't participate but just to see the rubbish my nephews and relations stick on there. On the righthand side of the home page is all you friends and relations and I know who should be at work out of them all and they all muck about on there every few minutes when they should be at work, never mind playing games and doing other media like Whatsapps and stuff. Biggest cause of accidents too in my opinion, in cars, in the street and boats, sinking, cilling ect but of course no one ever admits it.

Curious how the market has shifted then, as I have fitted probably hundreds of gas-only built under single ovens back in the day. On reflection yes those with no fan were quite rare. I agree with you about the gas grill being useless. Mine was until I may or may not have fitted the next size up of gas jet.......

The big thing to remember is that there is NO SECURITY OF TENURE with a mooring. You could (legally) be evicted or given notice on the day you move in. It is not like renting a house where you have the law behind you and loads of security. The land owner could double your mooring fees, he could sell the land for development etc etc etc. You have no come-back. Do not spend more than you can afford to lose. Have a read of this : https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2019/aug/29/no-real-security-why-dont-houseboat-residents-get-rights-like-other-tenants .......................... It is a situation faced by most houseboat communities, who may own their boats but not the moorings, and therefore have no legal right to stay. Unlike owners of houses or apartments, houseboat owners have no security of tenure: although they pay council tax, energy, water and insurance bills, they do not have the same statutory rights as other tenants. As a result, they have little redress when the owners of moorings propose to increase fees or develop the site. “Over many years, layers of statutory regulation have protected residential tenants from what would otherwise be a very unequal relationship by granting them rights against their landlord or by limiting the landlord’s rights as owners of the home,” explains Amanda Burge, head of dispute resolution at international law firm Hamlins. “The legal relationship when a boat owner moors a boat at a mooring is usually a completely different one and so the statutory regulation simply does not apply. “The situation faced by houseboat owners is not dissimilar to the one faced by mobile home residents – but while there is legislation designed to provide some protections to them, there is nothing at all that is designed to apply to residential houseboats.”

That looks pretty good actually! Question though: Your ceiling panels look smooth in those photos. Is that just my eyes, your camera or are they really? Mine are more textured with a kinda crossweave pattern. Not very cleaning friendly, by the look of ‘em! Not that I’ve tried ?

The Environment Agency always drain the Thames down if cold weather is forecast. It is much cheaper than leaving the immersion heater on all Winter. The threat of ice expansion cracking the river bank isn't worth the risk of leaving the river full during a frost.

Hi everyone the boat is safely moored in the Thames now thanks for all your help with this.

The red bit is certainly true for older versions of Linux and may well be true for whatever version the IT bods have decide you will use at work but nowadays I can do almost anything I want to in Linux Mint using the Graphical interface. I suspect the same is true of Unbuntu and several other modern versions. What is true is that if you ask for help on forums, even version specific ones, the geeks immediately start giving you strings of command line instructions, usually without an explanation of what each command is supposed to do. If you use Android, Mac OS, or Google offerings you are really running heavily modified and propitiatory versions of Unix/Linux and I don't here Mac & Android users complaining about having to use the command line. It is really time ordinary people who have no need for specialist applications devote some time to working with a MODERN version of Linux, I doubt many would go back and pay for Windoze.

I was at Sileby today and whilst the level indicated it was amber the flow was considerable. I watched a cygnet get swept over the weir as it couldn't swim fast enough. I had also tentatively agreed to tow a boat to Syston but after looking at the flow changed my mind and said I wouldn't do it as it would have been against the flow. Any heavy rain will bring the Soar back into flood.

Did they get through ok? It's hard to work a windlass with those short little arms of theirs.

A list of some of the moorings on the upper Medway is below. I would be surprised if there was any great difficulty in finding a leisure mooring for a conventional boat. It's a nice enough river, which like many rivers, floods sometimes, but the upper non-tidal part is both quite short and isolated from other similar navigations. It is perfectly possible to run round the Isle of Grain and into the Thames - but it needs a little thought, the correct state of the tide and suitable weather for your boat. Allington Lock (Environment Agency Moorings) - Please contact the Lock Keeper for availability. Telephone number here. Allington Marina (01622 752057) Approx 100 permanent moorings Fords Wharf Boat Yard (01622 752918) Castle Quay Boats (castlequayboats@gmail.com) Approx 15 permanent moorings East Farleigh Boat yard (07860 377384) Approx 40 permanent moorings Bow Bridge, (01622 812802) Approx 100 riverside moorings and off-river pontoon berths. Medway Wharf Marina (01622 813927) Hampstead Lock, Hampstead Marine (01622 812673) Approx 150 permanent moorings Yalding, Little Venice Country Park and Marina (01622 814158) Approx 65 bankside and pontoon moorings Twyford Bridge Marina (01622 814378) Approx 75 permanent moorings Tonbridge Boat Yard Ltd (07860 789681) Approximately 45 permanent moorings including a number of narrowboat berths

Having a cruiser stern with leaky deck boards, very poor self draining set-up and a non-leaking conventional gland over 20 years I have found that even after several days of horrendous rain the bilge water collected between winter visits at four to six week intervals has never got above the engine beds. I refuse to have an automatic bilge pump because of the ever present danger of a switch fault ruining the batteries. This was true even when a deck board under water drain pipe started leaking. Based on this I would suggest that the OP either has a stern gland problem or a battery/electrical problem. If the OP intends to abandon the boat for the winter months then things are a bit different but doing that without 40W plus of solar or shore line charging is asking for a short battery life because nothing is making up for any self discharge.

1. No, it would be extremely unlikely to even cover the battery’s self-discharge, let alone pump use. It’s way too small. 2. 120W might do it but there are lots of variables, like how often the pump runs and how many sunny days we get. Unfortunately the pump probably runs more often when it’s raining which is also the time you’ll get nothing from solar. 3. No.

“Forward, the Light Plastic Boat!” Was there a man dismayed? Not though the skipper knew Steve Heywood had blundered. Theirs not to make reply, Theirs not to reason why, Theirs but to do and die. Into the mooring on the Thames Made the posts six hundred.

Quite a few posts on this thread mention crew. If you have crew then I don't really understand what the issue is? I bring in a big 30 tonne boat on my own - with varying degrees of success. I think half the problem people have starts because they come in too fast and use too many revs to slow down. Then they are then forced to try to counteract the excessive revs and nine times out of ten they use too many revs to do that bit too, and so it goes on. I come in as slowly as possible and take the boat out of gear before approaching the bank letting it drift for a short time to see what it's doing. Then I go back into gear and apply the minimum revs to get the boat to do what I want it to do. It doesn't always work and occasionally I'll have to give it a blast in one direction or the other. But in most cases using high revs from the start for close quarters handling is unnecessary and just wrong.