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The forms have been proofread and approved, the date is set in stone (23rd and 24th May as many have assumed) and the finish booked. Several here have suggested Withymoor with varying degrees of enthusiasm, and that's where it's going to be. Our reasons for choosing there this year include: They are keen to host us, which is always a positive from the organisers point of view They are going to have a bar all weekend and food available It will encourage more boats to travel to "the back of the map", and covering more of the BCN is the primary aim of the challenge. They have also offered to move their own boats so we can all fit in breasted 2 or 3 up, so there should be plenty of room for us. Participation is open to everyone who has a valid C&RT license, whether you've done it before, the more the merrier (especially after we all get to the bar!) I can't upload the files here, but email me on bcnschallenge@gmail.com and I'll send them out. Now I wonder who's going to be first to ask for a form? Sue

Me, I was hunting for Highbridge or similar for the last couple of months to get back on the water with a small budget. It seems to have been well cared for considering it is 38 years old, engine well maintained but interior has had no updating from original.

But only if you take your teeth out first

Is the expression 'Trigger's broom'?

Ok never thought of that i will weight till after Brexit

Having only just stumbled on this topic I can assure you that the thread makes very little sense at all. It’s apparent that someone must have posted something inappropriate and that several posters are all wound up about it but with the seubsequent fragmentation and edits it’s just a mess now. Regardless, my condolences to his family.

I think everybody is agreed its a big project but if you do everything by the book, worried about the pointless RCD, had professionals in to do all the tricky bits, tried too hard to comply with all the CRT rules and regs and saw problems at every turn nobody except the wealthy would ever get a boat. I reckon its because of this that half the people on narrowboats these days can't fix anything that goes wrong, can only buy and sell through brokers, keep an army of surveyors in work, all have identical boats and if I don't stop right now I will upset a lot of people and get another warning so I will go and do the washing up.

nick’s ultimate goal is to steer the boat from his phone. That way, he can go for a cruise whilst staying at home in Aberdeen.

No-one so far appears to have pointed out the sheer amount of effort you are going to expend on this, along with the money you'll have to spend on this project is going to far exceed the time and cost of fitting out a new 30ft shell, and this one will be worth one tenth of the value of a new one when you've finished. I'd scrap it now if I were you and pour your money and effort into a new one. Use this as a donor for engine and a load of other stuff.

That is a comment that shows a lack of taste and compassion.

You can't plant them out at this time of year, they are not hardy enough

You could always go back and help a litter picking group rather than just rant about the bloke who is in charge of raising awareness and money ...

Live aboard or leisure? We’ve got a 30ft which is okay for a couple of weeks, we are used to basic camping and it’s luxurious. However, living aboard full time would be a massive push with the space available, even for one person. We aren’t in a fully serviced marina, so don’t know if that would make a difference.

I fear there may be half a dozen superfluous words in the middle of that sentence...

2050: At dusk, one by one, a group of old men make their furtive way to gather in the back of a dingy, derelict, high street store. With a last look outside to check that no uninvited passers-by are about, one of them lifts a concealed trapdoor revealing a collection of jerrycans. The contents of one are poured very carefully into the tank of an engine hiding behind the cans, and, with a nod from all assembled, one man starts the engine. Fitted with an enormous silencer, the men gaze in awe at the beast. Fully 60 seconds goes past before the same man utters "Enough!" and shuts the engine down. The men disperse individually to avoid arousing suspicion, until next time.

Yes, that happened to my mother-in-law too.

Most of the advice on this forum is by people that have no idea what they're talking about but just feel the need to comment, so take it with a pinch of salt.

Glad I used Zinga on mine, it seems that the best stuff to use in the 2 pack route has gone, and given when I did mine it would have been coal tar that I used I suppose.

The masterbus/canbus is all part of the AI that controls Nick's boat

First off we have residential mooring sorted out already, so we aren't worried about that. Poor man's fiberglass is a use of canvas soaked in a outdoor and uv protection paint, this turns the canvas into a hard shell similar to fiberglass. A lot of the tear drop caravan guys use this method to build their campers though have seen it used on boats. Definitely wouldn't call it a bodge seeing as it's leak proof. Also we haven't had a survey done but we have a friend of ours with a metal thickness tester. We are going to do this once the bottom is welded up as even with over plating the bottom needs to be done first. The boat does have waste holes cut, we are going to start again with these as the don't suit our intended layout.

I like the brick stuck in the car's teeth....

Thanks for this useful info, it's particularly good to hear from someone who has actually travelled from Wisbech to Boston without stopping. I'm pretty confident of the boat's ability to handle poor weather (for a narrow boat that is). The stern is reasonably high with no side vents. When we travelled from Sharpness to Bristol (see here) we had a headwind gusting to force 5 which being blowing over the 15 knot tide made things very choppy, such that the spray from the bow was soaking us at the stern and the dog got seasick, the main problem was that the prop and rudder came out of the water at each wave. We are 67ft so we would have to wait for a level at Boston, and old enough never to have an RCD but the base plate is heavy enough to give us good stability. Time to talk to Daryl, I reckon.

If you haven't already, have a hull survey done, it will cost maybe £300 out of your budget but it could save you £000's. You may think the 'rest' of the hull is sound but you don't know without a structural survey. Do you want to pay someone to weld up the known holes, finish fitting it out, pout it in the water and it sinks ? The only way to get an (almost) leakproof join between the cabin and the hull is to remove the wooden cabin, weld (minimum) 2" high steel upstands along the hull and then rebuild the cabin overlapping the upstands. 2" angle iron makes it simple. It sounds like the boat is in the ideal condition to undertake the work and you are not going to be worried about damaging any internal fittings The differential expansion between metal / wood / fibreglass / silicone will mean that any 'bodge' will not work - do it properly and do it once. If you don't, every time it rains you are going to end up with rotting woodwork wet bedding, damp clothes, soggy boxes of food, and a miserable life. Good luck.

Certainly is, if it's been cooked properly, all that fat dripping out....

I'm very impressed. You are annoyingly clever!!

This is an interesting trip and makes a change from normal canal and river cruising. It is quite a straightforward navigational exercise as the channels are well marked with buoys and beacons apart from a stretch in the middle where there is several miles between the buoys. If you time it right with the tides there is no need to stop and wait. Leaving Wisbech two hours after high water and keeping an average five knots over the ground will bring you to the River Witham on the flood tide and to the lock in good time for the level. We left Wisbech at 0200 and were tied up at the visitor pontoon through the lock at Boston at 0930 - a distance of 35 miles.We got in a bit earlier as we are 46 feet so could just squeeze in diagonally and lock through before the level. I don't use a pilot but if you are not confident doing this kind of exercise then it's a good idea - and your insurance company may require it. The key to a successful and stress free trip is the weather - or a more particularly the wind. Narrowboats are quite stable in a seaway but any kind of chop over half a meter increases the risk of down flooding and with wind against tide it doesn't take long for seas of this size to build up. I would not start out if the forecast was for anything over 10knts out of the West through South to East and 5knts anywhere North of that.

Council have made their choice of spelling: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.4713915,-2.0436529,3a,44.4y,272.02h,88.75t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s2rGYkJbE1JjZa_Opa6RGwA!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo1.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3D2rGYkJbE1JjZa_Opa6RGwA%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D281.50745%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en Map too: https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=17&lat=52.4692&lon=-2.0506&layers=168&b=1 Ghosty and Corsty maybe the vernacular.

Is that the 12-step piece bucket programme?

Hi BWM .... Thanks for your input, which sounds like positive advice. I just checked out their website and it looks interesting. Have a lovely day, Neil

Rusting is a slow process, it might need blacking now but its not going to be significantly worse in 4 or 5 months time so don't be rushed. The £300 saved won't really be £300 saved if its a bad job. If you buy the boat then take your time, find out which yards do a good job and get to know the boat, then get the work done under your control at your pace when its more convenient. Its a bit of a worrying co-incidence that there is a blacking slot available the very day after your survey ? Maybe its because nobody wants to black their boat in January. ..................Dave

Save yourself a few quid on license and mooring fees .... but be excommunicated from the historic boat gatherings !

Dave, 2 pack epoxy coatings contain 3 types of materials. active components (usually Bisphenol A and epichlorhydrin) that react together to give the tough 3d network that forms the 'impervious' hard coating Fillers that are added to give the coating some 'body' so when applied it does drip and flow away (ie TiO2, carbonates etc) Solvents ie Xylene, Toluene, ethyl benzene etc added to reduce the viscosity of the coating for a range of application techniques. A while back (in the 1960's), some clever bloke found that you could replace part of the active components with coal tar to give better a better coating. Coal tar is a black, smelly liquid that is distilled out of coal and was a cheap material when 'coal was king'. Coal tar is made up primarily from substituted aromatic and naphthenic rings and is quite reactive so can react with the active epoxy components and become part of the 3d network. It's benefits for epoxy coatings are that it improves water resistance (as it is very hydrophobic) and also make the final coating more flexible so not as brittle. Before cure it is also a liquid so less solvent needs to be added to the formulation. Finally it also gives the coating a bit of surface tolerance when applied ….a big feature for its use in things like splashzone coatings for offshore oil rigs. Unfortunately coal tar contains a lot of chemicals that are carcinogenic so it is rightly banned....but has never been replaced by the boffins. Whilst most paint companies now supply 2 pack epoxies without coal tar, are they as good? I've never been convinced they can get the water resistance, the flexibility and the surface tolerance all as good at the same time. Very similar to Red Lead.

I wouldn't recommend smoking smoke pellets. Likely to do more than just make your head spin! ?